Honeymoon Frustration - so many conflicting opinions!

[Doubler]

Check out some of the resorts in Fiji.

 

[butrflyleslie]

We went to Fiji for our Honeymoon. The diving was epic, the locals were super welcoming, the resort was all-inclusive and very nice. We had our own Honeymoon Bure with a private pool for 9 days, 10-dives, all our food, direct flights from LAX, transfers to resort....pretty much everything but booze (our tab at the end of the trip for extra dives, booze, daily massages, and a few tours was only $600). Our total trip for two was $4400 plus the $600 for extras. We stayed at Wananavu Beach Resort and booked through World of Diving which was fantastic to work with. I'd highly recommend the trip.

 

[breechan]

Thanks for the replies so far. I really appreciate that you guys took the time to share your thoughts. I'll try to address some things.

Fiance vetoed the cruise option.

US or British VirginIslands. Diving is OK for beginners.

Any specific resorts? And I stress, adults-only resorts.

robint - Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe we'll go in December since we wouldn't want to come during hurricane season. I'm not so much looking for a dive resort, but rather a resort with some diving that isn't crappy. I don't plan on diving every day. Maybe 3 - 5 dives total.

diversteve - That place sure looks awesome, and the dive op looks great, but fiance is pretty sticky about the adults only thing. Where did you stay and would you recommend any other places there?

Hemlon - Fiance doesn't want to go to a really common (generic in his mind) place. I don't really have anything against Mexico. I guess we feel like "we could go to Mexico any time, let's go somewhere really special for our honeymoon."

farsidefan1 - The Phillipines is just too far for us this time around. Some day, I dream that my husband will be just as into scuba as me, and we travel the world to all the great dive spots, many of which are there. However, we're looking for a honeymoon appropriate resort, which happens to also have scuba available.

Jimmer - again, we won't stay at a place with kids running around. It's supposed to be a romantic honeymoon.

ColoDale - Thanks for the advice. This kind of info is exactly why I posted here.
I should have specified about budget. The budget I quoted was based on 2 people. However, since my expectations may be in need of adjustment, we could probably pay more and perhaps have a shorter stay. I just can't picture spending more than $1000 a day, including airfare. I had been looking into Sandals in St. Lucia, but was turned off by reports of rude staff, dirty rooms, lack of towels and loungers, and broken down equipement etc. I was also looking at Rendezvous and The Body Holiday, they seem pretty nice. Both have had massive recent renos.

butrflyleslie and doubler - I really wanted to go to Fiji originally, but the flight time and price turned me off. It's so darned far for us. Maybe I'll give it a second chance. How long was the flight from LAX? I don't know if my fiance would like it since there isn't really a beach at that resort.

Hmmm, it is really difficult to pick a place with such strict requirements. :blinking:

 

[drivsea]

My wife and I honeymooned in Curacao and she did her openwater course at the same time.... We stayed at the Kura Hulanda which was just across a footbridge from the main shopping area in town. A van took us to the beach (5 min) where she did her classes while I snorkled and enjoyed the occasional colada. The room was amazing and the staff topnotch (rose petals on the turn down service), the intown location felt like a small private village with lots of space between the rooms which were in small buildings.... so we werent aware of other guests when we were in our room. There is a choice of fine dining and a cafe and also a well done museum on site. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The ABC islands (Dutch Antilles) tend to miss most of the weather systems which makes a washed out trip less likely. Congrats and happy honeymoon!

 

[aquaregia]

I found the British Virgin Islands beautiful. We were bareboating, so unfortunately I can't recommend any resorts.

 

[ngdiver72]

The first thing you should do is contact a travel professional, you have some very specfic requirements and should try to find one that has a dive specialist. There several very good suggestions above,most of these are very dive specfic and my lack the amminities you desire for a Honeymoon location. Cruise is not a bad option but is is hard to cordinate training on a cruise.

Final suggestion, find a shop that has a "discover scuba" or be a diver course so your Fiance can try, the DEMA website can direct you to a local shop.

 

[cardzard]

I would agree with ngdiver72 that you need a travel agency with access and knowledge to all to dive resorts. Al at Bay Adventures is handling this years Scubaboard Invasion to Cozumel and I am sure he could find you what you are looking for.

 

[RJP]

Little Dix Bay is not "adults only" however given the price and the demographic of the guests, you'll not find many kids there, especially if you go while school is in session. You can do a trip where you spend half at Little Dix and half at Caneel Bay, which is their sister resort on St John. We did this several years ago and it was phenomenal.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Thought about a live-aboard? (may not offer the privacy newly weds may want)

 

[diversteve]

diversteve - That place sure looks awesome, and the dive op looks great, but fiance is pretty sticky about the adults only thing. Where did you stay and would you recommend any other places there?

We rented a private villa. If you wanted to go with that option, there are smaller ones scattered around both Virgin Gorda and Tortola - vrbo.com is a place to start. I also know a villa travel agent - Anil at Caribbeanway.com who knows some lesser known places - some have full staff for around $5K/wk.

It wouldn't be for me (too big) but I knew a couple who went to Sandals Grande Antigua for their honeymoon a few years ago. I don't know how it was and I've lost track of them to ask. I've read there's good diving off Antigua.

If you throw out Mexico, Bahamas and Jamaica as too common (or bad diving) I think you're limited to St. Lucia or Antigua. There's a few adults/couples resorts around Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic but I've not heard much good about the diving in that area - the better diving seems to be elsewhere. Good golfing though..

You want adult luxe with diving. It's going to be hard to find a travel agent that can do that. Most divers want good diving with accommodations secondary so that's what the dive travel agents, Caradonna, Aquadreams etc. - are geared towards. I think you're mostly only going to find what you want in the South Pacific - at one of the honeymoon destinations in Fiji or elsewhere - like the Maldives.

You might also look for a boutique resort where kids would be minimized by design. An example of this would be Biras Creek on VG. Most (all?) of the suites only have 1 bed. I would have suggested it but it exceeds your budget.

The place I mentioned at the bottom of my previous post wasn't Biras Creek as I've never been there.

So it must have been Mango Bay Resort - and they encourage kids/families since they're small self-contained villas. Mango Bay