I'm planning on taking an all inclusive to anywhere from feb 13-21. Have the time booked off. How close to that date should I try to find last min deals. A month? A week or less?

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That's the holiday week (20th) so I wouldn't wait much longer.

If it were me, and I just wanted to get away to a sunny beach but wasn't picky where ... Id be watching daily until I saw one. I'd have a budget in mind and I probably wouldn't book until I found a great place for a good price. I'd do that until 2-4 weeks out. And I'd be watching the prices for travel 2 weeks out to see if those prices were better than those offered 4-6 weeks out.

Have you considered a cruise? If you don't drink much, they're great value. Best thing about them is that if the weather's bad in one port you sail away at the end of the day. We did the LA to Mexico a couple of years ago. Met some people in Puerto Vallarta who had been there a few days and it had been overcast the whole time. We just sailed away back to the sunshine.

Hi Lori, I'm interested to know further details about your LA to Mexico cruise experience. Where all did you stop, how many days, $, etc... How would you say it was compared to an all inclusive in Mexico?
Thanks!

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Most of the cruiselines would allow you to stay a week or so at a given stopover such as Puerto then get back on the ship when it returns...good thing to check out if one would like a bit longer

This is interesting to know. Was it a specific cruise line how does one guarantee there will be a room on the next ship?
Pat....following.

Not sure if they still do that...it was offered when I took a cruise awhile back. Might be good thing to check out....it was Royal Caribbean

I've found that the Canadian tour operators (westjet vacations, air canada vacations, Transat Holidays, etc) have been offering less and less great last minute prices on their all inclusive packages over the last few years.
The middle to third week of February has always been a lot less likely than most other winter dates (besides Christmas and maybe March break) to have last minute discounts due to the increased demand caused by the Family Day holiday (and I think teacher's convention is around that time this year?).

Yep - most schools take the whole week off there in Alberta now.

Calgary Teachers' Convention is Feb 16 and 17, Famil Day is Feb 21. Schools are open the rest of the time.

Thanks everyone this is good to know!

We are currently at an all inclusive in Puerto Vallarta we got a great price on, ten days before we left, however if it's reading week/ spring break or whatever, you won't get many last minute deals.

Cathy, what site did you book through? We are interested in PV too

we saw the various prices such as westjet, air transat, sunwing etc. on redtag. Then we picked by price and flight times and ended up with air transat for $1770 for two of us for a week.

Cathy thank you!

Depends on where u going ...

Literally anywhere with all inclusive

Gail O Whitney Schlamp Alexa Krull .... I'll keep watching everyday until we get the deal we want!!! I am determined. They fluctuate from minute to minute too . I can put the exact same thing in my search engine and so does my husband at the same time ans we get different prices... sheesh !!!!

A couple of weeks

I did a solo trip to Cayo Coco Cuba I booked 2 weeks in advance it was 900 total for all inclusive. Check last minute deals on red tag/ selloff vacations /expedia

I have looked at the packages for Cayo Coco a few times. I was a little hesitant as I don't know much about it. The prices always seem lower there. Why is that? Do you still fly into Varadero?

You fly right into Cayo Coco. I think it's cheaper because it's not a big city like varadero. Where I went there was nothing really but one of the most beautiful beaches i have ever been to. You can take a tour to the town and do shopping /nightlife but Cayo Coco is for people who really want to relax. The resort was nice, the food was great ( for Cuba) and the people are just lovely. So if you want a more relaxing place to spend some time this is a great place

Thanks for the information. I am going to look at it again. So it is a direct flight from Calgary to Cayo Coco? May I ask which resort you stayed in?

Wendy yes it is. I stayed at memories resort. It was nice. There was no disco or gym up and running so the nightlife was over pretty early but that was ok with me. The beach is absolutely beautiful. I'm a beach bum. It was about a 20-25min drive to the resort from the airport. If you have been to Cuba before then you know that things aren't as fancy as other resorts. So I had no expectations on a fancy luxurious resort. It's nice and clean and food was above average for Cuba I would say.