Virgin Hols Vs Travel City Direct and Basic Car hire

[1andrea]

Hello all I'm in need of some advice please as I'm rather confused!

I'm basically looking for an Orlando holiday leaving 13th Feb 2015 and returning the 22nd Feb 2015 for 2 adults. Is a budget trip!!

We are happy with a hostel room this time but would like something nice clean and central but as we drive it doesn't have to be close to anything in particular.

I've seen goon reviews a while ago for Rosen inn at Pointe Orlando so I was considering there.

I need to fly from Manchester and indirect flights are coming out around £500 ish per person so I had a look on Virgin Holidays this morning.

A package holiday with direct flights staying at the Rosen inn at Pointe Orlando and basic car hire, with basic insurance is coming out at £ 1655 for two.

I then checked and Travel City Direct have the exact same direct flight holiday for £1581.

Virgin offer a price promise so despite being part of TCD do hey match their price??

Also they both include a car with basic insurance, the extra insurance is about £165 and I think I can hire my own car for cheaper that their insurance upgrade??

Has anyone just used the basic insurance or is it too basic??

If I leave the car off the holiday increases by a few £'s so I'd be tempted to not collect it!!

Any advice or accommodation suggestions would be appreciated!

We usually fly indirect for cheapness but these package prices are quite attractive!!

I thought Quidco done cashback on VH but I can't seem to find it!

 

[Nicnic]

Hi,

VH will not price match TCD as they are part of the same company.

The car hire, not sure on that one, I would always take the insurance out, not sure if you would get a cheaper car than that for the 9 days, worth having a look tho.
Again not sure if you book the car you can just not collect it, what would happen, plus if you book your own car with the same company as the tour op has used, might cause confusion so I would avoid that!!

Other than that, the price looks good.

 

[Kath2003]

Hello all I'm in need of some advice please as I'm rather confused!

I'm basically looking for an Orlando holiday leaving 13th Feb 2015 and returning the 22nd Feb 2015 for 2 adults. Is a budget trip!!

We are happy with a hostel room this time but would like something nice clean and central but as we drive it doesn't have to be close to anything in particular.

I've seen goon reviews a while ago for Rosen inn at Pointe Orlando so I was considering there.

I need to fly from Manchester and indirect flights are coming out around £500 ish per person so I had a look on Virgin Holidays this morning.

A package holiday with direct flights staying at the Rosen inn at Pointe Orlando and basic car hire, with basic insurance is coming out at £ 1655 for two.

I then checked and Travel City Direct have the exact same direct flight holiday for £1581.

Virgin offer a price promise so despite being part of TCD do hey match their price??

Also they both include a car with basic insurance, the extra insurance is about £165 and I think I can hire my own car for cheaper that their insurance upgrade??

Has anyone just used the basic insurance or is it too basic??

If I leave the car off the holiday increases by a few £'s so I'd be tempted to not collect it!!

Any advice or accommodation suggestions would be appreciated!

We usually fly indirect for cheapness but these package prices are quite attractive!!

I thought Quidco done cashback on VH but I can't seem to find it!

Rosen Inn is cheap and cheerful - don't pay more than £35/night for it, so that brings your accommodation costs for the week to £245.

Then flights £1000 - that's a £350 saving.

You could get a car but won't need one at that property. If you're going just for the week, I'd stick to Universal, Sea World etc. all of which can be done with a £10/person weekly bus pass which will get you to/from the airport too. The £300 saving would cover your park tickets...

Even with the car, you'll save £100-200. I'd DIY this one.

 

[wayneg]

Rosen Inn is cheap and cheerful - don't pay more than £35/night for it, so that brings your accommodation costs for the week to £245.

Then flights £1000 - that's a £350 saving.

You could get a car but won't need one at that property. If you're going just for the week, I'd stick to Universal, Sea World etc. all of which can be done with a £10/person weekly bus pass which will get you to/from the airport too. The £300 saving would cover your park tickets...

Even with the car, you'll save £100-200. I'd DIY this one.

Definitely.

With cashback its about £35/nt now on LowCostHolidays and that's before any offers start, its too far away yet.
Depends where you want to be but some good hotels £40 and under/nt, our next trip in July is costing about £40/nt for the Hilton Garden Inn LBV, could have got cheaper but thought it was worth a little mre for that hotel.

 

[1andrea]

Rosen Inn is cheap and cheerful - don't pay more than £35/night for it, so that brings your accommodation costs for the week to £245.

Then flights £1000 - that's a £350 saving.

You could get a car but won't need one at that property. If you're going just for the week, I'd stick to Universal, Sea World etc. all of which can be done with a £10/person weekly bus pass which will get you to/from the airport too. The £300 saving would cover your park tickets...

Even with the car, you'll save £100-200. I'd DIY this one.

Thank you!

We do have annual passes for oth WDW and Universal so this is a sneaky trip which we won't need any park passes for.

We do want to hire a car but booking with Virgin it looks like the basic car insurance may not be adequate. If the package included full car insurance I think I'd book.

We don't need to fly direct so it would be a luxury but not one worth paying too much extra for!!

 

[1andrea]

Definitely.

With cashback its about £35/nt now on LowCostHolidays and that's before any offers start, its too far away yet.
Depends where you want to be but some good hotels £40 and under/nt, our next trip in July is costing about £40/nt for the Hilton Garden Inn LBV, could have got cheaper but thought it was worth a little mre for that hotel.

Hello Wayne :0)

I don't mind where we stay location wise to be honest as we'll be hiring a car.

We usually visit all the usual tourist areas so one place is no better located than another for us!

Do you think we'd be better to wait.

I'm hoping flight prices will come down as I originally hoped to get flights, car hire and accommodation for 2 adults for £1200 but I'm not sure if I'm bring unrealistic as I've never been in February before!

Thanks xx

 

[Alibaba]

Hiya all.

I wondered if anyone could also comment on what would happen if you didn't pick up the car at all? Do you get charged or does this happen frequently, as with the original poster, we don't need a car but was cheaper to book fly drive.

Many thanks

 

[Kath2003]

Thank you!

We do have annual passes for oth WDW and Universal so this is a sneaky trip which we won't need any park passes for.

We do want to hire a car but booking with Virgin it looks like the basic car insurance may not be adequate. If the package included full car insurance I think I'd book.

We don't need to fly direct so it would be a luxury but not one worth paying too much extra for!!

If you're getting a car, consider other properties as the traffic around the Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando can be awful at times. There's another Rosen Inn closer to Universal which is next to the slip road for the I4 (the other Rosen Inn backs on to the I4, so all of the noise but none of the perks!) so you could be outta there quickly. From there, you could walk to Universal too if you wanted.

I've also seen the Four Points, which is near to Universal and the I4 slip road too, hovering around £40 recently. They've been trying to charge £70+ for it in recent years but seem to be more realistic now. I wouldn't pay more than £40 for it, but at that price it's a decent hotel.