Affordable honeymoons?

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Kristie

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i just saw the last thread on honeymoons and had to ask if anyone has any suggestions for affordable (yet memorable and romantic) honeymoons. my fiance and i are pretty young, so jetting off to europe isn’t an option. we live in FL so the carribbean is a possibility. but if we go, we’d like to do it inexpensively. we’d be grateful for any ideas you may have! thank you!

-kristie
 
I think this would be hard to answer without a budgetary number. What one young person consideres affordable may be out of the budget for someone else.
 
It also depends on when you’re getting married and what you both like to do.

My DH and I graduated college (with enormous amts of loans) and got married that summer (which was this past summer). We went to Jamaica for less than $2,000, but if you’re looking for much less expensive - Niagra Falls, Door County WI, Mexico possibly?.
 
Hey Kristie! 👋

If you haven’t set a date yet, the easiest way to save money on a honeymoon is to go during the less popular travel months when airfare and accomodations are cheaper. That being said, if you wanted a tropical honeymoon, you probably don’t want to schedule it in December…:eek:

Other ways to save are to plan well in advance so you have time to find the best deals or to wing it and plan right before so you get more motivated sellers. I wouldn’t recommend the latter option because I think it could turn really bad–and it is, after all, your honeymoon…

My fiance and I wanted to go somewhere historical, so we chose Rome–however, if we had a tighter budget, we would have spent our honeymoon in Natchez, Mississippi and Charleston, South Carolina. Both of these are beautiful towns that we would have been able to drive to. Bed and breakfasts there are more affordable than many hotels on the beach…

Congratulations on your engagement!

kevinsgirl :love:
 
You can also stay at a nice hotel in your own area (without telling family and friends where you will be 😉 ) and see the sights there. Or go to Disney World for a week or book a couple of dinners in a local, expensive restaurant. Depending on your interests, visit museums or go camping or water skiing or whatever else you’d like to do, such as going up in a balloon, scuba diving, etc. In a word, be creative. As G. K. Chesterton said (paraphrasing), “Economizing is the most romantic thing a couple can do” because is forces us to make our own fun, and create our own memories.
 
we went to the Mayan rivera for our honeymoon to a RIU resort . They are a mostly spanish based chain so very few americans at our hotel. All inclusive except for any day trips you wanted to do. I believe airfare from Philly and the resort might have been around 1800? THis was for a week. Also the nice part was the airline bumped us up to first class when they found out it was our honeymoon:)

I would try www.expediatravel.com because they usually have some great prices on trip packages as does travelocity. I’ve seen week packages to ireland for 600 including airfare hotel and a car. A couple of weeks ago they had packages to rome for 700-900 a person (i love looking at the packages in hopes that we can go soon:)

I loved our honeymoon the beach was great:) And it was nice to relax some …😃
 
What do you both love to do? Do you love to camp/rough it? A camping trip would be good - drive to a local state park and camp out.

We were short on $$, and had a great weekend at an area country/golf club - we don’t even play golf, but, it was pretty, there was a pool and the condo was nice and not spendy. We could eat out at the club fancy, at the snack bar or cook in the condo!

Being a tourist in your own town can be quite fun.
 
We went to Curacao (2.5 hour flight from Miami) and loved it, we stayed at the gorgeous, four-star Kura Hulanda Resort in Willemstad and got an amazing deal because it was October, which is their low season. (The nice thing about Curacao is that it’s really too far south for hurricanes, even during the low season.)

That said, our idea of affordable may be way off from yours as we were a two-earner couple at the time – I think we paid $2000 for hotel and flight combined through Expedia.com (we got a free Honeymoon upgrade by e-mailing the hotel), then about $1000 more for incidentals on the island during our one-week stay. And we spared no expense on the island, let me tell you – for the whole week, we agreed not to track spending and ate wonderfully at the best restaurants, tried every activity available and drank fine, fine wine. Still, I think our week’s expenses came out to like $897. So we came out under $3000 total for everything including travel.

If I was looking to go really dirt cheap, I’d stay in-state, drive, and find a beautiful bed-and-breakfast for maximum privacy and atmosphere (and free breakfast, duh! :)), then spend most of my time in the bedroom. 😉 You can find some cute B&Bs in the Keys, and anything outside of Key West tends to be more affordable (aka Marathon, etc.).

Good luck and congratulations! I hope your wedding, honeymoon and marriage are everything you’re praying for!
 
I don’t know where you live, or how cheap you want to go, but these are the “cheap” places young couples in our area flock for their honeymoons, however hokey it might be:
  • Wisconsin Dells
  • Hot Springs, Arkansas
  • St. Louis, MO
  • Springfield, IL
  • Chicago (can’t get much cheaper than a weekend Metra pass)
  • Vegas (Yes, Vegas- very reasonable, Sin City is, particularly if you’re not big on gambling. You don’t have to get married there to save money.)
  • Austin, Texas
  • Milwaukee
  • Macinac Island (This is actually quite romantic)
  • Michigan City, Indiana
You’ll have to do the research. Long time ago, we went to DC and Colonial Williamsburg. It was affordable. It was fun. It was romantic. TIP: Don’t stay in the Colonial Williamsburg motels, but off-site.
 
OutinChgoburbs said:
I don’t know where you live, or how cheap you want to go, but these are the “cheap” places young couples in our area flock for their honeymoons, however hokey it might be:
  • Wisconsin Dells
  • Hot Springs, Arkansas
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I - for one, can attest that Hot Springs. Arkansas is ANYTHING but hokey 🙂 The historic Arlington or Majestic hotels, the real working bathhouse, the scenery that will bowl you over, fantastic food, great summer lake fun, amazing Parishes and 24/7 Adoration chapels, and I’ll be your personal tour guide 👍
 
E.E.N.S said:
I am not sure what your definition of “affordable” is, but I just proposed (she said YES! 😉 ) this weekend and this was one package that we (she) found that did a lot for a little over $2,000

honeymoonincostarica.com/display.cfm?id_cat=4&id_subcat=11&id_item=122

Congrats on your engagement! 😃
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That does sound great…now you can save up for the airfare to and from Costa Rica (that is not included)🙂 oh and dont forget about lunch and dinner …those are also not included
 
Thanks for everybody’s (name removed by moderator)ut and ideas … I’m not sure what my fiance’s honeymoon price range is, as he’s doing the planning, but I’m guessing he’d want to keep it at about $2,000.

We’re also having trouble deciding what to do because we enjoy such different things. He likes the outdoors, while I’m more of a homebody.

Does anyone know what places would be considered “off season” in January? We decided to marry in January in part because it’s off season for weddings in Florida, but unfortunately it’s also peak season for vacations here (darn it!) I did a little bit of browsing on the Caribbean but January is part of the peak season there, too.
 
Kristie said:
Thanks for everybody’s (name removed by moderator)ut and ideas … I’m not sure what my fiance’s honeymoon price range is, as he’s doing the planning, but I’m guessing he’d want to keep it at about $2,000.

We’re also having trouble deciding what to do because we enjoy such different things. He likes the outdoors, while I’m more of a homebody.

Does anyone know what places would be considered “off season” in January? We decided to marry in January in part because it’s off season for weddings in Florida, but unfortunately it’s also peak season for vacations here (darn it!) I did a little bit of browsing on the Caribbean but January is part of the peak season there, too.
Click to expand...
Alaska and , Europe are two place off the top of my head that I can think of that are OFF Season in January
 
  1. Pick a city and go to Travelocity, Orbitz etc and search on travel/ hotel packages.
  2. Buy (or subscribe to) a travel magazine. Some have sections w/ discount packages. Others feature different cities, budget travel etc.
  3. Subscribe to Hotwire (or other similar sites) and check out the weekly e-mail deals. Two weeks ago I saw a deal from NYC to Rome, plus 6 nights lodging and breakfasts for $600/ person. You had to go during certain dates, but if the dates fall just after your wedding, that would be cool. —KCT
 
Check with your library to see if they carry Budget Travel magazine and look at some back issues for ideas. Also check their website at www.budgettravelonline.com. Look for the 40 Best “Real Deals Right Now” column. Just read the fine print for the details of when the rate applies and if there’s a surcharge. They also have a “Trip Coach” column. If they choose your travel question, they often arrange for discounts and freebies.
 
Kristie said:
Thanks Does anyone know what places would be considered “off season” in January? .
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Niagara Falls, don’t overlook the obvious, we went in March, which is still hard winter there, the town is completely different, the falls is spectacularly beautiful when frozen.
 
Sometimes it can be suprising how affordable Europe can be. If your flexible with your travel times and are up for staying at Monasteries, etc., it can be pretty reasonable.

But if you like the beach, how about Myrtle Beach in S.C.? Its not too rediculously expensive.

Good luck!
 
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