Our Pocono Palace Resort Honeymoon Review

My husband and I never got to have an official honeymoon. Money was too tight, he had to work, and other outside factors did not permit us to honeymoon right after we got married. After a few years of marriage, I thought it was time to have that "time of our life" honeymoon and I started internet searches of different locations near home. After an extensive search, I found this lovely couple-specific, mountain resort owned by the Caesar's Palace folks.

Their website showed pictures of the most outrageous hotel rooms I had ever seen. I chose the Champagne Tower by Cleopatra. There were more extravagant rooms and less extravagant rooms, this one was a little above average. The room boasted a 7 foot tall champagne glass whirlpool tub for two that overlooked the living area which included a wood burning fireplace. The room also had a personal heart-shaped pool and a dry sauna right in the room. The bedroom was on the second floor with a round bed surrounded by mirrors and a celestial ceiling (little white lights stuck in a black ceiling).

The cost of the room included all meals at the Coliseum, free "chariot" rides (a mini-bus with chariot decorations on the side) and some of the activities. I thought that since we were still on a budget, the more we could get included the better. They had entertainment, but not on the weekend we were there. Still, this was a dream come true.

We packed our bags and were on our way to the honeymoon I had been looking forward to for years. The drive through the local area was breathtaking. Pennsylvania is a beautiful state. We were listening to Los Lonely Boys on the CD player and having a great time. When we reached the resort, we had to admit it was overwhelmingly big and over-the-top. They really took the "Caesar"/Roman thing seriously.

We checked in and were shown where to drive to our room. As we approached the door, we both were anxious as we anticipated a long weekend of renewal. We unlocked the door and walked into the strong smell of chlorine from the pool and creosote from the wood in the fireplace. The furniture looked like the set of "Boogey Nights" and was probably as clean. We ended up having to put wet towels over the fireplace to keep the neighbors woodburning from backdrafting into our room, and we took the sheets off the bed so we could sit on the couches.

Small set backs, no problem. We got settled in and decided to eat. Since we got there late in the day, our times were a little off. Dinner was done being served at the Coliseum (which was included in the room rate). So we shuffled off to an on-site café and ordered grilled cheese sandwiches and fries. I have personally made grilled cheese sandwiches and it does not take as long as it took them there unless they were actually making the bread from scratch in the back. No problem, it was our fault for being late. There were some "get to know each other" events going on around, but we really did not go there to meet a bunch of strangers. Back to our room we went.

We were both tired from the heat and from the traveling. We decided to watch a little TV, turn in early and start fresh the next day. The TV was so small that where it was placed (near the outlet) made it impossible to see. We had to get an extension cord from the car so we could move the TV closer to where we were sitting. Then we decided to get some sleep and found that sleeping on a round bed was not as functional as one would have hoped.

The next day was full of planned activities, which were silly and slow. The same three workers ran all of them, and then we saw that they also were the waitstaff at dinner. I could go on for an hour about what went wrong, what we thought was not quite right. But the truth of the matter was, we laughed a lot - which is good for any relationship. We relaxed a lot and we enjoyed ourselves because we enjoyed each other's company.

My main realization from our time in the Poconos was that I over glorified the idea of a honeymoon, to the point that no matter where we went, it never would have been what I expected. The best part of the trip was being with my husband, and we could do that at home for a lot less money. So from there forward, we had mostly stay-at-home vacations. A few years have passed since our trip, and I can look back on the time fondly...I guess it was worth it.

Another bit of advice, if you want to take a honeymoon or just a vacation, ask people you know where they go and what they do. Don't just look at pictures on a website and decide that is perfect, because you might be surprised. Happy traveling.