I'd like to travel to the Dominican Republic (Punta Cana) and I need advise on how to get the most bang for my buck. With tuition and the cost of funding a wedding entirely on my own, I'm quickly going broke. I'm trying to go Oct. 11th for 10 days and pay somewhere around $2,100 to $2,500 for the entire thing; Flight and Hotel. Is there any vacation savvy folks out there who can point me in the right direction???
The wife and I travel a lot and we use Hotwire.com as a starting point to find most of our deals. A quick look on there shows several resorts as an all-inclusive package (includes meals plus some extras) for $1050-1250 per person flying out of San Francisco. Have fun on your honeymoon.
I went to Punta Cana last July and and stayed at the Excellence. I spent a little over 3k for the trip (including air fare). Save that money and go on a cruise. I loved all three of the cruises I've been on and they are much cheaper.
I don't have vacation ideas, but I did just get married and the single biggest money saver was renting the dress instead of purchasing it. We used the most beautiful 1300 dollar dress and rented for $150 or something. Also recommend making craft center pieces for the tables and considering a cupcake tower instead of a traditional cake. For catering we used Panera bread cold sandwiches which we brought to the wedding ourselves greatly reducing the overhead of hot food and on-site catering. And I have to admit that every one of these ideas (minus the food) was my wife's idea. I know that's not what you asked for...but I thought I'd mention it just in case. Our wedding was awesome and so much cheaper than I was expecting!
Those are some good tips. My wife had all of her own ideas and hated mine. "Just tell me the time and the place."
Well, all I had to do was find someone who knew someone in D.R. who could find someone for me to stay with. Yes, I stayed with a friend of a friend of a friend, not something that U.S. customs was happy to hear when they suspected me of smuggling drugs The bright side is, my lodging was FREE. I would suggest that if you couldn't work out something like that, book early and book on Hotwire. Hot Tip: tickets from D.R. to other islands in the caribean are very inexpensive. If you want a doubly spectacular honeymoon, you could jump around to Jamaica or Puerto Rico in the same visit with minimal cost and minimal hassle. Not-So-Hot Tip: If your wife is the jealous type, do not visit the beaches in D.R. The women are, to put it lightly, quite attractive and if you know spanish, quite friendly as well
Ha Ha, no worries, I give you some insight on my fiance. She is just about the cheapest person next to mother, and she is NOT materialistic. She planned whats called a "phantom cake" with in nothing more than cardboard wrapped in Fonda and made to look fancy. The smallest portion of the cake at the top is the only portion that is really cake; which we cut for photos, before it is wheeled back behind the scene where sheet cake from Costco is cut up and given to the guests. Her dress was a whopping $400 bucks, and because she is a Professional Chef, the catering is only costing us the cost of materials so to speak, lol. And the Church was free because her grandfather has been a bible thumping member of the church for 54 years, lol. We're only into the wedding about six grand, but that, tuition, and bills are going to put me in the poor house.
One very affordable place you might want to consider is Cuenca, Ecuador. Even though it's a city on the equator, it has year-round spring-like weather since it's at 6,000 altitude. The city itself has a very European feel to it with cobblestone streets and grand, gothic-looking cathedrals. Do a Google search for "Cuenca, Ecuador" and then select images to see some pics. Beautiful place....dirt cheap.
We swung by Fort Collins and hung out with my best man and brought a back-pack full of beer up to horse tooth reservoir. It was free (Danny footed the bill for the beer). That was one inexpensive day down. We stayed one night with one of my groomsmen in Denver (one night of hotel bills down) and inadvertently got into the Denver aquarium without paying (seriously, we were looking for a place to buy tickets and wandered in what must have been a back door). Then we stayed in Estes Park where little money is required to enjoy oneself. We were gone two weeks (planning just over one week, decided to stay longer since we were under budget and having fun) and spent significantly under $2000. So to sum it up, good friends, nature, interesting locations, and cheap alcohol (but not too cheap! Vomiting on ones honeymoon sucks, as do hangovers) = very satisfying, long, cheap, memorable honey moon. I wish I could live my life that way.
For a trip to Punta Cana, you need a little bit more amount to enjoy. And obviously I tell you to choose the cruise. Enjoy your honeymoon.
