I'm thinking of booking either Mykonos and Santorini 5th May departure, or Croatia and the Makarska Riviera 2nd May departure.

Please could you let me know the following for each departure:

Number of people booked on each (with age/gender just for info);

How much the optional excursions cost; and

The expected departure and arrival times for the flights. Please can you also confirm the flight to and from Croatia will be from Gatwick as I will need to book connecting flights from Newcastle, and hotel accommodation.

Regards

Right then, lets start with Mykonos & Santorini.

At the moment there are 12 travellers booked on this departure. The group is made up of 3 men and 9 women with ages from mid-60s through to early-80s. Flights are from London Heathrow departing 08:00 and returning 18:50. The optional excursions have not yet been loaded into the system but should be available in the next 2-3 weeks.

For Croatia & the Makarska Riviera. Now the departure date has changed to 1st May 2015 and there are 7 travellers booked. The group is made up of 2 men and 5 women with a similar age range to the other trip. Flights are from Gatwick departing 16:25 and returning 15:35. Again, I'm waiting for the excursion information to be loaded into the system and this should be available in the next couple of weeks.

As always, I have to stress that flights are subject to change and will be confirmed in your final documents.

I hope this helps with your decision making - if you have any other questions, please do not hesitiate to get in touch.

Kindest regards,

Julia

I'm just waiting for the new brochure to see what this Adriatic Cruise is like and then I am FINALLY going to make up my mind. It would be nice to meet someone else from the forum if you did decide on that date and destination. :thumbup:

As both these tours have operated before, could you give me a rough idea of a possible cost for the options? I know they'll go up once the prices are loaded onto the system in 2-3 weeks, but I'm hoping to book around that time so any info you can give me before then would be most appreciated.

Hi Bosuncat, I really fancied the Croatia tour but I can't seem to find any connecting flights between Newcastle and Gatwick after 27th March! I'm hoping Easyjet aren't dropping the route as it means I'll have to forget any tours departing from Gatwick. I know the current schedule states I wouldn't be able to get a flight home when coming back from Croatia as I'd have missed the flight on Friday, then there's no flights on Saturday so the next one is Sunday night, so it's not really practical.

Julia, I notice on pages 16-17 it states I could travel to Croatia directly from Manchester. Is this the case, and if so, do you know the flight times and supplement price please?

Thanks for your help and Happy New Year.

Sorry for the delay on this....

So for Croatia & the Makarska Riviera the prices were

Krka National Park and Bibich Winery - from £79

Makarska - from £37

and for Mykonos & Santorini they were

Delos, Mykonos - from £48

Fira & Oia, Santorini - from £46

Island tour and wine tasting, Santorini - from £54

In terms of the flights.... Now when the brochure was launched the departure dates were different and we were able to offer Manchester and London flights. Unfortunately, due to operational reasons, the departure dates throughout the year have had to change by one day and this means that regional flights are no longer available.

Kindest regards,

Julia

Thanks for your reply, looks like I will be going to Greece.

Please can you confirm the flight back from Santorini is on Wednesday 13th May? I can't seem to find the Santorini return flight on the BA website, but could you confirm if I would be able to get a connecting flight to Newcastle on 13th with my flight arriving at approximately 18:50 (flight to Newcastle departs at 20:55) -both flights are from terminal 5, or would I need to fly back the following day (14th May) - I think BA recommend 3 hours between connecting flights?

Please could you confirm how many are booked on this tour now (age/gender) and that places are still available as I'm hoping to book early next week once my new passport arrives.

Thanks for your help.

At the moment we have the return flight as coming in on the 13th May, landing at Heathrow around 18:50. According to the BA website, for connecting flights arriving and departing from the same terminal at Heathrow they recommend a minimum of between 60-70 minutes. You can find more details on the following page:

http://www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/airport-information/london-heathrow-airport/lhr-connections 

I must stress that flights are subject to change and would be confirmed in your final documents.

For the 5th May departure there are 15 travellers booked (5 men and 10 women) and 15 places available. I can confirm that the tour has been cleared to operate.

Kindest regards,

Julia

That's better than I thought, I've got my passport (only took one week to arrive), so I'll be booking this weekend. I'm hoping to get the connecting flight back to Newcastle on the same night as 2 hours should be enough time to get through security as I won't need to collect my suitcase or check-in again, or change terminals. But I will keep an eye out for my final flight info in case I need to change the flight for 14th May and book a hotel.

I would prefer to get home the same day if possible, and I'm sure there will be others on my tour who are also getting connecting flights.

I'm pleased this holiday has now been cleared to operate and look forward to meeting everyone in May.

If you could let me know the prices for the optional excursions once they have been confirmed that'll be great, I'll book them separately.

Regards

Caroline

If you call to book, the advisors may have the details there. If you book online, and the excursions have been loaded into the system, these will come up as an option when you are booking.

If not, give me a nudge in a couple of weeks and I'll take another look for you.

Kindest regards,

Julia

I booked this holiday last night and I'm now getting excited for going.

I'll await further info about the optional excursions and will book them before I go.

Thanks again for your help.

Caroline

So I have just had a quick look in the system and the excursions have now been added. A small increase since last year..

Delos, Mykonos - from £50

Fira & Oia, Santorini - from £48

Island tour and wine tasting, Santorini - from £56

Kindest regards,

Julia

I'm waiting for a call back regarding my connecting flights from Newcastle. The flights I asked David (who took my call) to book were the Newcastle to Heathrow flight on 4th May (think it arrives around 1.15), and the last flight coming back from Heathrow to Newcastle on 13th May- I'm not sure if he was going to book them and write to me or if he'd call to confirm?

Regards

Caroline

Usually where we are able to offer a package deal this is included in the brochure - I couldn't see anything there so I did take a look in the system and there are only the three prices mentioned in my earlier post.

I've just had a quick look at your booking and I can see that your flight request was sent up to our aviation team. I would imagine that someone will be in touch with you soon to get this all finalised - let me know if you haven't heard from anyone by tomorrow afternoon.

Kindest regards,

Julia

I've got this sorted now.

Regards

Caroline

Please could you update me on how many are booked on this holiday and the gender/ages.

I got my holiday documents through yesterday so I'm really excited now. Hopefully the new brochure will be waiting for me when I get back.

Regards

Caroline

So there are now 27 of you booked on this date with three places left for any last minute travellers.

The group is made up of 7 men and 20 women with ages ranging from mid-30s through to mid-80s.

I think there is dangerous possibility that the new brochure will be waiting for you when you return.

Kindest regards,

Julia

There seems to be a good mix for this holiday, I'm looking forward to it even more now.

I'm hoping to go to Andalucia in October, the flight from Newcastle is a major factor - hopefully the new brochure will have more local flights, even though I can travel to Manchester or Heathrow if need be.

Regards

Caroline