ladies... paisei, went MJ last night so cant post. HAHA!!
saw DS at the CTC fair and i was chatting with her on whatsapp abt the tour... here is wat i wanna share after chatting with the CTC tour consultants and from SA/SingExpress consultants.
1) if poss, try to book your tour as early as poss. best to book b4 NATAS as it doesnt guarantee you good deals...
usually, they need 15 adults to cmf dept. so b4 they got the 15 paxs, they will throw in alot of discounts in order to accumulate the no of paxs. once the 15paxs are hit, they will reduce the discount. for my case, im looking at oct, which is 2mths from now. and the dept dates are cmf, so whether i'm in anot, they are still flying... thus the discount b4 15paxs was $400 (in the morning), and when i wanna signed up, it was reduced to $200 =( should have went in the morning! SIGH... and the lady told me, NATAS discount might be lower since it's cmf dept. the most they give u freebies like suitcases etc - that is IF you are using the appointed credit cards.
however if i fly on non-cmf dept, more discounts cos they still need to 凑人数. LOL... but i cant go on later date cos hubby has in-take next yr and he scared he will be too bz to travel.
we oso scared the later we drag, the more the commitment, the more we wont go. ZZZ
in short, those travel fairs b4 NATAS have better deals esp if it's not cmf dept! cos by NATAS, the no of paxs might be hit le... rem to to ask for more discounts... even $50/pax oso shiok. HAHA!! **auntie** <u>suggest you all go NATAS as early as poss b4 the better deals are taken up!</u> cos somehow i still feel that they will have discounts de. hopefully the tour consultant din lie to me by saying NATAS has no further discounts for that travel date i'm flying lor. -_-|| anyway i will still go cos travel insurance at NATAS is up to 40% discounts. HAHA!!
but the risk of non-cmf dept is if they cant get 15 paxs in time, they will cancel the trip or probably replace you with another tour. that was wat happened to my frd, she went on a non-peak season, her tour was changed to CHINA! she doesnt want to and got back the full refund. then again, veri sian lah....
Oh ya, SingExpress and SA are slightly a few hundreds cheaper than CTC cos their is non-cmf dept. BUT we have the CTC discounts, so after calculating, can still save more with CTC.
2) dun go on mid nov to late jan
other than veri cold, day is also shorter than night. oso daylight is darker so u cant take veri nice photos. shops closed early and not fogetting that xmas and new yr are a big holidays in europe. so most shops are closed. the only place that is open is Paris Disneyland - it will be crowded with ppl. and no pt going cos they speak in french, we will catch no ball. then again, going on these period, is amazingly - cheaper BUT more ppl cos of sch holidays.
best time to go in sept and oct cos weather is cooling and day light is still strong. i think feb onwards should be good too
3) $$$ to bring
let say you are going for 12/13/14D Italy-Swiz-France packaged tour, you need to prepare ard EUR1K per pax for food, small gifts and some own expenses (like cruise, gondola etc)... and for Swiz, bring ard Swiss Franc 400 per pax. not forgetting your CC if you feel unsafe to carry so much $ ard and most imptly for buying extravagant items lah.
4) air tickets gng up
according to the SingExpress guy, SQ is increasing their air tickets to 20% more on mon, ie tomorrow! i dunno how true lah. but then again, air tickets are always going up yet ppl are still travelling... juz like cigarette and Chanel, ppl are still smoking and carrying a 2.55. LOL!!
5) shortage of flight
supply of flight is limited...
oops, sorry for being long-winded... that is all i can rem for now... we have booked with CTC for 13D italy-swiz-france and leaving on 16 oct. hopefully hubby can make it, if not we have to go on mid nov, where day is shorter
per pax is ard $4400, but after our discount voucher, we are paying ard $3800 per pax... it's direct flight by SQ so less tiring since no transit is needed. a bit heart pain but feel happy oso cos we are leaving in 2mths time. Keke!! and since it's so exp liao, we decided not to extend F&E. wanna use the money to shop instd. and maybe go London the next time bah.. >$$$<
oh yes, SingExpress is the JP International that i'm saying they threw in free dubai tour. but they din have it when i went ytd. =( not sure if they will have it for NATAS though.. so juz go early b4 it's fully redeemed, ok?
good luck, ladies!
i think this will be our last tour b4 the house is here next yr... must watch over my spending liao!