Best Travel Agent

[major_aruba_fan]

We got the date/time picked, airlines, and was about to click the reservation button when we saw an article about using a TA for making your reservations? Anyone got any suggestions on the best TA to use? Do you bother with Trip Insurance? We want to make our reservations for June soon while the getting is good

[mfay]

We've used both Char Travel and Dennyp Travel and been very happy with both. I might also suggest you look at the events calender here on the forum. Any of the agents who sponsor the events on the calender have a lot of experience with Desire. And, if you want to go in the first couple weeks of June when there are groups scheduled, you might want to consider booking with those agents too.
As for trip insurance- well it depends on your circumstances and what you might want the insurance for. We always buy trip insurance for our September trip because of the threat of hurricanes- but we never do for our april/may or January/February trips. But if you have any chronic heath conditions you might want to buy insurance for any trip. Medical evacuation costs if something happens and you have to be transported back to the states will blow your mind !

[me_gusta]

Have used Char on three occasions now. Always helpful...always good rates...always friendly. Stays on top of things for you and helps personally with any issues that come up.

[miranda]

We usually book the accommodations through the resort itself and have booked the flight through an on-line travel site (such as expedia or itravel2000 or the actual airline).

Our credit card offers trip insurance (and we have had to use it with no problems what-so-ever) and have travel health insurance through our company benefits.

We have also booked the shuttle to the resort before we left home but won't bother with it next time we go. We'll just grab a shuttle when we arrive at the Cancun airport.

Can anyone tell me what the benefits are or could be by booking through a TA? Thanks.

[mfay]

There is really nothing "wrong" with booking direct with the resort in our minds- but there are definite benefits to booking with an agent who is experienced with Desire.
First- there are often some freebies or bonuses of some kind thru the agent (like free transfers) especially when it is with a group. Second- on the rare occasions when there is a mixup and someone arrives at Desire and finds they don't have a reservation or there was double booking, the folks who get the shaft are always the ones who booked direct. Your agent handles the paperwork gets the proper confirmations. and makes sure you are really confirmed. Third- when there is any kind of problem, the agent who brings Desire a lot of business has a lot more pull than even the most veteran Desire guest in getting the problems solved and making sure their client is happy.
I don't think any of the agents book much air anymore- we all book our own because there really is no benefit for us or the agent.
On the insurance question, I think you'll find that your credit card travel insurance will do little of anything to help in the event of a hurricane. Coverage for that usually runs someone in the $150- $250 per couple range (there is an older thread someone here on the forum that explains what to look for) and the same thing pretty much holds true with your health insurance when it comes to medical evacuation.

[CokeMann]

The other point for using a good TA that specializes in Desire is that quite often there are many times of the year that Desire shows as "sold out" when trying to book direct - the TAs usually have access to rooms during these times

And finally miranda, you won't pay any more by using one of these TAs for booking Desire, most of them offer great personal service, so why not take advantage of their expertise and experience at no cost to you !

[R/S]

We have always used DennyP. Never had a problem with him. Also, we always get the travel insurance. However, we have older family members and a child. So, just in case something happens to a family member, or if something falls through with the family member watching the kid, we are covered.

[FRANCODOA]

Don @ rightconnectionstravel.com seems to have a good relationship with Desire.

[nude_cpl]

If you're Canadian you might want to consider booking through Air Canada Vacations as the transfers are included. From what I've read on here, this seems to represent a savings of about $70 - $80.

[Whoneedssunscreencpl]

We booked with Shoes Only Travel last time and they were good. We booked directly through the resort this time for May 18-23, 2010. We got a confirmation number from them via E-mail. Hopefully, that will all go well. It seems like we can't actually pay until about 30 days beforehand. Is that accurate?

-Rob and Lisa

[missb0308]

You can pay prior to their 30-day reminder email. Simply call Desire and they will gladly take your payment .

Be prepared to still receive the 30-day reminder to pay, however. We paid way in advance, still got the reminder, but called and they said to disregard, we showed as paid in full. The 30-day payment email is automated.

[Whoneedssunscreencpl]

Thanks Miss B! We will likely pay early and now we will not panic when we receive the automated E-mail requesting payment.

[oldseadog]

We use Castaways Travel. Usually we get transfers included so that is a saving.
We ALWAYS have Travel Insurance, but don't pay anything like what you seem to have to pay in N. America. Our annual premium for World Wide Multitrip is about US$250, which includes US$5 million for medical things alone.

[LagniappeDC]

Let us 2nd or 3rd or 4th Char Travel! She rocks and we've started using her to book our non-desire travel too. We had a problem in Jamaica once and she was there for us the whole time.

[marley]

Hi --

We've been looking at booking in May '10, but it's difficult to get a full week of availability (at least in garden view rooms).

However -- it looks like some of the travel agents have a lock on booking some of the rooms??

Is there any way to find out the size of a particular "takeover group" relative to the total number of rooms available through the resort?

And, if a travel agent doesn't fully sell all their allocated rooms, when (if so) do they turn them back over to the resort?

Just curious if some of the rooms that don't show as "available" might actually be available to book as May approaches, or should we just think about alternative dates (e.g., June or July). I suppose I should get busy and call some of these travel agents you all are recommending!

cheers,

dirk