Alternative to booking with Virgin Holidays?

[WDWFOREVER]

Can anyone help? I have used Virgin Holidays for the last 5 holidays as Disney. I consider myself a very loyal customer. In turn, Virgin have been extremely helpful as regards my health problems and have done everything possible to assist.

However, since 11 September last, Downtown Disney check-in has shut, you no longer get a Daily Mail newspaper, food on the aeroplane was not as good, the goodie bags for the kids have less in them this year, the free amenity bags also have less in them this year. So my question is this: am I right in keeping loyal to them or could I get a better deal elsewhere?

What has prompted my question is that this year we had a week at St Petes beach before 2 weeks in Orlando. We came to the conclusion after our recent trip (we returned 2 June) that because of my health problems (arthritis) 2 weeks in Orlando is too intense for me - we really need 3 so that I can take things a little slower. However, we can't afford 3 weeks in WDW next year so we thought perhaps 2 weeks at the beach next year and then 3 weeks in WDW in 2004. I rang Virgintravelstore who said that the price for 2 weeks at the hotel of our choice (Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, St Petes) had increased since their brochure was sent out a few weeks ago from £819 per adult for the period when we want to go to £999!!!!!!!!!!!!! They blame the hotel (of course).

Am I alone in think that Virgin Holidays have deteriorated in many ways since Richard Branson sold out?

 

[Boo Boo Too]

What I do when I book a holiday is look through various websites (www.cheapflights.co.uk, www.airline-network.co.uk for flights, expedia and hotels own sites for hotels, various discount cruise sites for cruises and there are some other sites for car hire - a number are recommended on this forum) and compare those prices with packages from Virgin and other holiday packages.

The past few years I have booked independently: has always been cheaper for what I want (I am getting picky with age ;-)).

What sort of dates are you thinking of going next year?

Boo

 

[LynetteB]

It is 8 years since I booked a holiday out of a brochure - and thats for all-over, not just USA. The first year we went to florida, we stayed onsite for 2 weeks - we left it too late to book with virgin holidays as their flight allocation was gone. The sales agent suggested I book a flight with virgin atlantic and my accomodation separately. We did this and paid less than half the brochure price - we were absolutely amazed.

We have done this ever since. There are so many offers on hotels in Orlando, and in particular onsite WDW. This year we have saved a fortune. We have Premium Economy flights with virgin for £707 per adult (booked with www.airnet.co.uk and still available at this price until 1st July!!) and have saved on average 40% off our rooms in Disney, 50% off our room at USF and an amazing 60% off our room in Boston.

For me, sad girl that I am, booking everything and getting better deals is part of the build up of my holiday.

I appreciate what you say about Virgins service, but I still feel they are one of the best out there. We have tried a few others, particularly to USA and always feel Virgin is better. This of course is always subject to change - give me one bad flight and I'll be off them for life!!

Just my 2p's

LynetteB

 

[Goofyish]

If you don't fancy the 'do-it-yourself' approach try looking at other tour operators - we used Thomas Cook Signatures for our last trip. You can build whatever package you like - mixing hotels and number of nights etc. You also get the choice of using Virgin, BA or charter flights.

For the same holiday we had last year the Virgin price was £250 more expensive.

 

[WDWFOREVER]

Thanks for all your replies. Boo, we are looking at the first two weeks in June and yes, I know its a long way in advance, but a girl needs something to look forward to!

I am going to have a look at the suggested sites tomorrow. Tried looking at the Holiday Inns own web site the other day but the dates I am after are showing as "not available". Could be that they don't book rooms that far in advance.

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

We've stayed at the Holiday Inn & Suites for the last two years at St Pete's and love it. It's a great place to stay. Personally, though, we thought this year it wasn't quite as good as previously; might just have been unlucky.

Our trips, like you, have been with Virgin (and will be again later this year).

However, when we booked Holiday Inn in 2000 and 2001, Virgin seemed to be the only travel company using it. Not any more - loads of brochures I've looked through this year have it included. It used to be a Virgin Flagship . . . again, not any more. I guess because they've gone for larger audience.

One brochure sent to me - Funway - use Virgin flights but appeared to be so much cheaper than everyone else. They don't use Holiday Inn, but have quite a large selection of hotels and reasonably cheap villas, condos, etc. Try their website - www.funway.co.uk

Have you been to St Pete's before - there are some other good hotels along the strip there to choose from (Sirata, Tradewinds etc - all excellent).

 

[lisag1]

Hi WDWforever

Have you tried www.hotelkingdom.com or www.hotelreservationnetwork.com for hotels??? The are usually the sites I look at when booking hotels in the US. Although sometimes going direct to the hotel's website can sometimes bring up good last minute deals but I'm not sure you'll get much joy this far in advance unfortunately. We also used priceline this year when booking our hotel in Boston which worked out very well (4/5* hotel for £80/night!)

For flights I've used www.airline-network.co.uk, www.choiceair.co.uk and www.expedia.co.uk. Plus you can get good deals with some of the TA's on teletext (www.teletext.co.uk).

I do agree with your comments about Virgin though and so far I've never had a competetive quote from Virgin!! I've even bought Virgin flights cheaper from the US Travelshop than from Virgin Travelstore!!!!

Lisa

 

[kazzie]

I've booked my flydrive for this October with Funway,you should definitely give them a ring too, as Annie said

 

[WDWFOREVER]

Thanks for the links. I'll definitely try elsewhere this year.

Unfortunately, I have a close family member seriously ill at the moment and all the joy from my recent holiday and excitement at booking another has kind of flown out of the window. But I'm going to keep a note of everything said here and when things have settled down a bit, I'll get on to it.

Thanks very much for the information.

Jackie

 

[MalcolmC]

Jackie,

I must agree with you about Virgin. We are sure the service hes deteriorated since we started using them in '97.

Why don't you book a villa off site. (No, I not plugging mine - its booked for most of next June). It's much more restful especially if you have three weeks.

The only downside is you definately need to rent a car since you'll end up 5 to 20 minutes away from WDW. You can then go and explore more in the area, go to a beach , shop etc. etc.