Honeymoon Help

inspiremetosave

Hello,

After some advice please.
We originally booked out honeymoon to fly out to the Maldives on 26th Dec for 2 weeks all inclusive at a cost of almost £5000. Now we've some to our senses and realised that we cannot afford this we are looking to go somewhere cheaper but also want something special - hopefully that is where you come in.
It must be somewhere hot, and my partner want to go somewhere with a warm sea (Indian Ocean?) He wants to do nothing all holiday and I would like the choice of activities!! Don't want somewhere over run with children although we really that this may be difficult as they will be off school. Don't really want to do Sharm again - main reason is that I have a VERY sensitive stomach and couldn't venture away from the bathroom last time! (presume i would be like this in any of the North African resports). Earliest we can fly is Xmas Eve evening and must be back to start work on the 12th Jan - would consider going for a week, 10days or 2 weeks etc. Short transfers and all inclusive would also be preferred. We are quite spoilt when it comes to holidays - MUST be beachfront (preferably without getting hassled on the beach). Although we haven't got a set budget, realistically looking at below £3500 - but cheap preffered!! Sorry, I know i am asking alot, but if i could just get the honeymoon sorted then that will be one thing off my list!
Thanks for reading this far - any suggestions?

Incapuppy

Have you checked how much money you will lose by cancelling your original holiday or (if applicable) are you planning on trying to transfer to a different holiday with the same operator?

You do realise that even if you fly on 24th December you can't go away for 2 weeks and still be back at work for 5th Jan?

Where can you fly from?

As for other suggestions, I did suggest a couple of lovely adult only hotels in Cuba that would have come in under budget and fitted most of your requirements in your original thread in May. Whether they still have availability and what the prices are like, I don't know, but as you can't take a fortnight now, these will be useless to you.

On the face of it, if you have booked a package with a TO, your best bet would appear to be to see if there is any chance you can change your current Maldives booking to a shorter duration and lower star rated resort.

lisaloo1977

I did think maybe look at Thailand. After reading your post again, i think you are going to struggle to find anywhere thats ticks all, or even most of your boxes for the budget you hope to spend during the busiest period of the year for travel.

I agree with poster above, can you not reduced the time you are in the Maldives? Or go to a lower star resort.

inspiremetosave

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Incapuppy, I have edited my post - I need to be back at work for the 12th - not the 5th! The current operator wont let us transfer out deposit to another holiday or even change the date, so we have no choice but to lose the deposit. Will check out your suggestions thank you.

Incapuppy

inspiremetosave wrote: »

The current operator wont let us transfer out deposit to another holiday or even change the date, so we have no choice but to lose the deposit.

I'm sorry to hear that. I have no idea whether this sort of thing is at a Tour Operator's discretion? Maybe someone with more experience could advise you further.

If you haven't already cancelled are you sure it's just the deposit you will lose? I checked quickly in a couple of brochures that I had to hand and the cancellation charges at this stage were 30% and 50% respectively.

inspiremetosave

I never even considered this. I just presumed that I would lose what I have already paid. It is with Hayes and Jarvis, will see if there is anything on the website...does anyone have any experience with this?

inspiremetosave

From Hayes & Jarvis Website :

Please note that the balance of the holiday must be paid no later than 10 weeks before departure. Failure to do this may result in your holiday being cancelled and charges made accordingly. Where travel is within 10 weeks of the booking date you will need to pay the full cost of the holiday at the time of booking, by debit or credit card.

Does this only apply if you have paid the holiday in full or would we be liable to pay this whatever? It's getting worse....I feel sick.....

sturll

Lido, just off venice - cheap, beautiful and secluded.

Incapuppy

Have just taken this from Hayes and Jarvis website:

How do I cancel an existing booking?
You or any member of your party may cancel your booking, or part of it, once it has been confirmed, but the instructions will only be valid if put in writing and signed by the person who made the booking, i.e. the lead name on the booking. To compensate us for the expense of processing your booking and for the risk that we may not be able to resell the holiday, we charge a cancellation fee on the scale shown below. The amount payable depends on when we receive your written instructions - the more notice you give, the less we will charge. If you have to cancel for reasons covered by your insurance policy you should be able to recover your cancellation charges:
Time before departure when cancellation instruction is received by us Cancellation charge as a % of total holiday cost (excluding any insurance premiums and any amendment fees already paid to us)

• 56 days or more Loss of deposit
• 55 - 29 days 50% or deposit if greater
• 28 - 22 days 70% or deposit if greater
• 21 - 15 days 80% or deposit if greater
• 14 - 4 days 90% or deposit if greater
• 3 days or less 100%

In certain cases the carrier or hotelier may apply a higher cancellation charge. Please enquire at the time of cancellation.
Please call Customer Services on 0844 800 0745 for further information.

By my calculations, if you were due to fly 26th Dec that is 51 days away so you would be liable for 50% of the holiday cost on cancellation.

Just going to see if I can find anything re: transfer of bookings

Edit: have they not been in touch with you yet re: payment of the balance?

inspiremetosave

No, they have not contacted me at all

Incapuppy

It's not looking good I'm afraid, also from the website:

How do I amend an existing booking?
If you want to change any details of your booking (e.g. transfer to a different Hayes & Jarvis Worldwide holiday, departure date, airline, airport, change the number of people booked to travel, change or cancel an excursion or pre-departure special offer etc), we will do our best to help. If you or any member of your party are unable to proceed with the holiday, you can transfer the booking to a substitute person, providing they are suitable; satisfy all the conditions applicable to the original booking and are acceptable to Hayes & Jarvis. Both the person taking and the person leaving the booking will be responsible for paying any additional costs arising from the transfer. We charge a minimum Amendment Fee of £45 per booking plus any non-refundable costs arising from the contract terms of our suppliers. However, if you change your booking within 56 days of departure, the cancellation charges will apply. In the case of name changes, the applicable costs and/or cancellation charges will apply as appropriate.
Important Note: Name changes and/or departure changes are not always permitted by airlines and most treat name changes as cancellations and charge accordingly. These charges will be passed on to you in addition to any other Amendment Fees. Once airline tickets have been issued any changes made to the ticket(s) may result in you having to pay for the cancelled ticket(s) and purchase a new ticket(s) at full cost.
When the price is dependent on the number of people booked into the accommodation and it then varies because you wish to change that number of people, the price will be recosted based on the new party size. Any increase in price per person payable as a result of a part cancellation is not a Cancellation Charge. A separate Cancellation Charge will be levied in respect of bookings cancelled. A new confirmation invoice will be issued as appropriate, on which the Cancellation Charges will be shown.
To make an amendment to an existing booking please call 0844 800 0745.

You are now inside that 56 day window so they are talking about applying cancellation charges (as per my last post) if you wish to amend.

I'm assuming that your holiday will incorporate scheduled flights in which case they may well be totally non-refundable in any case.

Honestly, unless I have missed something - the only thing I can think of is throwing yourselves at their mercy and trying to get them to agree to change your booking to a less expensive island. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Is there anything else you can economise on for this wedding? If the honeymoon was nearly £5k but you said you would go up to £3.5 for a different one then it may well be that you have a choice of paying £1.5k more than you can afford or losing £2.5k and then having £1k for a replacement, which at that time of year will be quite difficult if you have your heart set on a 'dream' honeymoon.