Well... Soooo much has happened since I last updated my Pre-trippy blog.
Unfortunately Paul and I had to postpone this years holiday as we were having a few financial difficulties. We've had problems with our car, our boiler's broken and I got a huge tax bill. We realised that we just couldn't afford to pay the holiday off by this September.
Begrudgingly we postponed until next May. Emerald Island wasn't showing up on Virgin's system so we had to provisionally book Highlands Reserve and were told we could change it when the new brochure came out at the end of April if Emerald Island was in it. We did this in the Virgin shop inside Tesco in Northampton. The rep told us it would be a new booking. We would have to pay an admin fee of £178 and we would then have to pay the deposit again which came to £850!! We were told this would come off of the final balance. Then once this deposit is paid, the money that we have already paid off the first booking would be transferred over to the new one (it's all very confusing!). We are now paying slightly more as Oliver will be classed as a teenager and Amelia will be going as a child and not an infant as she's 2 the month before we travel. At least she'll get her own seat though and won't be on our laps for 9 hours!
So we did this and was given until 30th May to pay the deposit off. We were a little concerned about the villa at Highlands reserve as the rep said that she could not guarantee we would have a spa, etc. and hubby really has his heart set on one. He has visions of sitting in one at the end of a long day at the parks with a cold bottle of Bud!
When we got home we started looking at Dibb villas and fell in love with one in Lindfields. It was everything we were looking for and a fraction of the cost of what Virgin were charging. We would also have the peace of mind that we would have a lovley villa with a pool and spa, BBQ, games room; everything we wanted. I contacted the owner and luckily our dates were available. We booked it for our 2 weeks and called Virgin and cancelled the accomodation on out booking. This meant that we had to have yet another booking reference number and were told that until the 2nd deposit had been paid, we would have 3 live bookings!
We are now just under a week until 30th May and were really struggling to pay the £850. We have called Virgin in Northampton several times and kept getting fobbed off being told so-and-so was out of the office but will call us back (but never did). In the end Paul put a message on Virgin Holiday's Facebook page asking if we would lose our money if it wasn't paid on time and somone PM'd him straight back asking for our details. 10 minutes later we had a call from Virgin customer services who were SO helpful and apologetic for Northampton messing us about . Within a matter of minutes they had cancelled the previous 2 bookings, transferred all of our payments over to the new booking and told us we don't have to pay the deposit again. She said it's complicated procedure, but customers don't have to pay the deposit again when amending bookings. She said she was going to phone the Northampton branch and explain it to them as they're obviously trying to push their luck with their customers. We have lost all confidence with them and will phone customer services/facebook if we have any other queries again. Hopefully we won't have to change again though!!!
SO.... To sum up, we are now staying in a 3 bedroom villa on 19th May 2012 for 14 nights. Flying with Virgin, flight VS027 from LGW. We still have the free V Room passes and Magic Me tickets for our whole party and 8 seater car with platinum insurance. We are also looking to go to Discovery Cove, just me and hubby and leave the kids with my parents for the day. I'm really looking forward to that.
So now our party will consist of the following people with their ages at time of travel;
Me - 31
Unfortunately Paul and I had to postpone this years holiday as we were having a few financial difficulties. We've had problems with our car, our boiler's broken and I got a huge tax bill. We realised that we just couldn't afford to pay the holiday off by this September.
Begrudgingly we postponed until next May. Emerald Island wasn't showing up on Virgin's system so we had to provisionally book Highlands Reserve and were told we could change it when the new brochure came out at the end of April if Emerald Island was in it. We did this in the Virgin shop inside Tesco in Northampton. The rep told us it would be a new booking. We would have to pay an admin fee of £178 and we would then have to pay the deposit again which came to £850!! We were told this would come off of the final balance. Then once this deposit is paid, the money that we have already paid off the first booking would be transferred over to the new one (it's all very confusing!). We are now paying slightly more as Oliver will be classed as a teenager and Amelia will be going as a child and not an infant as she's 2 the month before we travel. At least she'll get her own seat though and won't be on our laps for 9 hours!
So we did this and was given until 30th May to pay the deposit off. We were a little concerned about the villa at Highlands reserve as the rep said that she could not guarantee we would have a spa, etc. and hubby really has his heart set on one. He has visions of sitting in one at the end of a long day at the parks with a cold bottle of Bud!
When we got home we started looking at Dibb villas and fell in love with one in Lindfields. It was everything we were looking for and a fraction of the cost of what Virgin were charging. We would also have the peace of mind that we would have a lovley villa with a pool and spa, BBQ, games room; everything we wanted. I contacted the owner and luckily our dates were available. We booked it for our 2 weeks and called Virgin and cancelled the accomodation on out booking. This meant that we had to have yet another booking reference number and were told that until the 2nd deposit had been paid, we would have 3 live bookings!
We are now just under a week until 30th May and were really struggling to pay the £850. We have called Virgin in Northampton several times and kept getting fobbed off being told so-and-so was out of the office but will call us back (but never did). In the end Paul put a message on Virgin Holiday's Facebook page asking if we would lose our money if it wasn't paid on time and somone PM'd him straight back asking for our details. 10 minutes later we had a call from Virgin customer services who were SO helpful and apologetic for Northampton messing us about . Within a matter of minutes they had cancelled the previous 2 bookings, transferred all of our payments over to the new booking and told us we don't have to pay the deposit again. She said it's complicated procedure, but customers don't have to pay the deposit again when amending bookings. She said she was going to phone the Northampton branch and explain it to them as they're obviously trying to push their luck with their customers. We have lost all confidence with them and will phone customer services/facebook if we have any other queries again. Hopefully we won't have to change again though!!!
SO.... To sum up, we are now staying in a 3 bedroom villa on 19th May 2012 for 14 nights. Flying with Virgin, flight VS027 from LGW. We still have the free V Room passes and Magic Me tickets for our whole party and 8 seater car with platinum insurance. We are also looking to go to Discovery Cove, just me and hubby and leave the kids with my parents for the day. I'm really looking forward to that.
So now our party will consist of the following people with their ages at time of travel;
Me - 31
Paul - 35
Oliver - 12
Amelia - 2
My Mum - 54
My Dad - 58
I'm soooooooo excited and it feels like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders not having to pay the deposit again. I only wish we had booked the villa privately to begin with and saved ourselves all of this stress. I have had no end of sleepless nights over it.
I'm really tempted to do my Dibb itinerary now but I know it's too soon. There's so many things I want to do and see!
I know it's sad, but we've already got a holiday drawer where I have been adding bits. I found a little Disney Princess snack pod in TK Maxx which will be ideal for Amelia on the plane. It has a rubbery bit on the top with holds the food in, but you can push your hand through to get the snacks out. Ideal for some little Goodies snack biscuits/raisins, etc.
I'm really tempted to do my Dibb itinerary now but I know it's too soon. There's so many things I want to do and see!
I know it's sad, but we've already got a holiday drawer where I have been adding bits. I found a little Disney Princess snack pod in TK Maxx which will be ideal for Amelia on the plane. It has a rubbery bit on the top with holds the food in, but you can push your hand through to get the snacks out. Ideal for some little Goodies snack biscuits/raisins, etc.
I also got myself one of those body shaper swimming cozzies from Marks and Spencer last week which is looooooovely! So flattering. I can't wait to wear it in Aquatica! Think I might get another one so I can wear it when the other one is wet from the villa pool in the morning!
The downside is that I will no longer be able to use my Disney Memory box as the date is wrong :-( I will have to make another one soon.
I will write again soon if I have anything new to report on our planning!
