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Any benefit to paying of cruise earlier?


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I've always just paid for cruises upfront, but I've never really booked them that far out. Our next cruise is not until Jan 2019 on Carnival. I managed to get enough discounted gift cards from AARP (10% off) and plan to use those to pay for both cabins we booked. Is there any reason I should wait to pay off the balance. I have until November 2018 to pay. The gift cards don't expire.

 

Thanks!

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The only benefit would be having it over and done with. If you already have the gift cards might as well get it over with since the money is spent anyway (just a note that if you end up cancelling the refund will be in the form of Carnival gift cards).

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One small reason why you might opt to pay early: IF you're paying with a cruise-line credit card, you're earning points that might be traded in for OBC. Paying early might allow you to "cash in" more OBC for your trip, whereas if you wait 'til the last minute, your points might not be credited to your account in time to "cash in".

 

Personally, I "set my bills to pay" with online banking ... and I always set them to pay a day ahead; call it paranoia, if you like, but I never pay anything late or incur late fees! I set cruises to pay a week ahead just to be safe. The cruise lines don't always show the best business sense, and I feel more safe giving them a few extra days to "credit" my account -- and that means I can check online and "see" that all is well. Should I have to do this? No, but it's easier to pay a week ahead and head off trouble.

 

If you take money out of your savings account and pay your bill months ahead of time, you're really not losing a lot of money in terms of interest.

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