Holiday tough choices

[Yarmbaggie]

Anyone else struggling with what to do about booked summer holidays?

We have a big family get together booked for early July in Majorca to celebrate wife’s 70th birthday. Some of the family booked to come from Oz, stay with us for a week then 11 of us to meet up for the first time in 7 years staying in a booked house in Majorca. Flights all booked and paid for, as well as 50% deposits on house.

At the moment no one can fly so entitled to refunds but pressure mounting to get Govt to open up tourism across Europe. We did not sign up for the type of holiday we are faced with. Who wants to go to an airport or on a plane at the moment? Will restaurants and other things be open and would we want to go.

About £5k paid out in total, excluding Oz to UK tickets paid over there. If borders open then looking like we will lose it all if we don’t go.

We have decided as a family NOT to travel even f it means losing the money. The press seem to be only concentrating on those who still want to go on holiday. What about those who don’t want to go? Are we the only ones who think this seasons summer holidays should just be scrapped? I still have to queue for half an hour to get into my local garden centre for goodness sake.

[kettering_baggie]

Can you not get refunds or postpone everything for 12 months? I’m unsure of the rules on all this. We were hoping to go to the USA this Summer, and a return visit to Nashville was something that I was really looking forward to. Fortunately, we had not booked anything when the pandemic was declared. I have my doubts now that we will ever return to the States, travel insurance alone will be a major stumbling block.

[Joy_Division]

It is probably a lot more simple if your holiday is booked in this country as opposed to abroad. We were due to holiday in Cornwall a couple of weeks ago but our holiday company just swapped the corresponding dates to next year. They retain the money we paid and we just do without a holiday this year which is a small price to pay for staying safe.

[baggieal]

Anyone else struggling with what to do about booked summer holidays?

We have a big family get together booked for early July in Majorca to celebrate wife’s 70th birthday. Some of the family booked to come from Oz, stay with us for a week then 11 of us to meet up for the first time in 7 years staying in a booked house in Majorca. Flights all booked and paid for, as well as 50% deposits on house.

At the moment no one can fly so entitled to refunds but pressure mounting to get Govt to open up tourism across Europe. We did not sign up for the type of holiday we are faced with. Who wants to go to an airport or on a plane at the moment? Will restaurants and other things be open and would we want to go.

About £5k paid out in total, excluding Oz to UK tickets paid over there. If borders open then looking like we will lose it all if we don’t go.

We have decided as a family NOT to travel even f it means losing the money. The press seem to be only concentrating on those who still want to go on holiday. What about those who don’t want to go? Are we the only ones who think this seasons summer holidays should just be scrapped? I still have to queue for half an hour to get into my local garden centre for goodness sake.

My guess is flights will resume from 1st July as areas like Spain are reliant on tourism but the issue will be whether there's a
14 day quarantine period in the country you visit. Don't think Spain will be an issue but USA probably will!

I am more relaxed about this pandemic now and those who are spraying the post - keeping food in car boots for 2 days - well without being critical - whatever floats your boat! It seems like there are more under 50's wearing masks than anyone - how many under 50's have died without underlying health conditions? Not much of a percentage! Those with masks seem to fiddle with them every two minutes or shove ice cream down their traps etc etc, so what's the point in this case....

I am still hoping to go away this summer perhaps to Dubai - red hot so less chance of the virus being around, and very clean. Some would say you are taking a risk going on a plane! Well I would rather take this risk as driving a car or many others things are a risk too! Probably less of a risk than most places in this country with some of our riff raff going away, and juggers refusing to budge an inch when panting up the road, or going on the tube, in taxis, work places etc!

The issue is the 14 day self quarantine on return - stupid as this should have been late March! Who will bother with this if returning a clear 14 days before kids go back to school in Sept! Not many! You could always say, you were driving up to Durham to drop a child off if questioned

[TipperaryBaggie]

I had booked to go to San Francisco and Las Vegas in June to celebrate my 70th birthday. That was cancelled by BA just over 2 weeks ago and, give credit to them, they refunded my money a week later. I did request that I could stay 69 for another year but that received short change!

[phild]

We managed to get to Fuentaventura for a week just before Europe closed its borders. The next holiday planned was May 7th on a cruise to the Caribbean but that obviously bit the dust. We have not yet asked for a refund as Royal Caribbean have offered us a further 125% on board credit which is about £1200. You can easily spend that on a ship. Looks like it will be next year now before we take up the offer.

In the meantime we await hotels to open in the UK and book something by the sea or anywhere as Im tired of boring, tedious Oldbury!

[baggieal]

I had booked to go to San Francisco and Las Vegas in June to celebrate my 70th birthday. That was cancelled by BA just over 2 weeks ago and, give credit to them, they refunded my money a week later. I did request that I could stay 69 for another year but that received short change!

Loved San Francisco when we went there a few years ago Tipp and Alcatraz is an absolute must. We stayed in Vegas too and thought it would be a bit tacky but was surprised with beautiful hotels and we hired a car to drive around red rock canyon which was fantastic..........

Only negative with San Francisco was the amount of homeless people sleeping rough which they seem to have sorted in New York!

[BARBaggies82]

We managed to get to Fuentaventura for a week just before Europe closed its borders. The next holiday planned was May 7th on a cruise to the Caribbean but that obviously bit the dust. We have not yet asked for a refund as Royal Caribbean have offered us a further 125% on board credit which is about £1200. You can easily spend that on a ship. Looks like it will be next year now before we take up the offer.

In the meantime we await hotels to open in the UK and book something by the sea or anywhere as Im tired of boring, tedious Oldbury!

What did you think of Fuerteventura Phil?

People either love it or think it's a dump. We love it but have to admit the first time we went and looked out of the plane window we thought about staying on and coming straight back!

We go every January 2 weeks AI for about 1500 quid (family of 4) in a half decent hotel. You can't live here for far off that money.

Really not sure about this Jan though. The hotels and bars will be open but under what restrictions I do wonder.
No fun if we cant swim in the pool or eat in a civilised manner in the restaurant.

[baggieal]

What did you think of Fuerteventura Phil?

People either love it or think it's a dump. We love it but have to admit the first time we went and looked out of the plane window we thought about staying on and coming straight back!

We go every January 2 weeks AI for about 1500 quid (family of 4) in a half decent hotel. You can't live here for far off that money.

Really not sure about this Jan though. The hotels and bars will be open but under what restrictions I do wonder.
No fun if we cant swim in the pool or eat in a civilised manner in the restaurant.

I lived in Fuerteventura for thee years in about 1987. I worked for Horizon Holidays who were based in Birmingham Broadway - we were about the first U.K. Tour Operator to enter the destination so I had to contract hotels, find excursions, and set the programme up. Then the luggage came out on arrival by a tractor and left on an outside wall to claim. Those days it was like a desert island but from then on - there’s been heavy construction which has ruined it to what it was!

Loved the hotel in the a north called Tres Islas which was popular with the Germans as it was top quality!

My one regret in life - not buying property there in 1987 when living there as it was dirt cheap!

Sadly on the other side - running the tour operator I had to deal with a lot of deaths! The sea can be lethal in some parts with currents and the other big problem was road deaths with tourists in hired jeeps which turned upside down and people inside were mashed!

[stripes39]

Anyone else struggling with what to do about booked summer holidays?

We have a big family get together booked for early July in Majorca to celebrate wife’s 70th birthday. Some of the family booked to come from Oz, stay with us for a week then 11 of us to meet up for the first time in 7 years staying in a booked house in Majorca. Flights all booked and paid for, as well as 50% deposits on house.

At the moment no one can fly so entitled to refunds but pressure mounting to get Govt to open up tourism across Europe. We did not sign up for the type of holiday we are faced with. Who wants to go to an airport or on a plane at the moment? Will restaurants and other things be open and would we want to go.

About £5k paid out in total, excluding Oz to UK tickets paid over there. If borders open then looking like we will lose it all if we don’t go.

We have decided as a family NOT to travel even f it means losing the money. The press seem to be only concentrating on those who still want to go on holiday. What about those who don’t want to go? Are we the only ones who think this seasons summer holidays should just be scrapped? I still have to queue for half an hour to get into my local garden centre for goodness sake.

I was listening to an interview with a viral specialist who said that O’Leary’s comments regards Ryanair’s on board precautions should be taken lightly. The type of filtration he claims is hospital grade on his planes is not suitable to stop Covid virus spreading. So, this virus hasn’t gone away so on that basis I wouldn’t fly as this applies to all of them

If the government are still advising against all but essential travel at the time you are due to fly, you can most likely involve your credit card company citing government advice as a holiday is not essential travel. Just don’t cancel or you will lose the lot dependent upon your contract.

I’ve just got Mastercard to claw back my money from Ryanair who are an absolute bunch of crooks. Don’t spend too much time pleading with your holiday firm if they knock you back just go straight to your card supplier