Caribbean vacation deals during winter holidays....

[bigredlemon]

Planning on going to Cuba sometime around Christmas to new years for a week. Any good deals out? Is it usually better to book now or wait a few months and do it last minute?

I havent done this before so I'd love some insight!

[shoppingmama]

That's the most expensive time of the year to go with the deals in short supply. Westjetvacations seems to have the best deals right now as their taxes are $200 less than any other tour groups.

[bigredlemon]

That's the most expensive time of the year to go with the deals in short supply. Westjetvacations seems to have the best deals right now as their taxes are $200 less than any other tour groups.

It may be the most expensive time of the year... but if that's the only time we have might as well find the best price of the bunch.

Any idea whether it'll be better to order now, or to wait until last minute?

[asdfvcx]

Any idea whether it'll be better to order now, or to wait until last minute?
There's no way to tell. If they have a lot of empty seats the prices will go down. If they don't the prices will go up.

And they don't disclose how many empty seats they have. The best advice is if you find a price and resort that you are comfortable with, then take it.

[Pavel]

I wouldnt count on the planes and hotels to be empty. I'd book sooner than later.

[jandumm]

I like the tripcentral.com price grid to get an idea of dates and fares (e.g. leaving on Christmas day may save you a couple hundred dollars compared to boxing day).

If you have the luxury of time, if you depart the week of December 27th (thus returning after January 3rd when school starts), you'll get a way better deal than trying to enclose the vacation between Dec 19th and January 3rd because the kids are out of school those weeks. Try and leave December 29-30 for the best prices if you want to be on a beach for New Years.

We booked a trip to Puerto Plata leaving on Dec. 25th back in July for around $1500....the same dates now are $1750 with a crappier flight time. I'm going to keep checking the prices just to get an idea for the demand for next year.

[mikeycanuk]

The flights back from St Lucia to yyz for the Sunday/Monday (monday is the first day back to work/school) are sold out.

We go away leaving boxing day and this year got flights separately so we are going for 9 days. 7 days is really 5 and just too short!!! I also paid for the room portion over a week ago and took advantage of a high dollar.

The room was booked in May. The resort does have a holiday sale BUT all that's left are the lesser rooms.