RandoCalrissian

On 4/19/2019 at 5:19 PM, GSP-parents said:

For instance, how would you search for the lowest priced vista suites in a 6 to 13 night round trip cruise during the first six months of 2020 from a U.S. port?

 

 

These are the cheapest per-day suites (Vista, Signature, Neptune), including port fees, for the first half of 2020.  They start around $200 per day, double occupancy.

04/15/2020    Maasdam    San Diego     12    Vista
04/03/2020    Maasdam    San Diego     12    Vista
04/18/2020    Oosterdam    San Diego     7    Signature
03/07/2020    Oosterdam    San Diego     7    Signature
03/14/2020    Oosterdam    San Diego     7    Signature
01/11/2020    Oosterdam    San Diego     7    Signature
01/04/2020    Oosterdam    San Diego     7    Signature
02/29/2020    Oosterdam    San Diego     7    Signature
01/12/2020    Nieuw Statendam    Fort Lauderdale     7    Vista
01/05/2020    Nieuw Statendam    Fort Lauderdale     7    Vista
01/26/2020    Nieuw Statendam    Fort Lauderdale     7    Vista

The NS ones in January are also available as 14 day collectors for about the same price.

Princess Panama Canal cruises on multiple ships, this month and next, are around $100/day + tax (higher than usual from Canal). Either FL to CA or back (15 days) or FL roundtrip with partial transit (10 days).

Quark Flash Sale has 50% savings on 5 antarctic cruises in November 2017 & January 2018 and 40% off another 5 in December 2017 & January 2018. Sale runs through October 6th, including their solo cabins.

https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/en/about-us/ways-to-save/consumer/antarctic-2017-flash-sale

Thanks. Looks like repositioning cruises only. Hope they have something else sometimes

A couple of months ago they had a few 7 and 14 day cruises around the Indian ocean (India, Sri Lanka, somewhere else I can't remember). 7 days one way or 14 days round trip. UKP 350 or 400 for a couple of the 7 day ones. I think they were booking a month or two in advance.

Comes and goes, I guess.

Could you give me the link to the Costa "no-supplement cruise list"?

Gladly. Go to the link underneath from the Costa website and click the zero-supplement box under limited time offers.

http://www.costacruises.co.uk/gb/offers-cruises/index.html

People are friendly everywhere I've been, but if the age is a big consideration for you, I'd suggest you pick a line and ports that tend to be on the younger side.

I'd look at Caribbean or Mexico, maybe Europe. Alaska is a bit older overall, but if you like nature it's a great place to kayak, hike, etc. and you'll get a younger group of people doing those kind of tours.

The more cost-conscious lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian normally have a younger crowd. If you're set on 14 days, you also might get a younger crowd if you did two 7 day cruises back to back, since it's harder to get away for two weeks when you're in your 20s.

If you don't really care too much where you go, wait for a last-minute deal on Norwegian where they drop the supplement completely.

For Costa, have you looked at their UK website? Unlike the US version, the no-supplement cruise list actually has some shown, though they aren't always zero.

For Holland America, I find the shorter ones are normally double supplement for solos, while the 3+ week ones have a somewhat reduced supplement. For example, the 24 day Westerdam starting August 15th has a nice set of ports in the eastern Med and is 75% supplement for inside and OV.

If you care more about out-of-pocket cost than supplement % on HA, the cruise plum search engine can help, but you'll have to go somewhere else to book since it's a fan site not a travel agent.

Hi,

PS. The last time I look on CruisePlum the solo cruises were $500 a day for Crystal and $450 a day for Carnival, it is not worth just a $50 saving.

If you haven't already, I suggest you check out the 1 person "hot deals". The supplement %s might be higher, but the daily prices can be lower. As calliopecruiser says, there are $400 p.d. options on Crystal.

Not a world cruise, but I met a guy doing a transatlantic + central America who had a dental problem while crossing. The front desk helped him get an appointment with a dentist close to the port at the breakpoint in Houston.

I know the prices for studios were great in the past but that's no longer the case. I've sailed in the studios 3 times with the prices ranging from $599-$8499 plus taxes. Those prices no longer exist and I feel NCL has priced themselves out. Those tiny cabins DEFINITELY aren't worth almost $2000 for a 7 day cruise. The cheapest studio available for the next 12 months is $1340 plus taxes and fees! I cruised solo with Carnival when the had the 150% singles supplement, then switched to NCL when they had great prices for the studios. Now it's back to Carnival for my solo cruises. No brand loyalty here!

I agree with you that the studios aren't the deal they used to be. But it's not as bad as you make it out, IMO. There are lots of options for 2018-2019 at the $849 or less mark for a week on Epic or Bliss. Breakaway has 10 & 11 days at about the same price per day in early 2019.

There are even a few for 2017.

Epic 11/18, 11/25, 12/2, 12/9, 12/16 (Orlando $749 or $799), 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29 (Barcelona $799).

Breakaway 3/26 (NY $799).

A bunch more between $899 and $999 on Breakaway, Getaway and Escape.

I just booked the September 17th 2017 sailing of the Crown Princess, 7 nights rt. New York to Canada and New England. $973 total interior cabin, with $150 obc from Princess and $50 obc from my TA. That price reflects a less than zero single supplement (-11%).

It's now 5 days later and the current price is $1,998!!! :eek: Yikes!

It's baaack. On the princess site.

Christmas 2016 + New Year 2017 in South America

Norwegian Sun 14 day roundtrip from Buenos Aires. From Dec 23rd to Jan 6th. The standard guarantees are the cheapest at $799 (inside), $899 (oceanview), $999 (balcony) but I think the BD-class balcony at $1329 is the best deal since it comes with two perks.

The free tips promo is available, but an email I got from Norwegian says the current round of promos is going away tomorrow. It's worth almost $200, making your other included perk cost about $140 vs. the guarantee balcony.

Taxes are $483 for all of these.

Be aware of the Brazil visa requirement and lead times if you need one.

P.S. also comes with the $100 OBC for Cyber Monday.

Trying to book Grandeur of the Seas (RCI). It says it's $525 per person and listed at this price solo elsewhere. When I try to book it charges me the (much, much) higher rate listed for picking a cabin. Anyone else had an experience like this? Did they just forget to change the price on the web site?

I tried to book it yesterday and got nowhere. It didn't show up on the first page of the rccl site for me, but did on the second page. Though the final booking page had a much higher price.

I tried a bunch of TAs as well, but didn't get anywhere. Probably a rccl bug.

The Royal Princess sole rate as stated above, I booked and deposited several days ago. I received a call late yesterday that it was a mistake on there part and I had to pay full price on balcony, but would up grade to min suite with some on broad credit. This would cost me over $l,000 dollars. They accepted my deposit but would not honor rate. They said the fine print gives them this right I am an elite with Princess, but that does not make any difference. This being said no matter what price you think you have, they can change. I just needed to blow off a little stream.

Did you book directly or use a travel agent?

If you used a travel agent, was it the agent that called, or Princess?

Celebrity Millennium Japan and South Korea all out of Shanghai, all around the $100/day mark for insides, $110/day for oceanviews, $140-150/day for balconies (incl tax). Other cabin classes cheap too, but not for all dates.

Sept 29th, 6 days, 3 ports along Honshu's northern coast in Japan.

Oct 5th, 4 days, Jeju (SK) and Kagoshima (Japan).

Oct 9th, 7 days, Busan (SK) and 2 ports on Hokkaido in Japan. Ends in Tokyo.

Combine them all for a 17 day adventure (no port repeats other than Shanghai).

Can you be more cryptic? :confused:

As Lois wrote, I want to be a respectful guest in CC's house, and they've asked us not to name travel agents. Simultaneously I was, and still am, trying to be helpful to you.

This is the first google result for "list of public travel agencies":

http://investsnips.com/list-of-publicly-traded-travel-and-vacation-companies/

There are three service providers listed. One has had William Shatner as a spokesman for many years. Another is the parent company of Cruise Critic, so I'd have no problem mentioning them by name. Thus, you're left with one (or two, if you don't know the Shatner reference - but that's also an easy google).

What is plum?

The plum is cruise plum - it's a fan site. It's got that rare search engine that works for one person.

I'm not surprised you're having trouble finding Carnival deals. They haven't had anything good for over a year and I've gone over to other lines.

Have you tried the plum search engine for one person? It doesn't have all the lines, but I can sort by price per day for those it does support. Carnival is there.

There's also a big online travel agency that's listed on the Nasdaq and is not the one with William Shatner as spokesman. Their US site doesn't have a one person search engine, but their Canadian one does. Take off 20% or so to get from Canadian to US dollars these days.

RCCL Explorer of the Seas 9/23/16 Pacific Northwest is $707 + taxes for an inside

Now down to $555 + tax for the 9/16 and 9/23 sailings, as seen on royalcaribbean.com. Oceanview $692 + tax.

Has anyone rum across any 1-week NCL studio cabins sub $1000, meaning you don't have to buy the "free" perk, lately? I'm pretty sure I saw some at the (to me) reasonable $800, $850ish price point, instead of the "free at sea" price point ($1200-$1300) but I can't remember which ship.

I don't know what site you're looking at, but the plum's search engine lists about 20 NCL Epic studios for $749 or $799/week.

I checked two of them against the Norwegian site (7 days from Orlando leaving November 26th '16 or December 2nd '17). The prices matched and had the UBP bennie included.

HAL is offering now low solo supplements (approx. 20% and more depending on cabin) for some cruises in July/August in Europe:

 

17 Jul - Eurodam (12 nights) - to/from Venice (East Mediterranean)

 

23 Jul - Oosterdam (12 nights) - from Civitaveccia to Venice (East Mediterranean)

 

4 Aug - Oosterdam (12 nights) - from Venice to Civitaveccia (East Mediterranean)

 

6 Aug - Eurodam (16 nights) - from Barcelona to Venice (West and Middle Mediterranean)

 

16 Aug - Oosterdam (12 nights) - from Civitaveccia to Barcelona (West Mediterranean)

 

22 Aug - Eurodam (12 nights) - to/from Venice (East Mediterranean)

 

Also low supplements on:

August 9th - Zuiderdam 12 nights roundtrip Copenhagen

September 27th - Eurodam 12 nights roundtrip Venice

October 10th - Oosterdam 12 nights Rome to Barcelona

October 12th - Koningsdam 12 nights roundtrip Rome

i cant find this ??

I saw it on princess.com yesterday, but I really wanted a roundtrip. I slept on it and the ship was sold out when I looked this morning.

You may not consider a Scandinavia, Russia, Iceland and Greenland cruise to be long enough or exotic enough, but Holland America's Zuiderdam has a 29 day Copenhagen to New York leaving this August with a 25% supplement. It's about $5600 including taxes for an inside, or just under $200 a day. OV, balconies and suites also 25% supplement.

There's also the Emerald Princess 48 day leaving this September 28th from London, ending in Sydney going through the Suez Canal for about $8600 with tax (inside), and is about the same per day as the Zuiderdam. The 41 and 46 day sailings from London are sold out so there may not be that many cabins available.

Holland America Oosterdam, 12 days, June 17 from Venice to Rome, $874 gty inside or $936 pick your cabin. Also $999 oceanview or pickable obstructed for same price but I only saw one available on the deck plan (4117) so it might be almost sold out.

Continue for another 12 days on the Oosterdam from Rome to Barcelona. $999 gty inside or $1061 pickable, or oceanview for $1124 (gty or select your own obstructed).

Any suggestions for hotels in this area? Or hotels to avoid? Or a better area to stay in?

I'm no expert, but I've gone out of Miami a couple of times. Once I stayed at an airport hotel for much less than a city hotel and took a cab to the port. The cab from the airport was only a few dollars more than a cruiseline transfer for 1. I used public transit to spend a day in Miami Beach from this hotel, and that was easy to do.

The other time I used one of P____line or H__wire (don't remember which) to get the Miami Intercontinental (overlooks the port and is within walking distance of Bayside) at a big discount to the posted rates. It's been a while since I've been a regular user of either of those sites, so I don't know if there's a better place to look, but I've used betterbidding to "decipher" what hotel I'm actually being offered by those two opaque hotel sites.

Transportation - is the rail a realistic option? I'll just have one sturdy rolling bag and a backpack and can manage lifting, etc.

I used rail for the Intercontinental with the same amount of bags as you. The hotel is basically right across the street from a monorail stop, and I'd do it again (both the hotel, and rail from the airport to the hotel).

Alaska last minute, Norwegian Jewel 7 days roundtrip Seattle leaving May 7th.

All guarantees, with a couple of notable upgrades.

Inside: $499

Oceanview: $549 (obstructed for $30 more)

Balcony: $699 (BD on deck 8 for $50 more)

Mini Suite: $849

$218.41 tax