Tips For Booking Your Travel

We're awaiting the invitations, which will hopefully go out sometime next week. (Fast, I know!) Heath and I have our trip booked, and some family members have started looking into the process as well.

Booking travel these days is very often a DIY venture. When Heath and I travel, we typically go online and find the best deal ourselves. For the destination wedding, we opted to get in touch with a real-live travel agent to help manage the process for us and our guests. The deals she presented to us were better than anything we could find online at the time, so we decided to go ahead and book through her.

That being said, prices change and there are countless websites that allow you to search for and put together travel packages on your own. At times, the prices will be lower than the prices we put out there through our agent, Suzanne. A couple of thoughts on this. Most of it is common sense, but we want our guests to have a good experience and be aware of some of these things.

• Be mindful of whether you are seeing a direct flight or a flight with connections. When we traveled to Mexico last year, we had a connection between different airlines in Mexico City. While this was manageable, it was confusing and stressful. We ended up burning pretty much an entire day in the airports, and didn't arrive to the resort until dark.
• Also, ensure that the prices you are being quoted include taxes, fees, and transfers. Those things can add up in a hurry, so you want to be sure that you are looking at an actual price before making your decision.
• If you do find a seemingly better deal, feel free to email it over to our travel agent to see if she can match it. If she can, you may have the option of avoiding paying in full up front. Additionally, if she is able to work her connections to get a group upgrade in rooms, you would get to be in on that as well.
• Please make sure make sure make sure that it is the right resort and the right dates!

That being said, only you know what things are high priority to you. If it is worth spending more time in the airport and dealing with a transfer to save X amount of dollars, that is totally fine. We just want our guests to have a great time and have a lot of fun down there with us - the details of how you want to get there are up to you.

You certainly don't have to book through our travel agent, but if possible, as a courtesy, it would be nice to give her the opportunity to match the prices you find online. She has given us a lot of her time and help already, so I'd like to keep her in mind. If she cannot match the price, then I certainly can't begrudge you for booking on your own.

Thanks!

Note: This post will be accessible via a link in the Travel Information Section

Travel Information

PLEASE NOTE YOU WILL NEED A PASSPORT! Make sure you get one or update yours if needed. This takes some time, so we recommend you start early. A link to the Passport information website is at the bottom of this posting.

We'll provide some estimated costs for 4 Night and 7 Night options on the invitation, but please note that because rates are based on availability, we won't be able to guarantee them.

Estimated price breakdown:

• 7 night stay (Saturday, June 13 - Saturday, June 20) estimated at $1489 per guest at Beach and Caribe hotels
• 7 night stay (Saturday, June 13 - Saturday, June 20) estimated at $1599 per guest at Tropical and Colonial hotels
• 4 night stay (Sunday, June 14 - Thursday, June 18) estimated at $1119 per guest at Beach and Caribe hotels
• 4 night stay (Sunday, June 14 - Thursday, June 18) estimated at $1189 per guest at Tropical and Colonial hotels

NOTE: The above prices would include your all-inclusive (food, drinks, non-motorized activities) stay at the hotels listed at the resort, direct round trip flight from O'Hare airport, and transfers between the Cancun airport and the resort during arrival and departure days. The prices are not guaranteed and may change over time or if changes are made (e.g. flying from a different airport). Keep in mind that the wedding will be on Tuesday, June 16. Kelly and I have already booked our stay for Thursday, June 11 - Saturday, June 20 and have the wedding locked in for Tuesday, June 16. As you would imagine, we recommend booking early if you are going to be joining us. That will increase the likelihood that you'll get the best deal. If the packages we provide are not quite what you need (e.g., different departure airport, different dates to stay), please feel free to contact our travel agent. She has committed to working with our guests to make arrangements that best fit their needs.

Keep in mind that upon booking, a $125 deposit will be due for each passenger. The balance will be due 50 days prior to travel. Thus, you can book early with a small deposit to lock in the lower price.

Hotel/Resort Information (to consider as you make your plans):

• We'll be staying at the Barcelo Maya Resort. This resort includes 5 separate hotels: Beach, Caribe, Colonial, Tropical, and Palace. The first four are by and large the same, with access to each other's pools, beach area, snack bars, and theatres.
• The resort is all-inclusive which means that all your meals, drinks, tips, and taxes, as well as many resort activities are included in the rate. You can check out any of the hotel websites (links in the section below) for more information. The rates that we will provide will also include airfare (and all associated taxes and fees) as well as transfers to and from the airport in Cancun.
  
• Beach and Caribe tend to be a little less expensive than Colonial and Tropical. The key difference between the pairs (Beach/Caribe vs Colonial/Tropical) is that guests of Beach/Caribe will not have access to the air conditioned buffets of Colonial/Tropical nor the a la carte restaurants. Guests of Colonial/Tropical will, however, have acces to the buffets and a la carte restauarants at Beach/Caribe.
• When Heath and I stayed at this resort in October 2007, we stayed at Beach and thought it was very nice. So, if you decide to stay there to save some money, you certainly won't be disappointed. For the wedding week, Heath and I are planning on staying at either Colonial or Tropical for a couple of reasons. First, it's our wedding/honeymoon!! So, we want to upgrade a bit. Second, we'll be there for 9 nights, and the additional variety of a la carte restaurants and buffets will be nice to have over that longer amount of time.
• The Palace is the fanciest of the five, but is quite separated from the other four hotels (i.e., guests of the other 4 cannot use the Palace's pools etc without purchasing a separate day pass), so we would not recommend that option for our guests.
  
• Everybody is more than welcome to stay wherever they'd like. Our travel agent can help you figure out what is the best solution for your needs, or feel free to call Heath or me to discuss our thoughts on the various options.

Resort Websites:

• Barcelo Maya Colonial
• Barcelo Maya Tropical
• Barcelo Maya Beach
• Barcelo Maya Caribe
• Barcelo.com

Suggested Travel Options:

• Booking Tips (Suggestions and Thoughts for Guests Interested in Price Hunting Online)

• 7 Nights: Depart Saturday June 13, 2009, Return Saturday June 20, 2009.
• 4 Nights: Depart Sunday June 14, 2009, Return Thursday June 18, 2009.
• If neither of these is a good option for you, our travel agent can help you to customize a package to meet your individual needs.
  

Travel Agent Contact Information:

• Suzanne Grimes @ Best Travel & Tours.
• Phone: 773.380.0150
• Email: sgrimes@besttravel.com

Passport Application information (do this sooner rather than later!):

• YOU WILL NEED A PASSPORT!
  
• http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

Something to Start On

Passport Application Information

You'll need one if you don't have one already!