Personally, I dislike package holidays and find them restrictive after planning and booking my own. It can be hard work but if you find it interesting can be good fun. It can work out a little cheaper or at least you get what you want, plus maybe getting addition benefits, such as car hire because you need to get from airport to hotel you get a car for the week or two.
I worked at Thomas Cook for a year and booking the package holiday was dull, but on we did do custom made holidays for some clients which were great fun to do.
There are some great round the world fare using the various Airline Alliances. Star had fares from £900 ish stopping off in different parts of the globe.
Using the net and holiday companies such as BA Holidays and Thomas Cook Holidays who do accommodation only gets some good deals on hotels. BA and TC offer deals such as stay 4 nights get the 5th night free, etc...