Honeymoon help!!

Hey steely! that's always the case with reviews - i try and do lots of research before booking a hol but someone will always have had a bad experience. try and find the place with the most positive reviews, the nicest traveller pictures (not just hotel ones!) and with the right kind of size/weather/vibe that you guys are going for. find out about activities and the area - not everyone likes the same thing so reviews might be misleading. for example some1 who really doesn't like a beachy holiday might have decided to try one, still didn't like it and was miserable there, so wrote a crappy review.

am i making any sense?!?!?!

good luck!!xxx

Hey Steely! Long time no hear! Sorry to hear that you've still not sorted things for the honeymoon. Don't let bad reviews put you off. You don't ever call your bank to tell them they are doing a good job, or for just doing their job for instance - you only ever call them to complain when they've c*cked things up. It's the same with reviews, people only tend to post about bad experiences or really, really super experiences, but they are few and far between because people don't tend to feel as passionately about them as they do when complaining! So, take a bit of a step back and really don't get too bogged down with what you read online. What are you deciding between? Maybe some ladies can help here?

Where do you want to go?

What kind of holiday do you want?

How long do you want to go for?

Where is hot at the time you want to go?

These were the factors we took into account -

we wanted a luxury beach holiday where the weather was going to be hot, hot, hot and it had to be All Inclusive.

We are getting married in October so that ruiled out the Carribean as its the end of their hurricaine season, also ruiled out Maldives as its there rainy season.
Which left us with America, Australia or Mauritious.

Mauritious had been recomended to me by many a people so we found a few hotels we liked and then looked at reviews on trip advisor and holiday watchdog and booked the one we thought ticked all our boxes and had the best reviews.

Reviews can be very hard to go by... but then it does tend to be all we have to go by!!!!!

You'll often find some people grumbled because it was raining and they had nothing to do; which may be true but it isn't necessarily the hotels fault (though I guess they could provide some indoor entertainment). Breakdown the reviews you read to being sensible problems or silly problems.

If you let us know the locations your interested in I'm sure we'll all try to chip in.

Do you know anyone who has been to any of the places you are looking at? someone who knows you and would be able to recommend somewhere?

I used to be a travel agent and most of the staff were were travelled. The holiday companies send you on "educational" trips so that you can provide first hand experience and info to customers. pop into a local independent agency - (ie not thomas cook/thomsons) and get recomendations and prices then do a bit of research on the internet to see who can do the best deal!

Ive visited jamaica, cuba, mexico and dominican rep if you are looking for some recommendations for the carribean? Just depends on what you are after? ?

We used "The Honeymoon Butler" people to help book ours.

We only had a vague idea of where we wanted to go and a budget so got in touch with them and they made lot of suggestions etc for us.

My head hurts!! I dont want a honeymoon anymore its too much effort!!

We've started looking at honeymoons already a little early but it'll be the next holiday we go on! We've written a list of all things that are important to us for our honeymoon even as stupid as my request for a candlelit dinner on the beach. It is a once in a lifetime holiday afterall. Then have a look through a few brouchures see which ones tick the most boxes then go onto trusty trip advisor and do the research. As the other girls have said don't be put off by all the moaners that will winge about anything. You can group the reviews into different ages and travel groups which really helps. Mnd make sure you look at the phots that other holiday makers have attached. That way it'll give you a good feel for what the place is really like.

Hope that helps and don't give up it'll be worth it!!! xx

sounds just like us!! so where are you heading in mauritius!?? We're staying in Sugar beach - and this time 6 months we'll be there!!

We went through much the same procedure as Shoegal, plus we wanted to go somewhere further away where we hadn't been before (ended up with Mauritius too!) - the time of year and how far you want to travel will rule out a lot of places. If all else fails, write down the options you're left with and pull one out of a hat? For individual resorts might be worth asking a travel agent - we went to Thomas Cook and she spent an hour (no joke) on the phone to a woman who'd stayed at a lot of hotels in Mauritius to get her opinion.

You'll get there!

Shoegal, out of interest, which hotel did you end up choosing? We've narrowed it down to 5 so far!

are you wanting to go far away and are you wanting all inc? you could either both go into a travel agent and see what they can recommend. There may be a last minute deal. or did you try icelolly.com??

We have roughly £1500 to play with and AI

Want to go somewhere hot with beaches, swimming pool, relax, and go for meals etc

So far I've been looking at Greece canaray islands.

This is the best I've found so far with good reviews...

https://www.tui.co.uk/

Thanks girls for helping me

Deborah - were probably be in Mauritious about the same time -might see you at the airport! eeeeccck canne wait!

For that kind of budget and requirements there are LOADS of places you can go.

I would thoroughly recomend the Dominican Republic - we stayed at the Riu Merenge hotel 2 weeks AI in June last year and paid £700 per person.

The hotel was fanctastic and the beaches were great

Hey Darlin!

Who did you book through?

xxx

Thanks for helping moi! As you can see im shite when it comes to arranging holidays moohahhaa!

We bookde throught Thomas Cook.

We literally just went into the shop, told them our budget and they sourced the holiday

SG that place looks perfect and what a great price....................x

Egypt could be a possibility for AI.

Personally, I wouldn't at all go AI to Greece!! Much better going to lovely tavernas than a buffet mela at a hotel.

AI is great in some countried, in others to me, it's not at all worth the money.

Seriously, you could get a million ideas of places but it all depends on availability and prices. Your best bet is to just look at some website and have a play with dates and destinations. Also, phone a travel agent and get them to help.

D used travel consultants to book ours and they were fab (apparently).

Seriously - it was the best holiday ive been on - cant fault it

OK - had a quick look on Thomson website and (I think you get married 18 June??) this is what came up after just a little look...

I have no idea what these hotels or resorts are like but they're pretty high star ratings and look a decent price and on budget. Worth invesitgating...

Wow thats ace Geordie! You fab pink club lass you !!

I will have another butchers, thanks for being honest about greece too i thiill shop around!!

I do love Greece, but much of the charm is the little tavernas - nice traditional Greek place with lovely food. AI can be fab and you can get nice meals, but they're never true, they're always tourist versions.

You can have some ideas of places you fancy but it's all due to price and availablity for the the time you're going. You're best off just checking randomly.

ALl I did was look at Thomson and stick in dates then just kept selecting different destinations. Those are for 7 nights for 2 adults...