Booking Early

[bakersuzie]

:huh: I booked my families carnival cruise 14 months in advance and have been watching to see if I will get a better deal than the early booking. I got a free upgrade for the same price. My TA says that booking early generally gets you the best price. Do most of you agree. I have an outside room w/ocenview and my kids are across the hall with an inside cabin. What your thoughts on this?

[JoeyandDavid]

Oh my yes I agree.. we tend to book way out 13+ months and we tend to save a couple hundred per person after the price settles ...but thats for the cabin we like I dont know if the price break trickles down to inside cabins.. but booking verandah and up I do know it makes good sense. Especially if you know when and where you want to go well in advance.. it also gives you an chance to pick the individual cabin location too!

[timecop]

I agree also. I always book my vacations (cruise or land) a year in advance. I know where I am going for the next 5 years, so as soon as I get back from a trip, I book another.

[Joanandjoe]

We agree, as a general rule. However, if the cruise line is having trouble selling rooms, or a particular category, it may have drastic price reductions.

Examples: let's take our last two cruises and our next two. Two were booked long in advance: Radisson 9/05, booked in 8/04 and Noordam 11/06, booked in 8/05. The price on Radisson ROSE sharply about 3 months after we booked it, and never came back down. On the Noordam, prices have generally risen; but we switched from a VA veranda room to an SA suite when there was a sale on SA suites for not much more than we paid for the VA.

The other two cruises, Wind Surf 11/04 and Celebrity 5/06 were each booked about three months in advance, when there was a price drop.

What can you conclude from this? Not much.

[TheSkipper]

I agree as well. The point Joey made is very valid about getting exactly the stateroom you want.

We booked a year ago January while onboard the Diamond Princess for our May 3rd transcanal cruise aboard the Coral Princess, then came home and shopped the net found the best price and transferred the on board booking to the agency of my choice, still holding onto our original stateroom and the $200 onboard credits given at the time of original booking. To top that off, the TA was offering an additional $175 in cabin credits, so we ended up with a total of $375 in credits. The is on a balcony room since we want a good view of the canal and lots of pictures.

Normally we like to be low down in the ship and midships, not more than two or three cabin away from the midships elevators. Makes for better stability and somewhat easier to get to all the venues aboard. After 45 cruises we know pretty well where we want to be and the best way to insure that is by booking early (and often). :grin:

[Mebert]

I agree. I have seen prices increase hundreds of dollars after a few months. I once watched a European cruise go from $1600 to $2045. So it seems early is better.

[stur]

We Always Book Early We Just Booked For January 29 th 2007 on The Celebrity Mercury out of San Diego 11 Night to Mexican Riviera

We like to Book a Suite They are allready sold out But we did get one and pick where we wont to be on the ship (A lot of times we may not get the best price but we get what we wonteded ( if what you are looking for is not avaliable price is not an isue) SUPPLY AND DEMAND

ONCE YOU BOOK A TRUE SUITE YOU KET HOOKED AND THEY BECOME HARD TO COME BY

STUR DAYTON,OHIO

[JoeyandDavid]

stur, Hi And Welcome to CruseCrazies..You are so right its so addictive..Glad to see others booking early! :grin:

[Joanandjoe]

Welcome, Stur. We've had mini-suites on the Rotterdam, Horizon suites on the Horizon, and a suite (all rooms are called suites on Radisson) on the Radisson Seven Seas Navigator. We have an SA suite booked on the Noordam in November, and Concierge Class booked on the Zenith in May. We're not sure what you mean by a "true" suite", but we've certainly enjoyed the extra space on service in the suites we've had.