I was wondering what experience anyone has had with internet travel agencies. Are they as reliable as a local agency where I could walk in and meet them? If there are any problems when we arrive could we call and have the agency take care of a situation? I'm reading a lot of people paying for upgraded rooms ahead of time but not getting it and paying again to upgrade. This is our first Caribbean trip and I'm trying to cover all our bases. Lois, thanks for your help and advice.

Jamieah, I've never used them to actually book travel, but I have spoken with the people at www.islandinns.com. They are very knowledgeable about the various Caribbean islands and resorts, and they have good deals on their website. I ended up going a different route that vacation, but I got a very nice phone message about a month later from Island Inns, thanking me for my interest and letting me know that whatever trip I booked, they hoped I had a nice vacation. It's worth checking out their website for more information. Good luck!

Thanks, Becca. They do have a nice website.

You also might try expedia.com, orbitz.com and www.libertytravel.com for more deals.

Hope this helps.

Also check www.travelunlimited.com as this is a travel agency that happens to have a web site. Have had great luck with them.

Thanks all, for the info. I booked with Sunfinders Vacations to Hilton Barbados in October. Will take lots of pictures to post when we get back.

I am a bit late, but for future reference, I have had good experiences with tradewindstours.com

Tradewind Tours is no longer in business. I found out after booking a hotel room through them for Jan/06. They confirmed my booking, charged my credit card then 10 days later, I received an e-mail from their attorney advising me that my reservation was invalid, the hotel had not been paid and they had no funds to pay with.
Luckily, the credit card company,is refunding the full amount to my account.
Glad I hadn't paid with a wire transfer or cashiers check.
The company had been around for several years and had good references on forums so I guess you just never know!

Glad to hear your credit card company is refunding you. There is a lot of buzz going on about tradewindtours on another forum. Seems they didn't notify everyone and some people just found out by chance that their accomodations weren't paid for. Sounds like a big mess.