Canadian groups with Sunquest

[lscilley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsfinallyhere Iscillwy, my date twin. I knew you were out there, and couldn't wait to find you! hehehe. I booked with Nolitours. We booked in April, but recently the pricing has come out for other tour companies. Some are better some are worse. When I talked to my TA about this, She told me that in September when all info will be finalized we can do another price request and if there is a difference we will be able to get the lower price. They are willing to do this one time only. So She suggested waiting until closer to the date to do this request. As far as problems go, we wanted to fly out on the 11th and were told that was no problem and then they changed the flight dates and now it is Thursday. No big deal. Good Luck I hope everything works out. I am sure it will

Ya I was starting to wonder where my date twin was your the only one so far apparently Nov 16th is not a popular day. Are you all ready?

[Sita&Nate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dmitri_Markine Once you book, there's little to no chance of renegotiating your prices. Booking late gives you a price advantage,but certain dates/resorts may not be available anymore. Personally, I wouldn't book too-too far in advance for an off season wedding. Hotels are half empty and prices go down drastically 2-5 months prior to that. Popular destinations such as Varadero,Punta Cana,Cancun,etc will always have flights available.

Hey Dmitri,

Do you consider May to be off season?? When are the off seasons per se?? I think December to April are the busiest?

[Dmitri_Markine]

Yes, I would say prices are much higher from mid December to end of April for Caribbean.Even higher during holidays(Christmas,march break,etc) If you go now for example, you'll find many resorts to be half full.

The issue is when you only want a specific hotel and a specific date for your wedding. That's when it can become an issue even during an off season. If that resort can only do say 1 wedding per day, once they get that day booked you are left some odd dates you may not want.

[Sita&Nate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dmitri_Markine Yes, I would say prices are much higher from mid December to end of April for Caribbean.Even higher during holidays(Christmas,march break,etc) If you go now for example, you'll find many resorts to be half full. The issue is when you only want a specific hotel and a specific date for your wedding. That's when it can become an issue even during an off season. If that resort can only do say 1 wedding per day, once they get that day booked you are left some odd dates you may not want.

AAAhh, thanks that is helpful

[Marie]

Thanks for all the responses guys, Im sitting here going,.."oh my God--you too!", .....I think maybe if I had my time back I wouldnt have booked so far in advance, people warned me, but of course-when you're the bride you wanna book asap!! lol

 

We changed our toronto departure to Halifax (which wasn't offered back when we booked) I know theres a good chance that there will be flights added for Toronto...but I wasn't chancin it.......we now have a total of 35 booked, and theres only 7 seats left on our flight down....apparently.....we looked into staying for the 2nd week today--TA said there was only 4 seats left on the return flight! crap! Im not gonna worry about that....its amazing how stuff is getting booked though all the same.......In regards to pricing tho.....our rate is still a couple hundred bucks less then the rates out there now, and b/c we switched to halifax, we got another 100 off..something to do with the taxes....

 

Anywho--fingers crossed that this flight stays cool! lol

 

I've calmed myself down somewhat too--I had to relax, I was having headaches and nightmares, lol..constantly thinking about stuff, ...it would be fine if it was just myself and fi, but its us and thirty something guests!

 

Anyways....whas the worse that could happen? the flight will change and Ill change my wedding date....right? lol...it's all good

 

Good luck everyone with your bookings! Thanks againf or all the info!

[Perplexy]

I say, the worst that could happen is that you don't get a seat on the flight back, and you have to stay in Jamaica for a few additional days.

 

Awww...what a shame that'd be, eh?

[krayzeekitty]

I am glad that everything is back on track for you! 35 booked - that is awesome!!

[Mello78]

Hi Marie,

 

I hope everything works out for you.

[breeze616]

This forum has been very enlightening - I am definitely going to wait a bit to book my trip! But then, with a big group you cant wait too long right?? In light of your issues, when do you ladies think is a good time? Around 6 months before?

[jamaica2010ms]

All of this can really be overwhelming! We booked June 09 for our Feb 2010 wedding, we got a double quote - one from April and one from June, no change from either. We're with Sunquest (RIUs again), though they're running through Air Tansat....so something is bound to happen! Our price is high, but part of that is we are going in Feb and are at the RPTB. Our family is our required 10 for our group, so I flat out asked the TA why anyone else should book with the group or wait for a sale. I thought she was pretty honest, she said all the stuff that she does for the group - and she's good, so I shouldn't be having some of the issues described above (hopefully!), but she did inform me that right now Jamaica is the #1 selling spot in the Caribbean...and flights sell out. She said Punta Cana and Mexico are great places to wait for sales, but the same doesn't usually hold true for Jamaica. The only thing that worries me, is that she put a due date for deposits for Oct31...which seems a little late, I hope my guests don't wait until then and then have problems with flights!

Hopefully things work out for everybody! I was really hoping WestJet would add Jamaica....