Is it worth cancelling my booking to do it DIY?

[lorapinky]

Hi everyone!

I am going to WDW in 1 year and I cant wait to go. I have booked through Thomas Cook for me and my DH for 17 nights staying ay ASMo, flying with virgin, park hopper tickets (3 weeks), travel insurance, transfer from and to the airport and going in september, it has cost us £2700.00.

However I am tempted to cancel the holiday and do it DIY?

I am tempted to do this as I would like the free dining option, would we benefit from this though? We lived on a cheap breakfast at the resort, then a burger / hotdog for dinner and the same for tea but with fries

I do feel secure booking through a travel agent, but I am becoming more and more tempted to book it myself either this time or the next.

Any advice you could give to me would be most welcome!

Cheers

 

[jen_uk]

I think thats a pretty good price. Will Thomas Cook not add the free dining on for you? How much deposit have you paid? If its not much it may be worth cancelling and then rebooking direct with Virgin who will include the dining for you.

 

[Netty]

maybe you could start pricing up to see if you can do it cheaper before you decide to cancel.

 

[T16GEM]

maybe you could start pricing up to see if you can do it cheaper before you decide to cancel.

I'd do that - you don't want to cancel and then end up paying more, what is TC's cancellation policy like? Would you get all of your money back?

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

Are Thomas Cook not doing the free dining plan? Seems like a lot of other operators are.

 

[lorapinky]

Hi

I am going to try and find out if TC do the free dining, if they do I will stick with them.

I will let you know, thanks for youe help

 

[natalielongstaff]

going places are offering the free dining plan ! thats why weve looked into booking for next year

 

[lorapinky]

Hello

TC said that I cant get the free dining, I would have to cancel my booking and lose my £250.00 deposit. Then re-book it. I am unsure what to do. Is it worth losing the £250.00?

Does anyone have any ideas what i can do?

I thought about throwing a hissy fit on the phone and try and blag my free dining but I will wait to see what you lot say first!

 

[CharleyUK]

Don't know if you booked it direct or via a TA but i'd ring thomas cook direct and ask again about the free dining especially if you used a TA. It just depends who you get on the phone sometimes. Try the nice approach - i've always found that the best way, but stand your ground i don't see why you should have to pay £250 just to qualify for the promotion. Do your homework first and quote them prices with other companies ie first choice and let them know you are quite willing to cancel and rebook with someone else or even DIY. You are a good customer at the end of the day.

good luck

 

[Lizzybear]

I know Suzanne/TandCmum booked through Thomas Cook Signature and managed to add on free dining at a later date. She's in France right now though I think so probably won't see this thread today.
I think if you persist then you have a good chance of getting it. I do think your price is pretty good though, we are paying £2200 for a similar holiday with Virgin except for 2 weeks and with car hire (including platinum insurance)
If you think you'd save more than your cancellation fee on food with the free dining then i'd have no qualms about cancelling and rebooking, but do try and push Thomas Cook a bit first

 

[Leanne1977]

I would persevere(sp?) with trying to get the DDP added to your booking.

We had a similiar problem with Virgin, we had booked early and then the dining plan came about. It took a lot of phone calls and a fair bit of stress but we managed it in the end.

If push comes to shove i would cancel and lose the deposit as the DDP is worth more than £250. But before you do that make sure your holiday hasnt increased in price.

But my first view would be to keep on at them.

 

[lorapinky]

TCS aren't palying ball and wont give us the free dining, what should I do now?

Should I book TC direct and not the travel agent?

any advice would be most welcome

 

[tashasmum]

I thought that the free dining was only available if you flew out from the 12th aug until the end of september. We have booked with virgin and we got the free dining but only because we fly out on the 13th. Maybe this is why TC won't give it to you.

 

[tashasmum]

Just re-read your original post , i could have sworn that i had read that you were going in June.We all make mis-takes. Hope you can get something sorted.

 

[Miffy2003]

TCS aren't palying ball and wont give us the free dining, what should I do now?

Should I book TC direct and not the travel agent?

any advice would be most welcome

It depends on how much money you will save by cancelling.

Have you priced it up DIY? If so is it cheap enough to make it worth losing £250?

 

[feistyblue]

Miffys made a good point - is it worth loosing £250? Will you save much more than that doing it DIY? Plus taking into consideration how much DDP is normally and whether you'd spend that kind of money on food etc.

 

[Debbied]

I've just looked at virgin and disneys site, unless i'm mistaken staying at disney allstars music resort between (random dates) the 5th and 22nd Sept 07 inc dining plan and tickets costs approx £1318 and on virgins site economy for 2 adults same dates is £1240 added together is £2558 + 250 lost deposit = £2808 you have only lost £100 or so + Insurance - hope this makes sense. Would you spend £100 + Insurance money on Food for 17 days? I pesonally would re-book as the way I look at it is, We eat out at half decent places anyway, so we can have an experience we would'nt normally have - for the same price or less... = bonus
BUT Check out the prices, phone virgin, and disney direct to confirm prices and make sure YOU are happy with the savings, at the end of the day that is all that really matters. Have a great holiday whatever you do.

 

[fuse04]

We did much shoping around for next years trip to WDW and more often than not Virgin was the cheapest of the main operators/agents. However their customer service was very poor for our trip this year so we wanted to book with someone we could talk to face to face.....Thomas Cook.

We booked for POR two weeks using thier price match policy so got it at the same rate as Virgin, at that time it was £450 off the TC quote. A few months later we changed our minds and wanted to splash out a bit and change POR to one week at AKL and the second at Wilderness lodge.

We shopped around for best price which again was Virgin, and we went back to TC to change our booking, and again they price matched, even though we had already paid the deposit for POR.

We then noticed that TC basic room at WL was not the Woodland view offered by Virgin; again TC changed our booking to reflect the upgrade at no cost.

I would use the TC price match to get what you want but think the price you have is competive.

However if anyone knows of a 'cheap' way to stay at a Disney Reosrt hotel please let me know?

Fuse04