w7maverick

I am looking to book my honeymoon for this coming December. We are planning about 2 weeks. Flying from NY we would like to fly to Dubai spend 3-4 nights and then fly to to either the Seychelles or Mauritius for 7-8 nights.

In my initial research the St. Regis in Mauritius and and the Four Seasons in Seychelles look like the best luxury hotels. Does anyone have a preference or travel tips? Did we miss something? Relaxation is paramount but we like to do activities as well, which is why we ruled out the Maldives. We have no idea what to do. Please help!

Currently I am also sitting on 150K starwood points (current gold member) and 100K AMEX points (have platinum card) if that moves the needle either way.

offerendum

Only know the Seychelles and agree with FS speaking about Mahe. Perhaps I would do Praslin too, perfect base for tours.

Londonjetsetter

Beware of the weather, which is very rainy in both places. I think Mauritius slightly less bad, but risk of cyclones. Maldives or most of SE Asia would be better that time of year.

Michael82

Maldives
Maldives
Oh yeah and maldives.

If you absolutely dont want to go there do seychelles.

Mauritius is way overrated.

DSI

If you're sitting on SPG points (and maybe some AA miles) covert to AA miles + buy the necessary additional miles and go to either Maldives (180k miles each person) or Seychelles.

The real issue may be if you go over the festive season. Prices go way up!, in which case the additional cost of Fregate over Four Seasons makes a lot more sense to most people. Or likewise in Maldives.

If it is the festive season I'd say that this is an entirely different question that this forum can help you with.

jp-mco

We stayed at the St Regis Mauritius back in April / May 2013. It was a nice stay with not too many service issues but by all accounts standards are really starting to slide. They've lost their flagship Indian restaurant run by Atul Kochhar and they've had quite a string of unsatisfied customers looking at their Tripadvisor page. I wouldn't stay there again if we went back to Mauritius. Try the Constance Le Prince Maurice or Four Seasons instead.

sfoactuary

We basically did the exact itinerary you are considering last year - 3 nights in Dubai, 7 nights in Seychelles. And it sounds like our travel styles is pretty similar in that I like a good mix of relaxation and activities.

But if I had to pick between Seychelles and the Maldives, I'd choose Maldives every single time. It sounds like your mind isn't completely made up, so as others have mentioned, you may want to re-consider.

w7maverick

Where did you end up staying in Dubai and Seychelles? Initial impressions?

DSI

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trip-...arab-more.html

Loads of reports on these hotels on here. Great TR by the way, but alas, I'm not quite the FS fan as others are here.

surftb15

Glad you said it, I hated Mauritius.

Haven't been to the Seychelles yet though

uclabruin82

We did the Seychelles last year as part of part of our honeymoon before continuing on to Safari. we stayed at the Banyan Tree, which was ok. I picked it because they pools in the villas were bigger than the FS, and the villa we picked also had a jacuzzi. I have mixed feelings about the resort. Some staff was very good, and some were fairly lazy. Generally, I would say that the staff that had come from other Banyan Tree resorts were great, while the locals had more of an island time mentality. Also, the villa did have a nice pool, but the jacuzzi does not actually get hot. It gets warm, but not hot, so kind of defeats the point. But the pool was great. The villa is nice, but there is no WC and no outdoor shower, though there is a nice view from the shower. The breakfast buffet is good. The gym was lousy, but we had a great massage. The food overall was pretty good, but expensive considering there is not much close by. The beach though is incredible. It is pretty big and there were never more than 2 or 3 other couple on it. Just fantastic
As we had flown from SFO straight here we did not do much activities, but did not get a sense that there is really all that much to do anyways. The "highlight" of our activities, was renting a car and driving on the other side of the road.

Pausanias

The weather is a big issue here. I know these places quite well. Dubai can be surprisingly chilly at this time of year. As previous respondents have said, both the Seychelles and Mauritius are in the middle of their wet seasons. It's because they are south of the equator. You could be lucky but the odds are stacked against you.

The Maldives are a better bet.

PS: posting this from the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica and it's bloody freezing!

offerendum

Did FS and BT in 2013. Both resorts are very good, the pool and jacuzzi are better at BT if you book a Pool Beach Villa (the way to go). Also my wife found the SPA at BT outstanding. Neverless FS is over all superior, the beach is much more swimable and offers great oportunities for snorkeling.

Review BT, review FS

Big_Foot

December is bad for all the destinations there.
Go someplace else, maybe Polynesia if the mosquito disease is contained
by then. Waste of time and money coming here in a bad rainy season.

But, I'm in FS Mahe right now and it's heaven. ONE condition.
You must get the highest villa possible. Staying low in a garden would be
awful. Heavy, humid, no air. Up here is heaven. We are in 102
and it's the highest available. Heaven, did I say heaven already

Maldives is all about choices. To us we prefer the endless lagoons
and there is no better choice than both COMO resorts.

Park Hyatt is a disaster. The aquarium around it is amazing to see,
but the hotel - demolition is the only option. There is nothing to save.
And most of other resorts are really, really bad. Stick to COMO.

Big_Foot

removed, check trip reports