So Danny said yesterday that he wants to go to Jamaica for our honeymoon in August. That means we need passports!

I’ve been once, while on a cruise with an old boyfriend a million years ago, but I don’t know anything about how to actually plan a TRIP there. Does anyone have any experience with Jamaica? I’ve tried to check it out on Cheaptickets, and I looked at the Jamaica website.

Also, money is going to be pretty tight –he just got laid off, so hopefully we’ll be able to pull the honeymoon off for no more than about $2,000, including spending money. He probably won’t be able to take a bunch of time off from a new job, so we probably will be able to go for four nights, airfare from San Antonio. Help, where do I start?

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Stefanie, Travelgirl is a travel consultant so she may be to one to ask

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When we were planning our trip to Cancun, we used tripadvisor.com. It was very helpful!

Alex

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Gem-I know that there are many all inclusives in Jamaica like Sandals and Superclubs. I've never been myself, but everyone I know who has gone has loved it!

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I'll look into those, thanks!

Judiiiiiiith! Where are you????

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Hey Stephanie!

My husband and I took our honeymoon to Jamaica. Quiet frankly it wasn't all that great. We had originally planned on going to Playa Del Carmen, and we had absolutely every fun thing planned and ready, until the HURRICANE hit! Blah.... We were pretty upset, but we had considered Jamaica at first so we ended up going there.

We stayed at a really nice resort... Sandals... and it was all inclusive and everything. We have fun everywhere we go, but this trip we struggled...here are my comments:

GOOD:
~Restaurants at night only were very good
~Resort staff was excellent, and very very nice
~Fun activities/ shows


BAD:
~Airport disaster.... waited in 3 hour line shoulder to shoulder w/no air conditioning.
~Paid extra for a honeymoon suite on beach front, ended up in small room (But that was my agents fault...we were reimbursed)
~Very very humid entire time
~When you leave the room the air conditioning goes off!!! So we'd come back to realax in a hot and sweaty room
~Food sucked during day(with the exception of the night restaurants)
~If you want to leave the resort...the people BOMBARD you... a little I can handle, but this was pretty overbearing
~Same with the beaches
~Extra activities cost you arm and leg so you have to pick and choose
~We didn't like their liquor/beer. Not wide variety of choices


Overall, we paid way too much money for a trip that was no where near as fun and as inexpensive as Mexico... where the food is great, alcohol is good, and you get to do more things because everything is cheaper...
EXample: Swim with Dolphins in mex: $113 In Jamaica: $155 I know lots of people who loved it there...so maybe we just had one bad experience? Good Luck!

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We went to Jamaica for our honeymoon and stayed at Couple's Negril. We had a great time. It was a beautiful resort and the food was great. It was all inclusive and had a ton of activities to do so you wouldn't need much additional money.

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Dani, I know people who have had very similar experiences with Jamaica as you. Another thing they told me was that you can't take any jewelry or cameras or anything of value with you because you will get robbed. They also told me that the shop keepers are really pushy and won't let you leave their store until you buy something. I was also told that Jamaica is really dirty. Did you find that to be true?

DH and I went to Cancun (The Moon Palace Resort) and loved it. We went around to the shops and they were not pushy at all. They just stood back and let us look around - just like here in the U.S. Plus, when you go to Cancun you can also go on tours of the pyramids and other archeological sites and I think they are included in the package.

Dh and I went to Fiji for our honeymoon and I wouldnt reccomend that to anyone. It rained the whole time we were there and the only thing we could eat was cheese sandwiches because everything else made us sick.

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Yes!!!! I have never felt so violated in a place before. We left the resort to tour Jamaica and go to the shops. 1st of all, if you are going outside of the resort, instead of being on a bus full of tourists where you feel safe, they put you in some random car with a driver paid by the resort. Our guide looked like Don King...and it was really his name too! Thank God for him though, or we'd have been robbed too! He took us to specific places where I think he gets a portion of what we buy.

It was completely crazy!! We stopped in a village, where the people there turn their 8X8 rooms into a shop during the day time to sell the stuff they make by hand. We were pulled into one of the rooms, where we were given "free" gifts. (They were friendship bracelets and they grabbed our arms and tied them on us.) They start out by asking $40 for some little trinket and they would drop the price until you bought it!!! My husband only paid $5 for something so the lady took his friendship bracelet off and said you don't get to keep yours! ( I guess cause he wouldn't pay her asking price)

If you said you liked anything or picked anything up they would put it in a bag as if you were going to buy it. (We were forwarned so we tried not to do that...but then they were picking up anything that I looked at for longer than 5 seconds and bagging it). In order to leave you have to push your way through the door because they are blocking it with the bagged items that they say you agreed to buy. My DH and I felt so sorry for them because they were so poor, that we bought tons of crap we didn't want just to be nice, but when we walked out of that room we were taken to another room where you had to pay for those items... We payed another lady for the items we bought in the 1st room, and then that lady got mad because we wouldn't buy anything from her!!! My husband said we were out of money, and she began to tell him that he was a liar and she started grabbing at his pockets!!! We pushed her out of the way to get out and told her we had no more money. She shouted through the entire village... "NO MONEY...NO MONEY" Which everyone else started yelling too, until we left....!!!!! No one would even let us look after we said we had no money! I thought people would start throwing stuff at us!!!

We were taken to other "businesses" too, but they weren't any better, you can't even walk down the street without people keep walking up to you!!!! One guy ran up to us and showed us a "majic trick" but we had no idea what he was saying, and then he demanded $5 from both of us for watching!!! OMG... Every time you get off of a tour bus or guide or taxi... even though the resort says not to tip them, they start yelling at you for money! YIKES...

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You're killing me, Lisa! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Fiji! I would go back in a heartbeat, and maybe even move there if I could.
I was on Vitalevu... stayed in Suva most of the trip, then spent a few days in Nadi. I swear Nadi is one of the most beautiful places ever!

As for the food, yeah, you have to be careful, but hey, that's pretty much anywhere besides U.S., Canada, and western Europe. The locals make some great dishes, though. I had some great food, and some really gross food (the hot dogs are something I will never forget... I think I'd prefer eating bugs over the hotdogs!)
When we were there, it rained every day for about 15 minutes. It helped cool things off, so we readily accepted the rain!

The people in Fiji are amazing, though. Especially OUTSIDE of the touristy areas.

Anyway, just wanted to throw in a good word to combat Lisa's boo-hoo message!

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Well, this past weekend we spent two days at a little resort on the Frio river. They have all these cabins, nice amounts of privacy, and you can go play in the river, go tubing, etc. DL has been going there since he was tiny. It's one of those family owned places that's been around for a hundred years and the same families go back for generations.

Anyway, we had such a great time I'm considering throwing the whole travel idea out the window and just spending a week there! And it would be much cheaper and much less hassle.

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Believe me, eliminate as much stress and strain and go somewhere you can just relax and enjoy each other! It will be worth it. In a few years you can plan a big trip for anniversary # 5 or 10, that is what we hope to do!

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Did I mention it's only an hour and a half drive away? Maybe it IS a good idea...

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It sounds like you are liking this idea a lot, so go with it!

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Dani, that's the same exact description that the people I know gave me about the place. I will never go there, and would never recommend the place to anyone. DH said it would be safer to hang out in the middle of Compton than go there - at least there are laws and police to protect you somewhat.

Stephanie, I think you are making a wise decision to go somewhere in the U.S. for your honeymoon. That's what DH and I did, too. We stayed in a Victorian mansion in Napa and toured the wineries for 3 days and then drove down to check out Hearst Castle for 3 days. It was a lot of fun. It was like taking a step back in time. We loved it and it was relatively inexpensive.