Honeymoon, help either Maldives or Kenya?

alison79  i wud go for the maldives!

portsmouthjen  Ooh I can see why you are struggling - both ideas are amazing!
Maldives is on our wish list but it depends how we do on the gift voucher front as wedding presents. I suppose the question to ask is do you want pure relaxation (Maldives) or a bit of adventure too (Kenya)

girlie180  I think I would go for The Maldives, that looks amazing

mizza1987  going to throw a complete spanner in the works..........could you combine the two?!! xx

kayren555  @give_me_strength girl at my work is just back from her honeymoon in maldives. said it was amazing. she only went for 7 days, she said that 7 days was the best option, 14 days would be too long. most agents I have spoken to said that it is normally done with a stop over in dubia for a few days to break it up. so as @mizza1987 says, try to combine both. I fancied maldives too but oh aint too keen lol

caroly  ok doke im an agent and speaking from experoencehow about 10 night sin maldives (cosmos do 10 nights) 4 nights in dubia or 7 nights in kenya with 3 night safari then a week in madlives stopping for a night in dubai?

give_me_strength  Thanks Everyone...

@caroly
@kayren555
@mizza1987
@girlie180
@portsmouthjen
@alison79

Wouldn't combining the two end up costing a lot more? x

mrsctobe  @give_me_strength we had exactly the same dilemma - Kenya or Maldives. We went with the Maldives as they will one day not be there due to rising sea levels (whether this happens in our life times or not, but still). Kenya at the moment is politically unstable which put us off a bit. What we decided was to go to the Maldives first, as it is very suitable for and tailored around honeymooners and then to do the Kenya safari the following year, depending on the politics and the money, as a first anniversary break. I think if you both like one of the places but only one of you likes the other, it might not be best going for the one destination that only one of you likes. If you are into your nature and animals, I would suggest trying to combine a week in the Maldives with a week in Sri Lanka or somewhere similar as that way you still will get your adventure with elephant rides and jungle hopping etc and you'll also get your time for relaxing on the beach. I don't think it works out more expensive, but obviously it'll depend which islands/resorts you goo for. xx

caroly  why dont you island hop from island to island make the most of the maldive keep cost down xx

meeeshel  how much is Kenya? the water villas work out around £5k for a week, as that's what we're looking at, so i'd have thought kenya is cheaper?

Maldives is once in a lifetime tho, pure honeymoon reaxation - Kenya you could always do another time? it's just the maldives is more honeymoony to me.


x

give_me_strength  Both are about the same price - with a beach room, rather than a water villa in the maldives - although we would try to upgrade when we get there if we had enough money!

Oh it's so hard! I don't think we could ever afford kenya otherwise either though! Both are once in a lifetime for us! x

caroly  you'll be going at a good time as were going on the 11 june 2012 its the start of the hurricaine season this doesnt mean its goign to rain all the time it could rain for 5 miutes and thats it, the weather in my opinion wil be so lovely, its doesnt rain like mad until july august sept thats not the best time to go

meeeshel  @caroly my brother went on 12th June and it was perfect x

caroly  see you cant go wrong x

loz2879  Maldives!!!! Kenya is amazing though i went there about 6 years ago! you can get soem good deals on Kenya depending what you want, i wouldve thought Kenya is cheaper than Maldives?
enjoy shopping for your perfect honeymoon! x

midz  My brother just got back from his honeymoon in the Maldives - they said it was amazing. Its a real honeymoon destination and so relaxing. If your H2b would prefer to go to the maldives then I would go there just because he will be happy and you like both so you'll be happy too, where as Kenya sound more your thing so he may not enjoy the trip as much. happy shopping though xx

raewright  We had a similar problem, we were torn between Kenya (3 night safari, 11 night holiday) and Bali (14 nights). Bali was more expensive but it was in a private villa whereas Kenya was at a hotel. We loved both but went for Bali in the end. Our reasoning was that Bali would be more private and peaceful to recover from the stress of the wedding and we could spend the time exactly how we wanted. With Kenya we were tied into the safari on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th night there so if we weren't feeling up to it, it would be a waste. Plus, we thought Kenya would be a lot of fun when we have a couple of kids to take with us.

give_me_strength  @raewright Thats the kenya holiday we would have too!

Still no closer to deciding! I still really want Kenya, he still isn't that fussed. But we are now worried that 2 weeks in the maldives is too much, but 1 week too little!

It's so hard to make a decision. Any ideas on what we could do to keep occupied in the Maldives, esp if it rains? x

meeeshel  @give_me_strength if you're not sure, why don't you go for somewhere completely different instead - like the caribbean? luxury of the maldives, but more activities you can do! And will be able to stay for 2 weeks instead....

my bother went for a week to the maldives and it was fine tho....

raewright  Could you not do Maldives for 10 nights? And are you really that concerned about not having anything to do?! It's a honeymoon after all, christ, we'll be lucky if we leave the villa for long enough to eat!!

accidentallyme  @give_me_strength I'd go for the Maldives cause it's rainy season in Kenya so you'll get bitten to death and there won't be many animals around on safari (trust me, I've spent 2 months in Kenya) xx

mrsctobe  @give_me_strength we watched a programme about the Maldives last night and although it did rain, people still had things to do. The rain isn't cold like it is in the UK either, so you could still be out and about in it as it is warm, and when the sun comes out you'll soon dry through (just make sure to wear lightweight clothes). Anyway, I'm sure that you would be able to find something to do on honeymoon if it is raining....

When we go away, we always try to meet people so that if it does rain, you've got people to talk to or to eat with etc, take the edge off a bit. To be honest, I'm really looking forward to two weeks on a beach doing sweet f.a. as I've had no holiday all year and am really feeling the need for a long break and some relaxation. I do like activities, and in the Maldives you can do snorkelling, diving, swimming, walking, island hopping, boat trips.....there's plenty to do really.

If you think a fortnight is too long, I would suggest 10 days, although it is a 10 hour flight and then transfers so you need to weigh up what is best for you, as we couldn't justify the flight times for just 10 days xx

meeeshel  I've just booked maldives!! soo excited - @mrsctobee where abouts are you going? x

give_me_strength  @meeeshel I saw meeshel thats great! Where are you going? What are you staying in?

I am erring towards the maldives now! But I still so want to go to Kenya. I'm sure I could cope with 14 days lol, but if we had 10 we might be able to afford the better water villa!

@accidentallyme Thanks for the heads up, I was told we would just be ok?
@mrsctobe I know you're right, I just love the idea of safari and all the animals! x

meeeshel  @give_me_strength we're staying in a water villa in reethi beach, it's gorgeous, can't wait!

just to let you know, the water villas if you want to do them all inc start from 3.5K for a week - 2 weeks was waaay out of our budget - just to give you an idea of costings. If you can push to 10 def do it, there's all kinds of excursions you can do as well - wasn't one of your main things to swim with dolphins? i've seen pics of that there, speedboat day trips to see dolphins! and diving, robinson cruso experience - they drop you on a deserted island for a 1/2 day with a lunch and only yourselves to entertain, how romantic! And day trips to the capital, so i wouldn't worry about having enough to do. That's if you ever leave the room

give_me_strength  Yeah I saw the dolphin boat thing which is also making it harder to decide! I need to look into it properly and decide! x

meeeshel  yeah might be worth going in to see someone for a chat, to weigh up all the pros and cons. I'm sure either way you won't be dissapointed - most important thing is probably to decide with H2B where's best for both of you. If he doesn't want to do a safari, you need to take that into the consideration too.

or, just let him do all the choosing/booking and take the stress away from you!

good luck!

xx

give_me_strength  Lol I am stressing now! We could only afford a water front villa for two weeks and that would be a stretch, but a week would feel too short due to the flight times for us! I think we will end up going for maldives, I just need to mourn the loss of kenya lol. Hopefully we'll be able to do it another time! x

meeeshel  I don't think a week is too short tbh, my brother went for a week and said it was fine - i'm sure you'll be able to do it again. Or, go for something completely different. Thats why it may be worthwhile going in somewhere so they can advise you of all kinds of places! x
@give_me_strength

give_me_strength  Yeah you're right! Hopefully we will get a chance soon!
@meeeshel

Thank you everyone for your help! Sorry I'm so difficult but this will probably be a once in a lifetime holiday so I want it to be right! x