On long haul I always book a package and it's normally with Thomas Cook as they work out far cheaper than Thomson/first choice and we've always had excellent service with them too

I have booked 4 out 5 trips to Cuba with

http://www.caledonialanguages.co.uk/

They are a small company that specialises in language, dance and cultural trips and as well as offering group holidays will also put together bespoke packages. Thus you get the best of both worlds - an individual holiday with all the protection that goes with ATOL bonding. The great advantage for me is that they have excellent contacts for and knowledge of 'homestays' - the opportunity to stay with local families, which is always my preference over staying in hotels.

I am not really into the beach-based resort holidays offered by the big TOs but have also used Havanatour - owned by the Cuban government and hence for me ideologically attractive - for a hotel-based tour of the island.

Depending on the type of holiday you want, my impression is that DIY is not necessarily cheaper than booking a package. If you want a beach-based AI fortnight in the sun then it would probably be hard to undercut the packages operated by the big TOs. The cost of the flight is a major part of the total cost and they are able to negotiate good prices for their block bookings in the hotels and these will undercut the rack rates that as a DIYer you would probably be charged as Cuba does not feature heavily with the various room consolidators.

Having been a number of times I could possibly now do a similar sort of holiday to what I like for less than Caledonia Languages charge if I went truly DIY but by booking through them I know and accept that what I'm paying the extra for is their specialist knowledge and expertise as well as ATOL protection and on balance I think it's worth it. For the first time ever I was quite ill on my last trip and was grateful for that added security. The holiday was not one of my better experiences (not that it has put me off returning to Cuba) but had I been there on my own without their back-up it would have been a whole lot worse!

Also, bearing in mind that this is the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina devestating New Orleans, I would think very carefully about booking a DIY to the Caribbean during the hurricane season. Cuba is one of the very best prepared countries in the whole Caribbean and Gulf of Mexica region when it comes to hurricane safety but if you have to be evacuated because of the imminent landfall of a hurricane then I would think that you need to be able to count on the added security of having the services of a decent TO behind you.

SM

We always book with First Choice - we've been to Dominican, Cancun (twice), Egypt (three times) with them and we have never had so much as one problem. We booked with Thomas Cook last year to go to Jamaica and it was actually one of the worst holidays of my life so I'd never book with them again.

Obviously that was through our own personal experience so I wouldnt force my opinion on you. My brother in law books with Thomas Cook every year and he prefers them as has had no problems but for us First Choice or Thomsons have the edge. They might be slighly more expensive but its' a much better service. From the flight entertaiment to the staff and hotels, in our opinion they are a cut above Thomas Cook.

In this current climate where it seems that holiday firms are going bust left right and centre, i'd think very carefully about booking "DIY" with a company i've never really heard of. At least with Thomsons/FC and Thomas Cook they are slightly more reputable.

Good luck holiday hunting

Agree, most of my last eight caribbean holidays have been booked with thomson... usually no probs, but be aware that they will often have to book your airline seats with a "third party" airline such as BA (for places like the Bahamas) or Virgin Atlantic (for some of the other islands) - in these cases I have sometimes had a struggle pre-booking specified seats in the premium cabin... the third party operators are often reluctant to issue locator numbers to "cuckoo" passengers until they have taken care of their own, so to speak... in these cases my regular TA (she knows me of old, but it's what we pay her for!!) knows that I'll pay the whole of the airfare up-front and the booking isn't agreed by me until I have that locater number and GUARANTEED seats where I want them!!

ATB,J.

I always book with the big three ... Thomas Cook, First Choice and Thomson ... I don't trust any other nowadays ...

We do DIY a lot but for our 2 Caribbean trips we've used Thomson and First Choice

It depends what sort of holiday you are doing and to which destination. I'm not usually a beach person, my holidays are almost always touring ones and in most cases I would book with a more specialist company. My one holiday to Cuba I used Travelsphere and on one of my Mexican holidays I used Kuoni. They often use scheduled airlines such as BA, Virgin etc. I think on some destinations it would be difficult to book DIY though, I have been to Mexico a few times but those have been mainly a combination of USA and Mexico and always booked DIY.
Thomas Cook and Thomson airlines as such are not available to me as I live abroad, but they both now belong to German companies and have their own airlines in Germany which I have no problem in using.

Our last two Caribbean holidays were booked through the Caribbean Warehouse, both came in well under the main TO prices.
The holiday to Cuba was actually a TC package and we were treated exactly the same as those who booked direct with TC.
Our Mexico holiday was a Caribbean Warehouse package and as I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum, people at the hotel with us had paid a lot more for the "same" holiday, including "upgrade" fees with a main TO. Our travel times were better, our plane meals were allocated by name, we had a private minibus transfer direct to and from the hotel and our hotel accommodation and facilities were exactly the same. Our rep was also a local and came with us whenever he could!

We have also travelled with FC to Cuba and the Dom Rep, excellent hotels and holidays, but I would, by choice, use the CW as the first stop for my next Caribbean holiday.

Always DIY it whenever you can. This can be tricky when travelling to "niche" locations such as anywhere that offers a sight of the Northern Lights but it can work out cheaper and is always more reliable than relying on smaller travel companies at this time

is always more reliable than relying on smaller travel companies at this time

DIY isn't always more reliable - if you haven't got the right insurance cover in place you can end up in deep trouble as many found to their cost when eg Excel went down. A good many people were then stuck with accommodation they still had to pay for but no way of actually getting there to use it. In such circumstances, even a small TA or TO is required to have suitable bonding in place to ensure that you get home etc if you booked a package with them.

DIY is usually cheaper, but even this isn't a certainty in Cuba, but more importantly it's not always more reliable. For Cuba, I don't think it's advisable for anybody who hasn't been to Cuba before and got a handle on the Cuban way of doing things to try do a DIY and even more so if they don't have a good grasp of colloquial latin American Spanish for the event that things do go wrong.

SM

I agree with SMa

I often do DIY but Cuba was one place that I didn't even consider it and am I glad I booked with a tour company as it would have been a bit of a hassle or nigh on impossible to do the trip independently.. The same goes for a holiday I took last month to Oman I wasn't sure how easy independent travel would be and I saw a packaged tour that covered my needs , cost probably more than DIY would have but I had the back up of the company if anything went wrong in a country new to tourism. When I did a DIY trip to Laos and got stuck in Bangkok because of protestors closing the airport I wished I had been with a tour company as their customers hotels were being paid for whilst I was paying out large sums for extra nights in hotels/food etc.
I was in Portugal around the time of the flight cancellations because of Volcanic Ash but I wasn't at all worried as I was on a package and I knew I would be taken care of.

I'm certainly not knocking DIY as many of my holidays are independent but the cheapest price is not always the best.

Judith

Virgin for us, often cheaper than the rest. Couldn't fault them.