honeymoon Archives - Page 16 of 20

Island-Hopping in Hawaii

June 25, 2012 by Ann Petronio Leave a Comment

I have been eagerly awaiting the trip report from my clients Dana and Andrew who just returned from a much-anticipated two-week honeymoon in Hawaii. This trip was more than a year in the making, and included three different islands, a to-die-for private villa in Maui, and some really cool sightseeing tours. Their feedback is below. Ready to pack your bags and follow in their footsteps?

Hi Ann!

Aside from some flight issues, everything else went perfectly!

Outrigger Reef on the Beach– This place was perfect for us. Waikiki was a little busy for our tastes, but we expected that. The pool, restaurants and staff were all great, and we really didn’t feel we needed to wander too far. Since we were there for such a short time, it was really nice to be right on the beach. We were also really happy with the KOS “Lost” tour. The 5 hour was perfect; 2 hours would have been too short, and we wouldn’t have had the attention span for any more. We also both really liked that we go to see a bit of Oahu, so the tour perfectly doubled. The guide was great, and he had a binder full of photos and a portable DVD player, which helped the locations “click” in your head.

Kauai – My favorite… Looking back, we are so happy we split the trip between 4 nights here and the rest in Maui. After the wedding and all, we needed a place that was “all inclusive”-esque. We wanted to simply charge it all to the room, know another cocktail waitress would be coming around again, and a breakfast buffet every morning. Typically, that isn’t the type of trip we are drawn to, but for our honeymoon, it was nice. The resort (the Kauai Marriott) was gorgeous! The staff seems genuinely to like their jobs. While there was no need to leave, we are happy we did. Ziplining was amazing, and I am really glad we had a reason to go to the north side of the island. Andrew, who is normally afraid of heights and prone to motion sickness, proved to be an amazing zipliner! The Napali coast was my favorite part of the trip. I think my only regret was not doing a helicopter tour here. While I lobbied for it, we decided we would rather see lava flowing. Unfortunately, however, we learned you can’t take helicopter tours from Maui to see the Big Island, you have to leave from the Big Island. So, sadly, we missed out on both. But, now we have a reason to go back.

Maui – Andrew’s favorite… As soon as you are sick of $12 cocktails all the time, it was nice to be on our own and fending for ourselves. The villa was everything we hoped! We didn’t realize how close we would be to Wendell’s (the owner’s) house (it was just across the driveway), but he was a really laid back guy and gave us all the privacy we needed. I was also really happy to be in Lahaina, it was such a cute town. The Haleakala bike trip was so worth getting up early for – and yes, very cold. It was 36 degrees and blowing 70 mph before sunrise. We also really liked the Road to Hana, which we did the “wrong way”. Someone suggested we go around the backside of Haleakala first, so we would be on the water side of the road and not behind a row of cars. I liked that. We swam in the Seven Sacred Pools and were to Hana for lunchtime. We also went snorkeling one day (just on our own), but we tried to just give ourselves plenty of time to just hang out. We spent 2 days at the villa doing nothing, and loved it. Also, I would 100% recommend the grocery delivery service. All groceries were expensive, so the delivery fee was barely noticeable. We picked up fresh food and the alcohol we wanted, but we didn’t waste time pickup up coffee filters… Also, we found out the hard way that Luaus need to be booked well in advance. When we called the one you recommended (I am blanking on the name), they were booked until June 20th. We went out to the Hyatt instead, which we really enjoyed. It is hokey, but you have to do it in Hawaii.

The only restaurant we went to and would recommend, other than resort restaurants, was the 5 Palms in Lahaina. We went there our last night for dinner before heading to the airport. The food was amazing, and we were able to watch the sunset into the Pacific one last time. The other places we found were good, but not the kind of place we would tell someone to go out of their way to go to.

Let me know if you think I missed anything or want more specific details. I could probably write a novel about this trip…

Thanks again,

Dana

Sage advice from one of our favorite caterers

June 17, 2012 by Ann Petronio Leave a Comment

I had to share this recent blog post from our friends at Coastal Gourmet Catering In working together on an educational seminar for brides and grooms, we each learned a lot about the other’s business. They then took the next step to share that newfound information — about why and how to use a travel agent — with their catering clients. Love it! And you’ll love the creative, beautiful, delicious touches that they can bring to your next event 🙂

A Fantastic “Family-Moon”

January 11, 2012 by Ann Petronio Leave a Comment

What do you do when you’re getting married, and want to enjoy a romantic honeymoon afterwards, but you already have a family, and you don’t want to leave your kid(s) behind? Why not plan a two-part getaway, like my clients Brian and Pam! Part one (the “familymoon”) was a kid-friendly trip to Walt Disney World. Part two (the adults-only “honeymoon”) involved leaving their daughter behind with Grandma and heading off to St. Lucia for a more private celebration. The result? The whole family was happy!

Hi Ann,

Happy New Year! How are you? I hope this is better (very) late than never:

Our thoughts on Disney:

We had a really great time. Isabel loved Disney (no surprise)! We can’t thank you enough for setting us up with the meal plan – HUGE savings! We saved about $90/day in snacks and meals. We made reservations for a Disney Princess Lunch at Cinderella’s Castle and I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone with children who love Disney Princesses. We had to pre-pay and the menu is limited (and expensive – approx. $150 for the three of us including gratuity), but the food was very good and the experience for Isabel was priceless! Additionally, early October is a great time to visit Disney – we hardly waited for any rides (especially at Magic Kingdom). The All Star Movies resort was very nice – I thought we had selected the Toy Story section but we ended up in the 101 Dalmatians section (I don’t know what the difference is). We spent most of our first day at their beautiful pool. We were really pleased with the food court at the hotel as well. The Disney Transportation was very convenient and reliable – until the last day. Our bus back to the airport never came so they hotel had to scramble and find another bus for us (and a few other parties) to ride. It didn’t affect us as we were still more than early enough for our flight to Miami. Overall Disney was an amazing experience!

Our thoughts on St. Lucia and Sandals La Toc:

We thought the Island and the resort were beautiful! I definitely recommend a Sandals vacation for any couple as the resort has the right mix of relaxation and fun. We took advantage of the ‘stay at one; play at three’ by spending a beach day at The Grand. The food at all the resorts was very good and our favorite restaurants were La Toc and Kimonos (Japanese hibachi – we ate there twice!), and The Pavilion had a great breakfast buffet every day. We scheduled three excursions; our first was a Sunset Cruise. This was okay – I think Pam liked it more than I did. It was very nice to take a boat ride at sunset, but I thought it was a bit long and not really worth the money ($144 for the two of us). We totally loved our other two excursions! We went zip-lining and took the Soufriere Jeep Discovery Tour (all three through Island Routes). Zip-lining through the rainforest was such a fun experience – neither of us had ever done it before and we can’t wait to do it again! The Jeep Tour was probably my favorite. It was the right mix of fun and education about the Island. We toured the Island’s volcano, stopped for a hot mud bath, and washed off at the Toraille Water Fall. We had lunch at a local eatery with a wonderful view of the Pitons and a banana plantation. We loved Sandals La Toc and St. Lucia and thought it was the perfect choice for our honeymoon!

I’ve attached a few pictures that you can feel free to use on your website. Thanks again for all your help with our trip! Please let me know if you have any questions.

Brian and Pam

Sailing the Southern Caribbean

October 19, 2011 by Ann Petronio Leave a Comment

Jen and Steve just returned from a fantastic honeymoon cruise from San Juan to the Southern Caribbean, and it was great to hear what they liked, what they learned, and what they appreciated about working with a knowledgeable travel professional! Now, if I could only get my kids to admit that I give good advice 🙂

The honeymoon was excellent! We had a great time. Planning was smooth and seamless and the trip was also.

The flights on American were great! Delayed on the way home, but it was OK. Definitely worth driving to Hartford for the non-stop both ways.

Our pre-cruise stay at the El San Juan was nice — very glad we made this choice as opposed to some of the other hotels, it was a great fit for us. There are many bar options and lots of restaurants as well. Lots of nightlife, we went to one of the hotel restaurants and nightclubs on our last night there, tons of fun! The swimming pools and lounge chairs near the pools are great! There was a large convention going on at the resort while we were there, but it still felt like the place was empty. Never a problem getting a pool chair, and there were only a handful of people in the pools at any time.

Upon check-in, they upgraded us to a pool view room since you told them it was our honeymoon, thank you!!!! Then brought up a bottle of champagne! We did eat breakfast in their buffet one morning, service was slow and it was $25pp, which was a waste. Wouldn’t have done that if I knew how much it cost…can’t eat that many eggs 🙂

Only complaint, which I already told you about was that even though you paid in advance on my Amex, they charged us again when we checked in on my debit card. They refunded the money to the Amex card, which I did not want. 5 phone calls later to the hotel and Hilton customer service, they still have not corrected the problem. I have been a Hilton Silver or Blue member for several years and actually will never stay at a Hilton property again because I am so disgusted by their lack of customer service.

While in San Juan, we booked an excursion for the Bacardi factory & Old San Juan tour through the hotel-what a RIP OFF! It cost us $128 for a FREE tour! I should have taken a taxi, but it was fun. Then after the Bacardi factory, the tour guide dropped us in Old San Juan and we stayed instead of going back to the hotel in the hour and half that they gave us. We went to Senor Frogs, Don Q Bacardi place and ate some tacos and local food off a food truck.

Walked around the shops and then stopped in a great pizza & beer place…good time!

On our last night there, we walked over to the cock-fight arena, but we missed it, it was already over. On Sunday after we arrived back from the cruise, we found an excursion for $20 and the guy was great!!!! He took us on a tour of San Juan and showed us a lot of things, all the forts, very nice…and he held our luggage all day and then dropped us at airport. He recommended a place for lunch, Cafe Puerto Rico….real Puerto Rican food, and the BEST sangria I have ever had in my life.

When we first got on the ship (Serenade of the Seas) at 2pm, we checked out our closet-size room (which I was expecting so it was OK) then we did the once-over on the boat. First impression, thought boat was nice, but both Steve & I wanted to know where the rest of the pool was!!! It was tiny!!!! We sailed at 8:30 which was our dinner time, so feeling the boat move, we were both uncertain if this was going to be for us. Steve and I actually said “what island are we flying home from?”….but by the next day when we had adjusted to the boat, everything was fine!!

I know you and I had discussed that I didn’t know how I was going to like sitting at a table with strangers, well I will tell you…that was your best advice!!! We had the best table on the ship, we were with our tablemates every night and went on excursions with them. We had 2 other couples on their honeymoon and the other couple was celebrating their 10 yr anniversary.

On the last day they charged us $100 for towels, but Steve complained and they gave us a credit for $200, so that all worked out. I guess everyone wants to rip us off!

The cabin was OK, definitely could never do a cruise in a room w/o a balcony. Also, made friends with the people in the next cabin and they had a handicap room- they told us we need to ask for one of those next time!!! Their bathroom was the size of our entire stateroom.

Our waiter in the dining room was a stiff and we got bad service the first night, but it was better after that for the rest of the cruise. Food was always delicious. At peak times, it was very hard to find a seat in the buffet. But overall fabulous!

Entertainment was awesome!!! We did something every night….Steve won “Finish that Lyric” and our table won the Quest, which was sooo fun! Ricki the cruise director was awesome and his staff too. We went to a magic show, a comedy show and meet the captain night. Did the nightclub twice and Bingo twice.

When we got to St Thomas, we took a cab to the shopping street, it was all jewelry so we didn’t buy anything…not big jewelry people. Then we went back to the ship for our excursion, we went on a catamaran ride to St John! It was awesome!!!! The catamaran itself was fun, and on the way back they had champagne and punch! Steve went snorkeling at the beach and the guy took me in the little boat to the beach, I have never seen water like that anywhere!!! We saw a shark in the water, sea turtles and a deer walking on the beach!

In St Kitts we went zip lining and on the way there, the driver gave us a tour. Very poor there….it was depressing, but otherwise we had a great time and I would definitely recommend zip lining there to anyone!

In Aruba, we decided to wing it and we rented a jeep with our table mates for the day $80- a bargain!!! We drove to the natural bridge, which fell down apparently, and saw some rock formations. Then we went to the beach, right in front of the Riu, it was hot!!! Nice time, then went back to the boat.

Curacao was our favorite island. We just got off the ship and walked around the shops, they were gorgeous and we stopped and checked out several bars along the way!!

We felt this was the safest place and really clean!

My tips for someone else taking a similar trip:

Make sure they iron their clothes before they go!!! I found out the night before there was no iron on the boat so I spent all day Sunday before we left ironing everything we brought.

I would also suggest booking excursions off the boat, to save a lot of money.

Thanks!

– Jen and Steve

Island-Hopping in Hawaii

Sage advice from one of our favorite caterers

A Fantastic “Family-Moon”

Sailing the Southern Caribbean

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