Tying the knot...need suggestions on honeymoon

[Valhallaz]

My ex and I did a Windjammer BVI barefoot sailing cruise for our honeymoon. It was excellent!
Windjammer's now out of business, but maybe someone else does the same kind of thing...

[vr4tune]

+1 for Maui! But I like early/mid Feb...

Late January is a great time because it's whale mating season and they are spouting all over the place! Take a heli ride too if you go!

[AdamVR4]

The Caribbean is bad ass and travel is mostly painless...

We went to a bunch of places on a cruise. I don't even remember some of them, but the best were:

St. Thomas - best SCUBA I've ever experienced. Too bad it was my first time! I didn't even realize just how special what I was seeing was.

Puerto Rico - decent rain forest but no animals

Spent a week or so in Cozumel...
Cozumel - great SCUBA; night dive was trippy, nice beaches, BIG iguanas and lizards everywhere

Spent a couple weeks in Costa Rica...
Costa Rica - amazing scenery; this is where we honeymooned. We did lots of activities and stayed at 3 resorts, starting on the beach and moving in-land. We did an ATV tour (the scenery barely looks real), zip lining through the rain forest (really cool), white water tubing through the rain forest (saw monkeys all over in the trees), etc... One of our resorts backed up to a jaw dropping view of a volcano that caused us to both say, "DAMN!" when we stepped onto the back porch.

On the pacific... Last year we went to Cabo for a week and had a blast, but it was an all inclusive and we mostly lounged, drank, and played beach volleyball.

We just got back from a couple weeks of Maui and Oahu. Between those two Hawaiian islands, Maui won, hands-down. White, grey, even black sand (very rare) beaches. Hana Highway was worth the time -- ridiculous waterfalls in an amazingly lush rainforest. Both Cabo and Maui have really cool rock formations off the coast. Maui had great snorkling where I saw several very active eels, a squid, a white tip reef shark, a huge sea turtle, etc... I wouldn't recommend Hawaii because it is VERY expensive (plane tickets to Maui were basically the same cost as our entire vacation to Cabo), 9 hours of flying SUCKS, and Oahu was just flooded with tourists. We're used to laid back vacations with excursions of just a handful of people. Hawaii is a tourist factory and you often feel like cattle.

I'd recommend Costa Rica. The only regret we had was that we should have spent more time on the beach and less time at the 3rd resort we went to. I can get specific resort names for you if you want. If you're looking to spend a little less, Cozumel. If you're willing to take up drinking, Cabo, heh.

[UTRacerX9]

Going to any Mexican destination will require passports and what not, and that may not be something that his fiancee can obtain quickly since she's not a citizen. As others have said, Hawaii (and I'll second Adam's opinion, Maui is the better island) could be a good choice, but it is pretty expensive and a long flight from Chicago. I'd recommend the Caribbean, but again, you'll need a passport to get into the Bahamas or Barbados, or any islands out there.

Instead, you might want to consider going to the FL keys. Key West has amazing, clear water, lots of parasailing, snorkling/scuba tours, jet ski tours (we took one around the entire island that lasts a couple hours.) Best part is that there's no international travel so it's a lot less of a hassle, but still get the caribbean experience. There are lots of bars and night life there of course, but if you don't partake in that, there are plenty of restaurants on the island that serve incredible food. We were there for about a week and a half and had our fill, a week or a bit less would be perfect IMO.

[J-Groove]

The Florida Keys are also a great option.

There are amazing places to eat, visit and explore all up and down the islands. Stay at one of the non key west keys and have a car rental. You will have a blast!

-John

[NOMIEZVR4]

Guys...thanks SO MUCH for the valuable input. I really do appreciate it very much!

A few questions for you fellas...going to places like the Bahamas and the Caribbean, costa rica, etc...those are mostly spanish speaking countires, right? Is getting around or being able to communicate a problem? I'm completely clueless...I don't have a clue in my mind about how to go about these things. Also, about what kind of a budget does this entail? How much appx. did you guys spend?

The Keys sounds like a great idea too...traveling in the states definitely has its advantages.

I'm going to have a lot of questions...

[AdamVR4]

A few questions for you fellas...going to places like the Bahamas and the Caribbean, costa rica, etc...those are mostly spanish speaking countires, right? Is getting around or being able to communicate a problem?

All the people you're likely to interact with will speak at least some English. You should take the 5 minutes to learn ultra basic spanish phrases, but it's not necessary.

I'm completely clueless...I don't have a clue in my mind about how to go about these things. Also, about what kind of a budget does this entail? How much appx. did you guys spend?

I think Costa Rica was around $5K. Cabo was like $2.5K. Don't want to know what Hawaii cost. The wife handles the travel budget, I don't concern myself with such things

The Keys sounds like a great idea too

FANTASTIC idea.

[UTRacerX9]

The resorts in the Caribbean will all have english speaking staff. Getting a taxi or something, they will understand rudimentary english if you tell them your destination they'll tell you the fare, easy enough. Restaurants sometimes will have their menus printed in Spanish (but it will usually have an English translation right under it.) The Keys of course are a part of FL, everyone speaks English.

Going to any Mexican travel spot, the hospitality staff/concierge will definitely speak English.

Your budget will vary with these. Going to the Bahamas is probably the most expensive, then Mexico hot spots, then the Keys. The Bahamas will have the most expensive airfare most likely, and food, shopping, and dining will be expensive too, but not as expensive as Hawaii. Mexico has good deals with flights a lot, and packages with hotel/flight can save you some money. Food and shopping can be as expensive or as cheap as you like. Last time I went to Cancun, we had dinner one night at a little hole in the wall that ended up costing about $30 total with food and drinks. The next night, we went to a popular seafood joint right on the water and spent over $400. So, it's incredibly varied. The Keys are probably a little cheaper on average for food and entertainment, jet ski rentals and scuba stuff were a lot cheaper in the keys than they were in Cancun.

If you plan on going for a week, you'll get the best bang for your buck either in the Keys or Mexico, between the two, I'd probably give the Keys the nod, though Adam has been more places in Mexico than I have and might disagree, so hopefully he'll chime in again.

EDIT: Speak o' the devil...

[AgentOblivious]

Guys...thanks SO MUCH for the valuable input. I really do appreciate it very much!

A few questions for you fellas...going to places like the Bahamas and the Caribbean, costa rica, etc...those are mostly spanish speaking countires, right? Is getting around or being able to communicate a problem? I'm completely clueless...I don't have a clue in my mind about how to go about these things. Also, about what kind of a budget does this entail? How much appx. did you guys spend?

The Keys sounds like a great idea too...traveling in the states definitely has its advantages.

I'm going to have a lot of questions...

Most of the resortsy type places all speak english, and everywhere outside of Cuba, american dollars are king. Unless you really go off the beaten path then communication shouldn't be an issue.

[NOMIEZVR4]

Alrite...you guys have me convinced. I think I'm gonna start looking more in depth into the Florida Keys...so to those that have been to the Keys...Im planning to go for about a week...spill the beans fellas..

I definitely wanna scuba...and jetski and parasail...help me plan my trip..lol