hotel riu cancum- Christmas

soolin

I want to book a family holiday to the Hotel Riu Cancun in Mexico at Christmas, there will be 5 of us going all old enough to be considered 'adults' so having to pay full fare. The price if we stay over Christmas is apprx £1250 per person, but if we travel out and back just before Christmas (going on the 16th and back on the 24th) it goes down to £720 per person. All for 7 nights fully inclusive.

Unusually I can find only Thomson and Portland offering this hotel, and was hoping someone might know another agent I can try who might offer it so I can do a proper price comparison before I book. Alternatively I wonder if it would be useful to actually go to a travel agent and see if they have any other companies they use that don't necessarily show up online? Otherwise is Portland a good company to use? I recall many years ago that they had a very good reputation and a quick google search doesn't show up anything negative about them, but I thought I would check here first as it is such a lot of money to spend on a holiday.

Ideally I would have preferred to go 3 days later, but the price hike is too far too much. I've also got the added complication of a school with a strict no holiday policy, but have spoken to them and they agree that since the children do nothing before they break up for Christmas they will not formally reprimand us if we take them out early, as long as we write a letter confirming that we are away, and don't just pretend to go sick or something.

Engadine

Thomson and Portland are both part of the Tui group and a lot of hotels sign exclusive deals to only deal with Thomson and Portland which may well be the case with Riu.

£720 per person isn't a bad price for that hotel, prices for over Christmas and New Year are always very expensive as one of the most popular times of year to travel.

If you go into your local travel agent they can check to see which other tour operators and accommodation only companies feature the hotel. They can quite often beat online prices so worth giving them a chance to quote on the holiday.

If it is only Thomson and Portland that feature the hotel then the best price you will get on a Thomson holiday is either online or in one of their travel agencies. A lot of agents no longer deal with Thomson.

Or you could book flights separately and check out how much it would be to book the hotel directly with Riu hotels

nadnad

dont have any advice on the prices - but my family stayed at the riu cancun 2 years ago when i got maried in mexico and the hotel was gorgeous! they all loved it and are thinking of goin back again.

debsy42

ditto the post above, me and him indoors went in January and we had the most fabulous time. It's in a great spot, the staff are wonderful and the beach is amazing. We are looking to go back asap/urgent

soolin

Thank you all. I'm going to phone Portland tomorrow to firm up the prices and double check availability.

Soo

saveapenny

Thomsons own Riu now but First Choice/Eclipsdirect do many of the Riu hotels also have you looked at booking direct with the hotel https://www.riu.com
+there is a £100 of voucher on the board (or pm me for it)
go here https://www.viewdata.net and see who else uses the hotel
choose online brochure then virtual brochure

soolin

Arghh, why does it have to be so complicated?

As my DH and DSs are all tall I tried to book the premium 360 seats but get the warning that these are only suitable for people who are able bodies and over 16 years of age. I phoned Portland to check if my 15 and 10 month old son would be refused his seat if I went ahead and booked, and they don't know. They say the system allws these to be booked by a younger person and doesn't say specifically that someone under 16 can't upgrade, but will try and find out for me and get back to me.

My DH is a poor flyer so he needs the upgrade seats to give hm more room, so maybe the only way round this is to book him and two eldest into premium and me and youngest into economy.

Incidentally I did try the viewdata site but it only lists dates up to end of 2006.

Engadine

Some of the premium seats will be classed as emergency exit seats so your 15yr old & 10 month old will not be allowed to sit there. Exit seats must be occupied by adults over 16yrs old that are able bodied and able to assist in an emergency situation. However I am sure that not all of the seats will be classed as emergency exit seats. The airlines that I have worked for have always had premium seats that can be occupied by anyone including children.

I have had a look at the seating plans for Thomson's Boeing 767 aircraft that are used on long haul flights. There seems to be one aircraft that has a number of seats at the front of the aircraft for the premium service the other aircraft only have emergency exit seats classed as premium seats. If it is the full premium service you can book rather than just the extra leg room seats then there are seats that children can sit in that are not classed as emergency exit seats.

soolin

Thank you everyone. I gave up trying to telephone for assistance and just phoned my local Thompson travel agency. I went down there, they booked the lot and it is all done.

They told me not to worry about the premium seats, they basically said what Engadine said. They have noted my booking though that this was booked as a package with premium seats and told me that they had never had a 15 year old refused a premium seat before.

Glad I've booked that as I'm off on a short break to Almeria tomorrow and wanted it all done before I left.

Engadine

Glad you got it all sorted.