How do you save money if you book everything yourselves?

[vampiress88]

So someone commented yesterday (not on here) that they think I spent too much for my package deal.

It was £3958.
This is virgin flights direct in June , with the v room.
Enclave suites studio room which is on I drive and includes hot breakfast.
Car hire-intermediate suv with the full Alamo insurance as it includes sat nav and two car seats.
For three weeks.

So I decided to see how much it would be if I booked all these separate and it was a lot more. Even looked at villas as that would have been another option.

So how does everyone go about doing it themselves as this was a package deal through virgin we got.
Is it that it’s not direct flights? Or a different car hire (I’ve only ever heard of Alamo)
I definitely don’t have an expensive hotel and I think we would do villa next time but the ones I looked at yesterday were expensive and no pool which I just wouldn’t get.

[PPM]

How many folks, from which airport , and how long please?

[disney332]

Prudence suggests you cost both methods before you commit. This would be true for the majority of Dibbers.

I have always found direct cheaper, as for hotel stays you pay per room, but packages often load the room cost onto each occupant which makes it more costly.

Disney332

[Chunky81]

And what time of year.

[JessBlu]

For me I price up both and pick the cheaper option often this is the package but sometimes DIY.

Cheaper DIY often means compromising for example non direct flights which we just won’t do.

If your package is cheaper than the DIY option then that’s great!

[NewtoOrlando]

Don’t book through virgin 😂😂.

No, in all honesty, In 3 trips I’ve never found it cheaper as a package, always done it DIY and come in a good 2k less than a package. Be flexible with dates, do odd days, so do 12/17/19 days (I know not everyone can do this) so fly in and out on different days, fly into Miami/Tampa instead of Orlando. Flights are where we make our biggest saving. Especially booking a BA fly drive, as all insurances are included so there are no extras on the car hire.

At the end of the day it’s your holiday so ignore what others comment. The comments I get from people on how much we spend on our holidays is hilarious, I just smile & wave 😄

Like another poster says if you can get a package cheaper then that’s brilliant, we’ve never found it cheaper and are happy to fly to other airports and do the drive, we would rather fly to Miami and drive up than fly indirect and get on 2 planes in one day, ones bad enough lol.

[Mole83]

Its what ever works best for you, I personally book through 1 company if i can for less hassle if anything goes wrong. Also you only have 1 bill to pay instead of paying off 3 or 4 different companies for different things.

[Mazascouser]

I use one company. I pay the price I am happy with. If any thing goes wrong then I have the tour operators reps to help me. Gives me peace of mind.

[vampiress88]

Flying 11th June from Manchester.three weeks. 2 adults. 2 kid (3&4)

[kellsbells]

It's not always true that packages are more expensive. I've done both and I would say that usually we can do it all cheaper DIY but not always. Usually I price up the hotel I want + tickets and then deduct that from the package price which would leave what you need to spend on flights to make it cheaper.

I have 2 trips booked next year, 1 for Sept which is DIY as the prices were ridiculous for packages. (I've still to buy flights for this one)

My May trip is a Virgin package and I couldn't get close to the price DIY (I would have had to find direct flights for less than £200 to match it!)so it can be done