Honeymoon

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

Soldato
Joined
5 Apr 2004
Posts
5,461
Location
Bloxham
So, I'm attaching the ball & chain next summer for better or worse... We pretty much know what we want to do for our honeymoon, just wondering if you guys had any tips or experience on the best way to book & save money.

Ideally we want to fly from the UK to New York (where we got engaged) for 3/4 days, then spend a couple of weeks in the Caribbean - most likely the Bahamas. I can go onto <insert travel agent> website, click a few boxes and hand over a pile of money, but I'm thinking this is probably the most expensive way to go about it.

Any tips or suggestions from anyone who's done this already?
 
Big Chris said:
I did think about this, but for example if I go to the Sandals website (or similar resort) and book on their website, is that not the most expensive way to go about it?
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Often that is the cheapest way.
I tend to use sites like booking.com, hotels.com and kayak.com but I always check the company website before booking. Sometimes the company website is cheaper than than the travel website, very rarely will something like hotels.com be cheaper.

Same goes for flights, you can use whatever website you want but it is always worth going straight to the airline because often sites like orbitz, ebooker etc add on some commission.


EDIT: It is also sometimes worth calling up a hotel and seeing what price they can give you. If the hotel isn't expected to be near capacity then you can sometimes talk them down to giving you a god deal. Ultimately the hotel want to run close to capacity as possible so are willing to accept lower prices to achieve that, and also prefer not to go through a travel website like hotels.com which presumably take some % commission. I haven't done this often but in the past I have talked the manager into giving me a $200 a night room for under $100
 
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Also Quidco/Topcashback will net you a decent chunk of change. Not much on flights, but ~10% back on hotels.
 
Go for last minute deals on vacation websites lol. Its ridiculous cheap and high comfort xD. Best way to get an awsome vacation with a cheap budget
 
Problem is the Caribbean during summer is the worst time to visit. Its the tropics and it'll rain every day in summer. Plus it'll be stiffling hot. I personally think you're better off in the Mediterranean or the Pacific coast during summer, and leave the tropics out of it, if anytime between 1st June & 1st Oct. But if dates are already set. Then yep, Bahamas is fun. Then perhaps jump a low cost jet from there to South Florida and hang out at places like Fort Lauderdale, and then perhaps drive to the west coast of FL and experience Naples.
 
D.P. said:
Often that is the cheapest way.
I tend to use sites like booking.com, hotels.com and kayak.com but I always check the company website before booking. Sometimes the company website is cheaper than than the travel website, very rarely will something like hotels.com be cheaper.

Same goes for flights, you can use whatever website you want but it is always worth going straight to the airline because often sites like orbitz, ebooker etc add on some commission.
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Ok cheers, I'll have a hunt around on websites and compare with the travel websites.

Seft said:
Also Quidco/Topcashback will net you a decent chunk of change. Not much on flights, but ~10% back on hotels.
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Good shout, didn't think of this.

kaka4200 said:
Go for last minute deals on vacation websites lol. Its ridiculous cheap and high comfort xD. Best way to get an awsome vacation with a cheap budget
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Not going to leave the honeymoon until last minute, the Mrs will never have that!
 
Went Dubai, stayed in a fancy pants hotel (Grovesnor House) and had an overall amazing time. It's probably the only time in your life where you shouldn't watch the pennies! Go all out for a few nights.
 
thedoc46 said:
Problem is the Caribbean during summer is the worst time to visit. Its the tropics and it'll rain every day in summer. Plus it'll be stiffling hot. I personally think you're better off in the Mediterranean or the Pacific coast during summer, and leave the tropics out of it, if anytime between 1st June & 1st Oct.
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Interesting.... We're getting married end of July so August is when we'll be off on our jolly, is the Caribbean really that uncompromising? I've seen deals on San Fran, Hawaii and Vegas as a honeymoon package which I thought might be cool?
 
Big Chris said:
Interesting.... We're getting married end of July so August is when we'll be off on our jolly, is the Caribbean really that uncompromising? I've seen deals on San Fran, Hawaii and Vegas as a honeymoon package which I thought might be cool?
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Summer is also typically the wet season in Hawaii (but it does vary by island).
The thing is Most of Hawaii is a rainforest, it rains a lot, in some places it rains every day continuously without ever stopping.

I had my honeymoon on Maui and the rain wasn't a big factor. I stayed on the south coast which is generally dry but it would cloud right over and the sea got too rough by the afternoon, although it rarely rained. The trips around the island invariably meant walking though drenching rain etc. not really a big deal. after south coast we stayed in Hana and it rain more or les continuously for 4 days but it wasn't really a big deal. Trekking through the rainforest in your swim gear etc.

Parts of the big island are much drier though.


TBH, I wouldn't worry about the rain in the Caribbean so much as the hurricane threat:D
Bottom line if you want dry then you need to go to a dessert (even there you can get rain), not a rainforest / tropical island.
 
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D.P. said:
TBH, I wouldn't worry about the rain in the Caribbean so much as the hurricane threat:D
Bottom line if you want dry then you need to go to a dessert (even there you can get rain), not a rainforest / tropical island.
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Thing is June, July, Aug & Sept see's 10inches of rain, whereas the remaining months only see 2inches per month.. so its a big difference. Plus temps are a LOT hotter, with high humidity.

If it was anytime between early Nov to end of April, there's nowhere in the world that has finer weather that time of yr... The downside to us folk living in the tropics, is that the summers are hot, humid and wet, and yep, a hurricane could literally wipe everything out.
 
Top Tip for booking anything Travel wise online:

Do your searches in Incognito mode, and clear your cookies/cache and re-search once you have decided on what you are booking - especially on flights!!

There was a thing a few years ago where companies were using cookies to track customer searches - all right, thats okay - but what they were then doing is upping the prices if you did the same search again to get the customer to book! :o :eek:
 
We were looking at the Caribbean for next year June and July, but the weather is just too hit and miss, and when it misses it really is wet.

Just settled on Croatia instead - some stunning bargains there at the moment.
 
TrixiBuG said:
Top Tip for booking anything Travel wise online:

Do your searches in Incognito mode, and clear your cookies/cache and re-search once you have decided on what you are booking - especially on flights!!

There was a thing a few years ago where companies were using cookies to track customer searches - all right, thats okay - but what they were then doing is upping the prices if you did the same search again to get the customer to book! :o :eek:
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I had this when booking flights to Lisbon this year. I had a price of like $2500 (2 adult flights from DC), we waited a couple of days to mull things over, when back to book and the price had risen to $2700 and we were very annoyed. Wife picked UK her IPad and got a price of $2400 for the exact same trip, same details. We both verified and and got the same cost, I would have to pay $2700 using my iPad, my wife $2400 using hers.
So we book the tickets with the wife's iPad and then for fun checked prices again, she could get new tickets at $2475 while I could have to pay $2800!


This should really be illegal.
Someone told me amazon do something similar.
 
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