Honeymoon in Mexico....what to do?

We had aholiday in Cuba last year and like you, I thought I would hate a beach holiday. We had a fantastic time. The people are really friendly and of course lots of culture. I even learnt to snorkle.

The weather is fantastic too. We loved it so much we are going again in October.

Croatia! Somewhere near Dubrovnik which is a lovely city to explore, and then do some Island Hopping from there! We went in June a few years ago - bordering on too hot some days (30-36 degrees each day).

We are going to Thailand, could that be an option?

Fantastic food (well I think so anyway), plenty of culture especially between Bangkok and Chaing Mai up in the north. Bangkok is a great city too, markets, temples, shopping, sights etc etc. We are splitting our time bewteen Bankok and an island down south (Koh Samui).

Hope you find something.

Cuba. Beautiful with lot's to see and do. I'd like to go again before El Castro finally pops his clogs.

My cousin was booked on the 8.30 flight from Manchester yesterday to Mexico for their honeymoon. They have managed now to get a holiday/honeymoon to Barbados tomorrow morning, which is supposed to be beautiful.

x

Can second Thailand. We've been here 5 years and we're still not bored! Beautiful beaches, excellent shopping, friendly people, great culture and nice weather. PM me if you have any questions.

We honeymooned in the Caribbean and it was gorgeous.

Thanks Ladies, I might take a look at Cuba. Is the weather in Thailand not a bit windy/rainy end of May beginning of June??

It's the rainy season but that only means about an hour's rain a day for a few days at a time, then nothing (usually same time each day - about 5pm in Bangkok), sunny the rest of the time. Doesn't ever get windy here.

Really hope the situation in Mexico calms down and you get your ideal honeymoon.

Another suggestion is Egypt. We love it there and my h2b hates lying on the beach and we have been back twice and can't wait to go again. We didn't pick it as a honeymoon destination only because we wanted to go somewhere else. Guaranteed fab weather and plenty of things to do and see.

I know you don't like diving but the snorkelling is AMAZING there and we have never bothered diving.

A little pic of us!

and Memo!

Hi can i be really nosey and ask what your tour opperator has said to you, we also have our honeymoon booked to florida and then onto mexico for the end of May with thomas cook, they are being really unhelpful in the matter and basically told us if we dont go we will loose £2000 and have no honeymoon!!! Just wondering who yours is booked with and what they have said to you!!

The insurance company are not helpful at all either and say its upto the tour opperator for a refund or change of destination, however if we do travel then our insurance will not cover swine flu and if we need any treatment because of this we would have to pay!!! They have said they will only get involved if it gets to level 6 and the country is not allowing anybody in!!! Am a little confused obviously i dont want to go to mexico in the present state, however surely thats what the insurance is for!!!

I know how your feeling as it was my dream to go here aswell!!

Dont really want to look at something else but i dont really have any choice!!

Sorry dont mean to rant at you just wondered what they have said to you thats all!!

Hi there,

It's terrible the way you've been treated! We've booked our flights through my other half's cousin who is a travel agent. At the moment he's being pretty helpful but we're waiting on what Continental Airlines are saying. It looks like they are proposing to offer to delay the flights uintil later in the year (which is useless as I can't afford to go then and want to go on honeymoon after the wedding). The alternative is that they may offer us flights to another destination that they fly too (e.g. Caribbean). At the moment they are only offering this for flights up to May 16th (we travel on 22nd) so maybe we'll have to wait another week for advice.

Luckily we booked directly with the hotel in Mexico and you can cancel 2 weeks before with only 2 nights forfeit lost.

We have Insurance with Direct Line and it's the same situation as you've described. They will only pay up if the flights is completely cancelled and if we did travel there, they wouldn't cover medical expenses!

The other option is your credit card company - my Dad reckons they ARE paying up?

Try asking to swap the holiday for another...things might change in a week and they might raise the ban to level 6 in the next week.

We're just looking around now and where else to go...It's so annoying and I feel really upset that I can't have my perfect honeymoon and no-one is paying up!

I hope it all works out for you though...fingers crossed things change in the next week.

Hi sorry i did post a reply however my computer descided to play silly buggers and it didnt go through. so just had to type it again!

I did speak to a lady from thomas crook yesterday, who promised she would phone back that afternoon with an update, she didnt and still hasnt!!!

I know what your saying about traveling later although we could with a lot of problems as i have a son to think about!, we dont want to either as we also want to travel after the wedding!

Unfortunately not all the honeymoon was paid on the credit card, so we would only get a small portion back!!

The lady did say yesterday that anyone traveling this week will get a full refund, and anyone traveling upto the 28th will get a swap in destination (not quite the same info as yourself, but i suppose that differs from different tour opperators) however because We are supposed to travel on the 28th and we are spending 4 nights in florida first, that means we dont arrive in mexico until June, they have told us that we may not find out whats happening until a week before our arrival in Mexico ie: two days before the wedding!!! (Nice!!!)

I hope that we get news soon even if they raise it to level 6, at least we know one way or another then!, this would be good for us but not so good for the lady on perfect gems who is a similar predicament.

Fingers crossed for you too and i do hope we all get news soon!!

Please let me know if you hear anything more as your other half's cousin seems much more helpful.

Many thanks

Helen

Even if level 6 is reached that might still not change the thoughts of WHO as they are saying containment isn't the issue so travel restrictions are pointless. Mexico is the exception because the strain of the swine flu is stronger there than here for example.

It's crap that for all travellers to Mexico they can't just cancel/change destination now without having to wait for the travel companies to decide. Just makes for a lot of stressful angry passengers imo. I really hope they change their minds on their policies and you can get your money back now.

I think I'll just continue to live in my little 'nothing will go wrong' bubble because it's rather nice in here whereas if I step out I feel sick!

I have no advice to offer but just wanted to say that I hope you all get the honeymoon of your dreams one way or another. x

We've got Mexico booked too but not till March when hopefully it will be all over

I'd recommend Thailand or Malaysia too. And don't totally discount the Maldives. I hate beach hols but we had a fantastic time there and it was very romantic.

Or what about the other extreme - a safari in Kenya?

Or Bali - Bali is fantastic. LOADS to do and quite reasonably priced now (look at Mercury Direct)

Good luck.

Have you thought about South Africa? - it's a beautiful country, loads to see and do including a safari.

Thanks Ladies, Continental Airlines have posted on their site about possibly rescheduling flights to another destination so we could choose somwehere else that they fly too for our honeymoon. So that gives us America and the Carribean! Fingers crossed this is an option and we might have to do some research....

I don't know if this helps, but a friend of mine is getting married in 8 days and their honeymoon was in Mexico. They've had to change theirs and are now going to Jamaica, this is a link to the resort it certainly looks lovely: http://www.riu.com/en-uk/Paises/jamaica/negril/hotel-riu-tropical-bay/index.jsp

Thanks Claire, It does look lovely. I think we're looking for something a bit smaller, more intimate. I'm personally not one for all inclusives (which is why our original place in Playa, Mexico was perfect). I'm struggling to find somewhhere in Caribbean that's not all inclusive or if it is, one that's not massive. Thanks for the link though!

That's what I wanted - somewhere smaller and quieter. So ended up with a Riu all inclusive in the Dominican Republic!!

My sister is a director of a health industry association and I have her on alert for any updates. Will let you know if we hear anything.

Thanks Ladies xx

Just a thought about the Caribbean - one of the reasons they're all inclusive is because it can be quite dangerous to wander around on your own and the tour companies want the least hassle possible. I should mention I used to be a travel agent

Now I'm not a wimp and I'm the one that usually ignores all the "don't go there" warnings but some places in the Caribbean I felt distinctly scared. I've been to many places and that was honestly the only place. Even well known tourist areas like St Lucia and Aruba are very much off limits in certain areas (and yes I know there are areas of London that are like that)

In Barbados a local hit me across the head and knocked my camera to the ground because he thought I'd got him in the photo I'd just taken. And Jamaica - well we have friends in Jamaica who employ their own guards to go with them everywhere and there were times when I was very thankful for them. Ocho Rios is fine though, (but not very authentic since it's deliberately designed for tourists)

However having said that, we hire a car everywhere we go so maybe we got to some areas that very rarely see tourists and they felt we were intruding.

We did a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon so visited about 10 different islands. The place I (and others) felt very unsafe in was in Trinidad and I wasn't keen on Jamaica either. But Trinidad literally had police standing telling you where was safe to walk and blocking of certain areas.

The other places were fine, but we were only there for a day at a time in each place and obviously in the more touristy places.

Hi everyone,

We were due to go to mexico but not till end of july , thomas cook have allowed us to change our destination and paid the first 5% of any additional cost. we ended up chosing cuba, 5 star all in. Cant wait! I know we could have waited till nearer the time as it will prob be better by then but me and K did not waant to wait then end up with some last min quick fix replacement.

x x

Hi everyone,

We were due to go to mexico but not till end of july , thomas cook have allowed us to change our destination and paid the first 5% of any additional cost. we ended up chosing cuba, 5 star all in. Cant wait! I know we could have waited till nearer the time as it will prob be better by then but me and K did not want to wait then end up with some last min quick fix replacement.

x x

Really? I spent 2 weeks in St Lucia and never felt any threat. Mind you it was about 10 years ago and I was with a guy whose family were from St Lucia. Shame if it is like that now because its such a beautiful place.

We are also looking for 5 star 24 hour all inclusive instead of our original honeymoon in Mexico. We are due to leave 29th June. We found the same chain of hotel grand palladium in the dominican republic, which is £80 each cheaper on the brochure than the Mexico one. So we were happy to apy the £105 amendment fee to secure this and still not be left out of pocket.

However, when asking at the travel agent they quoted us that holiday at £150 more expensive each than the Mexico one. I really think it is unfair to have to pay £300 more for a cheaper holiday due to reasons out of our control. Is there a way around this at all?

I do really like the sound of thailand and bali too but the caribbean seems the only place to offer 5 star all inclusive places is that right??