This review is the final part of a series about my experience of my first ever package holiday – a trip to Lapland. You can find out more about the trip here.
When people tell me they are going on a package holiday I imagine scenes from Sun, Sea and Suspicious Parents along wth images that are indelibly etched on my brain from a season working at Butlins, when at 10am, the parents are a few pints down with a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other and their kids are running wild. I know that I shouldn’t have these images but there you have it.
My experience with Cosmos was actually very positive. Yes, there was a passenger on the flight (both flights actually) who drank more than their fair share of vodka. I could name a dozen flights that I have taken with full-service airlines, and all in business class, where passengers have drank way too much.
I knew from the beginning that this holiday would be different from any other I had taken – and it was, but in a good way.
As ever, it’s the little things that make a difference; the staff dressed up as characters at the airport, the reps singing songs with the kids, the ride to the hotel from the airport when, would you believe it, but Santa and his sleigh were at the side of the road just waving to us?! These are elements that my kids would never have experienced if I had booked a similar package independently.
Sure, the welcome meeting was a waste of time (‘spend £300 for a family of four on extending the time you spend on a husky or reindeer’) and the food in the hotel was generally pretty average. But the trip to Santa’s house was awesome, and truly was in the middle of nowhere and was not something that could ever had arranged myself. It seems that sometime a package is the most appropriate option. I certainly felt safe and looked after and my kids loved the trip.
I have just booked my next adventure (a trip to Singapore and Malaysia for April) and I have booked flights and hotel separately myself as I usually do, so that I get exactly what I want, at a price that I think offers good value. For this trip, I didn’t consider using an agent at all (as I don’t think that a package for this kind of trip exists?). I have booked a serviced apartment and flights with Emirates so I can potentially upgrade to business (there is always a chance of 4 reward seats together being available 24 hours before travel…right?).
Perhaps, for our next trip that is appropriate, I would consider looking at package options after all. The service I received from Cosmos was really fantastic; particularly the Cosmos Concierge and the added extras really make a difference.
Go Cosmos.
