do you book a year out? or more?

[Sunburns]

This is the first time I booked this far in advance. Last time was only about 6 months early and the first was only a few weeks. How soon should I start looking for price drops? How soon will the full list of excursions be listed? There are a few, but nothing for HMC yet. I don't want to miss getting a cabana!

[gtalum]

I have, but these days there is no advantage to booking so early unless you want a specific hard to get cabin. Carnival seems intent on screwing those who book early. Fine, then, I'll keep my money longer. :D

 

The full list of excursions will be available a few months before booking. There's probably no benefit to booking those too far in advance either.

[Sparky2]

This is the first time I booked this far in advance. Last time was only about 6 months early and the first was only a few weeks. How soon should I start looking for price drops? How soon will the full list of excursions be listed? There are a few, but nothing for HMC yet. I don't want to miss getting a cabana!

 

We sail B2B the last 2 weeks of January. Since FCC are no longer available to buy, we book next year's cruise while on current cruise. Therefore, almost one year in advance.

 

Price drops can pop up anytime. There's no specific time to start watching. On one of the cruises we booked last January, we received our first price drop in April. Keep checking because you never know.

 

I can't answer your question about shore excursions. There are only a few listed so far for our January 2015 B2B. I have no idea when more will be listed.

[seeing this world]

yes i book out as early as possible, I get to really pick the room i want and pay it off monthly :D. Excursions --- i have not once ever bought a Carnival excursion, I do all my research here and trip advisor and not had one bad excursion.. I book them early enough and get the tour guide i like. I had price drops on our Alaskan cruise but did not see those for about 8 months before we left. I am booked on the Bermuda cruise for next year and i only have seen the price go up and up. I am happy with the price i paid and thrilled that i did not wait till now to book it.

[Sparky2]

I have, but these days there is no advantage to booking so early unless you want a specific hard to get cabin. Carnival seems intent on screwing those who book early. Fine, then, I'll keep my money longer. :D

 

The full list of excursions will be available a few months before booking. There's probably no benefit to booking those too far in advance either.

 

I don't understand your comment about "screwing those who book early".

[Taters]

We've booked anywhere from 6 weeks to a year and a half in advance. When we see an itinerary we like at a price we feel is reasonable, we book!

[winddawn]

These days the best deals come close to sail date, so I do not book early anymore unless I want a specific cabin which is rare or if I'm going to HMC and want a cabana. It doesn't pay to book early saver anymore because Carnival has gotten creative with its sales lately offering only guarantee cabins that you can't match to early saver. So I'm better off keeping my money and then getting a last minute deal.

[momof4boys]

We always book early except this last cruise which was booked 6 weeks out. I love all the dreaming and planning that goes along with the cruise.

 

We often book 4-6 rooms and want to pick where we are in relation to each other and it is much easier to do early. So port of embarkation.....ports of call, and departure date is most important to us. Then getting rooms close by everyone else is next important.

 

I don't really worry about price reductions....if I get any then that's a plus but I book at a price I am happy with so whatever happens....happens.

[IPlayWithString]

I wish we could.

[Sunburns]

We always book early except this last cruise which was booked 6 weeks out. I love all the dreaming and planning that goes along with the cruise.

 

We often book 4-6 rooms and want to pick where we are in relation to each other and it is much easier to do early. So port of embarkation.....ports of call, and departure date is most important to us. Then getting rooms close by everyone else is next important.

 

I don't really worry about price reductions....if I get any then that's a plus but I book at a price I am happy with so whatever happens....happens.

 

Same here, I love the dreaming and planning. We booked early this time so I can have a better chance of getting FTTF, a cabana at HMC, and for our group to have cabins together so we can open the balconies up. That way the smokers can stay close to the middle and maybe not bother the neighbors so much. If I don't get a reduction, I am fine with that, but I want it if I can get it. I am the only one in my group that cares about the itinerary so I picked it. The rest are first timers except DH.

OH, that reminds me, What is this referral GC all about? will I get one for bringing my friends along?

[Sunburns]

yes i book out as early as possible, I get to really pick the room i want and pay it off monthly :D. Excursions --- i have not once ever bought a Carnival excursion, I do all my research here and trip advisor and not had one bad excursion.. I book them early enough and get the tour guide i like. I had price drops on our Alaskan cruise but did not see those for about 8 months before we left. I am booked on the Bermuda cruise for next year and i only have seen the price go up and up. I am happy with the price i paid and thrilled that i did not wait till now to book it.

 

I have never bought an excursion before. This is the first time I am doing it for the cabana (we all fry in the sun and our friends will melt without a fan!). In the past I have just done my own research and planned all my own touring in ports. Some islands are so easy I don't know why people pay.

[Sunburns]

We sail B2B the last 2 weeks of January. Since FCC are no longer available to buy, we book next year's cruise while on current cruise. Therefore, almost one year in advance.

 

Price drops can pop up anytime. There's no specific time to start watching. On one of the cruises we booked last January, we received our first price drop in April. Keep checking because you never know.

 

I can't answer your question about shore excursions. There are only a few listed so far for our January 2015 B2B. I have no idea when more will be listed.

 

When I was 'new' I didn't understand all the uproar over the FCC's, but now that I have been around a while, I know now! I wish they were still available, too! Thanks for the info!!!

[Sunburns]

I have, but these days there is no advantage to booking so early unless you want a specific hard to get cabin. Carnival seems intent on screwing those who book early. Fine, then, I'll keep my money longer. :D

 

The full list of excursions will be available a few months before booking. There's probably no benefit to booking those too far in advance either.

 

I prefer to book later so we can comfortably pay in full and have it done with the price drops already applied. This time we just put a deposit and its going to drive me nuts having that balance out there hahaha! Thanks for the info :)

[bar1068]

I have, but these days there is no advantage to booking so early unless you want a specific hard to get cabin. Carnival seems intent on screwing those who book early. Fine, then, I'll keep my money longer. :D

 

The full list of excursions will be available a few months before booking. There's probably no benefit to booking those too far in advance either.

 

Hmmmm.....I can't buy into this "screwing logic" either...Especially not now. We're booked on the Pride repo cruise next March...booked shortly after it was announced this past February...in part to get a cabin type that goes quickly, but also because my spidey sense told be this cruise would be popular. So..booked in March for around $900pp......Book today in a cabin type slightly below what we have already booked....over $1500...So...if thats screwing me for booking early...so be it.

[tncap]

I booked one for next year almost 500 days out because a) the room category I booked will not have a price drop and; b) our group decided as a whole which ship/date/itinerary to book for next year.

[amcjeep4life]

This is the second cruise booked well more than a year away. It's a long wait, but sometimes life gets in the way.

[Sunburns]

This is the second cruise booked well more than a year away. It's a long wait, but sometimes life gets in the way.

 

I'm counting on that because it is so hard to wait!! I am a full time college student and will be very busy from the end of August till one week before we leave!! I am sure I will really appreciate having this to look forward to and help me stay motivated.

[ibcnusoon]

I usually book a year out but this time we booked in February for June (free cruise) and the prices are even amazingly low(er) right now.

 

I will NEVER book that far in advance again and will wait until after the ship's final payment date to book, esspecially since Carnival has gotten creative with early saver. I can still dream and plan, just that I will have all that money in MY pocket and not the cruise lines.

 

And I'm not a fan of FTTF, don't care about specific cabins, so it's a win-win!

[092306]

We usually book at least a year as DH has to select his vacation weeks for the coming year right at the end of the previous. Sometimes we get price drops, but not always. For our upcoming cruise we booked in October and some excursions showed up, but the cabanas weren't listed until Feb/March. Just have to keep checking.

[gtalum]

I don't understand your comment about "screwing those who book early".

 

The best fares generally pop up right before sailing, and are generally special fares that they won't match for Early Savers.

[gtalum]

Hmmmm.....I can't buy into this "screwing logic" either...Especially not now. We're booked on the Pride repo cruise next March...booked shortly after it was announced this past February...in part to get a cabin type that goes quickly, but also because my spidey sense told be this cruise would be popular. So..booked in March for around $900pp......Book today in a cabin type slightly below what we have already booked....over $1500...So...if thats screwing me for booking early...so be it.

 

It doesn't happen on every sailing, but it does on most. The Hawaii and Australia repos are rare and therefore a special case.

 

You're fortunate that you may have booked at the bottom, but these days in most cases the cheapest fares pop up within a few weeks before sailing. They've even resorted to giving cruises away for "free" in some cases.

[OCruisers]

We like to book early so we can get the type of cabin in the location we want! :)

LuLu

[canadiancruiser13]

This is the first time I booked this far in advance. Last time was only about 6 months early and the first was only a few weeks. How soon should I start looking for price drops? How soon will the full list of excursions be listed? There are a few, but nothing for HMC yet. I don't want to miss getting a cabana!

We usually book at least 12 - 14 months ahead based on the price, cruise line, itinerary.

 

This way we have something to look forward too and as well as plan on saving ( budget ) for the cruise.

[pippin65]

I usually book 6 months or less out. I have never booked my next cruise while on a ship either. Someone in this thread mentioned there is no more future cruise credit. Is that true? There are no advantages to booking a next cruise while on board? And lastly someone else mentioned that they book early and pay it off over time. Can that be done? Sorry I don't mean to hijack the thread but I'm a curious guy.

 

 

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[KPfromCT]

We usually book 3-4 months out. DH is so non-committal:eek::eek:

Drives me nuts, but on the other hand, I wouldn't be able to wait a year plus.:D:D

Already looking at our April cruise for next year, and DH is like, can we just get through this July cruise?

He is such a Debbie Downer.

Grrrrrrr:mad: