UK Summer Season Price Query

[sotonjoe]

Forgive the repost if you will, but I thought I'd give this a try in here where there seems to be a few posters who are familiar with the UK market. The 'Save Money' forum where I originally posted seems to be full of American posters worrying about how to smuggle booze on board ship ;)

 

Anyway, if you could read the my original quoted post below and offer any advice, I'd be very grateful.

 

Hi there,

 

I'd appreciate it if somebody who knows the UK cruise market in some detail could advise me with regards the following price dilemna.

 

Basically, my wife and I went on our first cruise last year and got what I thought was a good price at the time. We went on Independence of the Seas from Southampton during the summer school holidays for two weeks and paid £1199 per person for a balcony cabin. I booked on 30th June for a 1st August departure.

 

We loved it and set our hearts on doing a similar 14 night journey from Southampton this summer. However, since we don't have endless supplies of money I need to my best to secure a good deal. The aim was originally to wait till approx four weeks before departure as we did last year.

 

Therefore, I'm playing the waiting game and hoping to secure a similar cruise for a similar price, but with the slight worry of missing out altogether I wondered how realistic I'm being with regards to trying to get something for that price again.

 

So essentially, I wondered if there's anyone out there who has seen summer cruise prices from the UK for enough years to know how likely it is to be able to get what I'm after for the same sort of price. Was last year a 'cheap' year that may have given me an unrealistic idea of what could be achieved deal-wise?

 

You see, I passed up the opportunity in January to book two weeks on Celebrity Eclipse with a balcony for £1399 per person with some onboard credit, but I'm now thinking that was a pretty good deal.

 

Right now I could book two weeks on Grand Princess for £1475 a person with $400 of onboard credit.

 

So, what are my chances guys? Am I playing too much of a risky game here?

[RJChatsworth]

In my experiece booking a long time ahead, as soon as the brochures come out, is often the best bet with popular cruises. The deals and on-board credit given out are usually quite good. Very late bookings are sometimes quite good as well but 4 weeks ahead can be a bit of a no-man's land with high prices if the ship is full. Some of the best deals I've had are booking on-board because they often give additional good discounts and on-board credit. I have often found cunard good at this and they give an additional 5% after you have been with them once. Similarly. P&O gives an additional 5% off their Portunus Club prices.

 

The other thing I do is ring Cunard and P&O, see what the cabin availability is and their current prices, and then phone my agent who gives an additional 10% discount. Booking on-board they'll pass my bookings over to my agent so that I get the additional 10%.

 

I hope this helps.

[sotonjoe]

Thanks for that advice.