Need advice/tips on a great resort for a honeymoon in the Bahamas or Jamaica.

Quote from rafa_12 : I have been reading several threads, and they have very useful information, but most of them are from several months ago. I would like to know about any personal experiences that some of you may have had in the Sandals resorts in the Bahamas or in Jamaica. My fiance and I will be getting married late May and are planning a honeymoon. Our budget is $5,500 including everything. Thanks in advanced.

I personally would pick Jamaica over the Bahamas any day. They have basically the same amount/type of water activities but Jamaica has a lot more to do on land than the Bahamas does. That said, travelling to Jamaica is a little more effort but nothing at all difficult.

A co-worker of mine has been to both of those resorts and loved them. I haven't personally been to either but after going to a couple other resorts on both islands (which BTW if you go to the Bahamas go and visit Atlantis because it's friggin nuts and I think you can purchase a day use pass) if you want to do more than just relax in the room all day or lay by the pool/beach Jamaica has a lot more to offer.

Oh, another thing. Make sure you check the weather in either location. I think I went to the Bahamas once in May and it wasn't particularly warm. Clouds, lots of wind, etc. but at the same time you want to make sure you avoid anything more severe as well.

I stayed at Sandals Royal Bahamian last November and I absolutely loved the place & the people. They have a private island that you take a little boat over too and it was HEAVEN. We spend every day on that island, there was a restaurant (so delish! the food) over there, plenty of beach and swim up bar at the pool. Great huge wicker round loungers for 2 around the pool, private loungers in the palms hidden just for two, beach bed loungers along the shore...... I mean we just loved it!!
The rest of the resort (our room and other restaurants) was pretty great too.
You could catch the public bus right in front of the resort and ride all over the island or just downtown. We did go downtown and to the the Atlantis one day. We weren't there to do a lot so spending our days at the waterside was all we really wanted. I know Jamaica is awesome too and there is much more we could have done in Nassau. But we were happy-would go back in a second!!!

My wife and I stayed at Sandals Ochos Rios about 10 years back and did not like it. The resort itself is nice and the food was good but I am all about the water and the water inJamaica was blah. Scuba diving was free at Sandals, but it was so lame it was hardly worth going.; I've seen more fish in my bathtub and coral was sparse.

We also went to Nassau and had a nuch better time although the place we stayed was not particularly nice and was not all inclusive. Just y opinion.

Loved sandals Montego Bay. Beach is awesome. We went dune bugging through chukka adventures. The newer resort has swim out suites. The 65% off thing on their website is B.s. though. It's always 65% off. It does die at night after the show.

We also just came back from the Dominican Republic and really enjoyed that as well

keep in mind that the bahamas are a VERY diverse group of islands. If you do not want the craze of paradise island, you can go to some of the smaller islands. They are often a true paradise. I have wanted to go to exuma, andros, or eleuthera for a few years now but kids make that tough.

Honestly, you need to decide what type of vacation you want and what type of vacationers you are. my wife and I went to Maui for our honeymoon for 7 days and hit the sites most days. We enjoyed it but also made time to just relax as well. then we did Oahu for 3 days and hit the city tour and Pearl Harbor one day but relaxed the other two.

If you are considering an all inclusive make sure it is truly what you want. The benefits are that you get everything you need and do not need to leave the resort. On the other hand, if you will be missing lunch and even breakfast due to seeing the sites every day maybe an all inclusive is not for you.

As for Sandals, we have never been. We did love the Iberostar is Rose Hall, though. We also visited Dunns River falls on a rerouted cruise and loved it.

Start planning early as a honeymoon is not something you want to get stuck booking at a not so great place.

I assume you know, but if not, make sure to utilize tripadvisor and get a general feel from the reviews.

I spent 3 weeks in June with family in Bahamas. The Sandals Royal Bahamian is the most expensive Sandals in the chain of resorts. Cost on New Providence island are high. It is located a few miles out of town on the main road.
We have been to St Lucia Sandals (there are 3 or 4 of them on the Island we preferred the smaller one,Halcyon, over the larger resorts, you can use all of them no matter which one you stay at and they are a short ride between them on frequent shuttle buses, a big plus for St Lucia) and would prefer St Lucia over Jamaica Sandals I have been to also. It is all on what you are looking for. They are all fine for an All Inclusive if that is your thing. It is not ours really, but other people we have been with prefer that type of resort.