im completely stuck on my honeymoon, i was looking through some brochures last night and absolutely love the idea of staying in a villa on the lagoon but its so difficult choosing who to go with as some are cheaper than others but the expensives ones offer more. i dont really want to pay a huge sum of money for a 2 week holiday. was just wondering if any of you lovely ladies are going to the maldives and if you could give me any advice on which company to go with
thanks

ok ill try that thanks hun x

ok thanks hun we'll bear that in mind

we have booked for Kuredu via Thomas Cook.

however, have a look at J Resort Alidhoo. The standard rooms there are Jacuzzi beach Villas, (on 2 floors!) which is the kind of villa you pay a fortune for at other resorts. Its 4* and also one of the cheapest i have seen. If I had found that place first, we wouldnt have booked to Kuredu!

I'm going with first choice to hudhuranfushi, it's beautiful we can't wait to go! xxx

think i might give that a go then linzi. thanks for all your advice ladies x

thats the problem were having at the moment kate, were looking around and its coming to about 6/7k, i told h2b the honeymoon is going to cost more than the wedding lol. its his first time abroad and it being our honeymoon we want somewhere that we will never forget like a once in a lifetime kinda thing. cus after the honeymoon ill never spend thousands of pounds on a holiday for just us two. were now looking at the dominican republic and jamaica to see if we like any hotels there but tbh i instantly fell in love with the idea of having a villa on the water, its completely different to staying in a big hotel with loads of other people there.

Yeah for sure kimi1987, ours is costing roughly £4,900 for 2 weeks all inclusive with a private honeymoon water villa at the Medhufushi 5* Resort - definately recommend to book sooner rather than later as you can sometimes get an early booking discount aswell... we booked ours well over a year and a half away, which is ideal as we are paying it off bit by bit making it more manageable.... Some prices we were getting were rediculous - some nearly 9k!!In the end we thought we may aswell go for it as will probably be the only time we could ever afford it. xx

kate_b i cant belive that price for what we've paid thats disgusting whta they have charged us, i bet it would be cheaper to cancel ours and loose the money we have paid so far and restart over shopping around and get it cheaper including the money we'd loose :-( :@ how can they justify this?????????? im so annoyed and upset na that they can do this :-( x

good on you though great bargain great price x

kimi: have you looked at Mexico? Granted they don't have water villas, but several resorts have large suites with private pools, so it's worth a look. Plus, we find the standard very high, and you get a lot for your money; one thing which puts me off the Maldives is that IMPO the All Inc packages aren't very good; in Mexico, we get unlimited a la carte dining at a choice of 6-8 restaurants, top shelf alcohol like Grey Goose vodka, unlimited cocktails, a choice of wine, 24 hour room service, etc etc, and few resorts in the Maldives offer this flexibility; many only include buffet dinners, or limited reservations at a la cartes, and have a lot of exclusions on drinks; this is one reason we haven't been, even though we could have afforded it. Mexico is certainly worth a look at any rate.

Hey Kimi!

Like Barbie, I have also been to Mexico before and had an amazing time, booked last minute all inclusive, only £1000 for ten days, but then spent £1000 more on extras like swimming with dolphins, going to a water park and going to a Mayan settlement. The guy I went with paid about the same again. This was about six years ago. I had a great time, but Cancun is not where I would choose to spend my honeymoon. But you *will* get a better deal for food and drink in Mexico. (On the other hand, I had a horrible stomach bug that continued to bother me on and off for months afterwards and I did unfortunately spend a solid day of that holiday in bed.)

Depends what you want out of your honeymoon! We plan to do some diving and snorkling, enjoy some amazing food and indulge in a bit of luxury. For us, the Maldives is perfect. We see it as a once-in-a-lifetime trip, a chance to spend the first days of our married life happy and relaxed.

I researched honeymoons for AGES. I had £5K tax rebate, so that became our budget. I found it helpful checking out TripAdvisor, where you can read and write reviews about hotels/ resorts/ restaurants. It can make you more confident about making your decision if you see that there are plenty of good reviews. I found it helpful to know which places had consistant problems - e.g. where they frequently overbooked and this meant that guests got moved to a different resort (that presumably wasn't so popular).

My dream resort would be The One And Only Reethi Rah - looks like complete luxury. I have been to the one in Dubai just for a meal and it was amazing. Believe me, this is way our of my price tag! In the end, we went for a 5* resort called Vivanta by Taj Coral Reef. They are an Indian company with hotels in India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. We booked through a company called Turquoise who offer a honeymoon gift list option. Guests have contributed about £1750 so far, with three weeks til the wedding. Guests pay for particular gifts such as diving sessions, cocktails, spa treatments, to make your honeymoon special. But you don't have to use the money exactly as you have earmarked it. You can either use the money to pay towards the basic holiday or let Turquoise book activities/ treats for you or get given the money as a lump sum. For example, we had asked guests to pay towards diving sessions, but didn't want to book them until we got there and we could tell how much diving we wanted to do. This wasn't a problem at all. We are being given the money to do what we will with it.

We are having ten days at the resort half board. Included, because we are honeymooners, is: a private dinner with a bottle of wine on the beach, a Sunset Cruise, 15% discount in the Spa, a fruit basket on arrival, a cake and a gift. Some resorts only offered a free t-shirt! I am particularly curious about the gift - what could it be?? Do ask your travel agent what extras they can get you as a honeymooner.

We are staying in the most basic level of accommodation, a Charm beach villa. But these are still fairly luxurious and we are looking forward to our stay. We will also be telling everyone (the airline etc) we are just married in the hope of upgrades/ special treatment. Well, you never know...!

Keep researching. Know what is most important to you - whether you want a water villa or whether you want to be on a resort with lots of activities. Then you can prioritise. If you both like to drink, consider going all inclusive because i understand that alchohol is very expensive - partly because it is a muslim country and partly because it has to be imported. Food is expensive too. We chose our resort because it has an amazing coral reef with a shipwreck and access to the deeper channels where larger sea creatures such as sharks and dolphins can be seen. There is a PADI dive centre - again, this is important to us.

But I bet you will have a great time wherever you end up. Why? 1) It's your honeymoon! 2) It's the Maldives!

Happy researching! May you find everything you want and more!

Ah, Le Blanc I see is in Cancun. We had a hotel that was on the lagoon side. I don't remember the name.

I see they offer a free trip to Chichen Itza and swimming with the dolphins, like I did. The other place I went to was Xel Ha, which is a water park. I really enjoyed snorkelling down the river looking at the fish. And they had lots of hammocks there to relax on in the shade of palm trees. Wonderful!

Perhaps I was unlucky with the stomach bug, but it was really unpleasant. I have been lucky enough to travel a lot and always try new foods. Not sure it was unfamiliar food in this case, but food poisoning. I guess that can happen anywhere, you just have to take it in your stride.

The most important thing is finding somewhere that is right for you - a bit of luxury, but without feeling ripped off or as though your enjoyment if restricted.