Best time to book? Best party hotel?

[Chicago312]

Planning our first spring break trip to Cancun Mar. 9-18, any suggestions would be much appreciated.

When is the best time to book? I've heard/read somewhere to wait until after Christmas or NYE for prices to go down. Do you typically book it as a package including flight? (Departing from Chicago)

What is the best party hotel to stay at? For day parties I've heard Oasis Cancun is the best. It looks like it's booked out. How do the other Oasis hotels compare? Oasis Palm Beach?

If you have any other general suggestions please share.

[Nuno]

hw711 is our chicago guy and would know flight prices and etc from there.

The prices are a bit high right now and i would wait a bit longer.

Try to find a hotel near the oasis like melia and omni and day party at oasis.

[808sensation]

im from chicago. im booked already for mid march. i paid $100 more than last year ($1180) this time but i just couldnt wait.

im staying at Golden Parnassus since ive been going there for years and know alot of people. not a party place though (well, not student party at least)

[hw711]

I don't think there is a good time of the year to book per se. Deals appears throughout the year. The way to get in on a good deal is to start looking early and pay attention everyday and be able to pull the trigger immediately when a good deal comes out (because the best deals usually don't last very long).

From Chicago, any direct flights for under $400-450 is average. $300 is probably as low as it goes but it rarely happens (not counting indirect flights on Spirit...I wouldn't touch those with a 10 foot pole).

Right now for your date, the best is $580 direct on AA. Pretty pricy. I'd personally wait but do check kayak.com EVERYDAY. You picked probably the worst dates of the year to flying to Cancun availiblity wise. It's so expensive because of supply and demand. I can't predict if a deal will show up and how low it will be. It's a judgement call for you. If you check fare everyday and anything under $450 shows up, I'd pull the trigger. If nothing that cheap shows up after mid Feb, you may be screwed and need to take whatever the price is.

Booking as a package is usually cheaper than air + hotel separately. But package price flauctuates with air and hotel prices. But air and hotel deals don't always come out together so it makes it harder to get in on the best package deal (when there is both an air deal and hotel deal out and you book both as a package). Like I said, always start looking early so you have more chance to catch the deals.

[808sensation]

IMO, if youre going for march....Thanksgiving would be your cut off for booking. thats when ive been finding deals and when i usually book mine.

same itinerary i have now cost $300 more when i checked today.

[Chicago312]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Couple more questions if you guys don't mind.

Krystal Cancun/Hotels close to clubs?
What do you think about the Krystal Cancun in terms of being a good party hotel? Student City lists it as its co-HQ along with Oasis for week of Mar. 9, not exactly sure what that means. Anyone ever stay there during spring break? What do you think about hotels in that area (close to clubs)?

Bar Passes/Other Hotel Passes?
Any suggestions on whether to get those bar passes now online or when you get there? Can you get day passes to visit Oasis? Is it worth it?

Dates we picked?
Found a calendar online when it's supposed to be busy. Seems to make sense when most other colleges are out.

Any other advice?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer my previous questions.

[hw711]

Krystal was HQ last year. This year is going back to Oasis so not much will be going on at Krystal. On the upside, Krystal is nicer than Oasis (only because Oasis is so shitty) and right next to all the clubs.

No point in buying club passes beforehand. Keep your options open. You never know where the hot chicks you meet during the day is going that night. Oasis has day pass. It used to be $25 but they raised it to $50 last year. Not sure if it'll come back down this year. If it's $25, it's worth it.

Peak week is not necessarily the best. Longer lines, worse ratio, etc. You'll see.

[mormis]

day pass at krystal was somewhere around $25-30 and totally worth it (what an awesome time we had that day huh?!) I will not pay $50 to go to oasis, i hope they lower their price