Booking Desire

[scottish_cpl]

Hi all,
I was looking at booking through expedia they are pricing us at £3200($5200) for the week at an Ocean view room including flights from London.
Has anyone used them before to book or is it best to book separate flights and book directly with desire.
Or is there any travel agents in the UK that could be recommended.

Thanks

[CokeMann]

Generally we have always booked flights and Desire separately since there are no large agency's that handle Desire and provide a economical "package" deal.

BTW - for direct return flights from Gatwick or Glasgow to Cancun - Thomas Cook Air http://www.thomascookairlines.co.uk/
seem to have the best pricing right now at - £465.00 > £495.00 per person

Also you should look at the special promo deals being offered by Desire for the months of Aug and Sept http://desireresorts.19.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=582

If you combined the two things I mentioned you could do a full 7 days with direct flights for about

Desire Garden View - Sept - for 7 nights (per couple) = £1300
Direct air from Gatwick or Glasgow to Cancun - Sept - (per couple) = £1000

Total Vacation = £2300

Overall I would say this is a pretty good deal !!!

[scottish_cpl]

Thanks for that,
when I looked at it we could get it for around £2440, thats £800 is better in my pocket than expedia's.
Just means it goes towards the travel from the Far North of Scotland (Caithness) to London and a night in the hilton.

Plus my wife can spend extra on outfits.

[CokeMann]

Wow - you are quite a ways up north !!!

I guess then there isn't that much cost difference if you flew out of Glasgow or Gatwick ??

[scottish_cpl]

Yeah you cannot get much more North than where we are, I can see the Orkney Isles from my house....

Had another look for the dates that we can go (Sister agrees to look after kids) 1st - 8th Aug. The Garden rooms are not available only the OV rooms are available and the price is cheaper from expedia compared with doing it separately.
Unfortunatley we are unable to book until the 6th July so hopefully the room and flights will still be available.

[CokeMann]

The reason the GV rooms are showing sold out on the Desire site for the first week of Aug is that TravelSDC has blocked them out for a group they have coming from Brazil - called Solenieve 2009

You should be able to book directly with TravelSDC and get a Garden View room for that time period.

http://travelsdc.com/sdcweeks.aspx

FYI - with all the troubles Mexico has had lately, overall tourism is down at least 50% since last year and one way or another I don't think you will have any trouble getting a booking

[scottish_cpl]

Thanks for the info,
Idealy I would like to book the passion suite for us (first time we have been able to get away together).

what do peeps think is better the OV or GV?

[CokeMann]

Frankly most of us that are regulars ( btw - May was our 16th trip) spend so little time in the rooms (other than to actually sleep) we usually just book GV and use the extra money saved to afford an extra night or two at Desire.

The amenities in the GV and the OV rooms are all the same - the Passion Suites are definitely nice but IMHO not worth the exorbitant prices they charge per night for these.

[sensualcnds]

Frankly most of us that are regulars ( btw - May was our 16th trip) spend so little time in the rooms (other than to actually sleep) we usually just book GV and use the extra money saved to afford an extra night or two at Desire.

The amenities in the GV and the OV rooms are all the same - the Passion Suites are definitely nice but IMHO not worth the exorbitant prices they charge per night for these.

I agree with CokeMann fully. After many stays at the resort in different room classes, we just stay in the Garden View Room now. As many of you have found out the Ocean and Garden View rooms are for the most part, 90% the same. So for the approx $50 a night difference, or $350 a week more, our vote is the GV room and staying longer. Keep in mind that depending on when you book a GV, this difference may be as high as $136 per night or $952 for a week. That is almost 3 more nights stay. This is with the Early Book Sale for the Garden View Rooms.

[shelly67]

Hi scottish_cpl from fellow Brits!

Ref booking and flights etc. The only two airlines that fly direct to Cancun are charters - Thomson (First Choice as was) and Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook have most frequent flights to Cancun and are currently the cheapest and their offerings (seat pitch etc) are broadly similar but TC are currently consolidating and cancelling flights to Cancun (our Aug/Sept flights have just been cancelled) so beware of that as this is likely to continue until tourist numbers go back up post swine flu scare. Thomson also have a weekly flight from Glasgow if that helps at all - they both go from LGW too (PS we find the Sofitel there better value for money and much nicer then the Hilton).

The other option is scheduled indirect flights which can be a better option if you pefer non standard lengths of stay (charter flights only on 7 or 14 days returns) or if you prefer to upgrade seats for the longer leg to the US. Choices there include US Airways and Virgin Atlantic etc and then a quick hop on Air Mexicana to Cancun. We are flying VA to Miami and then Mexicana to Cancun in Aug/Sept which allows us the 12 days stay we prefer as well as upgraded flights with VA so should arrive fairly refreshed plus chances of having a third flight now cancelled (also cancelled flights on us in May) is highly unlikely with a scheduled service.

As to who to book with/how to book.... we have tried various ways. The first time we booked a package with Peng Travel (http://www.pengtravel.co.uk/) and they were very good and prices good - they packaged a deal up for us including First Choice Premium flights and included transfers. The next time we booked through DernnyP (www.dennyp.com) as many people on here do and he was equally as good and we arranged our own air travel.

There are a few things to to bear in mind when deciding whether to use a US/UK tour operator or independent travel etc.... If you book through a UK TO then you are protected from currency fluctuations - can be a good or a bad thing - it would have worked out cheaper for us to have booked Desire direct or through Denny or another US TO on our first trip as the GBP ended up doing so well against the USD and then we lost out big time on our 2nd trip as booked through a US TO and paid in USD and then watched the GBP plunge before we made our final payment so that trip ended up costing us approx 2500GBP more than anticipated at the time of booking.

The other issue is UK travel insurance coverage for independent travel. We found that we were not covered for our Desire and other Mexico hotel booking on our travel insurance when our flights were cancelled in May because of the swine flu even through we hold two very well respected annual travel policies. Of course, had we booked a UK travel package then all our money would just have been refunded instantly as soon as the flights were cancelled but because the hotels were booked independently (through a US TO) we were unable to get refunds for one hotel but did mange to transfer our booking uintil May 2010 instead and for Desire we ended up transferring the money paid to our Sept trip that was already booked and then took a refund on the balance less a credit card penalty charge. We were happy with the outcome (although our cashflow wasn't as we then had to fork out for a completely new last minute holiday elsewhere) but the experience has made us think seriously about booking independently again rather than getting a UK TO to package up a deal if possible. Although we're already booked independently for Aug/Sept and May 2010 so will be a while before we have to cross that bridge again!

We understand that some people in the UK have also used Blue Bay Travel successfully.

Also agree completely with all the comments above about rooms. We also splurged on a week in a passion suite for our 2nd stay and we so wish that we'd just booked GV and saved the money to use instead for an extra weeks stay at Desire another time! You'll be glad of this once you get there as you'll soon realise that you'll be booking your return trip as soon as you get back home!

Hope you manage to make the arrangements you want and maybe see you in Aug/Sept?

Gordon and Michelle

[oldseadog]

You could try Peng Travel or Caribbean Dreams; we've used both from time to time. Also, Delta fly Edinburgh - Atlanta - Cancun during the summer, and we used that a couple of years ago. Otherwise Tho. Cook or Thomson from Glasgow or London or Manchester.
Or try one of the continental Charter companies out of Amsterdam, for instance. There are lots of ways to get from Wick to anywhere if you do the web research. (You could even sail if you had the time!)