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How far in advance do cruises fill up?


hlsess
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Best advice is to book well in advance. There is a price change guarantee until 121 days out (I think that's the latest policy) and you can decide to not go with only $50 pp fee. That way you get ship and cabin you want. As for Greece, ship is small so it's not surprising that they were sold out.

 

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We booked 2 x 7day B2B cruises on Windsurf in the Caribbean a few weeks ago when they reduced the price, those cruises are not yet sold out 3 weeks before sailing but the prices have gone up 50% from what we paid.

 

I guess its finding that sweet spot when there is still availability but the prices are as low as they will ever be,

 

We like booking just after final payment is due, that's when the line knows if they have a lot of vacant cabins and may reduce the prices, then they sell quite a few and put the price back up again.

 

Guess it depends how much you want a particular cabin and date and itinerary. If you are specific on all 3 then you just have to book early.

 

 

I should say this is not Windstar specific , we have not yet had our first Windstar cruise, that is coming up soon and we are quite excited.

 

After 71 cruises on Princess we have grown a little disenchanted with them,

 

 

 

Off topic but we cruised Greek Islands recently and found you could buy Z Pack and other useful antibiotics at dirt cheap prices in Greek pharmacies, and no prescription required. Quite a handy thing to have in your bag on a cruise. $5 a course or so.

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We are boarding the Star Pride today. We booked this cruise exactly one year ago. At that time the drink package was included as well as a large OBC (25% of what we paid for the cruise). Just for curiosity sake, I like to check monthly on the current offers. Never have I seen the included drink package or large OBC offered again for this sailing. The cost has only gone up. Our policy for any cruise line is to book as far out as possible.

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What is the best thing to do with the OBC? Can you use it in the casino and cash out the winnings if there are any? Excursions? Photos? Gratuities?

You won't be buying drinks as you have the package.

Is there any easy way to see what cruises they are offering with the drinks package included?

 

I just went on line to a website and they currently list Wind Star from around $5k per 7 days for Greek Islands in June. No perks mentioned.

You'd think they could throw in the drinkies for that much.

Seems like a lot to me but then I am not a seasoned WS cruiser.

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I have never been on a Windstar cruise with photos for sale. If you purchase OBC, you may use it for anything.

 

I haven’t seen a drink package promotion for a long time.

 

IMO, $5k is too much. I paid half of that last year for a Greek cruise on Wind Star and got a free drink package. The week I booked was the lowest price, and it just went up from there. Of course, prices in the past are no indicator of what future prices will be.

 

I usually only book during a great promotion/sale and am willing to wait. Never care what cabin I have.

Edited by 6rugrats
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I have never been on a Windstar cruise with photos for sale. If you purchase OBC, you may use it for anything.

 

I haven’t seen a drink package promotion for a long time.

 

IMO, $5k is too much. I paid half of that last year for a Greek cruise on Wind Star and got a free drink package. The week I booked was the lowest price, and it just went up from there. Of course, prices in the past are no indicator of what future prices will be.

 

I usually only book during a great promotion/sale and am willing to wait. Never care what cabin I have.

Interesting. We've had photographer on boad every time we've been on Surf and 3 motor yachts. Bought the best picture of us ever on the Surf. Maybe some OBC's can be used for casino and gratuities but mine have always been excluded. Possibly the reception manager's discretion. How was Greece? It's on our list. Maybe 2019 2020.

 

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SB44 Greece was wonderful, we started in Athens, went to Chios, Rodos, Santorini, Kotor in Montenegro, Dubrovnik in Croatia, Venice, Messina, Rome, Naples, not in that order. Probably other places I don't remember, it was 2 weeks.

 

We were on Pacific Princess, probably the least offensive of the Princess fleet. 700 passengers if full.

No I know its not Windstar but it was less than a quarter of the cost.

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There are many Greek cruises for this summer that aren’t sold out.

It is for a specific week bc I’ll be on a family trip in Italy and a friend was going to meet me but it’s booked. May book for next year now

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SB44, Greece was our first Windstar cruise, and we were hooked. It is one of our favorite cruises. We were on Wind Star, and loved the small ship. Santorini is beautiful. Be sure and ride the donkeys up the hill. We paid way less than that, but it was in 2010. Definitely put it on your "to do list".

Carron

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The price goes up as the cruises fill. Watch for the weekly 7 for 7 specials as Sometimes they can be quite good.

 

Sometimes it goes down first. My cruise coming in May had a very good price on 7 for 7 in early December - low enough that I looked into switching to the lowest price balcony category. balcony. The only balconies available in the category were a few most forward. Since part of the cruise is a Pacific crossing, I decided to stick with my midship window.

 

I think the prices were low because there wasn't much cabin choice left. Now the cruise is call for availability in many categories.

 

It will be interesting to see if it stays that way next month when final payment is due.

 

If you have the flexibility, you might check back on the Greek cruise around final payment.

 

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