For those of you who are WITNESSES IN THE WEDDING, who are Wade, Amy, Jolene and Alyssa, YOU WILL NEED TO ARRIVE TO THE RESORT 4 WHOLE BUSINESS DAYS PRIOR TO THE WEDDING (Saturdays, Sundays and Mexican holidays do NOT count). This means you guys will need to arrive on Monday, March 25th (anytime).
For the rest of you, you can come down and leave when you please! You are more than welcome to make this trip a family vacation, couple getaway, whatever you desire. EVERYONE IS INVITED! Bring your children, extended family, WE WILL NOT MIND! We want everyone to have the most wonderful, stress-free experience!
THE BOOKING: And here is the NOT-so-FUN part, THE BOOKING PROCESS. It can get a little crazy and intense and I have DONE SOOO MUCH RESEARCH ON THIS, BELIEVE ME!
Just to give you an idea, if there are 2 adults willing to travel to Tulum and stay for SEVEN nights (this includes flight, hotel reservation and all inclusive commodities), the prices have been ranging from $3400-$4000 (total for TWO PEOPLE; Expedia.com quote) thus far. THESE PRICES VARY FROM DAY TO DAY, TO MINUTE TO MINUTE. IT IS CRAZY what a difference 5 minutes can make.
I do have a travel agent for those of you who are interested in booking with her. Her contact information is as follows:
Marcia Hensley
First Class Travel
435 Main Street
Grand Junction, CO 81501
970-241-0070 (Office)
970-245-9889 (Fax)
marcia1stclass@aol.com
You are more than welcome to utulize my travel agent, but I strongly recommend using Expedia.com (as this is the cheapest route thus far) to book hotel/airfare all together and YOU CAN MAKE PAYMENTS in increments for your trip, without any interest fees on Expedia.com (if you book now, the final payment will be due in February-ish). The reason why I recommend Expedia, is because when Marcia quoted me our price through Apple vacations, it was about $800 more than Expedia. As far as “group rates” go, her offer was not worth it. In order to “block out” a certain number of rooms, 20 rooms have to be booked, and even then a VERY MASSIVE DEPOSIT HAS TO BE MADE. If everyone books through Marcia, she offers a $20-40 saving per family/couple/individual (that is $20-40 TOTAL SAVINGS FOR THE WHOLE TRIP). I think when compared to Expedia.com savings, EXPEDIA IS MUCH MORE WORTH IT. Problem with Expedia is you have to book SOON and prices vary constantly! You also have the option of booking with the hotel website and other websites such as Priceline, Travelocity, etc.
BRIDE AND GROOM WILL BE THERE MARCH 25th through April 6th
WHEN BOOKING THE TRIP: PLEASE choose where you want to leave from (for Colorado folks, Denver and Grand Junction are actually very close in price, maybe a $200-$400 difference). The only difference with GJ and Denver is that if leaving from GJ, there is always going to be a connecting flight. There is that same possibility when leaving from Denver, but they do have one straight flight available. Just keep in mind, if you want to leave from Denver, the hassle of gas prices, parking fees, extra travel time, etc.
THE FLIGHTS AND WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE: From the searches I have done (and I have chosen Grand Junction as my departure city), the flight time ranges from 6-15 hours, maybe more in some instances. Connecting flights most of the times have included Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas and others. Be careful to look at the connecting flights and the time you have in between flights (this is vital because your luggage does not always make it to the next plane within a certain time frame and you do not want to wait on your luggage for hours; I have personally had this happen before).
For BOOKING WITH EXPEDIA.COM: go to www.expedia.com and CREAT AN ACCOUNT IF YOU DO NOT ALREADY HAVE ONE (CONTACT ME IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO THIS) and then CLICK ON THE FLIGHT&HOTEL OPTION
1) Please choose your DEPARTURE CITY.
2) Then pick your departing date. DO NOT pick the times; the prices are usually more RELEVANT than the times.
WHEN PICKING YOUR DEPARTURE DATE: Please note that TUESDAYS, WEDNESDAY AND MONDAYS are NORMALLY CHEAPEST DAYS TO FLY (sometimes Saturdays); this varies from airline to airline, from month to month
3) Then pick your DESTINATION CITY: (which is)
Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico (CUN-Cancun Intl.)
PLEASE MAKE SURE IT SAYS CUN-INT’L, otherwise Dreams TULUM Resort WILL NOT SHOW UP AS AN OPTION FOR YOU
4) Then pick your RETURNING DATE. Please see step #2 for details as this step applies to both departure and return.
5) Then pick the number of desired rooms, number of adults/children/infants travelling (If you have children, you will have to specify what age they WILL BE AT TIME OF TRAVEL; please note that children UNDER AGE OF TWO, have the option of sitting in your lap during the flight and therefore do not need to pay a flight fee)
6) Then click on SEARCH FOR FLIGHT & HOTEL, wait a few minutes
7) There will be many hotels that show up. A few of these hotels WILL SOUND or LOOK LIKE DREAMS TULUM as there are MANY MANY MANY DREAMS RESORTS. PLEASE PAY VERY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THIS PART. You may have to click on NEXT for several different pages (for me usually page #6 seems to be it) to find the right hotel. THE HOTEL YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS: DREAMS TULUM RESORT & SPA ALL INCLUSIVE with FOUR STARS RIGHT NEXT TO IT
8) Then click on CUSTOMIZE FLIGHT, wait a few moments
9) Then choose the flight that seems more feasible to you. You can click around and check to see each flight; each flight will have a $ sign next to it, letting you know if it will cost extra for that certain flight or not. You can review flight details (connecting flight and flight time information), seat details and baggage information. This page (before you click around) will also show you how long the flight is and how many connecting flights there are. You can also narrow your search on the left side, to 1-stop ONLY flights, specific airlines, etc. IF YOU HOVER (NOT CLICK) YOU MOUSE OVER THE 1-STOP or 2-STOP word, it will automatically tell you where the stops are
10) This step is also VITAL: When you do select your flight and click to book your trip, IT MAY SAY that prices HAVE CHANGED DUE TO AIRFARE and you trip price may SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGE (yes, it went up $2500 on me within TWO SECONDS). This is the tricky, not so great part. What I ended up doing was going back to select another trip/flight and ended up getting a DECENT price. AGAIN, it is good to have an account already set up by this part of the transaction so that YOU DO NOT LOSE THAT GOOD PRICE YOU FIND.
11) And FINALLY, I am sure you are wondering “What happens if there are no more rooms left to book?” My answer to that is: WE HAVE TO BOOK FAST, WE HAVE TO BOOK NOW. I may be able to call the hotel and talk them into helping us find room or resorts close by to use if it comes to that. Your other questions or concern may be: “This Expedia.com is a bunch of crap and the prices they offer are not secured very well.” This may be so, but airfare changes from second to second as I mentioned previously. So if you would like to pay a bit more and just make a down payment to secure that certain price, please use Marcia, the travel agent.
12) FOR EVERYONE TO READ: ALSO PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: The prices on Expedia do NOT include travel from the airport to the resort and back. I know that Expedia does include taxes and service fees. THE TRAVEL FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE RESORT I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING INTO. THE DRIVE FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE HOTEL IS A LITTLE LENGTHY, about 1 ½-2hours, but is COMPLETELY 100% worth it, as Tulum is more secluded, away from most spring breakers and has WAY prettier beaches. I am understanding that the hotel will probably offer a hotel van for us to use. I will keep you all posted on this.
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