Newbie looking for Booking Advice for 2015

[CC71]

Hello, I'm new to the site so please be gentle :o

 

We have only been on one previous cruise, 2011 on the Azura, the cruise was booked early as it was for my parents Golden wedding Anniversary and as there were 10 in our family group we wanted to be sure we could get cabins on the same deck etc. My husband and I would like to book a cruise (Eastern Med) for next year and I was wondering if there were any other advantages to booking early other than getting our choice of accommodation and date? Having looked at the way the offers are currently, it seems better to wait as the OBC seems to increase or they offer incentives such as the current M & S one for later bookers?

 

Advice from seasoned P & O cruisers most gratefully recieved :).

[jeanlyon]

If you book early, you generaly get OBC, or parking or both. Also you get your choice of dinner time, early or late. If you wait, you need to wait until nearer the end when the prices will drop if the cruise is not full.

[daiB]

Hello, I'm new to the site so please be gentle :o

 

 

 

We have only been on one previous cruise, 2011 on the Azura, the cruise was booked early as it was for my parents Golden wedding Anniversary and as there were 10 in our family group we wanted to be sure we could get cabins on the same deck etc. My husband and I would like to book a cruise (Eastern Med) for next year and I was wondering if there were any other advantages to booking early other than getting our choice of accommodation and date? Having looked at the way the offers are currently, it seems better to wait as the OBC seems to increase or they offer incentives such as the current M & S one for later bookers?

 

 

 

Advice from seasoned P & O cruisers most gratefully recieved :).

 

 

Booking advice is the same as ever, book early or book late not in the middle. Early is within a couple of weeks of the first day of booking.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[pete14]

The current M&S promotion is not for later bookers. Nor was the OBC one it has replaced. It is available for selected cruises well into next year and is only for select fares and not saver ones. Who knows how low prices will go as cruises get nearer. Advice to book early or late if choice of cabin etc is not important to you is the best you will get.

[CC71]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I am tempted to book early if we can get some form of OBC as we would like to pick our cabin as we are hoping for a suite ( price permitting) and we have some restrictions on when we can travel. Hoping for a fly cruise on Oceana if the itinerary is good. :)

[tom_uk]

Is that a fly-cruise you're looking at, or an ex-Southampton cruise?

 

My feeling is that 'repeat' cruises, where the itinerary is the same week after week, are the one that will be slow to sell, so the price may go down. Cruises with more usual itineraries e.g. the 17-night E Med cruises from Southampton, may attract more custom so prices are more likely to rise as the booking season continues. But that's just my guess.

 

The other big thing to be aware of is that the rules for Eastern Med cruises change next year: larger ships (> 96,000 tons) will be prohibited from Venice altogether. So Ventura, Azura and Britannia will *not* be able to go to Venice. As a result of that, it's thought that Oceana will be doing the Mediterranean fly-cruises in 2015. We don't know which ships will be doing the (typically) 17-night Eastern/Central Med cruises from Southampton in 2015, but if they want to go into Venice then they will only be able use Aurora, Oriana, Arcadia and Adonia.

[CC71]

Is that a fly-cruise you're looking at, or an ex-Southampton cruise?

 

My feeling is that 'repeat' cruises, where the itinerary is the same week after week, are the one that will be slow to sell, so the price may go down. Cruises with more usual itineraries e.g. the 17-night E Med cruises from Southampton, may attract more custom so prices are more likely to rise as the booking season continues. But that's just my guess.

 

The other big thing to be aware of is that the rules for Eastern Med cruises change next year: larger ships (> 96,000 tons) will be prohibited from Venice altogether. So Ventura, Azura and Britannia will *not* be able to go to Venice. As a result of that, it's thought that Oceana will be doing the Mediterranean fly-cruises in 2015. We don't know which ships will be doing the (typically) 17-night Eastern/Central Med cruises from Southampton in 2015, but if they want to go into Venice then they will only be able use Aurora, Oriana, Arcadia and Adonia.

 

Thanks for your reply, we are looking for a fly- cruise hopefully to include Venice, Dubrovnik etc. Really looking forward to see what the new itineraries are for 2015, not too long to wait now...