B2B x 2, & best time to book.

Hi all, When would best price be had for a double B2B to Caribbean and what would be best time & way to obtain it.

Would like to compare against a 35 day P&O cruise.

Prefer to fly from Newcastle although Manchester or Leeds/ would be considered.

Might be best to visit a TA.

Use a cruise-specialist T/A and hunt the web for "cruise agents".

Don't rely on a Thomson T/A because they'll naturally want to push Marella.

 

If you can be flexible on your date, and are prepared to accept the disappointment of a given date selling-out, the best value by a long chalk is to book about 4 - 6 weeks out.

If it's a repeated itinerary (ie it sails the same itinerary several times over the winter) you can monitor prices and book when you see that a date or two has gone significantly up in price or has booked-out. The savings are many hundreds of pounds per person compared to early booking. I'll hazard a guess of a Caribbean cruise as cheap as £1000 pp for an outside cabin for 14 days including flights.

But that's risky if you're committed to specific dates.

And late availability may not be from your preferred airport - I get the impression that most late seats are from Gatwick, though I may be wrong.

 

Be aware that Marella prices fluctuate a little from week to week (I think they must use an automatic algorithm) so don't jump just because you see a price changing by a few pounds.

Also be aware that they mix price changes and drinks included/excluded, which tends to mask overall costings.

 

We've had some great last-minute deals on Thomson / Marella, we only booked quite early on one occasion because it was an itinerary we were particularly keen on - but that too was quite a bit cheaper closer to the date. :rolleyes:

 

Cheapest dates for the Caribbean are almost-always for sailings around the beginning of December, because folk are more interested in preparing for Christmas.

 

Whatever you pay, some jack-the-lad on the ship will proudly tell you that they got a better deal.

But when they tell me what they paid it's always turned out to be more than we did.

That's because I tell lies :D

 

Greatest of respect to Marella, they are very friendly ships and have great itineraries, but I rate P&O quite a bit better unless you get a bargain with Marella. Just MHO as always.

 

JB :)

Thanks John, Have already booked way back in March for Explorer in Feb for 14 days. Did it early as Newcastle flights are like Hens teeth for the Caribbean. Paid 31780 each for inside cabin AI, including extra legroom seats on a Dreamliner.

We can be flexible on dates and Airport. Manchester flights are more frequent, so if I want better prices on late availability, that might be the way to go. Would be worth the extra travel time if we save hundreds.

Thanks John, Have already booked way back in March for Explorer in Feb for 14 days. Did it early as Newcastle flights are like Hens teeth for the Caribbean. Paid 31780 each for inside cabin AI, including extra legroom seats on a Dreamliner.

We can be flexible on dates and Airport. Manchester flights are more frequent, so if I want better prices on late availability, that might be the way to go. Would be worth the extra travel time if we save hundreds.

 

Hopefully you simply failed to press the caps key for the £ sign :D

 

Yes, you should be able to do a fair bit better than that with a late booking for a second cruise, though for back-to-back have you checked their cruise-only prices for part 2?

 

We have mixed feelings about long cruise vs two or more shorter cruises, we've done both.

Yes, one long cruise avoids repeating all the booking and travel hassle but the travel isn't so bad with the pretty seamless transfers etc on a through-booked fly-cruise direct from a convenient airport, especially flying Dreamliner. And with a chartered fly-cruise we do feel that the flight is part of our holiday rather than a necessary chore.

But the longer the cruise the less time to take it all in and reflect on it - the "today's tuesday so it must be Grenada" syndrome. Repeated ports & menus & shows. Putting all your eggs in one basket - if there's a problem (illness, mechanical issues, something back home that requires cutting short, etc) it screws up "both" cruises. And it's only the one holiday, without another to look forward to.

Pros & cons.

 

JB :)

Hi all, When would best price be had for a double B2B to Caribbean and what would be best time & way to obtain it.

Would like to compare against a 35 day P&O cruise.

Prefer to fly from Newcastle although Manchester or Leeds/ would be considered.

 

You would probably have to book two seperate B2B ,the marella/tui system is very inflexible and its pretty impossible for anyone including TA's/Cruise specialist's to custom build ,there seems to be no way for manual intervention in the system, a prime example is trying to tag together a repo with the previous or immediately after week ,never found anyone that could do it.

If you did book two seperate B2B you would need to notify them that you would be a no show for two of the flights or you could turn up at the airport for the home flight to find you had been voided from the flight manifest. And dont expect to get any discount for the two unused flights...

Yes, my fingers had strayed....it should have been £1780. See what you mean about 2 hols perhaps being better than all your eggs in one basket.

Had 2 seperate "beach hols" in Jan and March this year and yes it's good to look forward to 2 holidays.

What's it like on a Dreamliner, will be our first time.

Dreamliner is great, bright and comfortable, can recommend premium, have noticed problems in rear of plane with extra legroom seats, some passengers taking short cuts!! Think I would recommend the central seats if you are a couple much more comfortable.

 

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Okavango - we did the Disc2 repositioning cruise from Montego Bay this April and the website offered the last week of the winter season to add to it with only 2 flights included Also we met a few couples who were staying on to Corfu after we docked in Palma who'd booked through a TA.

This April you can book on line Celebration from Barbados to Dubrovnik 21 days or add the last winter cruise to it for a 28 day cruise again only paying for 2 flights - check it out The extra week only cost us £400 each for a deluxe outside!! And AI !!!

Hi Lynda understand the month now sounds a good cruise we had given up the idea of Caribbean again because of the return flight but that looks a possibility for 2020. By the way, sad I know but, we always try to book cabin 218 great location, for us, and no noise from the lift.

 

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What's it like on a Dreamliner, will be our first time.

 

Yes, as the Pensioner says it's bright & comfortable.

Partly because the seatbacks seem to be smaller without spoiling the comfort (it's the same with coaches), and partly the decor.

And partly because of the much bigger windows.

All-in-all a very pleasant experience

 

Only downside, the wings flex upward to an amazing degree, they start to take off before the fuselage & it's quite unsettling:eek: - unless you understand that's what's supposed to happen :)

(check google images for photos in the air vs those on the ground)

 

JB :)

ps Vitalsign's repositioning cruise to Dubrovnik wouldn't suit us (too many sea-days) but repo's are always good value.

Never noticed the wings they have always been behind us!. However we do know that the extra comfort comes in part from flying at a greater altitude and speed.

 

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Okavango - we did the Disc2 repositioning cruise from Montego Bay this April and the website offered the last week of the winter season to add to it with only 2 flights included Also we met a few couples who were staying on to Corfu after we docked in Palma who'd booked through a TA.

This April you can book on line Celebration from Barbados to Dubrovnik 21 days or add the last winter cruise to it for a 28 day cruise again only paying for 2 flights - check it out The extra week only cost us £400 each for a deluxe outside!! And AI !!!

Good if they have upped their game BUT what you are refferring to are actually available on their website as a ready made package/option, what i was meaning if it's not available on the system there seems to be no way anyone can customise it for you ,even the TA's can only sell you what is available on the system.

What is extra cost to fly premium & what do you get to justify it?

What is extra cost to fly premium & what do you get to justify it?

It varies, £800 for both ways approx. Extra luggage, No1 lounge, fast track priority boarding, extra seat pitch, better food and beverages and best of all seating configuration is 2-3-2 so if you are a couple its far more comfortable [emoji6]. Lot extra if on a budget but so much better.

 

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Pensioncruiser - we always book 3... aft a deck below you but same deck as the laundry, one deck above from the rear sunbathing wing decks and Liberties - outside deluxe

Okavango I did mention the people who did our cruise and carried on to Corfu on my post but they only paid for 2 flights and it wasn't on the website because from Palma to Corfu was in the summer season brochure and the repositioning was in the winter season brochure but they got it via a TA

Is that £800 each, if so that's £40 per hour. At £1600 total, that's a long way towards another cruise!

Is that £800 each, if so that's £40 per hour. At £1600 total, that's a long way towards another cruise!

 

Irrelevant to the thread, but one big regret in my life was not taking the option to up-grade to fly Concorde to Barbados at £800 one-way. (IIRC it was £1300 to up-grade to Concorde for the flight back to Blighty).

Didn't know at the time that Concorde would go out of service a few years later.

That was decades ago - it would have doubled the holiday cost but of course it was very different to simply up-grading to premier economy.

I too would blanche at an extra £800 for premium economy.

Especially since I rate Dreamliner as a bit of an up-grade anyway :)

 

JB :)

Is that £800 each, if so that's £40 per hour. At £1600 total, that's a long way towards another cruise!

No sorry its for the two of us and it was Feb this year

 

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Dreamliner is great, bright and comfortable, can recommend premium, have noticed problems in rear of plane with extra legroom seats, some passengers taking short cuts!! Think I would recommend the central seats if you are a couple much more comfortable.

 

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Hi Pensioncruiser.

Not sure what you mean “ some passengers taking shortcuts “ surely they aren’t climbing over you to get to the other aisle??:o

Yes they are, staff do try to stop it.

 

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Wow that’s unbelievable!!!! Looks like it’s trays down, feet up for all of the flight.

 

As an aside I looked on the tui site to see how much it would cost to upgrade to premium one way Birmingham to Barbados in April thinking if it was a couple of hundred pounds each we would treat ourselves, it came out at six hundred and thirty pounds for the two of us, That’s pretty well the cost of one adult for a week in the canaries in January. Talk about taking the Pee.

 

Keep well.

Yes I do note that premium is becoming very expensive, personally I would not travel any other way just wish they had it on short and medium flights but can fully understand why some would never pay the extra, and realise but we are lucky in that respect. Probably the same with cabins do you go inside or suite? As I have said in the past you go with what suits.

 

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My wife and ma in law have been taking cruise holidays for years, I am recently retired and started going on cruise hols with my wife. We have been in inside cabins and then outside cabins and now we have progressed to balcony cabins. on the eariier trips inside was ok then we move up to outside and are saying"this is better" now Balcony is king. Its a bit of a reflection on life as we always seem to want better.

Maybe suite next ? who knows.

I realised it had gone up but just dug my paperwork out for this year and it was actuall £728 for out/return for us both.

 

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