Honeymoon Vacation Books

Use these top rated honeymoon books to help plan your romantic honeymoon vacation travel. These books cover Hawaii honeymoons, cruise honeymoons, and also all inclusive honeymoons. If you are planning a destination wedding, there's books for that too. Click on the books below to get them from Amazon. Before you pay for that romantic honeymoon suite, make sure you have all your research in hand to pick the best honeymoon resort for your trip. See our page on Wedding Books & Planners for more useful wedding planning books.

Choosing a romantic honeymoon destination

We had many romantic honeymoon ideas, considering numerous honeymoon destinations in Vegas, Hawaii, Europe, Caribbean travel, including Sandals all inclusive resorts vacation packages. Venice, Italy appealed to us with its beautiful waterways. But after our stressful wedding planning, we wanted an affordable worry free romantic honeymoon trip close to home so Europe was out, and it seemed the Sandals beach resorts were in. We opted for stability of all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, close to us in Florida. This is a good choice for a romantic honeymoon. We had read positive Sandals Resorts reviews so we were ready. Sandals St. Lucia resort here we come.

We knew couples whose honeymoon trip was Sandals all inclusive resorts resorts in Jamaica, where they have 6 Sandals beach resorts honeymoon destinations. At the Sandals Jamaica resorts, you stay in one Sandals, but you can play in all six Sandals Jamaica beach resorts. Read Sandals Resort reviews and see what other couples are saying. But Jamaica is so big it takes hours to drive anywhere on scary, winding dangerous pothole roads. The odds of you playing at more than two Sandals Jamaica resorts are low unless you want to waste your day in a scary van ride. My friend Greg had his romantic honeymoon trip at Sandals Dunn's River Falls, Jamaica and he said it was awesome. There are Sandals Resort discounts right on their web site, so check often. The nearby waterfalls are popular. We chose Sandals St. Lucia Resort for our romantic honeymoon destination.

About the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia

Getting to Sandals St. Lucia Resort in the Caribbean

When booking your Sandals all inclusive vacation package, remember that American Airlines practically owns the Caribbean travel routes. They have more flights for Caribbean travel than anyone, and they were one of only 2 airlines that flew into St. Lucia, via San Juan, Puerto Rico. There's 2 paths into St. Lucia to get to Sandals St. Lucia resort. In both cases you take a big plane to Puerto Rico, then switch to a smaller plane. Some flights are non-stop from Miami too. After September 11, Miami International Airport is a security zoo, with long customs lines. They want you there 3 hours before your international flight. Try to remain calm, your are on your honeymoon trip, you will get to your Sandals Resort. Now here's 2 paths for you to choose to reach your honeymoon destination because St. Lucia has 2 airports.

Path #1 to Sandals St. Lucia Resort
Larger jets land at the southern end of St. Lucia at Hewanorra Airport. Although St. Lucia is only 14 miles long, the twisting mountainous just as scary as Jamaica bus ride takes 1 1/2 hours, and occasionally passes the beaches. The bus ride to the three Sandals all inclusive resorts destinations from Hewanorra is very scenic.

Path #2 to Sandals St. Lucia Resort
The tiny Vigie Field, 15 minutes from Sandals St. Lucia Resort can only handle small regional planes like the small propeller ATR72's American Airlines sent south after the winter ice related plane crash problems plaguing ATRs in the early 90's. Many guests who flew the prop planes complained of noise, vibration, cramped seating, and service levels below that of the big planes. Sit on the right side of the plane if you want a view of Sandals beach resort right before you land. There wasn't much difference in price so we chose the big plane with the shorter flight, and a longer drive to Sandals.

Arriving in St. Lucia for your romantic honeymoon

Which path should you take to Sandals St. Lucia Resort for your honeymoon trip? We feel safer in big planes. They fly higher at 32,000 feet, above the 11,000 ft storm clouds, and get you there quicker. But prop planes that land at Viggie field fly at 15000 feet in the bad weather and take longer to get there. It works out to be the same travel time through the Caribbean. Have your passports ready at the airport. St. Lucia is a poor country, which you will see during the ride to the resort. Sandals St. Lucia resort is located just moments away from the tourist and shopping port of Castries, 15 minutes from Sandals Halcyon, and Sandals Grande St. Lucia beach resorts. You can stay at one Sandals Resort destination in St. Lucia, and play at all three Sandals Resorts. Many guests take the free van to Mario's at Sandals Halcyon to eat dinner. Mario's REQUIRES pants for gentlemen. They have turned away men in shorts! No tickey, no washie! The same is true at La Toc. Gentlemen MUST wear pants at all Sandals beach resorts.

Have your wedding honeymoon (Weddingmoon) at Sandals Resorts

You can get married at Sandals resorts while you are on your honeymoon. This is a signature amenity at Sandals, famously known as the Weddingmoon. The basic wedding package is free if you stay 5 nights, but most Weddingmoon couples may want to upgrade to a paid wedding, with more features. We saw 2 or 3 weddingmoons every day on the Sandals resort beach area. Many couples fly into Sandals for their weddingmoon with a small party, no fancy clothing for guests except for the bride and groom, and the ceremony can be done anywhere on the Sandals beach resort. Some ceremonies were done in shorts. This is a great alternative for couples on a budget, it saves you the cost of a major wedding, and requires little planning.

Arriving at the Sandals St. Lucia Resort

Our Sandals Resort review and honeymoon trip report officially starts here! Our honeymoon pictures on this page are clickable to see a larger image. We are almost at our honeymoon suite! As you enter the 210 acre Sandals Resort property, there is guarded gate looking like Check Point Charlie. You'll need your Sandals Resort ID badge to return if you leave the property. The breathtaking grounds of this honeymoon destination go on and on. You drive past their beautiful golf course with a terrific view of the ocean. Just as we pulled up to the main lobby we passed the tennis courts which are free, but require reservations. This is when you discover the first benefit of staying in a suite. If you are staying in a suite you get a few benefits not offered to those bourgeois tag staying in the standard rooms of the main building. How "suite" it is at Sandals all inclusive resorts honeymoon suites. When we booked our Sandals all inclusive vacation package, we chose a honeymoon suite. They refer to suite guests as "suitees", and how suite it is. Those of us who are "suitees" get the royal treatment. We received our first exposure to this royal treatment the "Suites Concierge" service. They brought us into a plush appointed air conditioned room with a TV going until about a dozen of us loaded in. Then they fed us cookies, champagne, soda, wine, beer during our orientation, explaining all that the resort has to offer. I knew this would be a honeymoon trip to remember. They informed us that tipping at Sandals all inclusive resorts is strictly forbidden. They informed us that those other poor souls who arrived with us who were not "suitees" were still standing in line in the hot open air lobby waiting to check in. During our suites orientation we discovered several other benefits of being a "suitee" during our Sandals honeymoon. First of all, the fully stocked bar in our honeymoon suite was free and all replacements were free as well. We also got the 4 page NY Times fax in our room every morning, and the maid turns the bed every night. Suitees get first crack at restaurant reservations. Whatever is left after 4:00 PM is turned over to the "regular" guests. If there are no slots left, the regulars lose! If you need ANYTHING during your Sandals honeymoon, don't worry about who to call, convey all your desires to the Suites Concierge, and they deal with it. We had a clogged drain in our honeymoon suite and our Suites Concierge took care of it. Remember that when you book your Sandals all inclusive vacation package. The next morning we had a meeting of all "suitees" where they show us all the events during our Sandals honeymoon week including golf, tennis, SCUBA diving, boating, tours, etc. This is where you make all your reservations for the Sandals St. Lucia restaurants, including Mario's at Halcyon. Don't wait for this meeting to book the high demand activities. Hit the travel desk as soon as possible after you arrive at Sandals beach resort. Print out our Sandals Resort reviews and take them to your Sandals honeymoon suite with you.

The Romantic Honeymoon Suites at Sandals St. Lucia Resort
The photos at left are the interior and exterior of our romantic honeymoon suite. Don't sweat it if your Sandals all inclusive vacation package is a regular room instead of a fancy romantic honeymoon suite. The cheaper rooms in the main building of the Sandals resort are actually closer to the beach, pool, food pavilion, and restaurants. If it rains, you don't get wet going to the restaurants. We stayed in a romantic Honeymoon Villa Suite with a personal plunge pool, just up the hill in the resort from the main building and beach, overlooking the tennis courts. Our romantic Honeymoon Villa was on 1st floor. There are honeymoon villas on the second floor as well and they can see you in your not so private plunge pool. Our honeymoon suite at Sandals Resort had a large living room and free stocked bar, including refills. The furniture is tropical, with colorful flower designs on the chairs and sofa fabrics, AC with remote control, huge walk in closet. The dark wood dresser is big and the king size 4 post mahogany bed was beautiful, with a flowery bed spread. The bathroom was first class, marble everywhere. There are more plunge pool honeymoon suites up the road along a peninsula on the cliffs, overlooking the entire beach and resort. These are known as Sunset Suites. We hoped to be upgraded to one of these honeymoon suites, but no dice. Once we saw them we knew why they never upgraded us. They would never give that suite to someone not paying the full price for it. When you book your Sandals all inclusive vacation package, don't expect the honeymoon suite upgrade.

Food is Everywhere during your Sandals Honeymoon!
Food was everywhere at Sandals all inclusive resorts. There are 6 restaurants at Sandals St. Lucia Resort and an impressive buffet under the enormous pool pavilion, overlooking the beaches. The restaurants require reservations but the pavilion buffet, whose tables face the ocean, needs no reservations. During breakfast and lunch, this affords you a spectacular view of the ocean, as honeymoon cruise boats drift by. Small prop planes ferrying new guests fly by every ten minutes to land at Vigie Field. The buffet in the pavilion has salads, pastas, chicken, beef, sandwich meats, a short order grill, many cakes, pies and desserts. There's also the French restaurant La Toc. We loved the food and service in La Toc. It's surreal to enjoy what would be a $100 meal back home, then leave without paying or tipping. If we go back, we'll eat there twice. Next is the Creole restaurant the Pitons, located at the piano bar. We never made over there. Arizona is a Southwestern restaurant, with mediocre food. Kimonos is a beautiful Japanese restaurant cantilevered off the cliff over the ocean. This is a Benihana style restaurant where the chef cooks for groups of 8 people. There's a disco at Sandals St. Lucia, a talent show, and a farewell banquet/dance every Saturday night. Many guests took the free shuttle to the Italian restaurant Mario's at Sandals Halcyon.

Activities at Sandals St. Lucia Resort
During sightseeing tours, Sandals Resort photographers document your fun. The photos are posted the next day in the amphitheater. The prices were high, a whopping $6 per 4x6 photo, probably more by now. The quality of the photos was poor. We only bought 3 of 10 photos of us. At Sandals St. Lucia Resort you can water ski at the beach, SCUBA dive. Those are included in your Sandals all inclusive vacation package. Any activities off Sandal's property costs extra, such as sailing trips, excursions, and horseback riding. There are two MUST SEE's if you stay at the Sandals all inclusive resorts in St. Lucia. As soon as you can, book the excellent "Soufriere Day Sail", it was the best $70 we ever spent! You pile into vans at 8:30 AM, drive 15 minutes to the harbor in Castries and board a huge 100 person catamaran. They open up the FREE bar, crank the music, and after a few drinks, you're all dancing as the boat sails for two hours south along the beautiful St. Lucia coast toward the volcanic twin peaks, called the Pitons. What a great destination for Caribbean travel. This provided great honeymoon pics below for our Sandals Resort Review.

Bring lots of suntan lotion with you to use on your honeymoon trip to St. Lucia. Next, you dock in Soufriere, a beautiful rustic seaside town. Do not throw coins to the kids in the water at the beach, this offense carries a stiff fine from the local Police. After leaving the Soufriere dock they pile you into vans and take you up a huge hill next to the Pitons, and stop at a Kodak moment spot giving you a breathtaking birds eye view of Soufriere. Take lots of pictures at this spot. Then it's off to the smelly volcano hot sulfur springs. After that we visted the botanical gardens and took pics by the waterfalls. Take your own pics, most of the pictures that Sandals produces are of poor quality. They use great Nikon cameras with flashes and the photographers know what they are doing, but film processing in St. Lucia is awful. After the gardens, it's off to free lunch atop another hill overlooking the entire city of Soufriere, the beach, and the Pitons. This is truly an awesome view. Remember, it's not included in your Sandals all inclusive vacation package.

A 20" framed enlargement of the Pitons, a 45 minute catamaran ride from Sandals beach resort is hanging in my living room. The Pitons were formed from volcanic activity. Later, they stopped the catamaran off shore for a half hour snorkel, or you can drink more booze, sleep, catch some rays, or just goof off for a while. Then it's back to your Sandals beach resort in time for a short rest in your honeymoon suite before dinner. This was one of the best St. Lucia excursions of our Sandals honeymoon.

Next, the day sail cruised by many waterfalls along the 200' cliffs lining St. Lucia. Take lots of shots, and use a zoom lens from 100 mm to 300 mm to bring the waterfalls close for your photos. A 20" x 30" enlargement of the waterfall is hanging in my family room. The boat then steered into Marigot Bay, where they filmed "Dr. Doolittle" in the 1960's. Ask the captain to point out boxer George Foreman's round house on the cliff overlooking Marigot Bay. Then you turn around and head north with 3 motorized zodiac boats chasing you to sell you straw hats. By 4:30 PM you arrive back at the harbor in Castries where you started.

What a day, it felt like a complete separate vacation, well worth the money. Here' a view of Sandals beach resort from our catamaran.Our honeymoon suite with plunge pool is just above the main building in the trees.

A must during your Sandals honeymoon is the "Sunset Sail Cruise". They take you on the catamaran at 4:30 PM, serving you snacks and bar drinks during the 2-3 hour cruise. Set sail north along the beach, viewing large houses on the cliffs, passing small harbors while you watch the beautiful sunset. They photograph you in front of the sunset, but take your own pics too for better quality.

Just sit by the pool or beach soaking up exotic drinks
Don't sleep in late in your honeymoon suite, get outside and enjoy yourselves. "No Problem Mon!" Sandals St. Lucia Resort claims to have the largest pool in Caribbean. I agree, I couldn't get the pool to fit in my 28 mm lens. We liked the island bar that juts out into the pool, with underwater bar stools. You never have to leave the water to get a drink, and no tipping!! They have pool volleyball, where you will meet other couples, playing one handed volleyball (the other hand is holding a drink). The beach is nice too. A perfect honeymoon destination.

A Few more photos I took at Sandals St. Lucia

Largest pool in the Caribbean. Timing is everything! We got to the pool at 8:15 AM in time to see a cruise ship arriving. THere we are at the pool bar, all inclusive drinks in hand.

A photo I shot of a newlywed couple on their "wedding honeymoon", better known as weddingmoon, getting a portrait after their wedding moon ceremony. You'll see a lot these weddingmoons at Sandals resorts. We saw at least 3 couples everyday get married there on their wedding honeymoon. Most weddingmoon couples go by themselves or with a few guests. It's a romantic place for a wedding honeymoon.

Important Tips For Your Caribbean Travel at Sandals St. Lucia Resort

• Get sunglasses with the most UV protection, Caribbean sun is powerful near equator. You must have eye protection, UV damage is cumulative
• Always use sunscreen at least SPF15, you have been warned. Anything less is not enough. Apply 30 minutes before you leave your room
• Time your arrival at Sandals resorts after 2:00 PM, otherwise your room will not be ready, and you'll have to wait at the pool
• Get to the pool by 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM to claim lounge chairs with a towel. On a fair weather day, the good lounges are gone by 8:00 AM
• If you haven't claimed a pool spot by 8:30 AM, forget about getting ANY spot at all at the Caribbean's largest pool
• Don't process your film in St. Lucia. They don't have quality controls like the U.S. In one lab we saw filthy chemical tanks
• Book French restaurant La Toc ASAP! They fill up rapidly because they are Sandal's best restaurant. Ask for sunset ocean view table
• Book the "Soufriere Day Sail" & "Sunset Cruise", as soon as you arrive as these fill up rapidly. Don't wait until suites orientation
• Book your golf and tennis as soon as you can after you arrive at Sandals beach resort, the slots fill up rapidly
• If you consider horseback riding, other guests said it was a long hot drive out to a muddy area, actual riding time was short, a waste
• Bring tons of extra film or batteries if using a digital camera. You don't want to pay $15 for a $4 roll of film in the gift shop!
• It rains a lot in St. Lucia. Have backup plans for activities that are canceled. Take a cab into Castries and go shopping
• If you are a "suitee" at a Sandals beach resort, have extra free bottled water sent to your honeymoon suite, to take to the pool

Our Favorite Features at Sandals all Inclusive Resorts

• Our Sandals honeymoon suite at the Sandals beach resort was spacious, huge mahogany wood 4 post bed
• Food and drinks abound!! Order any drink you want at any bar without paying or tipping. Drink of choice: "No Pressure"
• Free refills in our fully stocked in-room bar. (SUITES ONLY!) Just drink up, order more
• French restaurant "La Toc" was better than some restaurants in our home town. Excellent food and service by white gloved servers
• Impressive buffets in The Pavilion, great views, all tables face the ocean, service was impeccable. Servers carry your tray to your table
• The no tipping rule. It's great leaving your honeymoon suite with no cash, no worrying about change for tips
• Pool bar extends into Caribbean's largest pool with stools under water. Gazebos, hammocks, 10 foot chessboard, water skiing
• The Sailing trips, the expensive $100/person but worth it helicopter ride back to the airport
• Friendly staff. Sandal's Suite Concierge service was great. They remember your name when you walk into the office
• The wedding honeymoons, known as weddingmoons, are a convenient way for couples to truly get a package deal
• Lots of events to keep you busy: Pool Volleyball, nighttime events, dancing. Other Newlyweds are very friendly

Things to be aware of at Sandals all inclusive resorts in St. Lucia

• It rains often in St. Lucia, two days into our honeymoon week. In St. Lucia hurricane season is June through December. January through May have less rain. Sandals Resorts has an excellent Hurricane Guarantee
• They would not upgrade our room although a Sandals Resort rep told us they "most likely would". Don't fall for these sales scams.
• Not much seafood there. I expected seafood in the Caribbean, but was told seafood is expensive and rare. No lobster? Competing all inclusive beach resorts in Jamaica have huge buffets with lobster!
• "Private" plunge pools do NOT offer privacy. People on the sidewalk by our honeymoon villa suite can see us in the pool. People in the second floor villas can see you in the pool. Unheated plunge pools in the shade are cold
• Water comes from Castries, flooded from several days of rain. They lost water service and put us on water ration. For two days, faucet water was brown. In less affluent countries this is a way of life.
• When you check out of Sandals all inclusive resorts, scrutinize your phone bill carefully. They added a $30 charge to our room for a long distance call to New York city, which we did not make. I don't know anyone in New York, nor would I be foolish enough to call long distance from out of the country. We had to make a big scene for them to drop the charge. Who would call the mainland anyway? The international rates a rip off.

Departing Sandals St. Lucia to head back home
Another Sandals honeymoon draws to a close and what a honeymoon trip that was. We bid farewell to our honeymoon suite, and to the Sandals beach resort. Knowing the trip back to the airport was over 1 1/2 hours, we opted for something quicker, with scenic beach views. We sprung $100 each for a helicopter ride back to the airport from Sandals Resort. It was expensive, but St. Lucia is one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth to fly over. They bus you 10 minutes away to the harbor in Castries for the 15 minute flight, which flies right by Sandals St. Lucia Resort. That's how we got those shots looking down on the cliff side villas. Then you fly right by the Pitons, over the volcano hot springs, and down the center of St. Lucia to the airport. The 14 mile helicopter trip takes 15 minutes. It's the perfect way to depart St. Lucia. There's nothing like Caribbean travel. I wonder how many wedding honeymoons have taken place since our honeymoon trip to Sandals Resort.

Would go back to Sandals St. Lucia Resort?