Try Caribbean Warehouse, not heard from them for a while but always used to have really good prices.

My initial thoughts were that it is an awful lot of money. Also would expect higher than 3 star for that price.
For an example we spent £3600 flying WT+ and with 17 nights accommodation AI in an executive room of a 4 star hotel last summer. ( booked flights and accommodation separately) Also this was cost flying from Scotland.
Try Travelbag. I haven't used them for Mexico but have found them good.

Fiona, a small accompanied tour is always going to cost more than a DIY staying in the one place and a lot will also probably depend on the rating of the hotel and the board arrangements for the 2nd week,

Brian, if you went in and asked them to give you a price for a specific Kuoni tour then I can't see that a travel agency is ever going to give you much of a discount on selling you an accompanied tour like this from a specialist TO. The best you could hope for is that they will give you a cut of their commission from Kuoni in the form of a reduction in price. You might also be able to do it cheaper if you can persuade Kuoni to book you on to the week long tour and for your flights but for the return journey to be booked for week after the tour ends and you then book the hotel for 2nd week yourselves direct. The big question is whether Kuoni is willing to do that.

Given that if you book direct with Kuoni then they won't be paying any commission to a TA you might be better off just trying to negotiate a discount direct with Kuoni.

SM

Thanks all.
Hotel is a 5* and with P/E flights then the Kuoni price is around what we expected. It was just that I always like to see if there is an "alternative option" when spending unto £7k (probably just over with Gatwick overnight stay and rail fares) so saving a few £s rather appeals. Just want to be sure that a cheaper option hasn't been missed. We will book it as a complete package of tour/beach, splitting is just too much hassle and fraught with possible disasters. We want a good tour and a total relax week to follow, no stress !!!!
I have fired off a few emails so will wait to see what develops.
Cheers
Brian.

It won't always cost more - it depends where you look. For instance the Golden Triangle tour I did couldn't be much smaller- just 2 of us and it cost hundreds of pounds rather than the thousands the major tour operators wanted for exactly the same. But it depends what you are happier to do. I would look to getting the flights over and researching more local tour operators.

Travelsphere may be worth trying as well.
Hola tours were one I notice a lot in Mexico. Might be worth researching that.

Found what we wanted with Travel Designers and booked. Very Happy.
Thanks all.

Brian.

Glad you have found something to suit your needs. I did a similar tour of Mexico some years ago with Kuoni, which was excellent. Hope you enjoy your tour as much as I did.. Mexico has so much more to offer than just beaches and you probably have chosen the right balance of sun and sand and culture.

I'm envious of you going to Belize and Guatemala, Guatemala was going through so much turmoil at the time of my tour and was deemed unsafe to visit but I would have loved to have explored Tikal.

Judith