booking through on line agents
 

What are your experiences with online travel services such as bookit.com and cheapcarribean.com. Seem to be cheaper than booking through a conventional travel agent, but what about downsides, such as no agent if there are problems?
Thoughts please?
Thanks

We have tried several. Expedia is very efficient. Ex: We had a medical emergency, and my husband ended uo in a hospital in Barbados for 2 days. Expedia had all of our plane and hotel reservations changed within 2 hours of calling them, all at no cost. I doubt we could have even reached our travel
agent in that amount of time.

I don't know if all situations could be resolved that quickly, but we certainly were satisfied.

I can recommend funjet, apple, and discount-all-inclusive. I've used them and had great success.

Peace, Greenie

Helped my daughter book her honeymoon recently (an all inclusive in Mexico). Knew where, just wanted the best price. Well, cheapcaribbean.com had the best advertised price - so I joined, then went through the website to book, but by the time we got to the page where you put your cc info, the computer "hung". Tried a few more times, and once we got all the way through, only the price was far higher than it was supposed to be. Not a good sign!

Ended up booking with Expedia, still saved about $300 over every other site, everything went smoothly.

Always reconfirm with the hotel about two weeks after you book. I have heard in rare cases that the Expedia booking doesn't make it over to the hotel. And of course bring your paperwork with you.

I would book flights on Expedia or Travelocity---try using one way flights each way or to nearby (in the USA) airports. I have saved hundreds that way. I would book accommodations through a local site such as barbadosbarbados.com who has current information on the island.