Introducing Babymoon Vacations
By Ann Brown

Want to get in one last couples-only rip before the baby arrives? Try a “babymoon.” Here are a few babymoon vacations offered around the country and the Caribbean.

CALIFORNIA
The Pismo Beach Cliffs Resort (www.cliffsresort.com) offers the Parents-to-Be Escape Package, where guests receive a welcome basket filled with prenatal and baby treats (newborn diapers, a Cliffs Resort onesie, a parenting magazine and a commemorative bottle of Tobin James Late Harvest Zinfandel Liquid Love for after the baby is born). You also enjoy a 50-minute, in-suite couples massage with prenatal techniques used on the expecting mother. And, guests get a $50 dinner voucher for the resort’s Sea Cliffs restaurant, a free Spectravision movie, a pint of Baby Brickle ice cream created especially for expecting moms by Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab, and breakfast in bed. Prices start at $319.

The charming Coronado Island Glorietta Bay Inn (www.gloriettabayinn.com), featuring a nearly 100-year-old historic mansion and a contemporary inn, launched a Babymoon Package that includes two-nights stay in the mansion in a bedroom that features 300-thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, down duvets and feather beds. Guest also receive a gift basket filled with chocolates, a jar of pickles, and a Moo-time ice cream gift certificate. And you can enjoy an in-room movie of their choice, an expanded continental breakfast delivered to the room in a picnic basket, and milk and cookies at bedtime. Moms-to-be receive a private, in-room one-hour pregnancy massage. The price is $599.

FLORIDA
Miami’s Mandarin Oriental (www.mandarinoriental.com), on the waterfront enclave of Brickell Key, features the Blissful Beginnings Package with two nights, American breakfast daily, in-room chocolate-covered strawberries upon arrival, two hours of signature treatment rituals per person in The Spa’s Couples’ Suite, private couples yoga in the tranquil Chi Studio (one-hour), a couples’ lunch--Bento Box served in a poolside cabana--a manicure and pedicure for the mom-to-be, one 50-minute full-body massage with aromatherapy oils for the dad-to-be, and a spa gift collection of spa candles. Rates start at $1,735.

MARYLAND
Located in two historic buildings in St. Michaels, Five Gables Inn & Spa (www.fivegables.com) features a two-night Bundle of Joy Package with a one-hour couples massage, photo album to put all the pictures of the new baby, Aveda hand and foot relief products, a lullaby CD, and coffee mug filled with coffee beans to help dad stay awake for the upcoming late-night feedings. There are fireplaces in every room, which also feature porches and balconies. Prices range between $510 and $975.

PENNSYLVANIA
In chocolate central Hershey, the Hotel Hershey (www.Hersheypa.com) offers the Heavenly Hershey Hotel Package, which many couples are using as a babymoon getaway. It includes three-nights accommodations; spa treatments at The Spa, including a Hershey Rain Shower, a 20-minute traditional massage and a choice of whirlpool soaking tub experiences such as the Whipped Cocoa Bath, the Hershey Gardens Rose Petal Soak, Milk & Honey Soak or Rosario Soak; and a $150 credit per person for additional spa services or spa products. Expecting moms can utilize the spa credit to upgrade her 20-minute massage to a 50-minute prenatal massage that relieves aches and pains associated with pregnancy. Prices start at $1,134.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Upon arrival at the quaint Planters Inn (www.plantersinn.com) in Charleston, mother-to-be will receive a jar of pickles, while the future father gets a cigar with cognac with The Babymoon Package. Planters pampers expecting mothers with a Javanese Beauty Ritual, which includes a skin-polishing treatment; a soothing one-hour massage; a body wrap featuring a native blend of rice, herbs, spices, and essential oils; a Vichy rain shower and aromatic skin moisturizing treatment. The expecting father gets a 90-minute therapeutic massage. The deal also includes three-night accommodations; a basket of Charleston specialty gifts and bottled water; a guided walking, carriage or motor tour of the Historic District; a tour of the Nathaniel Russell House; a Planter’s Inn teddy bear for baby; daily continental breakfast; and cognac and truffles nightly with turndown. Rates are 1,399; a suite upgrade (instead of a deluxe king) is $1,774.

THE CARIBBEAN
How about a babymoon cruise? Your Cruise Concierge, LLC (www.yourcruiseconcierge.com) offers just that. Parenting expert Roberta Benor, author of "How to Succeed in Parenting: 120 Ways to Have a Great Family" (PublishAmerica 2004), usually holds seminars over the course of Caribbean cruise. Call or email for the next cruise offering. Price: $369-$399.

Ann Brown is a New York-based freelance writer whose beauty, entertainment, travel, & lifestyle articles have appeared in such publications as Black Enterprise, Big Apple Parent, Queens Parent, Upscale, ESSENCE, Honey, The Source, HealthQuest, Playboy, and Heart & Soul.