How close to a cruise departure date have you booked?

[to_dee]

It may be different in the US but they often have last minute sales right up until the 3 day prior mark of the cruises.

 

And a lot more cruises to fill too I guess.

 

Before 9/11 you could rock up and get last minute deals almost on the day of sailing. After that they brought in a min of 10's day before sailing but that has slowly been eroded since then.

Before 9/11 , espec in the States , selected agents where given the available lists and told to fill the cabins.We had friends that used Airpoints to fly to Fort Lauderdale and then spent nearly a month jumping from one one discounted cheap cruise to another.

Locally , up until now last minute vacancies have also been given to selected agents, usually those who put through the most sales, but these have rarely left the agents desk as they or their staff snap them up.

The closest I have ever had was 2 days and on 2 cruises have rocked up to the terminal with only the agents itinerary and receipt as proof of passage. Security look twice at you and say Oh Yeah, but once they call for the Officer of the Day to come down , it is all sorted out and your cruise card is waiting at the front desk.

 

Ah ok I didnt think about that but that makes sense about 9/11. Wow that must have been exciting going with 2 days notice. And intersting to know about the local specials.

[to_dee]

NCL's Pride of America sails Hawaii with 7 day itineraries all year round.

 

Hmm ok will have a look at the website later. I havent really thought about a NCL cruise before. When we looked around for our Alaska cruise I did see the NCL prices were great but it didnt look like my cup of tea for some reason but i cant recall why...

[to_dee]

Blimey just checked NCL home page and they have a banner with free drinks, specialty dining, shore excns, net & friends & family 50% off.

[MicCanberra]

Blimey just checked NCL home page and they have a banner with free drinks, specialty dining, shore excns, net & friends & family 50% off.

 

They also have some great fly cruise packages with some TAs here.:D

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Nothing wrong with NCL.

We did a Baltic cruise with them and really enjoyed it. We found them a no fuss, no hassle cruise line. Wish they cruised locally. We dont hear too much about them down here.

 

 

[to_dee]

They also have some great fly cruise packages with some TAs here.:D

 

Good tip will keep an eye out for that.

 

Nothing wrong with NCL.

We did a Baltic cruise with them and really enjoyed it. We found them a no fuss, no hassle cruise line. Wish they cruised locally. We dont hear too much about them down here.

 

Yes that is a shame I checked to see if there were any local options sadly not. I think I kind of feel like a closer to home cruise later this year hopefully. Good to hear you enjoyed your cruise as I say cant remember why I decided against NCL for Alaska ...so many to choose from up that way it gets overwhelming all the info who knows why it was ages anyway. The info on the site looks amazing.

[MicCanberra]

Nothing wrong with NCL.

We did a Baltic cruise with them and really enjoyed it. We found them a no fuss, no hassle cruise line. Wish they cruised locally. We dont hear too much about them down here.

 

 

 

Agreed, we also did a Baltic cruise with them, really like the freestyle dining.:D

[Kinkacruiser]

Normally 10-14 months (awfully long wait), but I'd love the excitement of going somewhere in under a month :)

[Cbtours]

Four days! Found we could spend some extra days in Brisbane (we live Melbourne). My husband is an itinerant preacher (a South African Dynamo actually!) who was preaching Sunday morning. We decided to stay few days so looked at hotels, then looked at princess website. It was cheaper than hotel given everything included. We booked on the Wednesday and left on the Sunday. My husband preached 9.30am, we got dropped at ship 12.30. Enjoyed a week in South Pacific. Ship docked following Sunday 7am and he was back preaching by 9.30 am again!!!

 

Cost? Well we wondered why muster was early, turns out the ship was leaving early (only we didn't know cos of late booking etc) so apology letter was in our cabin, giving us $200 each credit for the inconvenience, as we would be getting to noumea late. We were on sea princess which I believe was having major go slow issues. As we were sailing, they decided we wouldn't really have enough time noumea after all do gave it a miss. Another $100 each credit!!!!

 

Our total cost turned out to be $800 for BOTH of us!! Yes we were in an inside cabin (first time a shad balconies before) but we were more than happy. As soon as I booked on the Wednesday I jumped on cruise personaliser and entered everything fine. Just couldn't reserve excursions. Yea Princess!

 

We have since done a three night Sydney to Melbourne viaBurnie for $389pp also inside.

 

Next cruise is golden princess 30 October out ofMelbourne. Taking a bunch with us so booked way ahead. Super special came on mini suite (balcony prices) so looking forward to our first mini! Hope it doesn't spoil us forever!!!

Edited June 29, 2015 by Cbtours

[MicCanberra]

Some great deals there Cbtours. Enjoy the Golden.:D