Sgt Grit Marine Forums

How early did you book your honeymoon?  Or if you've even just gone on a cruise, how early did you book it?  Did you book through a travel agent or through the company's website?  Any tips for booking honeymoon stuff would be more than helpful.  Also, how did you handle any military discounts?  Did you need his ID?  Anything else?  Thanks!!!

I'm not sure about when to book it but to get a military discount I had to have Chris's ID which was a pain cause he was in Iraq. He photocopied it, snail mailed it, then I had to scan it and email it, lol. But for an August honeymoon you should be able to book now and get a good deal. The closer you try to book it to the date the more money they'll probably charge you cause it's "last minute." Where did you guys decide to go??

How exciting!!! This should give me good ideas for our "postponed" honeymoon. :)

One important point: If you are changing your name, file all paperwork AFTER the honeymoon. Otherwise your ID will have your new last name, but your passport won't.

Do you know any good travel agents? Nowadays they don't make money off travelers like they used to. And they know their stuff...I find it much easier to have them search for my travel plans than to do it myself...and I LOVE planning. But it seems like I use up a lot of precious time trying to find good deals when someone else could be doing that for me.

Also, something that might be of interest. My friend told me about this site, www.honeyluna.com. She said her friend is registered there. So her guests go on the site and look up the couples name. There they find what the couple has chosen as things they'd like to do on their honeymoon and the guests can purchase the different activities and other things like that. It looks really cool. :) 

We haven't *officially* decided on the exact details of our honeymoon yet.  A lot is going to depend on prices and stuff.  That's why I think I'm gonna hit up Liberty Travel in the mall on Saturday.

Also, how long does it take to get passports these days?  Because I'll definitely need to do that soon.  Does Tim need one?  He told me once, I think, that his government ID will get him anywhere?  Is that true?  Or sorta true?

crzysmiles721:

Also, how long does it take to get passports these days?  Because I'll definitely need to do that soon.  Does Tim need one?  He told me once, I think, that his government ID will get him anywhere?  Is that true?  Or sorta true?

Eek! Nope! he will definitely need a passport. If you want to do it now you should probably get it in time and not have to rush it. Chris and I both rushed ours...I did mine sooner and got it in two weeks, he did his later and we literally had to drive to Philly and pick it up the day before we left. It was MADNESS. So I would order them now and save yourselves some money because they are having a real backup problem right now. And that's a really good point about travel agents. We used one and we didn't have to pay her anything extra, she got commission from Sandals and she took care of EVERYTHING, it was amazing. The only thing we had to do was pick the location, get the passports and show up to the airport :)

Yeah, I agree on getting the passports now. I think the backup problem is pretty much over as it's not really prime traveling season. But if he doesn't have one, it's something like $150, then the rush charge is $60-80, can't remember right now. It normally takes somewhere near 6-8 weeks for the passport. So you have time, but do it sooner rather than later. :) 

Just a side question, as I'm having all the same issues right now...Does the name on the passport have to match your ID - do they check both?? I spoke to someone who said they did, and someone who said they didn't.

I'm trying to book a cruise now too, and have found that cruisecritic.com is an awesome resource!

Stephanie218:

Just a side question, as I'm having all the same issues right now...Does the name on the passport have to match your ID - do they check both?? I spoke to someone who said they did, and someone who said they didn't.

I'm trying to book a cruise now too, and have found that cruisecritic.com is an awesome resource!

 

Everything I've read has said, "Make sure that if you are changing your name, that you do it AFTER your honeymoon." Otherwise, your passport and ID will have two different names and they will give you a hard time. Oh! Make sure you book your tickets in your maiden name - unless all your IDs and passport will be updated by then. 

I booked our cruise a bit last minute (about a month and a half in advance) because I wanted to be sure Tim's leave would let us take it! But since we were both under 21, I had to call to book it. It wound up working out a LOT better because that was the only way to get the military discount (which I scanned and emailed them). The lady (she was a representative through the cruise line) was very helpful and she gave us an upgrade to a bigger balcony since it was our honeymoon so be sure and mention it. There are a lot of honeymoon cruisers these days but hey you never know!!!

So that's why I prefer to book over the phone - this coming from somebody who resorts to the internet for everything!!!!!!

As far as the passport goes, I would get that out of the way now. We got lucky on the timing of ours - Tim was in Iraq so he couldn't really get one but it was the last few months of 2007 so it wasn't in effect JUST yet! But definetly get it out of the way as soon as possible!!!

 

 

We booked ours through the ITT office on base. Definately make sure that your main ID and passport are the same. Also yes he will need a passport, pretty much the only time they don't need one is when they are traveling on official military orders. That is about to change though and all of them will need passports for PCSing orders.

Thanks for the advice girls - I guess I will have to try and get my passport changed once I get the marriage certificate back. I would just not change it, but my license expires (CT) in Feb. and I think I'll just get a CA one. We're looking at cruising in late March. So I suppose I could get a CA one in my maiden name and change it again, but that's so much extra work with the DMV lol....

Have fun planning honeymoons, to everyone who is traveling soon!

We took a cruise on Royal Carribean. I totally reccomend them. They gave us both a military discount and a CA resident discount. I just called them up and explained it was our honeymoon and they did the rest. Our room was decorated, they threw a special party for us, had special gifts and in our room at random times fun food things would show up from caviar to canapes to champagne and chocolate strawberries. The lady on the phone was very helpful and freindly and she took care of us really well.