Booking a cruise 2 years out

[TheTruthCanHurt]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

 

 

thanks for your input ;)

Edited July 24, 2015 by TheTruthCanHurt

[Ourusualbeach]

Since we are limited to travelling at March break we book as soon as the itineraries are released.

 

Most often this is the cheapest that we ever see the prices. Our cruise for this March is now double what we paid.

 

We have never had itineraries change on us although once the ship was chartered and we had to switch to a different ship.

[Clarea]

I book far in advance to get the best choice of staterooms. Lately, it seems prices just go up, so booking early has many times afforded the best price. If the price does go down, Royal will usually grant the lower price if it's before final payment date.

Edited July 24, 2015 by clarea

[TheTruthCanHurt]

that's interesting, I would have thought that when they first introduced them they would be full retail and only discount as they get closer....

[frenchcanrican]

I book 2 years in advance also.

Best selection of staterooms, best price, plenty of time to search for flights, and planning is easy/not rushed.

[Jimbo]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

 

 

thanks for your input ;)

 

 

1.......Cabin Selection is best the earlier you book

2........ not very often at all, it stays the same 99% of the time

3.......only change if we see a better deal or itinerary we can't pass up, happened about 2 times total and we have cruised alot :)

4. sometimes not at all, all depends how the cruise is selling. Summer cruises usually don't drop at all because there is a high demand when the kids are out of school. Lower priced cruises will be right after Thanksgiving up until Christmas when everyone has holidays on their mind and not vacationing.

 

Jimbo :)

Edited July 24, 2015 by Jimbo

[JulieRose]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

Lots of time for price drops/sales. Better prices when there's not many people booked. Better choice in cabin.

 

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

 

never

 

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

 

never

 

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

 

Honestly, not much but we collect lots of OBC and other perks like that.

 

 

thanks for your input ;)

responses in red Edited July 24, 2015 by JulieRose

[Virtopia]

I usually cruise solo and it definitely pays off for me to book as early as I can. For my upcoming September cruise, I booked it last May. If I had booked it this May, I would've paid around $1,000 more.

 

I already have my two cruises booked for next year (the Anthem one is still iffy but we'll see) and I know I want to do a southern Caribbean B2B in fall 2017, so I'll be booking that as soon as its released next spring.

[dplusd]

It seems that lately, the best prices are when a cruise is over a year away so I've started booking early. My two booked cruises in 2016 are both B2B and by booking early I could get the same stateroom on both legs of the trip.

[LilBlackDress]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

 

 

thanks for your input ;)

 

1. With our 2016 cruise we booked shortly after returning from Adventure and kept our fingers crossed my DH would be able to secure the vacation time (he is 5th in the rotation starting april/may)

 

Our 2017 cruise the price was right when we booked for what we wanted. Since booking, it has gone WAY up... and we are still crossing our fingers until april/may 2016 to secure the vacation slot. I thought about it after the fact, I should have booked 3 or 4 dates to secure we get the room/itinerary we want and then cancel the ones we aren't doing....

 

2. This is the first time we booked this far out....

 

3. Hoping we wont have to (normally my DHs supervisor is the only one the picks his winter staycation, and he is very flexible)

 

4. I booked 2017 in mid June 2015, the end of June I was able to take advantage of the OBC offer. July 1st the price jumped way high!

 

My DH wants to be able to be able to at least 1 cruise per year (off season) until he retires... who am I to say no :D

Edited July 24, 2015 by LilBlackDress

[Hoopster95]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

 

 

thanks for your input ;)

 

Great questions :)

 

1. Never ever did I book this far in advance. Prices almost always used to drop. As of approx May 2014 (BOGOHO #1) everything changed (economy? RCL policy change? More cruisers?). I watch prices like a hawk, including all sales and weekly Going Going Gone sale. Today I feel you have zero chance of getting a price drop before final payment (compared to booking immediately when itinerary released) unless you pay an elevated price tag leading up to final payment (making it look like a price drop). By far and away today's best strategy is to book the earliest possible for the best prices.
   
2. Only once for me
   
3. Again only once
   
4. Compared to when the sailing is very first released 2 years in advance? I haven't seen anyone at all since May 2014 report getting a better price today than what they have booked when itineraries first came out.... Anyone?? I think your answer to this question is 0%... you have an excellent chance of paying more imho.
   

 

Only Jewel I have booked within 4-5 months of sailing during the last July 4th sale, with good OBC, BOGOHO pricing and great balcony pricing compared to most RCL sailings at the same time (I was somewhat shocked frankly, today those same balconies are up about $600 from what I paid so I think many others saw the good rates and have booked). All the others in my signature were booked within days of first release and all are up several hundred dollars per person.

 

Maybe during the next set of itinerary releases, you can take a good guess of when you can get vacation time. You can always move your deposit to a new sailing, etc if you can't make.... but when you watch your cruise go up many hundreds of dollars per person you'll do what it takes to actually make it without cancelling! Happy cruising :D

[Summerknight]

We booked 2017 the day the itineraries were released. So far the price has gone up. I love having something to look forward to.

 

On occasion, we have transferred a booking, but never cancelled. We have gotten many price drops over the years. It's all good.

[SPacificbound]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

* I book as soon as the cruise schedule is released. I know the cabins I want, and I want the beginning price.

 

* If there is a price drop I can call and get an adjustment before final payment.

 

* I have not had a problem with itinerary changes that were any sort of problem.

 

* My October 2015 cruises are pricing about $2,000. more than what I paid.

 

* I have no plan to cancel anything I have booked.

[pterp]

If you book so far in advance and purchase a 3rd party insurance plan, do you usually have flexibility with the plan if you change your itinerary?

[Goodtime Cruizin]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

 

 

thanks for your input ;)

 

Here are my experiences...

1. Prices in most cases are the best at the introduction of the sail dates.

2. We haven't so far.

3. We haven't so far.

4. So far, of the three we booked 22+ months in advance, none of them have dropped in price before final payment. In fact, of our three cruises, all of them have almost doubled (85%+), one of them has.

 

I'm a believer in booking early for the reasons I've listed.

[APDMOM]

Ok,

So... I see in many peoples signatures that some of you already have cruises booked in 2017. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous, but I don't have the flexibility or certainty in my schedule to book that far out, but I do have some questions.

 

1. What are the reasons that you book that far in advance?

We are 3 and it is harder to find great cabins for 3 on RCI. So, basically better choice of cabins.

More chances to benefit from price drop... ditto that things changed drastically since May 2014. It is now definitely better to book early.

2. How frequently do you see the actual itinerary change ?

Never happened on Royal.

3. How often do you end up cancelling or changing dates?

Only jumped ship once from 7-day to 8-day, since it was only $4 more for a whole extra day! :D

4. How much as a percentage does the price drop before final payment?

Most of the time it just increases. I will attach a chart I kept of a couple of our cruises:

thanks for your input ;)

 

Chart: This one is of IOS. The price only dropped after final payment. However, we had booked a sought after corner aft and were not even bothered in the least about that price drop (this was before the changes by RCI to basically do away with last minute deals):

 

Here is a chart of Oasis. It was sold out at one point, then came back before final payment was due. It dropped on May 1, 2014, and our price was adjusted to the new lower price. As you can see, this one increased drastically in price:

 

 

[APDMOM]

If you book so far in advance and purchase a 3rd party insurance plan, do you usually have flexibility with the plan if you change your itinerary?

 

I only got insurance on our recent Oasis cruise. I purchased it after final payment, close to the cruise. It was kind of a last minute decision. In the future, I will probably buy it about a week before final payment, when we are pretty sure the cruise is a "go". To us, the final payment date is the "point of no return". :D

[HeidiHo]

We booked our upcoming Navigator cruise nearly 2 years out mainly because it's a group and we wanted specific cabins by each other. I am really glad we did because not only did prices go way up after we got our group space blocked but now it is nearly sold out. The only cabins left on our sailing are inside cabins and as of a few days ago there were 3 jr suites. All other categories are sold out.

[HeidiHo]

If you book so far in advance and purchase a 3rd party insurance plan, do you usually have flexibility with the plan if you change your itinerary?

 

With Travelguard insurance you do. You can either just notify them of the changes (they will charge you the difference if the new trip is more expensive and requires more insurance) or if you cancel a trip without re booking they will turn your policy into a voucher that you have up to 2 years to use if you eventually book a different trip. They will do this as long as there were no penalties on the cancelled trip and you didn't put in a claim. Once you've put in a claim, well, then your insurance has now been used so it couldn't be applied to a different trip.

[330searay]

We sail Liberty in less than 3 weeks . My original booking was June 24 of'14 . I rebooked at same price while onboard explorer for the 200 obc. Since then two other couples joined us, say 6 months later, much higher fare. Also booked Anthem over a year out for Sept '16. Recently did a mock booking and dropped fare almost 300.00 and added 50.00obc. So I definitely think that booking early, gives you time to sit back and watch. It can't hurt. If fare goes up it doesn't affect you, if it goes down you can capitalize. Dan

[irial77]

1. We live in Scandinavia so a cruise usually means quite a bit of travel even to reach the first port. That's why we usually book minimum 12 night cruises with 3-4 night pre- (and sometimes post-) cruise stays and need a bit of time to make them happen budget and schedule wise. Booking early gives us the best price and choice of cabin. For example, the April 2017 cruise we're taking is already sold out on our type of cabin.

 

2. Once on RCCL: a port in Turkey was changed to a port in Greece after a terrorist threat in 2004.

 

3. A couple of times, if we've found a better itinerary at about the same time with the original booking.

 

4. It usually doesn't. We tend to book the next cruise aboard the ship which means it's usually a good price to begin with especially if you calculate the OBC you gain into it. Under European booking terms you might end up losing the OBC if you fiddle with the price later on so I wouldn't ask for a reduction if there wasn't a major drop in price.

[marmstro]

We booked our B2B Adventure cruise about 15 months before sailing last January, and it was the best thing we did. Not only did we get a much better rate (rates just kept climbing from that point), our exact choice of room, but we also had the foresight to book in Canadian Funds...before our dollar took a nose dive! The end result was that we saved hundreds of dollars over what could have been our cost if we had waited until 6 months out.

[orville99]

We always book the day the itineraries are released for all the same reasons everyone else listed. We usually have 7-8 cruises in the hopper at any time. With Royal, if the price drops before final payment date you can usually get the new price (except for some "sales"). Last May (2014) we were able to get price drops on five cruises (saved almost $4000 total, so we booked more cruises with the savings). I don't expect to see that type of price drop on anything again. Every cruise we currently have booked has gone way up in price since BOGO started.

[jticarruthers]

1. When I first started cruising I would wait until I knew exactly what I wanted, had confirmed all the time off and then look for a good sale. Over time (particularly with RCI) it seems the best rate you are going to see is on the day the itinerary goes on sale, plus you have your pick of cabin locations at that point. If the price later goes down, you can almost always get the price drop so you don't lose anything but lock in what you want.

 

2. Havent had an itinerary change on us yet.

 

3. Sounds like I am a bit different on this one. I probably put down 2 or 3 deposits for each cruise that I actually end up taking. For example, I currently have two cruises booked for next thanksgiving one on RCI and one on NCL. AS we get closer I will cancel one, I don't know which yet though :). Second example, I don't know when my sons springbreak is yet for 2017. I will probably put down deposits on 2-4 cruises sometime soon that look interesting and might be the week of his springbreak. Once the dates come out from his school, cancel the rest.

 

4. I used to get at least one price drop per cruise (on average), for the ones I am actively watching now and the onces I have booked the price has only gone up since opening day. My Adventure OTS booking was made on board Jewel this March right after the schedule came out and is already up a few hundred $ from what I booked it at .... the cruise is 16 months out still ;)

 

Basically my philosophy is ... deposits are refundable and interest lost on holding the money in the bank is basically zero so deposit anything that looks interesting and refund them later if I decide I don't like it.

[MaiseyM]

 

3. Sounds like I am a bit different on this one. I probably put down 2 or 3 deposits for each cruise that I actually end up taking. For example, I currently have two cruises booked for next thanksgiving one on RCI and one on NCL. AS we get closer I will cancel one, I don't know which yet though :). Second example, I don't know when my sons springbreak is yet for 2017. I will probably put down deposits on 2-4 cruises sometime soon that look interesting and might be the week of his springbreak. Once the dates come out from his school, cancel the rest.

 

That is so smart. Thanks for the tip. I never know when spring break will be for schools. Reserving the week before and the week after Easter makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

 

 

I just booked a year and a half out for the newest ship, Harmony. Since they were offering sales do cruise over Christmas, which is typically pretty pricey, I booked it now. Given the prime travel dates and it being a brand new ship, the rates were pretty good. I am hoping I don't have any reason to cancel. Having the option to cancel and not lose any money allowed me to book without too much thought and conversation with DH. Now we have something booked and we'll probably just go with it. Unless there is some other great travel opportunity. This also forces me to take a vacation and allows me to save up for it with a fair ant of time. I can save for air fat, hotel, excursion, drink packages... My goal is to have everything all paid up front and not worry about a big bill when we got home.