When to book for the lowest price??

[lilchopper68]

I'm looking to book for a cruise in May which is only a few weeks away. There have been sales so the price has been decreasing but will it go down again during the month it departs? Also I noticed there are still quite a bit of rooms available. Would that help decrease it during the month of May if the ship still needs more people to go? I'm nervous to book now and then when May comes around, the price is even lower.

[CruiserBruce]

Nobody will be able to tell you if the price is going down any more. Or whether it will raise.

 

Curious how you know there are lots of rooms available. You can get some ideas from the Internet, but generally that is private company info not available to the public. Even to travel agents.

 

Assuming you don't have flight scheduling issues? You could easily lose all your cruise savings on high last minute airfares.

 

If you want to go on the cruise, book it!!

Edited April 14, 2014 by CruiserBruce

[trinaM]

I'm looking to book for a cruise in May which is only a few weeks away. There have been sales so the price has been decreasing but will it go down again during the month it departs? Also I noticed there are still quite a bit of rooms available. Would that help decrease it during the month of May if the ship still needs more people to go? I'm nervous to book now and then when May comes around, the price is even lower.

 

Isn't It like airlines supply and demand, It goes up and down according to the cruiselines?

[paul929207]

It will all depend on how the ship is selling. If they are nearly full, the price will rise. So it depends on how flexible you are.

[Roamin' Catholic]

This post deals with RCI alone as I understand other cruise lines have a set of rules for each one.

 

I would like to let this experience be known to all. RCI, after final payment has been made, does not offer a refund of any sort or any on board credit if the cruise fare drops. An up grade is the only offering should this happen.

 

This is what we learned having booked a cruise in 01 of 2014, made final payment and then found a RCI published fare that was much lower. The cruise line stood by their policy. No refund nor credit as the final payment had been made. I do not know when the cruise fare was lowered. It could have been before our fianl payment due date (set by RCI)

or before. Just don't know.

 

The only alternative was to cancel the cruise, take the penalty and re-book the same cruise . That was the only method to recoup some spent funds, less the penalty imposed by RCI.

 

We have written to RCI and expressed our displeasure with this experience. For us, it's experiences like this that take the fun out of travel.

 

So, be savvy don't make the final payment any day sooner than you need to and know the rules/policies in advance.

[Johndoe813]

That right there is the reason that i never pay my cruise off until the last day that i have to so that i can take advantage of price drops or other offers RCI has during the period before my cruise.

[debfew]

Actually, the final payment is set by the cruise line and has nothing to do with when you pay off the cruise. Usually the final payment date is 75 days prior to sailing. After that date, you can't get a refund is the price drops. But prior to that date you can. Even if you paid off the cruise they will give you a refund back to your credit card.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We book asap and watch it ....

[olya1972]

Does anybody have an experience with booking Grandure for February, Presidents' week out of Baltimore? It is 9 months away. Are we likely to get better rates if we wait till December/January or does this ship usually gets sold out for that week? We need two cabins, one of them balcony and the second one inside or OV which can accommodate three people.

[Voyagr]

We book a year in advance and make final payment when required by the cruise line. This way we get the cabin WE want and the location WE want. Our TA watches for price drops, upgrades or new incentives so we never miss an opportunity for price breaks, although booking a year in advance almost always gets us the best price for what WE want. This also leaves plenty of time to shop Air.

 

Tom

[olya1972]

Thank you, Tom. I will book on Monday.

[Hockeymomof3girls]

We are new to cruising and just returned from our first cruise on Carnival Splendor during April vacation. I noticed that RCI has sale now and we are contemplating booking for April 2015. Is there a chance that more departures will be added for that week? Should I take advantage of this sale or wait to book later? We live in Maine and need to find a cruise that will depart from a port that we can drive to: NYC, Baltimore... During April 17th-26th? Please advise. Thanks!

 

 

 

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