Honeymoon destination advice

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

My fiance and I are in the process of planning our honeymoon. We will be leaving June 1 and going for between 8-12 days, depending on the cost and location. Any advice? We are looking for a place that has both quiet, relaxing, beach type things and adventure/exploration/snorkling/hiking/caving/you name it. Our short list, in order of preference, includes:

1. Belize
2. St. John
3. Costa Rica
4. Hawaii

Anyone been to these places who would care to share their experiences, good & bad?

We are open to other places, so I thought I'd ask for advice here, since EnWorlders seem to know quite a bit about any given subject.

We are not looking for an all-in-one resort (Sandles, Club Med, etc), Europe (we may be going next year), the USA (we want to go to a different country).

 

[ASH]

My folks have gone to Costa Rica, and Hawaii. My aunt has been to St. John.

Hawaii is great and bueatiful, but of all the choices is the most tourist-y.

The other two are really pretty, If I had to choose I would go to St. John.

On our honeymoon we went to Disney world. It was that or Cancun. And since we are both short pale, red heads, we thought that Cancun would be a bit to sunny...

Orlando was great. I had never been to Disney world so we went. I was really fun. Not as crazy as I thought it would be. Anyway, Have fun where ever you go.

 

[Queenie]

Well, I am not sure how much help I can be, as I have never stayed in any of these places. For our honeymoon and our 1st anniversary we went on Carnival Cruises. Both times we went in May.

On the first we stopped in Saint Thomas, Martinique (very poor), Barbados and Aruba (found it too American and too windy). Barbados was HEAVEN! We wanted to go back there for our one year but we found the cruise to be much more economical (Barbados is very expensive). Saint Thomas (about 10 minute boat ride from St. John) was very beautiful. The beaches were amazing. They also have a lot of shopping there. I think most people stay in Saint Thomas and go over to Saint John, as the island is very small and if I remember correctly, full of rain forest (which sounds like what you are looking for). I would definitely go back to St. Thomas. I seem to remember some excursions to Saint John’s involving horseback riding.

On our 1st anniversary we wanted to do something a little more exciting so we did an "exotic" itinerary. We went to Grand Cayman, Costa Maya (made for cruise ships) Cozumel, and Belize. Nothing really exotic about any of them except for Belize. In Belize we took a bus to the rainforest, where we went cave tubing. We hiked for about an hour (yes it was very hot and humid) carrying our tubes. Then we got in the water (freezing!!) with our little lights on our heads and tubed right through these huge caves. We came out the other side and just lazily drifted through the forest. It was absolutely amazing, my favorite part of the trip! We didn't drive past the beach, which is supposed to be awesome and I heard that they have one of the largest coral reefs in the world. That being said I didn't see any nice resorts or really nice areas. It looked kind of poor and a bit grubby. I saw ads for resorts that were like tree houses, and they looked like the Swiss Family Tree house in Disney. I don’t know first hand what the beached look like.

I have a friend who went to Hawaii on their honeymoon and it was ridiculously expensive but very beautiful. They spent $50 on two hamburgers for lunch, and they had to spend around $30 a day for breakfast.

I think most of these places have nice beaches and snorkeling, horse backing riding and other excursions to do. I think what you choose will really depend on how much adventure you want to have pared with how nice of a resort you want to stay at.

We have lots of pictures of both of our trips if you are interested. Hope I helped!

 

[Crothian]

Make it later in June, like the 24-27 and then come to ..... wait for it.....Columbus for the Orgins Gaming Convention!!

No real help here, just a big Congradulations, don't forget to Regester at the EN World store, and best of luck!!

 

[Hand of Evil]

I have only heard great things about Belize been thinking about it myself.

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

I've been to Hawaii few times... (3 times) It was fair nothing to major. To be honest the last time I was just happy to be back in the states.

The memorial is nice but that's hardly a honeymoon like stop. (I would still go if you do go to Hawaii.)

If I could go anywhere I would to a cruise up the Alaskan coast and most of your actives I imagine could be done at the money stops that make.

 

[Jonny Nexus]

4. Hawaii

We are not looking for [snip] the USA (we want to go to a different country).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Hawaii had been part of the United States since the late 19th Century, and a fully-fledged state since 1959?

 

[diaglo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Hawaii had been part of the United States since the late 19th Century, and a fully-fledged state since 1959?

book 'em Dano.

yes Hawaii was the 50th state.



as for the original question...i hear they speak pretty good American in Belize.

but in June all those places you picked are gonna be HHHHHHOOOOOTTTTTT and sticky humid.

take a cruise to ALaska instead.

 

[DrZombie]

Australia is quite nice, especially in the winter months, Perth and Freemantle have some nice beaches, surfing, snorkeling, hiking, mountain-climbing, whale-watching, whatever. Rent a campervan for a few weeks and just cruise around.

 

[Jonny Nexus]

as for the original question...i hear they speak pretty good American in Belize.

Well although it's on the Central American mainland it's a former British colony, so I'm guessing they probably have English as a first language, rather than the Spanish that the adjacent countries would most likely have.