Oh Lyn, what a nuisance! Would it make much difference weather wise if you went at the beginning of August? The week before should have been a bit cheaper if it is before the schools break up - hope you are getting that back!

Lesley x

No it was the same price at the time Lesley . I remember uming and aring about what week to do before I booked . I think the price did go up in August though .

Before I booked I checked all the weather history for previous years and the rainfall has gone up by quite a lot once you get to middle of August .

I want to try and gather as much info as I can before I ring . TBH I would prefer that earlier week if it wasnt for the 4 days out of school . I know they wont be doing much and I should think Harry would of already finished after his AS exams but a friend told me they go back in to start A level work .
They have always been really good if we have had to do it in the past but judging by the letters this year things are on the shift .



lyn

Just spoke to them and they Can give me the 3rd august at the same price . Just the rainfall I'm concerned about .

The clouds don't look on the calendar and decide not spit out some rain drops because it is July and will because it is one week later.

What I am trying to say is that a week isn't going to make a big difference - if at all.

Mark

Thanks mark I'm stressing here . Dont really want to take the boys out of school so Im swaying towards 3rd august . You do know I will be holding you responsible if I am rained on for 2 weeks .

Rght OK so not much difference between 20th july or 3rd August .

lyn

It is the hurricane season

Now dont you start Nick

Right all changed to 3rd August and got the guy in operations to throw in "your seat your choice" for the inconvenice . Too right

Glad you are all sorted.

We have just had a phone call from Thomas Cook, to the same affect for 19/04/10. My wife is devistated.We booked this back in August. It took ages for my wife and myself to get the same time off together, because of work commitments and I work shifts.
I was told that if we wanted to go a week earlier, then we would have to pay the £350 difference.Or we can go in middle of May, when our son is doing his exams, the very reason we didn't go at that time of year in the first place.
Is this just a T/C thing or are other holiday companies doing this aswell ? Thomson are still advertising for those dates, but T/C have taken Guardalavaca off their website for some dates.
Wanted to go in and give them a piece of my mind tonight, but couldn't get to the shop in time. Going to go in to Thomson tomorrow to check out their plans and just trying to get as much stuff togther before I go in to T/C.
Last year they cancelled our flight from out local airport, Bournemouth, when we were going with our boys to Turkey and we ended up having to go from Gatwick. We will never go with this shower again. Sorry about the rant.

Our booking is with Direct holidays (part of TC) gobby and is a TC flight .

Is the 19th the date you booked for or is that the date you have been changed to . Looks like flights are now every 2 weeks . I'm guessing the week before that would still come under school holiday dates and so would be a lot more . Surely if you have booked a date within the school holiday period that is what they should honour you .

To be fair to Direct holidays they have been very good with me . They originally put me back from 27th to the 20th july which is actually a more expensive date . I changed it to 3rd august again at the same price although it was a cheaper week for them but since my last post I have found out our school has changed the holidays dates and we can in fact go on the 20th . I rang Direct holidays to apologise for being a complete messer and could I change it back again and she was very good and said no problem . All still the same price and my your seat your choice included Free.

Really hope you get this sorted to your satisfaction Gobby . Dont give up.

Have you checked first choice . My guess is they will be more expensive but they were the only other T/O to have the hotel I am booked with and had flights to holguin Mondays . These would be thomson flights . If it was pretty close you could try to get them to price match and take the refund from TC.

We were due to go on the 19th April. We have been offered a week before if we pay the extra £350 which I think is a damn cheek. To be honest, we are now nervous booking with T/C. If the holiday is available via Thomson, which it appears to be, for the same dates, we are thinking of taking the holiday with them.

I think thats a damn cheek too . It's bad enough having your date changed by a week but expecting you to pay for the privilage is not on . So that's it and if I'm reading this right , either cough up £350 or go in May at the same price .

I'm assuming this is coming via a thomas cook shop . Ours came via a letter so it would be interesting to see the correspondance that the shop received from TC themselves.

This came via a phone call from a Thomas Cook shop. Now I have more info, thanks to your good self and others on this web site, I will be pushy tomorrow , when I go in. I will try and get the week before but at the same price. Don't hold out much hope, but don't ask , don't get.

Good luck gobby .Do let us know how you get on .

I was told by direct when I phoned that they have a system of calculating whether or not they can honour you the same price for an alternative date of your choice as opposed to the one they are offering . She actually told me how they work it out , wish I could remember but I believe it had to come within a percentage of the difference . Mine was OK as all dates were within that summer school holiday period (just). by the sound of it yours was outside of Easter school dates originally but by putting it back a week you will be within them and obviously pushing it into a much higher price bracket . Not your fault though , is it .
Only reason I can think of that would go against yours is if the TC shop has already given you a price match or better deal and they no longer have a huge enough profit left to play with . I wonder if these shops work as a franchaise operation.

I have just checked the number I was given to call which is the operations team on 01274 384658 . The answer phone now on says "welcome to Thomas cook " so although they will most probably refer you back to the shop it could be worth a shot .

Well, have been in to thomson first and checked on their availablity of exactly the same holiday. They said they couldn't do that week we were after ,19/04/10,, but the week after was only £50 dearer total. We then went off to t/c and we were told that the holiday wasn't cancelled, only the flight !!! So, the next question was, how the planned on getting us there ?????
After lots of bull, like thomson being £500 dearer than they were, they rang operations and explained the situation. They refused to budge on price, even , and after the manager spoke to them and explained we were going for our wedding anniversary. Needless to say my wife blew her top and asked for an instant refund. We then went straight down to thomson and booked the holiday. Never, never again will we book with t/c. They just didn't care.
Thomson could not do enough for us, , and i had not told them about t/c.
Thomson, thank you . Thomas cook .

Hi LynWestie,
We went to the Playa Coste Verde this July/August and I think it rained everyday. The good thing about it was that most of it was overnight or early morning so by the tine we got up for breakfast everything was drying out. Until I realised I thought they had been sprinkling the grass first thing!

Same thing happened with our last holiday there a few years back. When I checked on a weather site what the weather had been like I spotted that it had been down as rain and cloudy everyday, Obviously slept right through that one.

The last holiday we tanned but this year we did get burned as did many others, so remember the high factor sun cream all day. I was even in shade all day when I burned.

Thanks Steve . I'm sure we will be fine . I'm probably panicing unnecessarily because my experience of long haul is Zero . No going back now

I'm sorry to hear you didnt get anywhere with TC gobby and I would of done exactly the same in that situation . Good for you .

lyn

h lyn - we went to the sol rio luna mares on the 25/5 for 2 weeks this year and it was brilliant, would definately go back. we had a huge downpour late afternoon on the first day and a terrific tropical downpour with hailstones a few days later. both times even though the rainfall was heavy it dried up really quickly and was still really hot. my sister has been to cuba about 7 times (twice to this hotel) at different times of the year, and has always had rain on a few days. so i dont think its worth worrying about - you'll have a great time.