When To Book All Inclusive Group Travel Packages From Canada

[projecttwayne2015]

You should wait for 345 days from the day you plan on getting married. Flight schedules aren't out prior to then with Air Canada or Westjet. Sunwing is good, if you do not have people booking from connecting airports. I am an agent and you have to decide what's best for your clients. Although sunwing offered the cheapest package, Air Canada offered the connecting flights which is very important for us. Also they offered way better flight times than sunwing.

Edited August 29, 2014 by projecttwayne2015

[calgarybride2015]

You should wait for 345 days from the day you plan on getting married. Flight schedules aren't out prior to then with Air Canada or Westjet. Sunwing is good, if you do not have people booking from connecting airports. I am an agent and you have to decide what's best for your clients. Although sunwing offered the cheapest package, Air Canada offered the connecting flights which is very important for us. Also they offered way better flight times than sunwing.

 

I booked in May for our January wedding and our flight still got cancelled due to their 'new' schedule coming out!  I have come to realize you are probably never safe until you are boarding that plane hehe!

[mariak]

Thanks for info!

Thank you! very good tips!!

[Chawrela]

Hey Ladies!

 

Looking for some advice from your experience...we are planning our wedding for November 2016 and I have my heart set on the NOW Amber in Puerto Vallarta. Our travel agent started getting quotes in July (15 months out) and they were way higher than I expected. She checks almost weekly and nothing has come up for less than $2000 leaving from Edmonton, which I would like to try and keep the price under.

 

From this forum it seems most people book 9-12 months out. Has anyone tried to book 15 months out and experienced the same thing? We definitely have time to wait and see if prices drop, just hoping you guys might have some feedback on this.

 

C

[vancouverpetunia]

We booked at the end of Feb 2015 for our April 2016 wedding. I would say that it partly depends on the group size that you think you will have. The larger the group, I think the more difficult it will be to secure enough packages at a reasonable cost. We haven't really seen any price drop since we booked. Yes, I can go online and find something cheaper - but not for 20 rooms/40 people - which is key for pricing on a group booking. 

 

I wonder if prices are up to due the US dollar? Our package costs from Vancouver to Cancun at Now Sapphire were just over $2000 CAD with taxes in. If prices have increased due to the dollar, you may not see them drop for a long time.  Have you tried different dates? I would guess that later in November might be more expensive if your timing coincides with US Thanksgiving. Or even if you are trying to book over the Remembrance Day holiday, it might be more because probably more people would be interested in this timing (as they are able to use one less vacation day).

 

Good luck! 

[acw271011]

@Chawrela  Congrats on your upcoming wedding! The other thing I've heard is that from Edmonton, since there are fewer flights, that prices can be higher than say from Calgary. It depends on the tour company and where you're going.

[peachykeen159]

@@Chawrela I'm actually getting married November 2015 and staying at Secrets Vallarta. What airline is your agent using? We actually went with Westjet because they were quite a bit cheaper than Sunning. We secured the pricing in January 2015 and everyone is paying between $1750- $2100(Depending on the city they fly out of). 

[Chawrela]

Thanks for the input ladies! I think looking at the dates may be a good option, and that is a very good point about the US dollar affecting it! Departing through Calgary could perhaps be worth looking at too!

 

@@peachykeen159 My agent has been getting quotes from Sunwing, Air Transat and Air Canada....she said WestJet hasn't been able to give her a quote yet as it is too far out...I have my fingers crossed for them though as I typically prefer to fly WestJet! You got very reasonable prices that is fantastic! What cities do you have guests coming from if you don't mind me asking? Coming up very soon...very exciting!

[peachykeen159]

@@Chawrela Yes, we had to wait until January to get our pricing. We could have got it in December but I didn't like that the pricing online hadn't been posted yet. Air Canada would have been reasonable but didn't have the flight times I wanted. We have people coming from Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Ottawa and Halifax. So everyone is able to fly to Calgary and we fly to PV together. I also liked that people didn't have to pay the balance until 90 days before we leave so it gave everyone 7 months to save up. Let me know if you have any other questions!

[Chawrela]

Wow I am so happy to be able to talk to you about this! Okay my only other  question is, from the time you "secured" the pricing with WestJet, how long did your guests have to put a payment down? My travel agent said that WestJet is less accommodating to work with for group bookings surrounding the down payment time frame and what not. I figure if they're significantly cheaper it is worth it though! @@peachykeen159