Tropical Island Advice please

[tinky]

Hello all,

I'm sorry if this sounds like a repeat of a question I have asked in the past but circumstances have changed and i'm really keen to hear your thoughts.

Our honeymoon is in January 2008 and we have decided to probably pay for the ticket rather than try and use points (which has opened up our options greatly).

Other than probably going to Las Vegas, we would like to go to some sort of tropical island and preferably (this is not mandatory) use a one world airline so we can earn points and status credits for the trip (and possibly upgrade to business class using points - fat chance I know but still worth considering as we have heaps of points up our sleeve).

We were thinking of any of the following destinations as I have heard good things about them (and we don't want to go to Fiji/Bali etc.):

Tahiti
Carribean
Maldives
Mauritius

I really don't know much about any of the destinations above so would appreciate any advice/experiences (positive and negative) that anyone can give me. I'm also concerned that since we are going in January, the weather at some of the destinations will be too cold for swimming etc.

thanks in advance for any thoughts/advice you can give me. I will be doing some research online but it's always better to hear from real people (rather than a website brochure).

Silvia

 

[garyjohn951]

For a short answer, and if you can afford it, the Carribean.
AA fly LAX to Puerto Rico and then onto many of the islands.
We stayed on St Maarten, the French side is the best. Never cold.
If you have some spare cash then a night or two on Anguilla and hr by boat from St Maarten is out of this world, but it is not cheap.

 

[garyjohn951]

Forgot to mention if it is January, a really good chance for upgrades on QF to Lax, not a lot of businessmen flying, they are looking after the brats at Noosa etc.

 

[tinky]

Forgot to mention if it is January, a really good chance for upgrades on QF to Lax, not a lot of businessmen flying, they are looking after the brats at Noosa etc.

ooo that sounds good (but I won't get my hopes up ).

One thing I did forget to ask is depending on where we end up going, I assume a RTW ticket is the cheapest option? If this is the case and we do try for an upgrade can we use this on only one leg of the flight (or is it like RTW FF whereby you have to pay business class RTW point amounts even though you might not be flying the whole trip business class)?

I should also mention that the wedding is in Perth which is where we will start the honeymoon leg from but we live in Sydney so will have to end up back here.

thanks again!

 

[Happy Dude]

Of the destinations you list, I have been only to the Maldives. I stayed at Biyadoo Island which had snorkelling/diving as it's best and only feature. It's best to get a place where you can snorkel straight off the beach IMHO. The accommodation was reasonable (not at all romantic) but I was trying to keep the costs below USD $150/night, all in. You'll need to drop far more than that to get those over water bungalow thingies that Getaway type shows always feature. I think there may be cheaper rates from mid-jan onwards. All in all I found it quite nice, and Male is an interesting little place for a half/full day, but I'd be inclined to spend my money at Heron/Wilson or splurge at Bedarra or Lizard right here in OZ.

 

[garyjohn951]

An RTW Y ticket can be upgraded on individual sectors. Thus any sectors of Y QF can be upgraded.
You could PER-KHG-LHR-MIA-Carribean [ you can have 6 sectors in USA ara] -JFK-LAX-SYD. If you have enough points you could upgrade JFK thru to SYD, be a lovely way to end a honeymoon.

 

[littl_flier]

Depending on the budget, the Maldives is amazing and has over water bungalows with glass floors- the Sheraton I think?

Otherwise, the Carribean would be nice.

At the end of the day, all you need is a beach and a bed that doesn't squeek too much.

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

I would throw in that it depends what (else) you would like to do whilst there. The Maldives are beautiful but pretty dull, Mauritius is a working island and you can see tea, sugar plantations and get away from the beaches. No experience of Tahiti. I have just returned from a week in Boracay, and was very happy with that if you want to stay closer to home.

 

[smithym]

We did the honeymoon thing in the Maldives in 2004 and it was fantastic, overwater bungalow, all inclusive package, awesome weather etc etc. Though we had to use *Alliance as oneworld did not service MLE back then, and I still think they dont.

 

[tscharke]

Vanuatu - a little closer to home...

we honeymooned there and spent most of the time on the smaller islands...theres nothing like having your own beach to yourselves the whole time!

 

[Tiki]

I have been to all 4 of the places you mention and out of them Tahiti is my personal favourite. I just love the culture, the music and the dancing. Next would be certain islands in the Caribbean like Jamaica and Barbados. You might also think about a cruise if you choose the Caribbean to visit several islands. Mauritius isn't as visually stunning as its neighbor the Seychelles but the culture is fun and there is a lot to do. The Maldives, there really isn't much to do except scuba diving which is admittedly spectacular. But if you aren't a diver I think you may get bored there.

 

[d15.in.oz]

...Other than probably going to Las Vegas, we would like to go to some sort of tropical island..

In investigating next year's mileage run, I have found LAS-MBJ "Restricted Premium Class" USD349+++ one way on AA. (Not sure of your budget, but that gets you Las Vegas and Jamaica.)

Of course you can string this out to 4 segments each way, including experiencing AA's 777 in F ORD-DFW on the return. For QFF status purposes you can get 3 segments in F & 1 in J. Of course, this all depends on your partner’s perspective about spending an entire day travelling in First Class, just for the sake of it.