johndunn2

I am getting married in early April '11 and currently figuring out where to go for our honeymoon. We are taking 2-3 weeks and would like to go to a warm climate.

Ideally, it'd include international travel with a beach and water that is warm enough to go in. Additionally, I'd like a nice balance between outdoor activities, lounging and good food.

I have ~200K in AA miles and 150K in Hilton Honors points. I'm not really expecting to use the HH points but it'd be nice to use the AA miles.

Many of the places I've looked at for April are too cold, so any recommendations would be welcome.

SusanYVR

we went to Maui for our 3-week honeymoon.(this was a long time ago)

After checking into the hotel room, we only left the room three times: once to the beach(4 hours), once to the hotel
restaurant for dinner(2 hours), and the last was checking out to go to the airport. Otherwise, we never left the
hotel room, and all meals were delivered by room service, whether it's 7AM, 7PM or 3AM. Didn't even have
the need for laundry service.

To this day, I still have no idea what Maui has or even what it looks like.(except the hotel room and the airport)

so, to sum it up, we could have had our honeymoon in any city(including our own) as long as there's a hotel that
had 24-hour room service. (instead spending the $5000 our friends/family paid for our honeymoon)

enought said...

CubsFanJohn

I'd say Italy would be a good pick.

awd

We had our honeymoon in April of this year and went to Malaysia - Redang Island on the peninsula and then Sabah on Borneo. Loved both but Borneo was more adventurous then some people might want for a honeymoon (climbing mountains, jungle trekking).

Other places that we considered were South Pacific, Thailand, Brazil and Argentina

I am not sure that I would Italy in April - too likely to be chilly IMO.

joejones

I would probably spring for someplace in Central America. Your AA and Hilton accounts should get you to a beach resort in Mexico or Costa Rica where you can find all of your three criteria pretty easily. (The Caribbean would also work, but the good food is harder to guarantee.)

Anywhere in Europe will probably be too chilly for the beach in April--or, at least, not reliably warm enough. We went around Europe for our honeymoon this April and had a great time, but we never went in the water: it was too cold for that, even in the Greek islands. In May, though, the Mediterranean would be much more doable.

localady

How about a Caribbean cruise and start off with a coupe of Days before in San Juan? Beaches there are beautiful, there's plenty to do for 3-4 days while visiting the island (Bacardi Factory, Fort and even the outer island). We did a princess cruise last March and the weather couldn't have been better, there was plenty of things to do (when we felt like it) and the food was really good.

sonofzeus

Narrow your choices here:

http://www.travelandleisure.com/tl500/2010

Check the historical weather here:

wunderground.com

I'd avoid places with high humidity, radioactive smog, volcanic ash, perpetual drought, floods, drug wars, potential air traffic controllers strikes, travelers alerts from the US State dept, strong currency v USD, bad golf courses, and routings that involve more than one connection.

Although it's not international, we're heading to PSP next month.

travis bickle

... if so, I recommend you go to the USVI. Each island is different, St Thomas = more clubs; St Croix = more golf; St John = more secluded. If you are from the USA, (1) you already speak the language; (2) no currency conversion is needed; (3) you can find PLENTY of what you requested in your post; and (4) as long as you have your passport with you, you can use the USVI as a jumping off point to go to an out of the way island.

rotanes

Italy is a very nice place to go, but in April it can be quite cold and for sure it will be not warm enough for swimming

trancedrhythmear

Dubai is very warm year round and it is very beautiful with lots of sightseeing and things to do. With all the real estate that went up there, its tough to get bored. Plus, the nightlife is a lot of fun and you can find a variety of different themed clubs without having to worry about ur group o'happy hour boozers tumblin around drunk and being obnoxious. Classy city with amazing views and definitely romantic.

BLI-Flyer

If you want to have a long and happy marriage, the correct answer is wherever your fiancée wants to go.

seamaster73

sheesh..3 weeks and only left the room 3 times...i know it is the honeymoon and everything but egads...suprised you both didnt get bed sores..
to the OP...kaui or maui would be great...exotic yet still with all the amenities of the US

halothane

Hawaii or if you wanted to go international I vote the beaches of thailand or a visit to Bali.

Thunderroad

LOL! And not bad advice.

But anyway, I think that 200,000 AA miles could get you to Phuket in Thailand, from which you could get to the absolutely great Le Meridien Khao Lak (unfortunately for you a Starwood and not a Hilton property), which is a safe, $40, 75-minute hotel car ride away from the airport. Search for the hotel here on FT or on Tripadvisor.com for some great reviews. The property is beautiful and well run, but has the added fantastic bonus of a very long, mostly empty, beautiful stretch of beach with very good open air restaurants and massage shacks sprinkled along it. You could cash in your AA miles for two CX tickets in business class. The only downside of CX, which is a wonderful airline, is that its business class seats are very private, with partitions between them, so you and your wife wouldn't share the flight much.

On the way, you could stop off in Hong Kong for forced overnights, though if you wanted to stay longer (which is definitely worthwhile) it would cost you more miles to break up the trip that way. But if you did stay in Hong Kong, you could use some of your Hilton points at a fantastic hotel, the Conrad Hilton.

Another option would be to see about using your AA miles to fly to Tahiti, French Polynesia on Air Tahiti Nui, then take a very short local flight or ferry over to Moorea, where there is a wonderful Hilton. (There is an even nicer Hilton on Bora Bora, but the domestic flight to get there is very expensive, about $1,000 for two people, plus Bora Bora is even more expensive than already-expensive Moorea.) I'm not sure how many nights your Hilton points would get you there, however, and you'd definitely want to pay to upgrade to an over-the-water bungalow for your honeymoon.

By the way, congratulations on getting married!

thelark

We were married in April 2009 and went to Anguilla - weather was perfect.