Best Price

[Nkg]

Hi every one

Having just returned from my parents time share at the Vistana resort my girlfirend and I are already planning our trip to Orlando next year. My question is what is the cheapest way of going about organising a holiday. Is the best option the security of a package deal with say Virgin, or is it best to book hotels and flights seperatly. Ideally we'd like to stay on International Drive.
I was wondering how seasoned Orlando visitors went about it.

Ta
Neil.

 

[allie5]

From my experience, Ive done it all ways! Brochure, travel agent, internet / DIY, teletext. It goes from year to year what offers are the best, so its best to shop around. If you are booking a package with Virgin, then you have the advantage of being able to book a long way in advance. Also, only a deposit is required, not the full balance until 8 weeks before travel.

If you book a flight only through Expedia, ebookers or another on line ticket agent, then you can get some great prices, but can only book up to 11 months out. You will also have to pay the full price upfront. Check carefully the flight conditions, as a lot of the cheapest fares are not flexible or refundable. Bonus of booking just your flight, is you can generally book car hire and accomodation MUCH more cheaply DIY than as part of a package. Try US Car Hire, Airline Network or Yes Car Hire for great car rental prices.

For our upcoming Xmas trip I did the whole thing DIY, but for next trip (Oct 05), conversely I have booked a brochure holiday direct with Virgin. I tend to start with the Virgin Holidays website for a "guide price" and go from there. Try Funway, Bon Voyage and Travel City for reasonable packages as well as Teletext page 222. I suppse the best advice I can give you, is to shop around!

Good luck and happy planning!

Allie

 

[Trespassers William]

I definitely agree with Allie. It depends on where you want to stay, when you want to go and what your priorities are.

I booked with Virgin on-line for next May. I did exactly what Allie says and used that as a starting point. The website is very quick and easy to use and you can price up all options.

By shopping around I was able to beat the price slightly but be careful as the price might be beaten but the agencies tend to make up their own pakcages so you may have indierct flights, "unknown" airlines, make your own way to hotels, etc. so be really careful what you are getting for the price.

One of the priorities for us was seat back TVs for the 2 kids so for the sake of a few pounds we went with Virgin.

Good luck, I'm sure you will find a good deal.

 

[Miffy2003]

Hello,

My biggest tip for saving money is to fly in school term time, LOL. Saves a fortune!