Island Hopping vs. 1 Destination (no Cruise)

If cost isn't a factor then sure, you can definitely do island hopping. However, Costa Rica currently has a 14-day mandatory quarantine in place so that could pose a problem with island hopping.

I haven't done that in tropical locales, but I have in Europe. It works best when you go to places very close by because you don't want to spend so much of your honeymoon in transit (like doing Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 1 trip). I don't know if I would to Costa Rice to Jamaica. I would maybe do more like...island hopping around the virgin islands since they're like a 20 minute flight from each other.

Typically when I go on trips I like to country hop or location hop as well. But I do have to admit that sometimes it’s just nice or being only in one place and enjoying it because if you’re only gonna be in one place for such a short time and then you jump to another place and then another place it can get really tiring

View Quoted Comment Good point! I forgot to mention that we are shooting for March 2021 so hopefully by then, things will be better and if not, we are only booking places with great cancellation policies in the event things are not better than now.... fingers crossed that’s not the case!

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I wouldn't look at booking anything until November / December to get optimal prices. Although, some companies may be looking for business now and offering great deals

We were going to have our honeymoon on Maui, but with COVID everything changed! We are now planning on going to Tahiti and then Bora Bora which is an island in Tahiti. I would look on Trip advisor to get some ideas.

It really depends on your vacation style. Are you the type who just wants to get settled in and thrn sit back and relax, or are you the type who wants to see/do as much as possible? Since it sounds like you haven't destination hopped before, I would suggest picking two places that are fairly close together and spend several days at each place. I love going to several places in one vacation (even with 3- and 4-hour flights between locales), but it can be tiring, and you live out of your suitcase the whole time.

That's what we did!! We picked two islands to split our honeymoon between to get more out of our trip!

We picked St. Lucia and Barbados because they were really close to each other (like a 30 minute plane flight) and they had very different vibes! We went to St. Lucia first and just relaxed at a stunning all-inclusive resort. We rented a super luxe bungalow which was so nice and just slept, ate, hit up the spa, and laid on the beach!

Then after 3 days we went to Barbados where we stayed in a beachfront suite and were much more active! Barbados is really easy to get around so we didn't go all-inclusive, and instead hit up several amazing restaurants in Saint James. We had 3 full days in Barbados as well, so it didn't feel too rushed. But you are in and out of your suitcases more! 🏖️

View Quoted Comment Omg super helpful!!!

View Quoted Comment Where did you stay in St. Lucia and where did you stay in Barbados?

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We stayed at Sugar Beach (A Viceroy Resort) in St. Lucia - the most luxurious place we'll probably ever stay!! And in Barbados we stayed at the Fairmont Royal Pavilion (my husband still talks about how awesome our beachfront suite was).

Obviously travel is much different right now but back in pre-pandemic times we got an awesome deal at both resorts for almost 40% off each stay by paying in full in advance (but we would have lost all that money if we had to cancel or change our plans, so it was definitely a gamble)!

View Quoted Comment Well, I think you helped make a tough decision! St Lucia it is for elopement/ first part of honeymoon! Only, I think we have decided on the Ladera resort. Talk to me about travel from St Lucia to Barbados.... how did you decide on Barbados, what did you love there, how hard was the travel between, how did you book all your travel, flights, etc.????

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Ladera is stunning! You'll love it!!

We chose Barbados because we wanted to stay far enough south out of the major hurricane belt, and Barbados seemed great for us because it's easy to get around and we were able to hit up tons of different restaurants (and shopping if we wanted)!

We booked our own flights and did each leg separately to cash in on all of our flight miles. You should definitely check out the flight schedules, I think there's only one or two flights to St. Lucia from Miami a day and they are early in the morning! We flew to Miami the Sunday after our wedding and stayed in an airport hotel that night to get the early flight to St. Lucia the next day!

You'll definitely need to book airport to resort transportation (probably through Ladera), but that was super easy and reliable. The flight from St. Lucia to Barbados was probably less than 40 minutes and super easy, but left from a really small airport in St. Lucia.

We were still pretty lazy in Barbados but did a lot of walking around their downtown areas, grabbed local food and hit up several different restaurants in the area (Nishi and The Tides). In Barbados they have cheap and easy buses you can hop on to get around, and also tons of cabs and drivers they can call through your hotel to take you anywhere you want! We also booked a glass bottom boat tour to see turtles which is normally a huge hit in Barbados but apparently October is not turtle season. We did get to see one adorable baby turtle, tons of fish, and got a fun tour around the island the captain pointing all the landmarks and celebrity homes (and waved to the building with Rihanna's penthouse )!

In St. Lucia now enjoying my honeymoon, great place for tropical wedding. Sandals Resort