5 Things You Should Never Do When Planning Your Honeymoon
These often-overlooked things could make or break your honeymoon.
Planning a honeymoon is an exciting process. Not only are you going on vacation with your partner, but you get to celebrate the biggest milestone of your relationship together. But it’s easy to let stress take over the planning process, and if you’re not careful, the entire experience can go downhill.
When you’re planning your honeymoon, there are a few things you should avoid doing if you want everything to go smoothly. This article will show you some of the most common mistakes people make when planning their honeymoon.
A Word of Advice
Before we get into the mistakes to avoid, here are two “pro-tips” to keep in mind as you plan your honeymoon.
First, don’t be too cheap. You’ll see a lot of offers and packages that seem too good to be true, and most of the time they are. By blindly going for the cheapest option, you risk hidden fees and contingency payments if something goes wrong. Instead, find a reputable travel provider and save yourself the headache.
Second, get travel insurance. These days you just never know, and a trip this significant iis an investment worth protecting. You have more options now than ever for insurance plans that suit your need: you could opt to get a coverage plan that gives you a voucher for future travel (which is the more economical choice), or a plan that gives you cash back if your reason to cancel is covered under the policy.
Alright, let’s jump into the common mistakes couples make when planning their honeymoon:
Mistake #1. Only Relying on Online Reviews
We’ve all experienced the frustration of looking at reviews that range from 1 star to 5 stars, from, “I wouldn’t send my dog to this hotel,” to “This was the best vacation ever!”
Reviews are good to look at but don’t allow them to have the final say. Many people only leave reviews after having a negative experience, and you’ll often find that these occurrences are less common than the review page would make them seem.
Additionally, when you read the reviews, you’ll often find that the situation was fixed on-site, but the guest was still upset, so they gave a bad review even after the hotel management made it right.
However, if a hotel seems to have a majority of poor reviews, this is usually a bad sign. Consider spending your honeymoon at a more reputable location.
Mistake #2. Not Managing Your Expectations
What you see online isn’t always what you get. It’s frustrating to see images of perfection on the websites of a resort shot on empty properties with ideal weather conditions . But unless you’ve been there personally, you don’t find this out until you get there.
With your expectations crushed, this can sour your mood which can then spiral into a negative experience.
This is what we see often when it comes to negative reviews. If you are expecting one thing based on what you see online and then getting something not even close to it, you’re bound to be upset and not give a good review.
One way to guide your expectations is to talk to people who have been to the location, whether brides who had their own wedding or honeymoon there or a travel advisor with an intimate familiarity of the destination.
Mistake #3. Not Planning for Extra Travel to Activities and Excursions
This mistake is an easy one to make. If you have specific activities or sites you want to see on your honeymoon, it is advised to ensure your hotel is not hours away. Since there isn’t a straight path to every excursion, this can be hard to figure out by looking at a map, especially when it possibly isn’t that far mileage-wise.
If want to enjoy specific experiences on your honeymoon, take the extra time to research how far away your selected hotel will be before booking it. For example, if your honeymoon resort is in Negril, Jamaica, and you’re hoping to do the Mystic Mountain Bobsled Adventure and Dunns River Falls, you would have at least a two-and-a-half-hour ride there and back again.
Along those lines, also make sure that there will be available transportation to and from where you want to go. It’s best to book transportation ahead of time to ensure vehicles are available during your visit — and to keep everything running smoothly.
Mistake #4. Leaving the Day After Your Wedding
It’s exciting to think about jet-setting out for your honeymoon right after your wedding, but if you are having a late-night wedding reception, you may want to rethink that idea.
Many flights are super early in the morning, so unless you’re willing to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning for a six o’clock flight after that wedding, you’ll want to have a buffer between your wedding and honeymoon.
On top of that, planning and packing for a honeymoon takes effort, and you don’t want to worry about your honeymoon preparations in the middle of your wedding festivities.
Do yourself a favor and have a day or two cushion in between.
Mistake #5. Missing Out on Honeymoon Amenities
If you are planning on staying at a resort for your honeymoon, you will be surprised to see what some of the honeymoon packages offer. But a lot of couples don’t realize that they must adhere to the resort’s terms and conditions to qualify for the honeymoon package.
If you think amenities are automatic and show up assuming you’re getting breakfast in bed and a candlelight dinner, but you didn’t follow the resort’s guidelines, and miss out on your honeymoon perks, you’ll be in for an unpleasant surprise.
The best thing to do is work with a honeymoon specialist to ensure that your honeymoon is set up properly and you earn all the fun amenities you deserve.
Conclusion
Remember that planning a honeymoon is a new adventure where you can create wonderful memories. Planning ahead of time to avoid these mistakes can make all the difference in avoiding disappointment and creating many happy memories on your honeymoon.
