Newlyweds Harriet and Craig chose Buy Our Honeymoon to make sure their honeymoon was full of fabulous activities. We spoke to them to find out more about their perfect honeymoon experience…
Where did you go, and why?
“Our honeymoon was a two week mini-tour around the Mediterranean! After a relaxing night staying at the five-star Sofitel T5 hotel at Heathrow, we jetted off to Rome for a night before we embarked on a seven-day cruise. We went to Italy, Spain and France and we visited so many amazing places including Pisa, Florence, Cannes, Monaco, Barcelona, Palma, Pompeii and Sorrento. After our week of sailing, we flew from Rome to Verona for one night only to go to the Opera in the famous Arena. We then got a transfer to Bardolino on Lake Garda for a further five days before heading back home as Mr and Mrs Canavan.”
Why did you choose that destination?
“We spent a long time trying to decide our honeymoon destination and plan a holiday to remember. We contemplated two weeks on an exotic beach in the Maldives, a driving tour of California, but in the end we decided to split our honeymoon into two parts so we would get the best of both worlds with a week crusing the Med (meaning we got to take in some culture and visit some amazing cities), followed by some time spent, with cocktails in hand, relaxing on the shores of Lake Garda in the beautiful Italian sun.”
“We both absolutely love Italy so we found a cruise that left and returned to Italy meaning we could then easily fly to part two of our honeymoon! We cruised on the Norwegian Epic. An amazing ship carrying 4,000 passengers, that has been named ‘Best Cruise Shop’ for both design, food and on-board entertainment on several occasions. It’s really modern, and is full of swanky cocktail bars, so it suited us perfectly!”
What did you do there?
“Given the long list of places that the shop docked at during our cruise, it was hard to decide what to see and do with just one day in each city. We managed our time well and did some amazing excursions, which meant we saw a lot! We visited the leaning Tower of Pisa, explored Florence. We visited Monte Carlo in Monaco and had ice creams at Café de Paris! We spent our day in Barcelona doing the hop on / hop off bus tour so we could experience as much as possible. Our day in Tuscany took us to Pompeii — highly recommended! — and ended with an afternoon in Sorrento.”
“We also got a couple of days at sea, so we could enjoy the ship. We visited the Mandura spa – the largest spa at sea, and got POSH passes, giving us entry to the special adults-only deck of the shop where you can sunbath on huge double beds whilst waiters bring round drinks and fruit kebabs. Pure luxury! One evening, we went to the Svedka ice bar on board; the world’s only floating ice bar! Another evening we went to Teppanyaki, a Japanese show cooking restaurant which was incredible.”
“After our cruise, we flew to Verona for a night at the opera, and a day exploring the city. It really is a wonderful place and we stayed at the gorgeous Hotel Antica Porta Leona. We even had time to secure a padlock with our wedding date onto the gate underneath Juliette’s balcony. We then headed to Bardolino, the gorgeous picturesque town on Lake Garda for five days of sun! We spent those days on the lake boating, swimming, taking walks (usually to find gelato!) and generally just relaxing after our busy week of cruising. We had the pleasure of staying in the Hotel Villa Katy, a family run boutique hotel of just 12 rooms. The views over Lake Garda from our balcony were just beautiful.”
What was your most romantic moment?
“When we went to the opera! This really was incredible. Neither of us are fans of opera but it just so happened that there was a performance planned on the one night we were staying. The show was in the ancient outdoor arena. We started our evening off with a lovely meal and bottle of prosecco in the Piazza Bar, then went to see the performance. The atmosphere was wonderful and it was definitely a night to remember – even if it did rain and we had to buy plastic plastic ponchos to keep dry!”
It’s great for honeymoons because…
“We got to see and experience so much! Cruise ships are basically five-star floating hotels. The food is amazing, and there were 14 restaurants on board to choose from, all included in the cruise cost. The bars are beautiful and give off the real feeling of glitz and glamour. It is really exciting waking up in a new place each day, and stepping onto your balcony to look at the views. We then had all the time in Italy afterwards to just relax on the shores of the Lake. We really did get the best of both worlds! Bardolino is such a gorgeous town, full of bars, restaurants and plenty of local vineyards to explore.”
Why did you use Buy Our Honeymoon?
“We had so many possibilities of things to do on our honeymoon, so Buy Our Honeymoon was perfect for us. It meant we could split our trip into sections, such as ‘On board the cruise’ and ‘A night in Verona’, and then list out all the different dining options and excursions available.”
“We liked the idea that our guests could get us an experience, instead of simply putting money in an envelope. It also meant that we could easily see who had got us what, so we could take photos to show them on our return of us doing the activity they had purchased.”
“So many guests said how easy it was to use when buying a gift, and we thoroughly enjoyed creating our list. The support was great too, with very quick responses to any questions we had.”
Thanks to Harriet and Craig for sharing their honeymoon story! If you want some more alternative honeymoon ideas, just click here.
