Is a cheap Christmas Florida trip possible?

[Orlando_Dreamin]

Hello,
Long time lurker, first time poster!
I've been to Florida numerous times, just back a few days from our last trip and we definitely have the bug again!
(I'll try and not make this an essay but want to give all the facts)

- OH has set times off from work, he'll next be off Sat Dec 21st - Jan 5th inclusive, so we would be restricted to these dates - we'd really like to go for 14 nights, but would drop to 10 if there was a deal.

- We are not going to be doing any theme parks

- We are based in Glasgow and would ideally fly from there, but I realise Manchester is more likely, and that's fine.

- We last stayed at the Clarion LBV and would love to stay there again!

- We are looking to hire a car

- it's just us 2 adults

We got really lucky with our June trip and managed to snag flights and accomodation for £600pp - do I have a snowball's chance for finding something like this for over Christmas? We're willing to book last minute?

I realise this is a bit of a "how long is a piece of string" question and I've tried to search the forums for info! I've just never looked at these dates before at all as this is the first time we've ever been restricted and been looking at going over school holidays/Christmas

Any advice would be much appreciated - don't want to get my hopes up for nothing!

[Orlando_Dreamin]

Okay,
So OH has just come in and announced he may be able to wiggle dates a couple of days outside that - does anyone know if this is likely to help any?

Also, is car hire best left until last minute or done now (even though we don't know dates for 100%)?

Would really appreciate some advice!

[Mel49]

To be honest, I think it would be highly unlikely to get a deal at that price for December or most school holidays. There are regularly deals for May, June and beginning of July and while there might be some reductions for December at the moment from Manchester with Thomas Cook for Clarion at LBV it's £1600 per person for your dates so even if discounted would still be dearer than you are looking for.

Maybe keep an eye out for BA sales (August may be next one) to price up a fly drive via Gatwick but even then likely to be dearer based on current prices. I would wait to book car hire unless you can get one with free cancellation.

You could be lucky and bag a good deal but I wouldn't get your hopes up at this stage unless you can up your budget

[Orlando_Dreamin]

Originally Posted by Mel49

To be honest, I think it would be highly unlikely to get a deal at that price for December or most school holidays. There are regularly deals for May, June and beginning of July and while there might be some reductions for December at the moment from Manchester with Thomas Cook for Clarion at LBV it's £1600 per person for your dates so even if discounted would still be dearer than you are looking for.

Maybe keep an eye out for BA sales (August may be next one) to price up a fly drive via Gatwick but even then likely to be dearer based on current prices. I would wait to book car hire unless you can get one with free cancellation.

You could be lucky and bag a good deal but I wouldn't get your hopes up at this stage unless you can up your budget

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Thanks for taking the time to reply, this was my initial thought - but then I think seeing good deals for July (also school hols) made me wonder and get my hopes up!

I guess we'll keep saving and looking - not much else we can do as we can't tweak the dates!

[Mel49]

Originally Posted by Orlando_Dreamin

Thanks for taking the time to reply, this was my initial thought - but then I think seeing good deals for July (also school hols) made me wonder and get my hopes up!

I guess we'll keep saving and looking - not much else we can do as we can't tweak the dates!

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The July deals tend to be at the start as only the Scottish kids have broken up as I know I could have gone in July for cheaper than in October but decided against it due to the heat and the fact the American holidays are in full swing. Brexit worries and the rubbish exchange rate may be having an impact too and I think if you can't tweak the dates just keep your eye's open in the few months before and hopefully you may be lucky.

[Orlando_Dreamin]

Originally Posted by Mel49

The July deals tend to be at the start as only the Scottish kids have broken up as I know I could have gone in July for cheaper than in October but decided against it due to the heat and the fact the American holidays are in full swing. Brexit worries and the rubbish exchange rate may be having an impact too and I think if you can't tweak the dates just keep your eye's open in the few months before and hopefully you may be lucky.

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Ah, of course, sorry I'm in Scotland so I forget that the holidays haven't really kicked off down in England yet!
Ah well, like you say, we may get lucky - fingers crossed!

[corrinda]

We just come back Monday from clarion inn we got bargain for Xmas but only eight days going 23 and back 31 for 565 each direct with norweign but we do have to go from Gatwick but are getting train and staying over night before and we staying at Windsor hills in townhouse with pool so for us was defo a bargain since I had been looking for ages this is with lastmin.com .

[Orlando_Dreamin]

Originally Posted by corrinda

We just come back Monday from clarion inn we got bargain for Xmas but only eight days going 23 and back 31 for 565 each direct with norweign but we do have to go from Gatwick but are getting train and staying over night before and we staying at Windsor hills in townhouse with pool so for us was defo a bargain since I had been looking for ages this is with lastmin.com .

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We just got home Sunday from the Clarion! Probably saw each other there - such a small world!
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your deal - it's encouraging to know that there are options out there if we can be a little flexible! Will definitely keep hunting!

[bearandbuzz]

We are going this Christmas, but staying onsite. Thought I’d pitch in about the car, I’ve been tracking the hire prices for a while and then the other week I managed to get a small car for 7 days for £40 plus some of my Virgin miles. Thought I’d mention this as I wasn’t aware at first that I could use the miles for purchasing car hire.

[Rescuer]

I think you’d need to be flexible!

We went 24/12 to 4/1. I didn’t book till the end of August and had a real struggle finding suitable flights from Edinburgh. We ended up booking with virgin via Manchester, the flights were good but not cheap.

We normally go via Gatwick with BA and they were crazy money!

There were other indirect options but weather concerned me with some of the options.

We go in July and you often see the prices go up and down but for Christmas for the flights we were looking at there did not seem to be as much fluctuation and certainly not much down the way.