cosmos or virgin

[eeyoreangel1]

I've just looked at the same holiday with both cosmos and virgin and there's a price difference of £1000! Has anyone booked with cosmos or flown with monarch?

We've always used virgin we're in both their frequent flyer and frequent virgin club, would this make them more open to trying to price match?

 

[scoobydooby]

I am guessing they will only price match an identical holiday. A different airline is not an identical holiday to me. I doubt your memberships will mean anything as frequent flyer is with Virgin Atlantic not Virgin holidays.

 

[mackay_j]

they probably wont price match as different flights- Have you included the virgin frequent flyers discount think its 7%. Also if flying monarch I would want to upgrade to their premium seats as they have the most crammed seats in the industry. (and that's what I would do if flying them and I am someone who is willing to do 2 stops to save money on flights )

 

[eeyoreangel1]

We've factored in ourFVC 10% discount but it's still a huge difference, I'm hoping my friend at virgin holidays in cheltenham might be able to help lol

 

[Disney Frenhines]

Have a look at TravelCityDirect, owned by Virgin, but, can be a lot cheaper, you get the same flight and the Flying Club points as you fly with Virgin Atlantic, even the tickets and dining are cheaper as well as PE, strange, but, I'm happy. I also just got a letter from TCD asking if I want to do Direct Debit to pay off my holiday next May, big yes to that. You will need to pay the $10 DTD check in fee, but, you are saving way more than that. I have not heard good about Monarch by the way, but, only the flight from Cardiff, someone told me that when I considered flying with them from there.

Fair play, just looked at Cosmos room only for Pop, not a bad price, I shall look at them again next time I use my FC points for flights.

 

[eeyoreangel1]

Just had a look at travel city but unfortunately they don't go to the hilton bonnet creek

 

[pickers1982]

Virgin are expensive and awful customer service in my opinion. Never using them again

 

[scoobydooby]

Virgin are expensive and awful customer service in my opinion. Never using them again

I've only ever had excellent customer service from them myself but they are increasingly horrendously expensive. Now BA. From them I have had truly awful customer service!!!!

 

[maclondon]

I've just looked at the same holiday with both cosmos and virgin and there's a price difference of £1000! Has anyone booked with cosmos or flown with monarch?

We've always used virgin we're in both their frequent flyer and frequent virgin club, would this make them more open to trying to price match?

yep you can get discount for being in teh flying club - go into a store (i booked mine in the victoria one - its inside house of fraser - so just some desks really) and they have the ability to add on discounts at descression. which i expect price matching would count.

 

[pickers1982]

I've only ever had excellent customer service from them myself but they are increasingly horrendously expensive. Now BA. From them I have had truly awful customer service!!!!

Put it this way they wasted a huge amount of my time and consistently lied to me pre and post trip(still had a great time). Once they have your cah they have no interest from my experience

 

[scoobydooby]

Put it this way they wasted a huge amount of my time and consistently lied to me pre and post trip(still had a great time). Once they have your cah they have no interest from my experience

Not defending them just saying I've had a good experience. I think as they run a call centre it perhaps depends who you get. I know a bad experience can totally put you off. I feel like that about BA.

 

[dixonsontour]

Booked with cosmos and flew with Monarch in 2012 on a late deal.

It was fine but Monarch plane not comparable with virgin - smaller seats and no seat back IFE.

What is the price difference if you went for premium cabin Monarch?

Also you will be into Sanford not MCO - not an issue if you have a car but it is if you use magical express.

If you like virgin can you DIY and just book Virgin flights?

 

[pickers1982]

Not defending them just saying I've had a good experience. I think as they run a call centre it perhaps depends who you get. I know a bad experience can totally put you off. I feel like that about BA.

Yeah everyone has good and bad. They dont understand mde(so lied about stuff). Repeadly told me i didnt need access. Luckily i knew i should have access

Then told me the wrong thing re flying club miles(i thought they were wrong so kept checking) then on my return they changed their mind immediately. I kept at it (after they skirted round for minths) and bascically being told i was wrong in what i was told. They eventually agreed i was right

They were exoensive

On changing my parents booking they were awful, didnt know what they were doing and werent helpful

And finally after paying my deposit and getting an invoice they randomly sent me a new one upping the price. Again told me i was wrong and they were right. They eventually admitted they were wrong with no apology

 

[maclondon]

That does sound pretty bad alright. I booked in store and amended thing on phone, via store not call centre. Great personal experience. And you get house of fraser recognition points worth worth a few hundred back.


Having a real person that knows you is so much better than Internet booking or call centre. Esp as I wanted a split stay which you can't do online. Plus they changed things twice post deposit
And supplied me about 20 quotes on variations.

Yeah everyone has good and bad. They dont understand mde(so lied about stuff). Repeadly told me i didnt need access. Luckily i knew i should have access

Then told me the wrong thing re flying club miles(i thought they were wrong so kept checking) then on my return they changed their mind immediately. I kept at it (after they skirted round for minths) and bascically being told i was wrong in what i was told. They eventually agreed i was right

They were exoensive

On changing my parents booking they were awful, didnt know what they were doing and werent helpful

And finally after paying my deposit and getting an invoice they randomly sent me a new one upping the price. Again told me i was wrong and they were right. They eventually admitted they were wrong with no apology

20

 

[snowy2]

Hi. I don't post very often but I have just returned from a cosmos holiday last month. We booked a package at Rosen Inn Pointe Orlando, 2 adults 3 weeks £2300. Cosmos were very helpful when we had to cancel two years ago and didn't charge us the full deposit when we cancelled, we found them very understanding. We decided to upgrade to premium after I read some negative comments about economy, we have never upgraded on a flight before. The check in at Man took almost an hour as they didn't have any record of premium bookings and had been selling seats at the desk, we were at the front of a huge queue but they sorted it out. The flight was great, water or orange juice, hot cloths, free newspaper, free drinks, the food was actually great too, we had a hot breakfast and a chicken dinner, cheese and crackers, pasta pots, dessert. Some of IFE screens didn't work though and just 2/3 film choices. We would definitely fly monarch again. I did talk to some people on the transfer who said economy was dreadful though. We don't drive in Orlando so booked the coach transfer, it took 3 hours to get to the hotel on IDrive. In hindsight we would probably book a private transfer in future. Also, on the return the check in staff weighed the hand luggage 5kg including the handbag and made everybody put the extra in the cases so we were 4kg over=$100 so watch the weight. We have flown with Virgin in the past but the price difference with cosmos just didn't justify it this time. Hope this helps.

 

[CharAkaDisney]

Thanks snowy for the recent experience.
Myself and my boyfriend fly with them from manchester in two weeks,
I keep going in about the upgrade but he keeps palming it off. He's six foot five! I'm five foot six and I'm worried about myself with the limited leg room.
I ain't bothered if it don't have individual TV screens on seat backs as I plan to sleep the entire journey (bad flyer)

 

[TraceyTalbot]

Snowy can I quickly asks how did you find the hotel rosen inn at pointe Orlando as we staying there in September

 

[snowy2]

It cost us £99pp to upgrade and we thought it was worthwhile as it costs £19pp to sit together and we got an extra 5kg pp luggage (and I was still over!) the seats were leather style with lots more legroom. I am 5ft 5 but my BIL is 5ft 10 and a big guy so he appreciated the space.


We have stayed at Rosen Inn Pointe 9 times now so you can probably guess we like it. It is at the 'prettier' end of IDrive as the top end near Wet n Wild is very touristy and a bit tacky, I say that as a fan of staying on IDrive. We did have rooms facing the I4 this time which was very noisy, so I would definitely request rooms facing IDrive, even though these overlook the car park and not the pools it is still the best option and we don't stay on the ground floor as lots of people walking past your room day and night. We used the laundry a lot, $2 for a wash and same for dryer. The rooms have been revamped since we last went, very clean. My SIL, BIL, nephew (20) and niece (13) had one room for the 4 of them to keep costs down but paid extra for a rollaway bed as they needed more space to sleep and the room looked like a tornado had been through with 4 of them in there. The 24hr deli is great, lovely sandwiches and hot pizza. The sports bar with pool table and bar meals was popular with my SIL and family. We had breakfast every morning at the hotel, $7.95pp buffet and some evening meals $12.95pp, it made a nice change having meat, fish and veg, etc instead of burgers. We ate at TGI Fridays which was the best meal we had on IDrive, Millers Ale House was packed every night but the food wasn't great, the salmon was dry and my SIL fish was frozen. The Tommy Hilfiger shop at Pointe Orlando got a battering from my SIL and Hollister too, it was so cheap $9.99 for jumpers, etc. Walgreens is over the road and was handy for sunglasses etc, I think we set a record this holiday, my nephew broke 6 pairs and my other half broke/lost 5 pairs. We used the shuttle service a couple of times if you need any info on this. We had a great holiday and at some point I will write a trip report/high and low. Ask away if there is anything I can help you with.

 

[TraceyTalbot]

Thank you so much for info on hotel really looking forward to it now speaking to someone that's stay there. That's good about the laundry as we there for 28nights so be using it a lot.
It's are first time to Orlando on our honeymoon husband said he going email couple weeks before we go to ask for room facing Idrive. Good that food in hotel good so if want a lazy day we can still get good food.