I will be planning another trip to A.C. soon. I was wondering if most of you book through a travel agent or over the net. Is there any difference in price to do it one way or the other? I cannot see too much of a difference. Or any advantages to booking either way.

I didn't book our reservations at SevenSeas, but I think we got a discount for booking over the internet. I don't know if all of the places do that, but it's worth checking out.

Good luck, Susan

I always use a Travel Agent for vacations. Usually you get the best possible price or at least what you would have gotten if you'd booked directly. Two big reasons why I use them:
1) Saves time.
2) If something goes wrong they have much more leverage than you or I do. Plus they know whom to call to get problems fixed quickly.

I do all my research on the web, find the best rates and lodging, call my travel agent and she has always beaten my price or matched it.
Make sure they are reputable, for instance if they say, "where's that?" call another one.

Good lord, that sounded like a commercial. Sorry about that.

A commercial maybe, but it's very much the truth. While the average person will spend HOURS if not DAYS agonizing over the itinery, etc... a travel agent can do it in very little time. I have traveled quite a bit and always value the advice of my TA...

Laurie, when I first started researching my trip this past May, I was in touch with Magnum Belize. They provided a very reasonable package and can set up any itinerary you want. They had a very competitive airfare. I think I will use them for next year's trip when I want to explore more of the mainland. Good Luck!

We had great luck with an agent we encountered from a link on a Belize related website. (Belize.com I think.) Her airfare prices were much lower than what I had already reserved. And you're right, their knowledge about how to get from Belize City to Placencia and AC saved us tons of time arranging those hops. Not sure if it was Belize.com or not but I saved the link for future reference (hoping to go back again this winter http://citynet.com/request?14326e

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the opinions/info. Think I will stick with a travel agent just to lessen the hassle.

laurie, don't forget "barb's belize". she does only belize, and i hear she is great. she has a website you can link from the home page.

i chose to plan all my stuff myself, (even when i did my 10 day inland trip) then went to the TA just to book everything. i got travel insurance too. the $75 was worth peace of mind. debbie did too, and when Storm Alison hit houston and she was stuck in the airport, she received refunds for missed days at the hotel etc.