This is what I recomend you to do...
1.Look for information on the island you want to go. I will recomend you the US Virgin Islands, St Martin, St Barths or the British Virgin Islands.
2. Look for info on hotels... in most hotels you can hold the room with a deposit or a credit card number. Sometimes just the name on the reservation will do. You can also get an idea on how much hotels are and save the money to reserve when the date is closer (I think you will save money this way).
3. The other recomendation is that you can take a cruise. RCCL does southern Caribbean cruises from San Juan visiting Aruba, Curacao, St Martin and St Thomas. You can make a reservation with $250.00 per person and pay off the balance 90 days prior to the cruise. Carnival also have cruises from San Juan.
I alway start my research at vacationstogo.com. You can check by size of ship, itinerary, date, or star rating of ship. I get a general idea of a price and then shop around. If you go with a TA ask "if the price goes down, will you rebate that amount to me?" If not go to another agent. Some do some don't. A year out is NOT to early to book a cruise. You can get your choice of cabins that way. I book inside (no window) so that I can afford a 10 day instead of a 7 day outside ( with a window). You can also ask veteran cruisers any question at cruiseaddicts.com or cruisecritics.com. They love to share their cruising experiences. Bon voyage.
A year in advance is going to be tough. Some summer iteneraries aren't set up until the fall. We booked our June 07 cruise last September and it was pushing it.
Best way to pay monthly is to figure out how much you plan to pay based on this year's cruise rates, divide by X months, and put the money away monthly. Our agent required some money down up front and the total about 3 months in advance, so we were able to "pay monthly" to ourselves for 6 months. It worked out nicely.
As for travel agents, try calling going to the yellow pages and call a few. We called several before someone even answered!! We tried 2 more places--with no answer--and then chatted with the first agent and got prices. We took those prices and compared them to travelocity and orbitz and the deal was actually better from the agent. Plus the agent has been able to give us tips on shore excursions and used her connection to the cruise company--she books more trips than we do--to work the upgrade game. I recommend the agent, but shop the prices, always shop the prices.
And don't forget to set aside a little extra for fun bucks on the way!!
Tina is the best, just contact her, she will help you! Say hello to her with my compliments
I am also a tour operator in the Dominican Republic
Gilbert
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