Blushing bride-to-be looking for a great honeymoon cruise

[ellewiz]

Hi! The Dear Fiance and I are marrying in Princeton, NJ, on October 2, 2005. We really want to do a cruise for our honeymoon. If possible we'd like to go back to Celebrity; we took our first cruise with them last year to the Western Caribbean and loved it!

 

We're looking for anywhere that's warm and maybe a little off-the-beaten-path, such as Ecuador. I just don't know where is good to do in early-to-mid October that isn't prone to hurricanes. We also don't want an itinerary with a LOT of stops. We really want to relax, not run around and feel like we have to see anything.

 

I've been looking at the "Empire of the Incas" itinerary on Silversea; that sounded really intriguing. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would love to hear them!

 

Cheers and happy cruising!

 

ellewiz

 

---------------

http://ellewiz.blogspot.com

[MandyGirl]

Congratulations ellewiz! I would suggest considering Celebrity again so you can reap any rewards of being a Captain's Club member, but still keep your options open as other cruiselines are on par with Celebrity. Also make sure that you let everyone know it is your honeymoon - your TA, room steward, dining room server, etc. The onboard crew tends to take a little extra special care of you when they know that (they did for us on Norwegian - even the spa staff threw in some services for the two of us!).

 

You mentioned Ecuador... South America would be cool - my sister-in-law has been doing mission-type work down in Ecuador since January and just returned home two days ago. It has been quite the experience for her, but she never took any cruises - mainly saw the inland areas as well as beaches - even staying in a hut on the beach. (She worked as a surgical assistant - taking an old converted moving van out into the brush with an oral surgeon once a week to perform surgery in the makeshift operating room - cleft palletes, etc.) This was her second trip to the area - she was there for 6 weeks previously for a Spanish immersion class, enjoyed it, came home for the holidays, then left again in January for the job. (She was taking the year off between her bachelor's and starting Dental school this August). So, based on her experiences, South America would be really cool to see. I just did a quick check on Travelocity for SouthAmerica and October, but only saw two cruises listed (quite long ones).

 

October is nearing the end of hurricane season, so you could always purchase travel insurance and have a backup plan. I had friends marry in August one year, a hurricane came, so their cruise just did the reverse itinerary and everything was fine.

 

I'd suggest an Eastern Caribbean itinerary since it takes about 2 days to make it from Florida to the USVI/St Maartin area. You are "forced" to have some relaxing days at sea. If you do Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, then you basically have a new port everyday but maybe one sea day. Just some food for thought!

 

As always, any cruise is what YOU make of it. We tried Holland America even though everyone said it is for 'old' people. We were 29/31 when we cruised HAL - so I guess over 30 is 'old' to some. Anyway, we LOVED it. So relaxing, very few kids, on par with Celebrity, and we would cruise again with HAL in a heartbeat (we enjoyed it more than Celebrity, although Celebrity had a much better AquaSpa).

 

I just thougt I would share my two cents...

 

~ Mandy

 

NCL Sky 12/2000 - Western Caribbean

Celebrity Galaxy 12/2001 - Southern Caribbean

S/S Norway 03/2003 wedding cruise - Eastern Caribbean

~~~~ Married on the beach in St John! ~~~~

HAL ms Maasdam 11/23/2003 - Western Caribbean