Which Island for our honeymoon?
 

My fiance and I are trying to decide which Islands to go to on our honeymoon. We are going for two weeks and want to spend one week at two islands. I keep researching the different Caribbean Islands, but can't make up my mind. We have a pretty open budget and don't care too much about nightlife, as long as there are little bars or restaurants to grab a drink at. We mostly want gorgeous beaches, with lots of activities. The other most important thing we want from the islands are great food. Also, it is for our honeymoon, so an island that is romantic. We were thinking St. Lucia, Turks and Caicos, Barbados, or Antigua? Any other suggestions on which two Caribbean Islands we should go to on our honeymoon?

For what it is worth, if you want to hop to other islands like Antigua, Barbados, St. martin or St. Lucia you might want to scratch the Turks & Caicos from your list. The T&C's are pretty far north (in the Atlantic just south of the Bahamas) and you cannot get to/from any of the Caribbean islands without first going back to Miami. Schedules are such that you'd probably have to overnight in Miami.

If you visit St. Martin you can easily get to St. Barts or Anguilla (less than 15 minutes by plane or between 20 and 60 minutes by ferry)- both of which are good contrasts to St. Martin. You can reach other islands such as Barbados, Antigua and St. Lucia from St Martin by air but you'll spend a few hours in transit.

Barbuda is only a 15 minute flight from Antigua but it is a very sparsely populated island so it may be too underdeveloped for you. Consider Barbuda only if you are seeking a place off the beaten path where you can "get away from it all".

Barbados/St. Lucia makes a good combination and it's fairly easy to fly between both islands.

Antigua is a hub for Liat Airlines making it fairly easy to reach other islands such as St. lucia or Barbados.

We could be of more help if you told us when you are planning to travel (it makes a big difference in overall costs), where you are coming from, what type of accommodations you are seeking and what your budget you have for airfare, hotel and food. When giving a budget be specific dollarwise - terms like "affordable", "won't break the bank", "not too expensive" are meaningless without an actual point of reference.

Good luck planning your honeymoon.

Thank you for your feedback! That definitely helps knowing which island are easy to get to from one another. For further details in order to get more help in the decision process, we are going to be traveling End of April/Beginning of May of 2012. For accommodations, we will be using two different timeshares. One week on one island using timeshare, and another week on another island using a timeshare. For our budget we are planning on spending around $3,000 which won't include flights or hotels. My fiancee's parents will be buying us our flights there and back. I hope this helps in order to get more responses. Thank you for all your help, we greatly appreciate it!

I agree with Roams Around about the Barbados/St. Lucia combo. I think St. Lucia is perfect for a honeymoon and Barbados is different enough that you would get another island experience.

End of April/beginning of May is a great time to visit the Caribbean. Hotel/resort prices have dropped as it's "Low Season" for tourism yet all hotels/resorts/restaurants/tourist attractions are still in full operation..

You mentioned you'll be using "time-shares" for your accommodations. If that's the case you'll have to make sure your time share operator has facilities on the two islands you want to visit. So that may have a big bearing on which islands you visit. Suggestion, once you choose your islands check to see how easy/difficult it will be for you to travel between those islands. Keep in mind that if you fly from mainland US to one island and fly back to the US from a different island your r/t airfare may be considerably more than if you fly into/out of the same island. This is what the airlines call an "open jaw" itinerary and it could be considerably more money that a typical round trip fare to a single destination. Island hopping in the Caribbean is not always easy, convenient or inexpensive so check schedules and fares before making a commitment to make sure the airfare doesn't exceed your fiance's parents budget.

Since your airfare and accommodations are being covered by others your $3,000 budget for two weeks should adequate enough to give you an enjoyable honeymoon.

Thank you so much for your help with this! And yes I already checked islands for timeshares first and then narrowed down the search. That is why I was deciding between St. Lucia, Barbados, T & C, Antigua and St. Martin because they all had timeshares that had great reviews! I was just trying to figure out which combo out of those I should do. But all of your feedback has helped me and I think we should do St. Lucia/Barbados combo!

I didn't even think about the flight's as far as flying into one island and out of another. So i will check into that before booking! Thank you so much for everyone's feedback, I appreciate it so much!!

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The St.Thomas/St. John combination is easy. You can fly in and out of St. Thomas and just take a ferry to St. John and back. We have done that. Also, we have stayed at Curacao for one week and then flew over to Bonnair for the second week. St. Martin/Anquilla combination is similar to St. Thomas/St. John. Just take the ferry over to Anquilla. Another option would be the Cancun combination with either Cozumel by Ferry or Playa Del Carmen by van or private transfer. We also like to travel for two or more weeks and stay in different islands or hotels.

Wow qwovadis that place looks amazing!! So romantic.

Shirleyk- thanks for the help with the combo's. I was considering the St. Thomas/St. John but then I heard there wasn't much to do there and that St. Thomas is overpopulated. But I am not sure. Also, did you like Curacao and Bonnair? Was there a lot of water activities to do and good restaurants/bars? I think I'm deciding between those two islands or The Barbados/St. Lucia Combo.

Has anyone else been to any of those islands and could help me decide which ones would be better for a couple on their honeymoon who want to hang by the beach and also do lots of romantic/fun water activities? Thank you so much for all your help, it's helping me decide where we want to go!!

When we were in St. Thomas we spent our time at the Ritz Carlton. It is off by itself. Then we drove into Red Hook each evening for drinks and dinner. Once you get away from Charlotte Amalie, its not so populated. Took the ferry over to St. John and snorkeled in a few places.
Curacao and Bonnair are small. Both have restaurants and interesting towns. We took the "foot bridge" into town each night in Curacao and walked around for drinks and dinner. Bonnair has a small little town that we were able to walk to from the Divi. Bars and restaurants in town. Bonnair is very small and known for its snorkeling. Doing the research on these islands is half the fun of traveling to them!

Miclelle we did st Lucia and Barbados for our honeymoon ,sat year and loved it. We stay at joules in STL and then at the Hilton in Barbados. I highly recommend a dinner at lad era I. STL and at the Cliff in Barbados. If u have any specific questions about either I would happily answer. I have also spent ti e at st Martin and st barts. Cheers!

#Shirleyk thank you for telling me about Bonnair and Curacao, I am looking into those islands now! They seem like they'd be easy to travel back and forth, I just hope there's enough to do on each island.

#jgido I'm so glad to hear that you did St. Lucia/Barbados for your honeymoon and loved it. I wasn't sure if that combo would be good. Also, how did you get from one island to the other? And what restaurants would you recommend on both or something that we just can't pass up on either island? Thanks for all your help!!