Honeymoon points redemption advice

As NL says, its a bit late to plan direct flights for these destinations. You’ll have to settle for premium economy or connections on Qatar to use avios.
If you’d prefer to maximise the vouchers, fly direct on BA to India (plenty of availability) and from there you can connect to Maldives, Koh Samui or even Bali. Marriott allows part payment using points (decent value). You can even stay at one of the famous palace hotels for something different between connections and you’ll be treated like royalty.
Not a big fan of Mauritius – the resorts charge close to Maldivian rates but the beaches are nowhere close to the azure waters of Maldives.

Sorry to hear about the family illness.

You’d need to look at points prices for hotels you’re thinking of booking, and calculate how the value compares to flight redemptions. Unless you’ve got a lot of free time, you’re probably better locking in your flights then deciding what to do about accommodation. Is paying cash for flights definitely an option? If so, pay for the flights then look to maximising your hotel redemptions. Or book one flight with avios and one on a cash or BAH booking.

Don’t forget that to use avios to upgrade, you need award availability in that cabin.

Have you looked at using avios to get to DOH on QR, then connecting to MLE or SEZ? Those connections are only 4/5 hours so doable in economy while you spend more avios on better seats on the UK-DOH leg (though again, QR seem to have pesky double pricing whenever it’s school holidays!)

Unless you’re teachers or have similar work commitments (or children!), I would even consider delaying the honeymoon a couple of months to when prices will be lower and the weather probably better.

I looked at Mauritius a couple of times but it’s in a further zone so more avios and a very long flight for a destination which may well not deliver!

BA still sell holidays to SEZ. Connection in Doha. This makes the possibility of one traveller on a redemption and one on a cash holiday a shade more likely than two redemptions if you can get the flight times to line up.

More likely for a redemption for two might be Nairobi, but again in August this will be difficult. Mumbai better chances of a redemption at the expense of very infrequent connections to Mahe. Separate tickets would be high-risk on this route.

Singapore Airlines is showing some availability through Turkish in August. 100k Krisflyer miles return each from IST, more from London. That might be bookable at a more advantageous rate through another partner of Turkish that is also a partner of Amex. Separate tickets less of a risk if you put a tight-ish connection on the return provided you have the right insurance.

Since you are looking for beach destinations, have you thought of the Caribbean? BA has August availability to St Lucia in August and there are plenty of flash hotels, but I don’t think many of them will be available for MRs.

Grenada has some availability and is a more interesting island. Marriott appears to own Laluna which is a boutique hotel.

For hotels, you could convert your MRs to Avios and use Avios, but the value stinks at 0.5p per Avios.

If you stick to the windward islands, the hurricane risk is hugely over-egged. Weather in August is much the same as the Maldives. Expect rain at least half the days you are there, but typically for about 20 minutes.

it is a pickle.
I value BAPP vouchers highly, you cannot use them in QR.
And you don’t have much time to book.
And in my understanding, honeymoons often happen after weddings, so your dates must be fixed more or less.
I’d check availabilities and decide based on that rather than burning my vouchers.
You mention these islands but, if there is availability, one can also consider thailand via singapore, or vietnam etc, or central america, carribbeans.
The key is flexibility.

***SeatSpy is currently showing plenty of CW to NAS and GCM (it’s the same flight), including on August 27th, which is off-peak!

And it currently departs from LHR T3, so nice lounges.

We’ve been to GCM in August several years running due to school holiday restrictions, you get the odd downpour but it soon passes over. It’s quieter than the Med at that time of year, and also competitively priced due to it being “low” season. Hurricanes are relatively rare but historically have mostly passed through September – November.

If you have IHG points, the Kimpton Seafire is fabulous and one of the few remaining “sweet spots” at 70k per night.

Barbados is another option which lies outside the main hurricane belt, but award seats tend to go quickly in school holidays.

Very little avios availability though for MRU, for August/September, it’s one you need to book at T-355 for peak dates.

If using avios/241, is it worth the extra avios, being in the zone beyond MLE and Caribbean?

Cat wrote:

Just a bit of advice wrt the Seychelles – I highly recommend you don’t stay in a big chain hotel there, unless you can afford one of the ones on Praslin (Raflles and Constance Lemuria). The most beautiful beaches are to be found on Praslin and La Digue, but most people here seem to go to Mahe and never explore further, as that’s where the big chain hotels are.

Mahe is very nice, but it pales in comparison to Praslin and La Digue (and there’s less drunk driving, and less of a heroin problem on those islands too, in fact, there are hardly any cars on La Digue…). You can find no end of lovely independent hotels on either island, and they’re not that expensive. Praslin and La Digue are just paradise.

Have a look at flights with Qatar – you may very well find some in the summer holidays still.

Good luck!

+1 I loved our beach villa on Praslin with a private beach (beaches are not private, but access is either through private property or via boat), meaning I could just get from my bed and swim. I didn’t like much the service or the rooms at Hilton hotels, although the beach at Doubletree had an excellent coral and amazing sea life.

Whatsthepoint wrote:

You might get lucky in the Caribbean in August but do you want to risk it for a Honeymoon?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2023_Atlantic_hurricane_season

We must have got lucky every year since 2017 then!

NorthernLass wrote:

Whatsthepoint wrote:

You might get lucky in the Caribbean in August but do you want to risk it for a Honeymoon?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_2023_Atlantic_hurricane_season

We must have got lucky every year since 2017 then!

And you might get lucky for another 7 years but it’s likely you won’t. Would you really want to risk it for a Honeymoon? I wouldn’t but that’s up to the OP. Better to know before you commit?

NorthernLass wrote:

@Whatsthepoint, how much time have you actually spent in the region in “hurricane season”? Millions of people travel there each summer and the vast majority of these trips are not blighted by poor weather. Americans, especially, visit the islands in their school and college summer holidays much as Europeans visit the Med, and rarely encounter any issues.

The OP absolutely may not want to risk it, but you’re exaggerating the risk to a ridiculous degree.

Serious storms in Grenada are rarer than you suggest @Whatsthepoint. Being on the affected part of the island when the storm lands is very unlikely as a tourist.

More information here – https://hurricanecity.com/city/grenada.htm

I think the riskiest thing I do in my life is drive to work.