stant

So next year the better half and I will be making it official.
I'd like to go all out for a honeymoon and was hoping to get fellow FT members advice on doing so on points.

Right now I have exactly 2 million bonvoy points. It would be safe to assume I'll be up to at least 2.5 million by early next year.
I also have 1.5 million AAdvantage miles, I know this is the bonvoy forum, but if yall would like to keep that in mind....

I *was* thinking of just redeeming for a month or so in the maldives. But I was curious if y'all could come up with any sort of suggestions for an amazing few weeks away on points.

General guidelines:

1. Something spectacular. I dont want to go away to orlando for 4 months.
2. I want to spend points based upon value, even if that means a good size cash copay. ie up until recently I would spend points at a prime property in london for a 15 day stay, and upgrade with cash spending maybe $10k to get a room that would cost maybe $50k for the length of my stay. getting 3-4 cents in value per point.
3. I'd prefer to be gone for at least a few weeks, no more than maybe 5 weeks, and would prefer to visit no more than 2-3 places tops. I dont want to be running around to airports all the time.

Anyone want to play the suggestion game?

TIA

craigthemif

Whatever you do, make sure you book things before Bonvoy goes 100% uncapped dynamic pricing in 2023.

rucksack

Your inkling to choose the Maldives is an excellent one. At properties like the Ritz or St. Regis you can still get redemptions worth 4-6 cents per point. You could stay in the Maldives for 10 nights for under a million points, but I'd personally get pretty bored stuck on a remote resort island for much more than 5 day. Plus the F&B costs are steep and add up quickly. Could be worth it to try to different resorts, I suppose.

Assuming you're U.S.-based, your best options to connect to the Maldives are Doha, Dubai, Singapore, and Istanbul. You could easily add a stopover in one of these cities at little or no extra cost in terms of airfare, plus it would break up the travel. If you go to Dubai, the Al Maha is a good redemption option at 2-4 cents per point.

A few other ideas:

• Europe – lots of good redemption options during peak season, especially in expensive tourist cities like London, Paris, Venice, etc.
• Bora Bora – similar to the Maldives but much closer to the U.S. and easier to get outside the resort bubble
• SE Asia – there's lots of affordable accommodation options but popular tourist destinations like Thailand and Bali have some luxury resorts that have good redemption values
• Ski resorts – Peak season in the Maldives is Dec - Mar, which is of course ski season in the northern hemisphere. Top resorts like the W Verbier, St. Regis Aspen, St. Regis Deer Valley, Ritz Bachelor Gulch, and Ritz Lake Tahoe have excellent redemptions worth 4-6 cents/point during peak ski season. Could be tough to pack for both climates though lol

escapefromphl

Personally 5 days is the longest I could do in the Maldives. I would rather do an island hopping trip in Greece or somewhere with more variety, Italy etc.

https://islandhopping.journeygreece.com/

arlflyer

Agree with previous posters - a month in the Maldives sounds like a prison sentence. I would lose my mind. You could see a tons of places and have a bunch of diverse experiences with the time and resources you have at hand. As rucksack suggests, maybe do something with a bit more variety, but an element of a high-end beach / island stay built in? So do SE Asia and spend some time at an ultra-luxe property, or the Mediterranean coast and spring for a top-tier place with a sea view or such.

stant

This is EXACTLY the reason why I made this thread, to get some ideas and burn the stash before 2023...

A few more random thoughts:
I love the water. I'll go to steamboat springs and stay at the sheraton thats right at the lifts and not even get and skis, just spend the time soaking in the hotel's hot tub or in the hot springs in downtown. A month in the maldives might sound like a prison sentence, but I think I can manage But any recommendation of specific similar 'wow' sorts of resorts / properties with a good redemption yield would be appreciated

I fly to london 5-6 times a year and do my best to fly in J, so my backup plan is to hope for one of the special promotional bonuses and convert to more a advantage miles. I'm pretty lucky as I never fly int he summer so saver awards have been always available, giving me a pretty good yield per point. But obviously I already have enough miles to last me quite a while.

again, TIA!

zymm

If going with the Maldives for a few weeks, try some resort hopping so you don't get sick of the F&B offerings where you're at. It'll add cost for sea plane transfers, but might be worth it if you value variety!

rtpflyer

It sounds like you could tolerate a month in the Maldives without it sounding like a prison sentence, but how would your better half feel? This seems like a major step to take unless you understand what your soon-to-be-official would enjoy in such a long honeymoon.

Eujeanie

Will the choice be a surprise to him/her? I noticed you use the pronoun "I" almost exclusively, rather than "we", so it seems you will be planning this without their input as to location and length of time? Maybe there is somewhere they have always wanted to go?

dbuckho

Maldives (and redeeming points there) was always on my aspirational trip list from the time I started traveling to when I got married 10 years later (which was about 15 years ago). Originally there was a similar idea of going to the Maldives on our honeymoon. But it was not as practical when we actually planned it, and still have not made it there.

But we ended up in Thailand and it was great. 3 stops -- Bangkok, Chang Mai, and Phuket with a side stay in Krabi - 14 nights total. Maybe for your purposes add/substitute Koh Samui with the two nicer resort options there. We also spent several days in Hong Kong on the way there and Singapore on the way back - trip was a little over 3 weeks total. You could do something similar to add variety to the trip - maybe Tokyo instead of Singapore if sticking with AA miles/partners (i.e. CX on the way there and JAL on the way back).

theplayer

when do you work..lol

stant

When she was 9 years old she went to visit family in new zeland with her chronologically older, but nowhere near as mature brother. When they were on a layover in Kuala lumpur he proceeded to leave her to her own accord and go find someplace for a drink. For something like 20 hours. So here was this young girl, who did NOT speak kuala lumpaneese, frightened, all alone, 5000 miles from home, not knowing what was going on. Security finally found her brother but the damage was done. She is terrified to fly still to this day and wont go anywhere unless I go with her. As far as the trip goes, she is happy for me to plan it all and surprise her, just so long as we dont have to take too many flights (part of the not wanting to include multiple destinations thing). She is quite easy going otherwise, and would be just as happy at any destination, anything new and different from home.

Eujeanie

What a frightening experience for a young girl. I can see why she depends on you. I won't bore you with my "lost in Providence, RI at age 6" story, but I truly empathize.

But since you don't list your location, how can we help you find someplace appropriate?

stant

with 2.5 million bonvoy points to spend and 1.5 million a advantage miles, plus cash if need be to get the best bang for my buck, I'd assume that anywhere bellow low earth orbit is on the table. Anywhere in the world, I dont really care, I'm just looking to blow a load of miles / points on a 'wow' adventure.

Eujeanie

Which seems to conflict with what you wrote 2 posts ago about her terror of flying/wanting not too many flights to get to a place. If we don't know where you're starting from, how on earth is anyone supposed to know what might be too many flights?

I'll watch this thread because I love hearing about others' adventures, so hope you find your perfect place.