Where should I go on my Honeymoon?

Niagra Falls really is lovely. Seeing the falls at night is quite romantic. If you can get a hotel near the falls with a balcony, that would be nice.
Outside of the US, there are a few places but 3000 can easily disappear in air travel, especially since you will be traveling in the summer months.
I love, NYC in the summer. You can find apartments that are being rented for cheap that may come off less expensive than a hotel room and some are really nice.
Or even a cabin in the blue ridge mountains if you like the outdoors. Maybe rent one with a lake near by.

Check the prices of a cruise, I think you’ll find $3000 will get you an inside cabin and some money left over for airfare.

An Alaskan Cruise sounds fantastic to me.

I just got back from an Alaskan cruise and it was fantastic! Relaxing, interesting, and fun. One of my best vacations ever, and I have travelled quite a bit. We left out of Vancouver, and Vancouver is a wonderful city (I actually honeymooned there 19 years ago) so if you can spend a few days there first I recommend it.

If you seriously consider the Alaskan cruise I would be happy to tell you about my excursions, and the ones my friends and family did. We all did different ones, and some the same, so I have a quite a bit of information.

The little bit of a tricky part is staying within your budget for flights and cruise, assuming you don’t live near Seattle or Vancouver. The flights have been quite expensive, but you could try getting a new credit card for the airline you would fly and maybe you can get one flight free. The last minute cruise prcies are much much cheaper, half sometimes, but for a honeymoon you might be reluctant to wait to plan it, which I can understand. I paid $1400 per person for my room, but the last weeks before the cruise it went down to $900 I think. My memory is a little foggy, but it was much lower.

What kinds of things/places interest both of you? I’d start there, and work with that info and your budget. Congratulations, too!

The Sandals Resorts are great. If you like scuba diving some if them include it in their all inclusive price.

I had a good time in Playa Del Carmen Mexico at the Iberro Star resort (not sure on spelling) – it’s of course got a beach but the beach is not all there is to do in the area. There are Mayan ruins etc.

I’ve heard good things about the Cayman Islands too.

Regarding pricing – I’ve seen some great deals on Groupon, Living Social & CoupTessa with regard to travel – it’s worth checking out to see if there’s a deal that fits the parameters you need/want.

The Greek Islands are wonderful.

Oh, there is a Panama Canal 10 day cruise, if you can’t do the 14 day one. That is a lot of time for most people. It leave and returns into Ft Lauderdale, so the flights are usually reasonable. It doesn’t go all the way through the canal, just half way and then turns back around.

Cruises are a nice idea for a honeymoon. Less stress, everything is taken care of.

However, I do agree a resort in Playa Del Carmen is very nice as suggested above. You can do one day trips while in the area for snorkeling to see ruins, etc.

I agree with @JLeslie. I’ve been to Alaska on a cruise and loved it. I’ve also been to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. We went to the all inclusive Royal Hideaway Resort in Mexico, and I loved that. Congratulations, and let us know what you decide!

How does a cruise of the Adriatic sound? Go see the historic sites, read the signs, taste the water, sample the cuisine and culture.

oh, trust me. Once you are on a cruise, money just flys out of your hands. Unless you plan not to get any drinks, (which are soooo good) and just stick to the free meals. Also trips when you get off the ship cost, transportation. It is a good idea if you just plan on staying in your cabin and mostly only come out for free activities. All I know is by the time you get off, you will fine you may have spent as much on other things as you did on your cruise fare. You won’t even remember where it all went.
Well in my case it was the ohhhhhhhhhh, so good drinks. You get addicted fast.

@Pandora So true! I went on a cruise on my honeymoon and they started out very respectful and all businesslike: Mr. Chyna would you like a drink? After the second Bahama Mama it was “Johnny my man, another Bahama Mama for you”! And it was just drink after drink and they have those little umbrellas in them. You don’t really realize you are paying for so many, We had a 400.00 drink tab for a four day cruise.

Well, I don’t drink, so that was not a problem for me. I did buy a $25 soda card that was worth $50 in cokes, and the cokes were only $1.95 per can. We didn’t even use up the whole card. The ship said it was ok to bring cokes on board also, but I would double check. The card was so reasonable I didn’t bother to confirm. My husband did have a beer one night and I know my dad had some alcoholic drinks, and they were not crazy expensive, They were like an average moderate restaurant.

Now, there is a tip that is automatically deducted on most ships daily, that is important to know. I think ours was $23 daily per cabin. Plus, I gave an extra tip on top to the men who tended to our cabin.

The excursions are overpriced, sometimes they run deals on them. I did one excursion separate from the cruiseship, and one day we took the free bus that runs in the town we were in to get to the attraction we were interested in so it all kind of leveled out. Total total I think everything added up was about $1,000 over the price we paid for the cruise that’s three excursions and the fish hatchery we did on our own and the beverage card. My parents spent about half, because their excursions simply cost less. You don’t have to do any excursions. My first cruise was a 4 night carribbean cruise and we didn’t do any. It was a last minute super cheap deal, and we did it on a lark just to try cruising. The whole vacation cost me less than $1,000 for my husband and me.

The entertainment is free and worth something. We saw a great comedian. Some of the entertainement was mediocre, but overall good. We had a lot of fun dancing at the disco one night. Plus, we went to a cooking demonstration that on the outside would be worth probaby $30 a person easily. Usually those things are more like $60—$90, but this was just two dishes.

I can’t see any reason to pay for food outside of what is already provided.

All these thngs are available to see when you look at the cruises before you decide. You can look up tye excursions, see which ones are appealing, and how much they cost.

I think if I remember right the Playa Del Carmen trip I did was 1200 for 4nights 5 days and it was all inclusive with the drinks and food. Things done outside the resort cost extra but it was never too much & so for 2400 or so for two that’s not a bad deal – even better if you can get a groupon etc. for it.

How about Jersey?

No seriously….. I’m stealing you my own long time vacation/honeymoon idea…. Barbados.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I’ll have to jump on here with my fiancee and go over all the great idea’s. It’s sounding like a cruise is most bang for buck, but I’ll look over all the other suggestions as well and let you all know what I decide. Feel free to throw out any more idea’s as they come, it’ll likely be a few months before we decide for sure.

@RandomMrAdam Like @augustlan, I would like to hear more about your interests. Are you nature lovers? Do you two prefer exploring art, history, and general sight-seeing? Are you looking for some place exotic? Or does a relaxing week at a resort sound more appealing? What about sports and fitness?

@Pied_Pfeffer, Neither of us have had a vacation in awhile so this will be, for me and I think for her as well, about relaxing after all the wedding stuff that will fill many of our weekends for the next 10 months. She is more of an outdoors person than I am, but I do enjoy doing things outside when it’s nice out. We both do like nature a lot – we’ll regularly go on walks or biking on nearby trails where we live. She really enjoys sight-seeing whether it simply be downtown Columbus (where we live), or by the river. The last vacation we had went on together was to Panama City Beach and that was a lot of fun and very relaxing; we both enjoyed it a lot. We stayed there for a week and time just seemed to fly by, so I was hoping to get more time out of a vacation this time around (maybe up to 14 days). The honeymoon doesn’t have to be exotic, as long as it’s relaxing and there is enough stuff to do in case simply relaxing gets too boring :)

Thank you so much. Okay, so there is a budget of $3000, something for 7–14 days, a place that has nature and the ability to walk or hike, and available interesting sights to see in case boredom sets in. Y’all have done the beach scene, so while not ruled out, it wouldn’t be a first priority. Does that sound about right?

I don’t know of any place where you can get all of these at once. It may take prioritizing in order to make a decision. For example, let’s say that staying within the budget is the most important. It may require less traveling, but time could still be taken off during the honeymoon and spent at home or just visiting places within driving distance of home.

If a cruise is appealing, then it is just a matter of doing the research. There are plenty that cater to various needs. My parents used the Clipper Cruise line. They are smaller-sized cruise ships where the staff are also the nature guides. They often include plenty of stops and hikes.

Three places in the US worth considering are the San Francisco area, Arizona, and New England.

San Francisco isn’t cheap, but it has a wonderful mix of nature and sights. The bulk of the time can be spent just walking around the huge city. To venture outside, there are tours, and a car can always be rented for part of the trip.

Arizona blew me away. I spent two weeks there on a business trip traveling around. Tucson is sand, cactus and tumbleweeds. Phoenix, while also flat and sandy, is more metropolitan with plenty to see. Continue north, and there is Sedona, which seems to cater to the artsy type. Further north is Flagstaff. It is at a higher elevation with a cooler climate. North of that is Native American country and a landscape so beautiful that it made me weep. Just north of that is the Grand Canyon.

New England is filled with an incredible mix of history, culture and nature. You could start out in Boston, then rent a car for a couple of days and head up into Maine before returning.