Thread: When Is The Best Time To Book A Cruise?

When Is The Best Time To Book A Cruise?

This is one of the most asked questions we get and I always give the same answer; AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!

We've all seen those advertisements saying; Save Up to 75% on Last Minute Cruises!

First of all, that's false advertising. If you read the fine print, the 75% off is referring to the brochure rate. No one, and I repeat, no one sells cruises for the brochure rate - not even the cruise lines! Plus, all the major mass-market cruise lines require everyone to advertise the same cruise for the same price. So none of these so-called discount websites can advertise a lower price. If they do, then they could lose their credentials to sell for that cruise line and obviously not someone you want to do business with.

So, if the price they're actually advertising is the same as everyone else, then saying they offer up to 75% off last minute cruises simply is not true.

But it brings up the question asked in the title; when is the best time to book a cruise?

I had a client who booked a Christmas cruise on the NCL EPIC. He planned well ahead of time and make the booking in March 2011 for the December 2012 sailing. They are a family of 4 in a Family Balcony stateroom. The price has gone up tremendously and had he waited until today to book this cruise, he would have paid $1350 more.

If you book early, it's possible that is the best price that will ever be offered on that particular cruise and prices could continue to go up from there. This is especially true if traveling during high season; Christmas/New Years, Spring Break, and right after school dismisses for the Summer. Plus, by booking early, you get your choice of cabins. This is especially important if you're traveling as a family because family suites, suites, quads, triples, and connecting cabins are always the first to get booked. And people who are concerned about motion sickness always want those cabins in the middle of the ship - these will also become scarce.

If you book later, not only do you take a chance on the price being higher, but your choice of cabins becomes limited and the sailing may even sell out. Then you'd have to change all your plans. And if you wait until the last minute to book, the high cost of airfare will be much higher than any savings you got on the cruise.

And as for specials, you and your agent should both be checking rates to see if the prices change. If a special comes along that will decrease the rate, most of the time they can get the lower rate for you provided final payment has not yet been made. (Some online sites charge for changes, whereas most reputable agents do not have any fees and don't charge for this service.)

Simply stated, if you are retired or live close to a port and have the luxury of being able to travel at the last minute without any problems, then yes, sometimes booking a cruise at the last minute can get you a good rate. But any agent can get these rates, not just the large online sites with their in-your-face advertising. Keep in mind that often, these last minute specials may be limited to a select few groups, such as seniors or residents of a certain State. So sometimes, the advertised rate may not be available for you.

But most people can't pick up and leave on the spur of the moment and must make arrangements to take time off from work, get airline reservations, and get someone to take care of the dog.

Bottom line is that booking early has all the benefits and very few impairments, whereas last minute bookings can have one benefit (pricing), but can have numerous impairments.

Best advice is to work with your agent to find the right cruise for you as early as you can plan it. Then you can plan all the details at your leisure without any of the stress and hassle. And, after all, that's what everyone wants - a carefree vacation.

Pete

Well said.

I know people who thought that you could show up at the dock on the day of a cruise, and get a very low fare on a cabin that might otherwise have gone empty. No one laughed at them, but they were told that this was not possible for security reasons. (It may have been possible before 2001, but it's a different world today.) In fact, most lines do not accept new passengers less than 72 hours prior to sailaway.

Yep, things were alot different many years ago. Unfortunately, some people are still of that old mindset.

Use to be in the old days, that the cruise lines would really reduce an unsold cabins at the last minute. As you said, security regulations changed all that. But the cruise lines have also changed their philosophy on the matter. Use to be they figure it's better to sell empty space at a reduced rate than not to sell it at all. They don't think that way anymore. They use to also offer really good single rates, figuring it was better to have one person paying some money than no one paying any money. They don't think that way anymore, either.

As to why they feel that way, who knows. You can never get a straight answer from the cruise lines. To me, it would make sense to make some money than not to make any, but that's the way I think.

Perhaps it has something to do stopping complaints and being able to plan ahead. Obviously, if someone got a really good deal at the last minute than someone who got their reservation months in advance, someone is probably going to complain. Plus, the sooner people book, the better the cruise line can plan ahead for supplies. And lastly, if a ship is selling, they can raise the price. If a ship is not selling, then they can offer specials to encourage more bookings. Obviously, I'm just guessing, but I'm thinking the way everything is controlled nowadays by computer analysis, they like to plan ahead of time and not be surprised.

Pete

It's very much the same in the UK, you get the adverts from internet firm and on TV offering unbeatable low fares. It's true that you will not find it for less, but you will find it for the same price.

If you don't mind when, where or which ship you go on then a last minute deal could be good. If you know which ship/date you want then best to book early so you can start looking forward to the cruise.

We're at the stage where we can only go when our daughter is off from school. So we're at a big disadvantage as that's when demand is high (many families are in that "boat"). But, we live about an hour's drive from a port, so we don't have to deal with airfare if there's a cruise we want to take from there. Unfortunately, only one cruiseline goes all year round from there, and it's the Mexican Riviera cruise that's too short for us (seven days).

We have booked a cruise as close as 8 days before, but then that was for a March 2001 cruise (I managed to book the flights, pre-cruise hotel, post-cruise hotels -- four of 'em, and a rental car, all within a few days!). And that was before our girl was in school, so we could go at anytime.

Pete, having worked in RM I know some of the thoughts. If you allow booking at the last minute at a very reduced rate, what happens is that people do not book early expecting to get the very reduced rate. The net effect is that profits actually go down. People know that they have to book early otherwise they might not get on the ship at all. Also, RM now allows them to calculate when the ship will fill up at various price points. Very seldom do ships go out lower than full capacity because six weeks out the line starts reducing prices to get those who will book at a X-100 dollar fare who would not book at a X fare. And they know that enough people will book at x-100 so that they do not have to mark the fare down to X-200. If for some chance the ship does not book at X-200, then at 5 weeks out they can reduce the fare to X-150 knowing that X-140 will not attract the additional people based on previous sale patterns.

nice write up pete

I usually advise to book way way in advance or last minute. Way in advance (>1 year) if you want best stateroom/deck/location choice and often better (not necessarily best) price. You can benefit from a last minute (<60 days) booking if you don't care about stateroom type, location, or deck choice. I have found that if you book early and the price of your stateroom category goes down, you can the differences credited to your booking. The caveat has been that you won't get it if you already paid off the entire amount so there's somewhat of an advantage waiting until nearly the last day to pay it off.

Originally Posted by cruisefever

I usually advise to book way way in advance or last minute. Way in advance (>1 year) if you want best stateroom/deck/location choice and often better (not necessarily best) price. You can benefit from a last minute (<60 days) booking if you don't care about stateroom type, location, or deck choice. I have found that if you book early and the price of your stateroom category goes down, you can the differences credited to your booking. The caveat has been that you won't get it if you already paid off the entire amount so there's somewhat of an advantage waiting until nearly the last day to pay it off.

If a special is offered and your agent is able to get you a lower rate, it is not 'credited' to your booking. The rate is simply changed to reflect the new rate - there is no credit offered.

And as for specials offered after final payment is made, up until about 2 years ago we were able to still get the rate lowered on most cruise lines. Carnival, as usual, changed their policy and the rest followed suit. We use to be able to get the lower rate even the day before you cruised on RCCL, but alas, that's a thing of the past.

However, on some cruise lines if the rate goes down after final payment has been made, while we can't get the lower rate, we can sometimes still get them to either provide some onboard credit or a cabin upgrade. This is just another reason why it pays to be using an agent, because they can often get things from the cruise line the average passenger cannot get.

Pete

Does booking early have anything to do with getting onboard credit? I remember getting $50 OBC when I booked a 2013 cruise in August 2011.