Honeymoon - Lake Garda and Cruise

JimStynes · December 29, 2011, 08:35:56 PM

Honeymoon in Aug 2012. We are thinking of 4 nights somewhere in Lake Garda and then getting the train to Venice where we will depart for our 12 night Celebrity Cruise. Anybody been on the Celebrity Silhoutte ship and can anyone recommend a good hotel around Lake Garda?

Bingo · December 29, 2011, 08:39:31 PM

Mate got married in lake Garda last August, he stayed in a very plush hotel/resort about 1km outside Garda town, very modern hotel with apartment type accommodation on site. Can't for life of me remember name.

I'm sure their is any amount of nice romantic spots round the lake.

amallon · December 30, 2011, 08:52:27 AM

Jim - We are getting married in August as well and we have been looking into the Lake Garda/Cruise option as well. We were on Royal Carribean last summer and its supposed to be 4 stars in comparision to Celebrities 5. Celebrity must be out of this world.

I'd be interested in people's recomendations for Lake Garda as well.

Denn Forever · December 30, 2011, 11:35:45 AM

Things to do around Lough Garda.

http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=20644.0

JimStynes · December 30, 2011, 01:59:27 PM

Quote from: amallon on December 30, 2011, 08:52:27 AM
Jim - We are getting married in August as well and we have been looking into the Lake Garda/Cruise option as well. We were on Royal Carribean last summer and its supposed to be 4 stars in comparision to Celebrities 5. Celebrity must be out of this world.

I'd be interested in people's recomendations for Lake Garda as well.

We could get a discount for booking a couple of cruises

The celebrity cruises are meant to be unreal. There is another crowd called silversea cruises that is 6 star, we were also thinking of them but it would be far too fancy I reckon.
Departing Dublin 6 August Here is one of the quotes we were given recently.

Transfer to Lake Garda o the resort of Desenzano

Staying for 4 Nights at the Villa Rose Hotel Bed & breakfast

1st Class rail transfer to Venice Friday 10 August

Board Celebrity Silhouette Interior stateroom

Celebrity Silhouette Interior Stateroom

Fri 10 Aug 2012 Venice, Italy Boarding
Sat 11 Aug 2012 Venice, Italy 05:00 PM Docked
Sun 12 Aug 2012 Koper, Slovenia 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked
Mon 13 Aug 2012 Ravenna, Italy 07:00 AM 07:00 PM Docked
Tue 14 Aug 2012 Split Croatia 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Tendered
Wed 15 Aug 2012 Dubrovnik, Croatia 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked
Thu 16 Aug 2012 Bari, Italy 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked
Fri 17 Aug 2012 Kotor, Montenegro 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Tendered
Sat 18 Aug 2012 At Sea
Sun 19 Aug 2012 Valletta, Malta 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked
Mon 20 Aug 2012 Catania, Sicily, Italy 07:00 AM 05:00 PM Docked
Tue 21 Aug 2012 Naples, Italy 07:00 AM 06:30 PM Docked
Wed 22 Aug 2012 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy 04:30 AM Departure

Transfer to Rome for flight back to Dublin

Total Cost £5100.00

OR

Staying at the Savoy Palace in Riva for the four nights and including everything as above £5160.00

amallon · January 14, 2012, 06:23:24 PM

Sorry for hijacking your thread but we are still trying to finalise our honeymoon and need a bit of inspiration.

We are pretty sure we want to spend a week in Riva Del Garda just not 100% sure on which hotel though, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

After that we had thought about spending a day or two Milan and then another night or two in the riveria before ending up in Nice for a few nights. We think that might be a bit too manic for a honeymoon so we are looking somewhere to spend a second week after lake garda. We aren't into beeches so someplace with plenty to do would be a bonus.

Cheers!

JimStynes · January 16, 2012, 09:51:23 AM

Quote from: amallon on January 14, 2012, 06:23:24 PM
Sorry for hijacking your thread but we are still trying to finalise our honeymoon and need a bit of inspiration.

We are pretty sure we want to spend a week in Riva Del Garda just not 100% sure on which hotel though, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

After that we had thought about spending a day or two Milan and then another night or two in the riveria before ending up in Nice for a few nights. We think that might be a bit too manic for a honeymoon so we are looking somewhere to spend a second week after lake garda. We aren't into beeches so someplace with plenty to do would be a bonus.

Cheers!

Dont rule out croatia or slovenia. Have heard great reports about both. Check out Lake Bled in Slovenia, you could maybe start in Croatia and make your way round to slovenia, venice, lake garda and fly home from milan or verona.

lynchbhoy · January 16, 2012, 12:08:38 PM

stayed in 'Villa maria' in rivotella 2km outside desenzano del garda - at the bottom of lake garda in 2000.
Lovely hotel and the food was absolutely magnificent - gnocci with walnut and gorgonzola sauce still lingers in the memory.

not much to do around there. Sirmione a few miles towards verona and then around the bend of the lake is prob abetter place to stay.
Drove around the entire lake and was not overly pushed on any of the towns though they could have been better than they looked.
Sirmione may be the best bet - also its on the main brescia to verona road and also there is a train line running between them and on to venice that we got and took a day drip (to and from desenzano).

I'd go back to villa maria for a couple of days if only for the food and nice hotel. But you on honeymoon you will want to be chilling out , luckily as there isnt much else to do - even in sirmione. Desenzano is ok, a few nice restaurants etc but again not a lot to do.

Mhic Easmuint · January 16, 2012, 01:26:32 PM

Recently booked a honeymoon as well.
5 nights in Las Vegas, 5 in San Francisco and then a week in The Royal in Cancun.

Anyone done anything similiar or been to Cancun?

Maguire01 · January 16, 2012, 05:52:54 PM

Quote from: amallon on January 14, 2012, 06:23:24 PM
Sorry for hijacking your thread but we are still trying to finalise our honeymoon and need a bit of inspiration.

We are pretty sure we want to spend a week in Riva Del Garda just not 100% sure on which hotel though, so any recommendations would be appreciated.

After that we had thought about spending a day or two Milan and then another night or two in the riveria before ending up in Nice for a few nights. We think that might be a bit too manic for a honeymoon so we are looking somewhere to spend a second week after lake garda. We aren't into beeches so someplace with plenty to do would be a bonus.

Cheers!

Don't rule out Nice - it's great. You can also catch a train to Cannes and take in Monaco as a day trip. Nice is handy enough via train from Milan. It's somewhere I'll definitely return.

lawnseed · January 16, 2012, 06:25:06 PM

Quote from: Mhic Easmuint on January 16, 2012, 01:26:32 PM
Recently booked a honeymoon as well.
5 nights in Las Vegas, 5 in San Francisco and then a week in The Royal in Cancun.

Anyone done anything similar or been to Cancun?

yes been to Cancun, the royal is some spot. just be careful of the beach it drops off very quickly and the sand is always shifting underfoot. its very Americanised the Mexicans speak with Disney type accents

definitely go on the glass bottom boat and go to Cancun town for the shops avoid the big franchise restaurants they are a rip off. also beware of Montezumas revenge

its very common there.

4father · January 16, 2012, 06:35:49 PM

You might want to reconsider your cruise idea. Italian boats and captains lead to 'titanic' disasters.

amallon · January 16, 2012, 06:57:19 PM

Maguire - Have been looking at Nice as an option for the second week as you said Monaco and Cannes are fairly near by. Any other tips on Nice?

armaghniac · January 16, 2012, 07:35:08 PM

QuoteHave been looking at Nice as an option for the second week as you said Monaco and Cannes are fairly near by. Any other tips on Nice?

I think Nice is good, although on the expensive side. Almost all of the towns around there are pretty pleasant, e.g. Antibes and if you get a car for a day or two there are old towns and scenic inland places too e.g. Eze (say hallo to Bono). Grasse is where they make the perfume, not a beautiful town but you can see perfume being made and herself can stock up.

Also while you might think of Turin in terms of car manufacturing it is actually a pleasant and civilised historic city, with first class food and by no means overcrowded with tourists.

And +1 on Lake Bled and Slovenia generally, a relaxing spot with friendly people.

Maguire01 · January 16, 2012, 08:00:48 PM

Quote from: amallon on January 16, 2012, 06:57:19 PM
Maguire - Have been looking at Nice as an option for the second week as you said Monaco and Cannes are fairly near by. Any other tips on Nice?

In Nice, we stayed in an apartment for a week - pretty high-end and reasonably priced. We used these guys twice - http://www.nicepebbles.com/ and i'd highly recommend them. Much better option than a hotel - you can cook if you want (and the streets are full of shops selling fresh bread, pasta, cheap bottles of wine, etc. as well as an outdoor fruit and veg market a few days a week). I'd recommend staying in the 'old town' area - loads of character, plenty to see and loads of places to eat.

A few days in Cannes is also nice. We also stayed in St Paul De Vence, a small picturesque town on a hilltop - which is a 30 minute bus ride outside Nice and a good option if you want some peace and quiet for a few days.