Confessions of a YYC Travel Junkie

[jjbouma]

Hey cmyden, what is the cheapest you see for an all-inclusive to Cuba (prefarably Varadero) in mid-late March? Preferably a 4*+ or decent resort.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Toronto, Ottawa, or Montreal - $300ish CDN

Looks like you can have your choice of practically any dates from now until end of May.

http://www.westjet.ca

Roundtrip price, including all taxes. Look for the $99/each way flights (before tax)

cM

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by jjbouma

Hey cmyden, what is the cheapest you see for an all-inclusive to Cuba (prefarably Varadero) in mid-late March? Preferably a 4*+ or decent resort.

Hi jjbouma,

The cheapest I can see is Oasis Islazul March 17-24 for $966/person after taxes. Question is, would you want to stay there?

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...dero_Cuba.html


Club Cojimar is next cheapest, $1077 for Mar 17-24 or 24-31

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...ince_Cuba.html


In fact I can't see anything remotely decent under $1500 in March.


The Mayan Riviera seems like a much better deal.

$1339 /person, various departure dates in March.

Gran Bahia Principe Coba:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Peninsula.html


Seems like it would be comparable to this one in Varadero....

Blau Varadero: $1536/person (which is the 3rd cheapest 4* Varadero package in March, the two cheapest are owned by Barcelo, the 17th and 28th ranked hotels on TA)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...dero_Cuba.html


cM

[Tyler]

Just got into Palm Springs from YYC.

Took a backpack with my laptop and camera. No one had any qualms with it.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Tyler

Just got into Palm Springs from YYC.

Took a backpack with my laptop and camera. No one had any qualms with it.

Ya, flew into EWR today an there were people on board with full laptop cases. The search is pretty thorough, but it went relatively quick. The only big deal is people who are trying to move things around at check-in to accommodate the prohibition on large carry-ons, that held up the USA bound AC check-in for quite a while.

Domestic US travel is still business as usual as far as I can tell.

[Draug]

In response to my post a few pages back about flying to Kauai in April ....

I just booked on Westjet for $607 all-in return in April. Most April dates appeared to be about the same.

I could have booked on US Airways, through Phx, for $544 US, which would have been slightly cheaper after the exchange rate. But, I wasnt sure of their baggage costs and things of that nature.

If I held out, I maybe could have done better in February, but at $600ish round trip, I felt it worth it to secure the tickets and quit thinking about it! My wife will appreciate that.

[cmyden]

Calgary to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico - $310 CDN

WestJet has some seats left on this $99/each way + tax flight. Feb 2-9.

Where to stay? You can book your own all inclusive hotel, or try one of these B&Bs/Inns:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g1...st-Hotels.html

Bunglaows La Madera gets amazing reviews and rooms can be had from $60 USD/night. http://www.zihuahotel.com/rates.html

Flight + hotel for $500/person, spend the rest on booze and food at real restaurants.

cM

Originally Posted by Draug

If I held out, I maybe could have done better in February, but at $600ish round trip, I felt it worth it to secure the tickets and quit thinking about it! My wife will appreciate that.

I had to do a wishful double-take to see if my husband had posted this... no such luck.

Last minute trip: Signature vacations has a 7 day all inclusive trip to Puerto Vallarta (actually it's about 45 minutes north... around Bucerias) leaving January 15. You stay @ the Palladium 4+ stars. My parents have stayed there and loved it.

$468+$268 taxes= $735 all in. This is the cheapest I've seen it in awhile.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Puxlut

Last minute trip: Signature vacations has a 7 day all inclusive trip to Puerto Vallarta (actually it's about 45 minutes north... around Bucerias) leaving January 15. You stay @ the Palladium 4+ stars. My parents have stayed there and loved it.

$468+$268 taxes= $735 all in. This is the cheapest I've seen it in awhile.

Nice find, the cheapest I was seeing it was $836 !

Reviews: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...fic_Coast.html

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Hey cmyden,

My mother is looking at YHZ-KUL. The dates we found the cheapest are Feb 23 - Mar 11 @ ~$1500.

Know of anywhere that might be cheaper? That was from cheapflights.com (or cheaptickets.com I forget now) and ITA Software was ~$300 more expensive.

Airline isn't as important as the flight. Cost is the #1 criteria, followed by shorter flights (15 hours in the air is something she'd like to avoid).

I know that's outside of your usual search zone, but thought I'd ask for the sake of asking to see if you can find something better than I could. You undoubtedly know more tricks of the trade than I do.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Hey cmyden,

My mother is looking at YHZ-KUL. The dates we found the cheapest are Feb 23 - Mar 11 @ ~$1500.

Know of anywhere that might be cheaper? That was from cheapflights.com (or cheaptickets.com I forget now) and ITA Software was ~$300 more expensive.

Airline isn't as important as the flight. Cost is the #1 criteria, followed by shorter flights (15 hours in the air is something she'd like to avoid).

I know that's outside of your usual search zone, but thought I'd ask for the sake of asking to see if you can find something better than I could. You undoubtedly know more tricks of the trade than I do.

It was probably CheapTickets (which is really just Orbitz).

I really can't see much better for price I'm afraid. Even from Toronto the cheapest are in the $1500 range.

As for travel time, wow. No matter how much you pay, it looks to be a lonnng day(s). The fastest way to get there seems to be through London Heathrow.

This is one that could take a lot of playing around with, but getting there both quick (relatively) and for less than $2k could be tough.

I tried seeing if heading to Bangkok or Manila could help but no dice.

Would she have any interest in doing a multi-city ticket? Could break up the trip with a short stopover in Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Japan for possibly close to the same price. Get two trips in one and might make the travel more bearable.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by cmyden

It was probably CheapTickets (which is really just Orbitz).

I really can't see much better for price I'm afraid. Even from Toronto the cheapest are in the $1500 range.

As for travel time, wow. No matter how much you pay, it looks to be a lonnng day(s). The fastest way to get there seems to be through London Heathrow.

This is one that could take a lot of playing around with, but getting there both quick (relatively) and for less than $2k could be tough.

I tried seeing if heading to Bangkok or Manila could help but no dice.

Would she have any interest in doing a multi-city ticket? Could break up the trip with a short stopover in Hong Kong, Shanghai, or Japan for possibly close to the same price. Get two trips in one and might make the travel more bearable.

Hrmmm, I never thought of that, but I doubt she'd be interested in that. While breaking up the trip would be nice, her sister is there and would want to spend as much time there as possible.

[cmyden]

This one caught my eye, because generally flight + hotel packages to anywhere not named Mexico, Cuba, or Dominican are pretty expensive.

Calgary to St Lucia + 7 nights stay - $847/person

Jan 10-17

Now, the cheapest flights (alone) that I can see, anytime in January are a minimum $700 USD + to St Lucia. For these particular dates they are $1000+.

As for the hotel, it's not a luxury resort, but seems to get really good reviews:

Bay Gardens Inn

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev..._St_Lucia.html

It's a B&B, so, well, you get breakfast.

Can see this at http://www.aircanadavacations.com

cM

[Freeway]

Looks like Long Island City saves me $40-50 a night. Done and done.

[flamesflames444]

Not sure if anyone noticed today, but Westjet and Air Canada both have ridiculous seat sales for most destinations in Canada and the US going out to mid June.... I think the seat sale ends on Jan 7

I just booked AC direct to Vegas in April for $100 each way from Thurs thru Sunday... it doesnt get any better than that!

LA, San Diego, San Fran and Phoenix all had $100-120 directs each way and even flying out east to TO or MTL was $100... Halifax was even only $150!

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by flamesflames444

I just booked AC direct to Vegas in April for $100 each way from Thurs thru Sunday... it doesnt get any better than that!

Nice, that's before tax I assume?

[flamesflames444]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Nice, that's before tax I assume?

Yeah - of course below tax... but still definitely a good deal especially for Air Canada given my bias to maintain my Aeroplan Elite status... hard to switch back to Westjet and lose all the perks!

[wegotBeers]

I have found in the past that it is sometimes hard to find better prices than some specialty travel agents, like the ones in China town that specialize in Asia. Does anyone know any that get great deals to Europe? I am finding flights seem pretty expensive right now.

[cmyden]

Originally Posted by wegotBeers

I have found in the past that it is sometimes hard to find better prices than some specialty travel agents, like the ones in China town that specialize in Asia. Does anyone know any that get great deals to Europe? I am finding flights seem pretty expensive right now.

I'd definitely love to hear from anyone that gets a better price from a specialty agent than they can from the Interweb.

You're right, Europe is expensive at the moment. But there are some cheap flights in January to London. ($526 USD after tax on Air Transat). $670 in February.

It'll probably take closer to spring before any deals pop up for April/May.