I am getting married in late October 2004. My only responsibility is planning the honeymoon. I am looking for a tropical destination that is not a terribly long flight from the East Coast and that is not in the hurricane zone for that time of the year. Certainlty we would like someplace that has a good selection of nice restaurants. Any suggestions?
There is no such thing as a "hurricane-free" area of the Caribbean or Atlantic in October. But you will get some great rates during that time of year!
I love Little Dix Bay on Virgin Gorda. It is a tropical resort right out of central casting. But like much of the Caribbean, fine dining on Virgin Gorda is confined mostly to the resorts. You sort of hopscotch from one to the other each night. The economy of most Caribbean Islands is not vibrant enough to support independent high end dining establishments. The only people with real money are the tourists, so the finer places are usually associated with resorts. There are interesting local haunts. But if you are looking for classy gourmet restaurants, you should stick to the resorts.
I've never been, but I understand that St. Barts has a pretty good culinary scene. And I think that it is among the least likely islands to get hit with a tropical storm. Somebody told me about a gourmet dining link re: St Barts. If I can locate it, I'll edit to add the link.
Edit to add: Here it is. It is a forum (like this one) but has a link to restaurant reviews. St Barts Info
Posts: 1644 | Location: CONNECTICUT | Registered: Oct 19, 2001
Its not a short flight from the east coast, but I suggest you consider Maui. My wife and I were married in late October (2001), and honeymooned in Wailea. I can't imagine a better spot for a honeymoon. Plenty of great restaurants nearby, wonderful beaches, the weather was perfect (to state the obvious), and late October is the middle of the short down time for the island (because it is not quite whale season yet, from my understanding). Because it was a down time there, we were able to do anything we wanted with no scheduling problems, and dinner reservations were easy.
I highly recommend you consider Maui, especially if you've never been to Hawaii.
The Caribbean in Oct isn't completely hurricane-proof, but it's low-risk. I travel extensively in the region, and highly recommend these three small, romantic luxury resorts with awesome food/wine:
Blue Waters Hotel, Antigua Jamaica Inn, Ocho Rios Jamaica Galley Bay, Antigua
I agree with JimmyV about St Barts being a great place for a honeymoon, or any kind of holiday for that matter. It's got a low expectation of hurricanes in October, but it has happened in 1996 and again in 1999. Both those hurricanes were force 5 and extremely violent. We were there during the 1999 hurricane, and the house we had rented eventually lost its roof and started to disintegrate during the storm (with us still in it!) However, it's a wonderful island and I recommend it highly for an unforgettable honeymoon. We've gone there many times - both before and after hurricane Lenny.
If you want to cut the risk of a hurricane down even further, the Turks & Caicos islands are in the north-west Caribbean and out of line with most of the hurricanes. The Turks & Caicos do not have the same high quality restaurants that you would find in St Barts, but the Grace Bay in Providenciales is a great hotel with a great restaurant that I recommend highly. And what Providenciales lacks in good restaurants and glamour, it makes up in fantastic scuba/snorkling experiences.
Petit St Vincent has almost no risk of hurricanes and it's a great getaway place (you can absolutely lose yourself there) that suits a honeymoon admirably, but it is bigger $$$$$. If you can afford it, I'd put it first on your list.
The Galley Bay in Antigua (mentioned by Booth44) is pretty good middle-of-the-road place for a honeymoon. Nice beach, but not the same as you'll find in St Barts or Turks & Caicos. When I was there some years ago, they had some thatched huts away from the main hotel accomodations. They said these were villas by the lagoon - sounds romantic, but you'd better bring some heavy-duty insect repellent if you stay there. The biggest interest value there was the old lady who owned it - she was big on the Bahai faith and was a real character.
Definitely Orient Beach Resort on French side of St. Maarten. Low rates for a cottage, Freedom to be yourself, and you can come back from an exended vacation tanned the color of an old leather bag!!!! Plus French wines on the wine list!!! ----------------------------------------- "Wine Makes Everyone Hopeful"---Aristotle or Plato
Posts: 150 | Location: Oroville, CA., USA | Registered: Aug 02, 2003
quote: The Caribbean in Oct isn't completely hurricane-proof, but it's low-risk. I travel extensively in the region, and highly recommend these three small, romantic luxury resorts with awesome food/wine:
Blue Waters Hotel, Antigua Jamaica Inn, Ocho Rios Jamaica Galley Bay, Antigua
All three are ideal for a honeymoon.
for resturants in Ocho Rios Go to Evitas. Food & wine both great, but the view from the hills is AWESOME. Place is owned by Blackwell???? Anyhow the guy that owns Island Records.
There are a few 'hurricane free' islands, look at Aruba & Curacao
October is at the front end of hurricane season in the caribbean, if you don't want to take a chance then go to Hawaii.
If however you do want to check out the caribbean and you want to get away from everything check out St. Kitts and Nevis. I lived there for a little while and loved it. There is not a whole lot in the way of fine cuisine on St. Kitts, but you could stay at the Four Seasons on Nevis, excellent food and they know how to take care of you.
I would also recommend St. Lucia. Stay on Marigot Bay at either the great house or the inn on the bay. There are some pretty good restaurants and the diving is incredible.
Posts: 788 | Location: Fargo,ND | Registered: Jan 09, 2004
I'll seconde JimmyV's comments about Little Dix Bay. It is an absoloutely fabulous honeymoon location. My wife and I honeymooned there and will be going back next year. The only drawback is the fun that your father-in-law will have with the name......
Posts: 142 | Location: Mobile, AL | Registered: Jun 25, 2003
There are very few hurricanes in late October, so I think you are safe planning something in the Caribbean. A few more ideas are:
Pink Sands Hotel in Harbor Island, Bahamas. A beautiful hotel on a stunning, pink sand beach, voted Best Beach by the Travel Channel. It is a hidden jewel, but is a favorite of the jetset.
Caneel Bay in St. John. St. John, which is 2/3 natural park, has perhaps the most gorgeous beaches in the islands. And it is US soil! Charter a boat for a day or two and sail over to the BVIs.
Culebra or Vieques, Puerto Rico. The "Spanish Virgin Islands" are not fancy, but they are beautiful and virtually undiscovered. The Caribbean the way it was 30 years ago. And again, it is US soil.
Havana, Cuba. By October Fidel may be dead (or you can travel via Bahamas, or so I've heard...) and this is going to be the next hot-spot for the next decade.
I have no idea if it is in the hurricane season or not, but last May, I went to Playa del CArmen for my Honeymoon. We had a blast! Plenty of really great restaurants, but the wine selection was a little rough.
"We are the people our parents warned us about" -J. Buffett
Posts: 757 | Location: Boston, MA | Registered: Nov 19, 2003
I've been to Cuba. It is an interesting place to visit, but I would not recommend it if you are honeymooning. The resorts are not really all that great. The food is pretty lousy. It is illegal for an American to fly there without special permission from the State Department.
Irwin
"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend; inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx
I'm going to suggest an entirely different direction.
We spent our honeymoon in Portugal (we were married in early October) and loved it. If you want beaches, there are great ones in the Algarve section of the country. The country is beautiful, there are great wine regions to visit, especially in the north if you like Port, beautiful castles and frindly people. In addition, Portugal is one of the more inexpensive places to be in Europe (though with the price of the $ vs the Euro, it won't be as cheap as it was when we were there in 1985)
When in doubt, open another bottle.
Posts: 2242 | Location: Silver Spring MD (Near DC) | Registered: Nov 13, 2001
If you're still leaning towards the Caribbean, Aruba is considered to be outside the hurricane belt. I've been to a number of the Caribbean isles and Aruba is my favorite. Never been there in October, but have been there in September. It did rain for about 20 minutes on one day, but other than that, the weather was fantastic. Wonderful beaches, constant gentle breeze that prevents overheating, and plenty of casinos (if you are into that).
Posts: 51 | Location: NY | Registered: Apr 30, 2003
The Mrs and I got married in Sept, and faced the hurricane issue too.
We are SCUBA divers, so we went to Bonaire. Part of the ABC islands (aruba, bonaire, curacao), it's the smallest with the least to do above the water. The Harbour Village Resort was amazing, very posh without a ton of pretense. Below the water Bonaire is the most beuatiful place I've ever seen (including all above water places too!)
If you both dive, highly recommended. If not, don't go there.
We stopped in Aruba for 3 days after. What a shock to the system. Wall to wall tourists, concrete jungle. Good restaurants, nice beaches but too busy for us.
******** Yes, but I came here for an argument.
Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, this is abuse.
Posts: 4547 | Location: Chicago | Registered: May 24, 2002
