What kind of deal might I get for the 12/5/15 Island Panama 30 days before sailing?

[ALB0711]

Anybody have any experience with 30 day prior to departure bookings for cruises in early December? DW and I are celebrating our first cruise as empty nesters and instead of booking a year in advance around our kids school schedules, we've decided to wait until 30 days out hoping for a better price. We "think" we'll do well because of the early December/pre-holiday timing.

 

I've been watching the 12/5/15 cruise and balcony's at launch were going for $2149pp, they are now up to $2499pp with an onboard credit of $100pp.

 

Anybody care to guess what these fares might be like around 11/5?

 

TIA

 

Allen

[lrockwitt]

They will be higher

 

 

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[waltd]

Very possible that this cruise will sell out. Better to book a cabin now and watch the price. If it goes down have your travel agent re -fair the price. You can always cancel before final payment if you are not satisfied with the price.

[paul929207]

They are raising the rates because the cruise is selling well. If that continues, the rate will either stay the same or go up. Clearly Princess thinks the cruise will sell out.

[Kamloops50]

If your looking at the LA to FLL or return prices are unlikely to go down especially around the Holidays.

[jrobinso]

I guess it really depends on how much of a gambler you are. If you are certain you want this specific sailing in a balcony cabin you should book right now and then carefully watch the prices. If prices drop call your TA and have them get the lower price. They can do this for you as long as you haven't passed the date of final payment. I suppose you could check and see if there are lots of open cabins and if you are feeling lucky cancel your cabin right before final payment and wait for a better deal. Now if you would be okay with an inside or ocean view cabin or if your date is flexible you can wait it out. I will tell you that on our 10 Panama in October prices have gone up . Suites are sold out and mini suites nearly gone.

 

Best of luck for whatever you decide. I'm not much of a gambler, so I always take the sure thing and make sure I get the cabin I want. I do watch rates and call when they go down.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I will give a contrarian view...

 

That sailing is wide open right now. The least expensive category is CLOSED, but that is a very arbitrary situation on the part of Princess. It might well be open tomorrow. All other categories have plenty of availability. That the price has gone up since you booked just seems to be the Princess MO this year. Raise prices, then announce a sale that brings them back down to around what you paid, but with non-refundable deposits and a little OBC.

 

That is the slowest cruising season of the year (between Thanksgiving and Christmas excluding the holidays). Unless you want a very specific cabin or cabin location, I'd wait.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I will add- check prices daily. We had one cruise that dropped over 40% last week, long before final payment, for two days only. The cruises before and after it were unchanged.

[cr8tiv1]

Keep in mind that if you book now, final payment is usually 90 days out. Also, airfare will also increase since it is the holiday season. I did not check where you are from but last minute air fares are more expensive. Will you need a hotel pre/post cruise? Lots of other factors to weigh when looking for a last minute cruise. There are not many ships doing a full transit this season (my disappointment).

[Coral]

I have an email from Nov 13 which lists specials for Coral and Island Princess. It appears Dec 1 and 7th sailing for both of these ships went for around:

 

$599 inside

$649 ocean view

$899 balcony

$1199 for minisuite

 

It says expenses up to $335 for additional fees. These were 11 day RT FLL.

 

Sailings between after Thanksgiving and before Christmas are usually pretty cheap as most people don't vacation then.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Coral

[waltd]

I think the OP is talking about Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles. Those cruises normally are not as inexpensive as the RT Ft. Lauderdale.

[DrivesLikeMario]

That Dec. 5th sailing is one of the very least expensive times to cruise in the entire year. My vote is to wait until about 30 days after final payment. Don't wait too close to the sail date, as I have seen a lot of cruises increase in price then.

[Coral]

I think the OP is talking about Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles. Those cruises normally are not as inexpensive as the RT Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Thanks - you are right, they are more expensive compared to 11 night ones. But - it is the cheapest time to take a cruise.

[jasbo49]

Unless some kind of diabolical trickery is going on, cabins are actually selling on this cruise. We booked it in early March. And the area where we booked, upfront Caribe minis, has dwindled from 14 or 15 to six cabins, according to the Princess site.

 

At the same time, the price has gone up $450. Balcony cabins have also disappeared and gone up in price. OBC changes have made up for $50 or $100 of that, depending on your math (or rather my interest in laboring over it).

 

Anyhow, I think the basic lesson is: If you want it, book it now. The only wobbly point is, what will the first reviews be after the Island returns to service after its 6-week drydock? If people hate it, it'll be cheaper. But will you want to book then? If people love it, the price will continue to rise, and then you'll with you had booked it today.

 

Jim

Edited April 16, 2015 by jasbo49

[Coral]

Ok - in 2013, Nov 14th 15 night cruise on Island Princess went for:

 

$699 inside

$1099 oceanview

$1499 balcony

 

An additional $310 in fees......

[waltd]

Ok - in 2013, Nov 14th 15 night cruise on Island Princess went for:

 

$699 inside

$1099 oceanview

$1499 balcony

 

An additional $310 in fees......

 

Wish they were that price again. I would think of doing the cruise again. :) Even if just for the sea days and the canal.

[Coral]

Wish they were that price again. I would think of doing the cruise again. :) Even if just for the sea days and the canal.

 

These were last minute emails to fill the ship.

[Colo Cruiser]

I say the full transit will be sold out. They always do. Even though its Dec, those cruise's are extremely popular.

If you want to do that cruise I would not wait too long.

Ours has been sold out since last Sept, 1 year before the cruise.

[jasbo49]

Ok - in 2013, Nov 14th 15 night cruise on Island Princess went for:

 

$699 inside

$1099 oceanview

$1499 balcony

 

An additional $310 in fees......

 

In addition to being two years ago ...

 

I'd point out that November has roughly three times as much rain as December.

 

Jim

[commie]

We went on a dec sailings of the Island princess this past year, for the 11 day RT out of FLL.

 

I didn't book the cruise till about 4 weeks before sailing, and the prices kept going down for the Dec 5, Dec 18th and Dec 28 sailings. The only date that kept its high price was the Dec 23rd sailings.

We went with the Dec 28th sailing for $899+tax for a Balcony.

 

So not sure if 2015 will follow the 2015 holiday season prices, but in 2014 it was worth it to wait 'last' minute to book. The prices we saw was like 1,499 prior to Nov. for the same balcony rooms. We followed the prices about 3 months out, and noticed that the prices would increase on a Thursday to its listed price, then on Monday, it would drop to the 899 price.

Edited April 16, 2015 by commie

[waltd]

I say the full transit will be sold out. They always do. Even though its Dec, those cruise's are extremely popular.

If you want to do that cruise I would not wait too long.

Ours has been sold out since last Sept, 1 year before the cruise.

 

I agree. There are far fewer of the full transits then the 10 day RT from Fort Lauderdale.

[Coral]

In addition to being two years ago ...

 

I'd point out that November has roughly three times as much rain as December.

 

Jim

 

Well -last year at the time, well December, the ship did not do the full transit. So those examples didn't work. This is the next best thing. November and December are similar in that people don't travel a lot during these times.

 

To be honest, there have always been great last minute specials on Panama Canal cruises, except ones that include Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years.

Edited April 16, 2015 by Coral

[Thrak]

We are booked 17 days SF to FLL in September. The cruise has been sold out for quite a while and it's still only April. It was definitely not nearly as inexpensive as the prices posted above!

[ALB0711]

Thanks CC'ers for all the replies and ideas!

 

We are planning for the fill transit Ft Lauderdale to LA on 12/5. Per one recommendation, I will check prices daily, if a balcony price pops up under $1000 I think I'll grab it without waiting until 30 days prior to sailing.

 

Our backup plan should this cruise sell out will be to just find another one around the same time. Air fares in the first week of December will most likely still be reasonable from Denver (where we live) to Ft Lauderdale, even if booked 30 days out. The fare from LA back to Denver won't be as much a bargain as it will be during the peak holiday travel season, but if all goes well and we get the booking about 30 days prior to sailing the return flight from LA will be 45 days out. There is also a ton of competition between LA and Denver, so I'm confident we won't be too "gouged".

 

I'll update this post when we make our booking and share whatever happens.

 

I've been cruising for 30 years and have always been the guy who books first. It's exciting and very different to be a "last minute" cruiser!!

 

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Allen

[PescadoAmarillo]

Allen, if you fly SWA a lot, watch those prices too. They will open on May 14th for the timeframe you're looking at. They are fully cancellable ($ go back in your account to be used within a year of original booking). If you have points, it's even easier. We often have flights in place with no certainty about which cruise we'll be on. But we use points, so there's no need to even use them in one year in the event we cancel.