Honeymoon: Sandals Resort Or Italian Tour?

[Bad324]

Since I love planning shit, I've now gotten all the fun stuff for the wedding planned I'm on to the honeymoon

 

Right now the two winning ideas are:

 

Sandals Resort...specifically the St Lucia ones or Trip to Italy

 

 

 

Anyone have experience with Sandals resorts or planning a trip to Italy, notably Rome, Venice and/or Tuscany areas? Any and all suggestions, advice and stories welcome! I have a feeling if we decided the Italy route, we might need to get a travel agent

[JohnG]

Wow... There's a lucky girl out there! I'm no help, just wanted to give you the thumbs up!

[Bad324]

lucky that I'm planning stuff or cause of the options? lol

 

I'm only planning the party stuff so the venue and entertainment as well as the trip as I'm pretty experienced with doing both. All the boring girly minute details are being done by her, her sister and her best friend so all I do is say "yes dear whatever you want is fine with me". Simply because I really don't care what font is on the invitations or what kind of flower should be where

[Tonik]

I have had the privilege of traveling to a great many places and resorts in my life. Your question is an easy one. Rome, hands down wins over virtually every place on earth. Sandals/St Lucis would be a more traditional honeymoon but you just won't have the memories of that trip that you will of Rome. Rome is f'ing epic.

 

You do not need a travel agent for Rome.  Book the flights and hotel yourself. Cincy has direct flights, or at least did not too long ago. We went over from Cleveland...Toronto..some Europeon city I forget..then to rome. It was ok. Then we came back non-stop Rome to Cincy, then a quick hop to Cleveland. It was much better. But be forwarned, it is a long as flight. The Rome airport is attached to the train station, easy ride into town.

 

You MUST go see the Pope. Plan your trip if you can for when he is in town, it is on the Vatican's website. Then there is a little church you can give some money too to get tickets to a Papal Mass. I am not Catholic, nor religious that much but it was one of the most amazing/mopving things I have ever done. The pope was 10 feet from me, it was very cool.

 

You really should use a tour group to do the Vatican tour, that gets you line jumping and into all the cool places, like under the Vatican were all the dead popes hang out.

 

Go the the catacombs. Get a Fromes book on Rome. I know it's old school but those books rock.

[mojocho]

I've done both. Did a sandals all-inclusive to Jamaica. This is ideal if you want to lounge and do some sun worshipping. Also good of you don't want to stress about where to go to eat and what to do. It's literally being a beach bum, drinking, eating, and sleeping. Probably the only vacation I ever took where I didn't need some unwind time before going back to work.

I've been to Rome as well. What an absolutely beautiful place. The history of the buildings and towns and ruins are just amazing! Rome is probably the most touristy place in Italy. Which is good as they are very tolerant of Americans. Things to keep in mind. Most of Europe goes on vacation for weeks at a time in August. So expect services to be slower. Also Europeans just take their time with everything. A 3hour dinner is common. The best thing I remember was one evening sitting at an outdoor patio. We had dinner over the course of 2.5 hours. Anti pasta. Some wine. Some cheese. Some wine. A salad. Some wine. A huge dinner. Some wine. Dessert. Espresso. Wonderful.

So things to know is that it's warm in summer time and their definition of air conditioning is to take the humidity out of the room... Not cool it. Also ice is a luxury.

So the difference is between being drunk lazy and a solar vegetable with no stress or seeing a wonderful history-rich country with some of the best food and people you'll meet. Either way you can't go wrong.

[speedytriple]

You should go to Mexico ....

[MidgetTodd]

Pick the one you're least likely to ever have the chance to do again

[Cdubyah]

We looked at the Sandals thing when we were planning as well.

I think the fact that I have too much ADD to sit by the pool/ocean all day was enough to kill it for me.

I also read reviews for a week solid in regards to hurricane season, and room types.  As I'm cheap and was trying tgo find best bang for buck.

We were looking at St. Lucia and Antigua, and actually settled on Antigua. But, with little to do other than eat, drink, sleep, pool, ocean, we decided not to do a Sandals resort.

 

I will say that you don't need to goto a travel agent to book a sandals resort. That's a joke and a half. Just book through Sandals. They even do a honeymoon registry, but they take a % off the top.

[madcat6183]

Rome, or really Europe in general.  You can do a trip with Sandals anytime, cheap too.  Europe, if you can swing it financially is a no brainer.  We did Switzerland for our trip, as both of us have studied in Europe and I traveled there extensively with my family in high school as well.  

 

I wouldn't even consider a trip to a resort type place anymore for something special, more just for a vacation or get away.  Even those of my friends who used to only do the all inclusive Sandals type resorts have stopped as it just got to be all the same thing.  Wake up, get drunk, pass out on beach, drink more, eat the same food, drink the same drinks, etc.  Granted I was sober about 50% of the time we were in Switzerland, I was still able to drink for about 10 hours a day as their beers were true to the area, non pastuerized shit from the states, so no hangover, and no real drunkness unless mixing liquor.

 

But yes, Italy, Rome, France, Scotland, etc. all are better choices.  Or next trip will be to Ireland where my mom goes annually for 2 weeks with my aunt, and my wife was unable to visit while in Scotland studying.  

 

Also for what it's worth I feel every American should visit Normandy and the surrounding areas, including cemeteries and pay their respects.  But that's not necessarily something you want to do on your honeymoon.  

[jbot]

i like venice when we went.

 

traveling is expensive. i would rather buy a well sorted race bike and a handful of track days.

[ohdaho]

I would absolutely do Italy again. I spent a month in Europe after college and it was an amazing time, social and culturally. I was in Florence back in 2006 when Italy won the world cup and the city went nuts.

 

Rome is a great place to base off of. To get cheaper flights, consider flying into some of the other cities in Italy (Milan, etc.). There's so much to do in Italy from beaches to art to food to clubs. Places I would absolutely go: Florence, Venice, Rome, Cinque Terre.

 

Sandals type of resorts arent my cup of tea and i really dont find enjoyment in sitting on the beach for 5 days straight.

[shittygsxr]

I can't believe you are even asking this. Skip the hick resort thing and go to Rome.

My wife and I were married in a 500 year old monastery in cusco Peru it was awesome and few tourists compared to Europe.

[jbot]

Go live it up in jersey... you know you wanna go full meatball mode, bro

[BDBGoalie]

Definitely Rome. No question.

Or a trip to Citadel Juarez. But that just doesn't say I love you the same way. More of I love you enough to sell you to a cartel to pay off my gambling debt.

Edited July 3, 2013 by BDBGoalie

[Bad324]

Pick the one you're least likely to ever have the chance to do again

Funny enough, that would be the all in one resort deal. Much like Cdub, my fiancée is very ADD and gets bored easily. This is the one time where she would actually be on board with a laid back do nothing vacation

[Bad324]

Also for what it's worth I feel every American should visit Normandy and the surrounding areas, including cemeteries and pay their respects. But that's not necessarily something you want to do on your honeymoon.

Lucky for me my sister moved to Paris and this is on the books for 2016. This is also why the question arose because more than likely we'd be able to fit in a couple days in Italy when we go there

[madcat6183]

Yeah, Italy is down the road when our kid is old enough to enjoy good food.  Wife's been there, I haven't yet but I have a lot of other places to hit first.  Basically the only places in the US we travel are where my family lives(MI, NY,VT,NH), and CO,MT,UT for skiing.  It sounds bad but honestly I don't care to see much of the US, if anymore than I do when I go to those places.  I would much rather be overseas somewhere.

 

Also I've done Cancun back in the day, wouldn't ever do it again, none of those kinda places are for me, as stated the ADD factor is way too much for me.  I can't even go to the movies because I get so bored.  My wife and I have been to 1-2 total movies in the 4 years we've been together.  I also don't watch TV unless sporting events.

[r1crusher]

You should go back to Mexico and stay there ....

 

ftfy

 

[Mary#17]

I would do Sandals for the honeymoon and Italy for an Anniversary.  You are so fried after a wedding that relaxing is such a blessing.  And there is a lot to do in St. Lucia - it is a gorgeous place.  I've done Secrets all inclusives and they are a competitor to Sandals.  Sandals is supposed to be better.  I was very impressed with Secrets so I would have to think that Sandals would be unbelievable.

 

My husband and I are planning on going to Italy in a couple years but we will be renting bikes and doing all the sight seeing so it will be a blast but not necessarily a lot of downtime.

 

Mary

Edited July 3, 2013 by Mary#17

[r1crusher]

I will agree totally with Mary on this one.  I know I was tired as shit after mine and wanted nothing more than to hit the pillow and call that fiasco done.  

[Bad324]

I would do Sandals for the honeymoon and Italy for an Anniversary.  You are so fried after a wedding that relaxing is such a blessing.  And there is a lot to do in St. Lucia - it is a gorgeous place.  I've done Secrets all inclusives and they are a competitor to Sandals.  Sandals is supposed to be better.  I was very impressed with Secrets so I would have to think that Sandals would be unbelievable.

 

My husband and I are planning on going to Italy in a couple years but we will be renting bikes and doing all the sight seeing so it will be a blast but not necessarily a lot of downtime.

 

Mary

 

this has become our primary thinking especially after talking to two of our friends last night. One of them did the resort thing and one actually did a couple European sight seeing cities. Although they enjoyed the tour, they said after all was said and done they wished the would have went the relaxing route.

 

Especially for my fiance, she can never just relax and do nothing for a few hours let alone a few days so I think this is the one shot I have to do the resort deal. I like the Italy for a anniversary idea too. I still have family in Italy so I will be making it there within the next 3-5 years at most

[r1crusher]

   Wait....you're Italian now?

Edited July 3, 2013 by r1crusher

[madcat6183]

I can see where they are coming from with the relaxing thing, the one thing we changed on our itinerary when we arrived was staying in Zermatt longer than planned.  We had wanted to see more of Switzerland but once our flight(American) was delayed 9 hours in EWR we were both pissed and just wanted to be done traveling.  So we skipped out on much of Lucarno and just hopped on the trains to Zermatt, glad we did.  Next time we do Switzerland when our kids are old enough to ski it will be winter with the whole family, which just includes my parents lol.

 

Either way man, get away from the US and do something that you'll both enjoy. 

[twowheelsnake]

Italy...period. Went to Ireland for my honeymoon and it was spectacular. Europe>tourist trap

[Pokey]

I think you already know what is the best choice for you "both" right after getting married, I for one would say go the relaxing route and save the dream vacation for another time soon down the road. I seriously doubt there would be any regret for being a beach bum in a beautiful place.