Trip to Mexico in December - Need Guidance

DH and I haven't been to MX since our honeymoon (Cancun) 16 years ago and we've always wanted to go back. We have a 13 yo DD, who we've finally talked into going, after having gone to WDW many times since she was little (she just never had an interest of any other vacations!).

We're looking at mid-December, which is right around her last week before winter break. I've been researching Playa Del Carmen and have a resort picked out. Have researched prices on multiple sites, and Apple Vacations has a package that's in our budget and has good flight options (non stop!).

However...

We've been working with our AAA agent and he tried to do a hold booking for us through Apple. It said the flights are sold out. Apple uses Frontier as their charter airline and there's some kind of glitch with their computer system so what I see isn't in real time.

I could book our airfare separately - I found a few options that would be about 450 pp round trip but do have layovers. The agent expressed concern us having a layover so close to the holidays, because of flight delays.

I just wanted to see if anyone has any opinions on this? We would leave 12-16 and return 12-21, from St. Louis to Cancun. Also, any opinions/experiences with when to book a package and/or airfare to MX? I have read conflicting things.

Just getting pretty discouraged about this trip. It will not be ideal if we have to book separately because the cost jumps up....but we m

Would she have exams that final week before Winter break? We live near STL and that was always a VERY busy week in middle school & up. Or, is 6th still elementary in your district? It is here, but we seem to be the minority.

We don't live in St. Louis. We're in central IL.

Still on the same theme, is that last week before break also the last week of the semester (like it is here)? And if so, are exams a concern?

For us, pretty much nothing happens that last week for little kids. But MS & HS are taking finals.

I appreciate the concern, but I would not be at the point of wanting to book the trip without having looked into these details first. Every district is different. Ours mostly does fun stuff the week before break. It's not a heavy exam week.

Carry on!

Sorry I have no Mexico advice. I've only been there for work LOL

We did a spring break trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last year. We met my parents there who have a resale timeshare that they traded meaning we had lodging taken care of. We booked air only through Apple on American with layover (The only direct flights were not on days we could travel with son's school schedule (He's in college and we didn't want him missing any school) and direct air only flights were really pricey too like $800 pp). At the time we booked flights would have been more expensive on American directly by about $150 pp as Apple had flights we wanted reserved for their charters. About a month later I saw flights on United that were about the same cost as what we paid for Apple -- They were higher at the time we booked. I know we had to pay around $530 pp for high season flights with times we wanted and had pretty limited choices.

There are always risks with flying and you want to make sure that layovers are long enough. Going to Mexico if you have a layover in the US I just like to make sure that it's at least an hour or really close to that (e.g. would go ahead and book something with a 55 minute layover for example). Coming home from Mexico, as I will need to go through customs I like to make sure the layover is at least two hours or close to that. I've booked stuff with an hour and 50 minute layover. And then I typically will fly back on a Saturday giving a one day leeway in case we miss flights to go standby if getting back to school is a concern. // We live in St. Louis, and to go anywhere a little bit exotic where Southwest doesn't fly directly usually layovers are a fact of life for the most part since we don't have a hub airline.

Also, sometimes you can book a very reasonable layover length and then the airline changes your flight schedule (layover that's too short that you know you'll miss or layover that is super long and inconvenient). When this is the case, typically you can call customer service and they will put you on other flights for the same cost even though those are showing up as higher cost if you make your case. Or they will give you your money back if you see something you'd rather book with another airline. We went to Hawaii last summer and our two hour layover was changed to be six and a 1/2 hour in the middle to the night at LAX. Obviously that wasn't what I wanted. I just looked at what was available and had them route me with what I thought my best choice was. Unfortunately the best option I saw actually meant two layovers instead of one, but it was still better than 6 1/2 hour in the middle of the night at LAX.

If you miss your flight due to delays, your airline will put you as standby on the next flight and give you priority on the next flight that is available. Sure that's a hassle if it happens, and you may spend a few extra hours at an airport, but you do get home -- just a little later. It's just a fact of life of traveling you need to be prepared for, not a big deal (but can be a pain if it happens to you), but not a reason not to travel IMHO. If St. Louis is where you fly from and you only go places with direct flights you can't get to all that many places. // I love direct flights though and have to say that all other things being equal that is a factor that weighs into where we sometimes pick to go on vacation.

The week you are looking at is also the week before the crazy busy travel time of the holidays.

have you priced the trip out other places.

www.allinclusiveoutlet.com has the non stop frontier flights on your dates.

FWIW, not that you need anyone's blessing, for our district I have found that the week before Christmas break is the very easiest week to miss Middle school if you can't travel during school vacations. Our finals are earlier right after thanksgiving. And then they have 2 weeks after the vacay to complete their makeup work. And then everyone is returning to school at the same time - a little rusty, just coming back from a long break.

We are doing it again this year and have a cruise booked for that week in 2016!

www.cheapcaribbean.com is also showing the frontier flights.

Finals/mid-terms in December? Not for us...end of January. We don't start until after Labor Day.

OP - I'm from the Chicago suburbs and went to Playa this past November and have been to Mexico 4 times in the past 8 years. Hopefully, I can help. I am a bargain shopper and always found Apple to be much higher priced than other places. Shop around. Southwest now flies to Cancun, direct, nonstop. Check Southwest Vacations for a package. I've found a package is usually cheaper than booking airfare & hotel separately for Mexico. I've also used American Airlines Vacations, cheapcaribbean and travelocity in the past. This past November, AA Vacations beat everyone's price by $500 for the resort in Playa with non-stop direct flights. I used a code from an Entertainment Book for 10% off the land portion. Google for codes for whatever you book too. In fact, just yesterday, Southwest Vacations had a code for $200 Iberostar resorts. Not sure if that is where you are staying. We went to Iberostar Tucan in Playa and LOVED it! My kids do not want to go anywhere else now. We had monkeys on our balcony, eating out of our hands.

So, my advice is to shop around and google for codes. Check Southwest Vacations b/c bags are free. Most other airlines you have to pay for bags which adds up.

Also, Playa is about 45 minutes from the Cancun airport. Do not take a shared shuttle. Book your own. It's about the same price and no stops. We always use Canada Transfers. They have a nice A/C private van for you with free cold water and refreshing towel. You can also order sode or beer for $1 each. You can book it online and pay in cash there. It's about $115 roundtrip total for your entire party.

Hope this helps. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask or PM me.

Thank you everyone for the great responses! I'm starting to feel a little better about it.

Bethy....
This is kind of how our school district handles things. They don't really go with the norm of what you'd normally expect the week before break, which I think is great. There are a number of kids in DD's grade who are gone at least part of that last week. We're planning to pull her out the last 3 days of that week, so not even a full week. They watch movies, play games and have a "dance," none of which DD remotely cares about.

Sunlover....
It just so happens that Iberostar Tucan IS the resort we chose (or Quetzal, which I hear is basically the same place). I'm so glad to hear that you and your family loved it. My DD has looked at pictures and is very excited about the wildlife aspect. Our travel agent also highly recommended it, as his customers have repeatedly given it high marks.

Unfortunately, there are no nonstop flights out of St. Louis for Southwest, which truly is a bummer. Because we LOVE Southwest and have had nothing but positive experiences. The only nonstop flights I've been able to find are through Frontier as part of the package deals. I know we have the choice - but we get so nervous about non direct flights, especially with it being around the holidays and in the colder months.

Thus far, the best deal I've found is actually through Apple (with the Frontier nonstop flights). I've been Googling and searching all other travel sites I could think of and the only one that's been better so far is Expedia. But the challenge with booking through them is that it has to all be paid at the time of booking, whereas with Apple I can pay a sizable chunk and the rest later.

I also checked Funjet this evening and they're a few hundred less than Apple, however Apple includes transfers but Funjet doesn't. But I definitely agree with you that we should get a private transfer and I think Apple's are shared?

I'm also curious about room levels. Is it common, in your experience, that the hotel asks if you'd like to upgrade when you check in? I don't mean a free upgrade! When we went on our honeymoon they asked if we wanted to upgrade to an oceanview suite and we did pay about $30 more a night - it was WELL worth it but I'm not sure if that's the norm or just something they ask when they know someone's on a honeymoon or something like that?

Canada transfer is a great service for private transfers. I think its around $110 r/t to the tucan/quetzal.

We've taken 8 trips down there and never been asked about an upgrade. There aren't many oceanview rooms there, so I could see them booking quickly. Never hurts to ask at checkin, though.

The tucan/quetzal is an older but well maintained property. We weren't crazy about the food there. It is passable, but nothing was a real standout. It was the only resort we've been to that served the yogurt and peanut butter in big community bowls. YUCK! You also only get 3 a la cartes for a weeks stay and must make reservations.

We prefer resorts without a la carte restrictions and reservations.

We went last August and it was HOT HOT HOT with little to no a/c anywhere. Even our room was too warm.
The monkeys were hiding. It should be much better in December!

The beach was really nice. The whole area is being plagued by a seagrass issue, so just be aware of that.

@Sunlover, were you happy with your Cheap Caribbean experience? It looks like their package equivalent to Apple is almost $300 cheaper. They don't include the transfers like Apple does, but I believe Apple's is shared. I can add the Canada transfer for $100 rt for the 3 of us (thank you for the recommendation shoney!).

I've been reading a lot about the seaweed issue. Not much that can be done, unfortunately. Hopefully it will be better by the time we go but we are prepared for that. Thanks guys!

sarahkate, .....cheapcaribean is fine.

Have you considered flying to Florida and spending one night there and then leaving the next morning fo Cancun? That way you won't miss a conncecting flight and can enjoy a little time in Miami or Orlando?

Thanks for the feedback regarding Cheap Caribbean. I think that is the one we're going to use, so we can save a bit of money and also so that we can schedule a private transfer instead of the shared transfers that Apple provides.

Brancaneve - that sounds like a great idea, except that I don't think DD would want to go to Mexico if she was even remotely close to WDW. I would love to do that but we just need to get to MX. Luckily, the nonstop flights out of St. Louis are just 2.5 hours!

Hi all,

It's been a while since I've been back here. We finally got our vacation booked but ended up booking for the end of October due to some scheduling challenges. Because it's not a peak time of year, we were able to save almost $1000 on our trip from our original December dates! Granted, we're going during hurricane season. But we know it's a possibility and purchased trip insurance.

Ended up going through Cheap Caribbean and the process was super easy. Based on other recommendations, we'll book our airport transfers through Canada Transfers, as their prices are very reasonable and it's cheaper than booking through the travel company. We did end up booking at Iberostar Tucan and can't wait to see it and all the critters too!

We are super excited for our trip (3 months from today!) and I appreciate all of your feedback in helping us with some hard decisions.

Cheap Caribbean IS the Apple charter. Apple Leisure Group owns both and prices them for different markets, i.e. Cheap Caribbean is a consumer online site only. Apple is both a consumer site and thru travel agents, such as AAA Travel. And FWIW, Apple will price match CC for a travel agency since CC has no TA site, so you can get their price and still work with your TA.

You will love the Iberostar, all their resorts are really nice!