Belize trip help

[scuba_moron]

Hello,

I'm planning a trip to Belize next month. Am I better off with a package deal (airfair, hotel, & dive charter) or should I find my accomodation and dive operator?

Thank you in advance for any suggestion.

 

[mohave_steve]

I have allways had the best luck assembling my own trips. I most allways been able to get the lowest price for a given trip by shopping air, hotel & diving seperately.

Try Cheap Flights, Airline Tickets, Cheap Airfare & Discount Travel Deals - Kayak.com for airfare. Sign up and select "flexible dates" and you can find some real bargains.

Also, Reviews of vacations, hotels, resorts, vacation and travel packages - TripAdvisor for finding the best value for accomodations. They list properties in order of ratings given by fellow travelers. I start at the top of the list and move down until I find one that fits my budget.

If you are headed to AC and you like "homey" accomodations I strongly recommend Corona del Mar. Nice, comfortable place with a wonderful staff.

Lastly, I highly recommend taking a guide along and I am most happy to volunteer

Have a great time!!!!

 

[ancientdiver]

What do you want to do? If it's only diving, then go to the far offshore place and stay there. If you want to party, go to Ambegis Key. If you want an off the beaten path island, ultra laid back, go to Cay Caulker. I typically just go solo, and book my own stuff. I book one night in advance so I'll have a place to stay, and then look around the next day and switch rooms after I find a better deal or a nicer place or a more convenient location. Packages take out all the worry, but they also take out all the adventure. Travel is off by 40%, so there are lots of vacant rooms and empty dive boats. You'll never go back to a package deal after you make the leap of faith to go it alone. Read about the place before you go, Lonely Planet travel guides and the like, and then just go.
Will in Sarasota

 

[Damselfish]

If you're looking at mainstream air-inclusive packages marketed to the general public rather than divers, you'll probably miss out on some of the places that serious divers tend to choose more often.

Decide where you want to stay and who you want to dive with, at least narrow it down to a couple choices. And if you find some package that gets you air and hotel for a good deal, why not. Otherwise, it's so easy to book these yourself, especially in the Caribbean. Some hotels will have packages with a dive op, and dive ops will often have packages with several hotels that may work for you. But they don't have pre-made packages with air because their customers could be coming from anywhere. You will find some hotels or even dive ops will do airfare for you if they have someone on staff to do that, or they use booking agents that are basically travel agents that will do it you want. But usually it's just easier to book airfare on the web and get exactly what you want instead of going back and forth with some agent.

If you really don't want to do it yourself, there are a number of dive specific travel agencies out there that will take care of all the pieces and make better recommendations than a regular travel agency that is selling mass-market packages or hotels. There's threads on this board where people discuss the ones they've liked best. While you can certainly use these agencies for a trip to Belize, you probably won't get better deals or learn about someplace you couldn't find on your own. When they really start to come in handy is if you're doing a trip to the Pacific where itineraries are more complicated and its often harder to get all the right information, and they do seem to be able get better airfares sometimes.