Florida resident last minute deals?!?!

[jlk51496]

I was told that as a Florida resident, i can walk up to a port and get last minute rate to hop on a cruise if there is availability. is this true? if so, how does that work?!

 

thanks

 

and which lines give the best florida resident deals?!?

Edited January 15, 2017 by jlk51496

[Lido_Deck]

I was told that as a Florida resident, i can walk up to a port and get last minute rate to hop on a cruise if there is availability. is this true? if so, how does that work?!

 

thanks

 

and which lines give the best florida resident deals?!?

 

No, you have to be on the manifest at least 24 hours in advance as a stand-by. You won't get any better deal at the port than you would booking a couple days out. In fact, you would probably get a worse deal.

[fireofficer5]

While ship is in port Everglades, I did book a cruise (Costa Med.), I was on the ship the previous week.

 

But, that was 2006.

 

I have booked via telephone travel agent, 5pm, the day before sailing.

That was 2012, NCL Sky, three night cruise.

[Corby114]

The days of showing up at the port on the day of sailing looking for an empty cabin are long gone. You can still contact cruise companies as late as twenty four hours prior to sailing to see if any cabins are available but you must telephone them. Nowadays, last minute discounts usually start after final payment dates. If a particular company has a sixty day final payment date, prices may or may not decrease after that date. You have a better chance to get a better deal during low season or being very flexible about when you can travel.

[BlueHerons]

You need to get a local travel agent that specializes in cruises.

[fishywood]

Whomever told you this is still living the the 20th Century and has likely not taken or even attempted to book international travel in the current era of "security". You cannot enter the cruise terminal (to inquire about a booking, or for any other reason) without showing a boarding pass for that day's cruise; at Port Everglades you cannot even enter the port property.

 

Carnival Cruise Line is known to accept phone bookings the morning of a cruise. Princess keeps bookings open through the end of the second business day prior (a Saturday or Sunday departure can be booked until Thursday 7 PM PT). I know HAL removes booking from their web site 5 to 7 days in advance but I'm sure a good TA could help you--likely many other lines the plan would be similar.

 

As for the best "deals" you often find them 3 to 4 weeks before sailing; once sailing date gets even closer and there are only a couple cabins left in each category rack rates may return as there will always be a few people (such as those already booked that want to add another cabin) desperate enough to overpay at the last minute.

 

Way back in 1984 (the Stone Age of cruising) my parents walked up to Burdine's Travel Desk on a Saturday afternoon and were boarding a Chandris cruise from Miami the next day. The agent had to fill out all the paperwork by hand and have it couriered over to the dock. Those days are long, long gone.

Edited January 28, 2017 by fishywood

[Lido_Deck]

Royal Caribbean usually closes out their cruises at noon the day before. About 3 or 4 years ago I booked a cruise with them at 11:45 AM the day before the cruise departed.

[BlueHerons]

 

 

 

Way back in 1984 (the Stone Age of cruising) my parents walked up to Burdine's Travel Desk on a Saturday afternoon and were boarding a Chandris cruise from Miami the next day. The agent had to fill out all the paperwork by hand and have it couriered over to the dock. Those days are long, long gone.

 

I miss Burdines!!

[AdGuyMG]

I was told that as a Florida resident, i can walk up to a port and get last minute rate to hop on a cruise if there is availability. is this true?

 

No. It's not true.

 

There's 6 Million people residing in the Miami / Ft Lauderdale / West Palm area.

 

If 1/2 of 1% of your regional neighbors had the same idea you did you'd be in a line of about 30,000 people vying for a minuscule number of cabins.

[jmsnyc]

I know I am reviving a very old topic but I figured better than posting a new.   I do remember I had a cruise booked during Katrina but this was before we knew the destruction it was going to cause.   I was booked on a 4 night out of Florida and rather than cancel it because of the hurricane warning they changed it to a 2 day cruise.  They offered people a refund if they wanted to cancel or if you took it you got half off a future cruise (3 or 4 day).

 

Anyway, I took that cruise and because a lot of people took the refund option they advertised in the Florida newspapers right before for the 2 night cruise for $99.   I do not remember the details

 

Does anyone know of a thread where people will post last minute Florida resident deals?   I realize the days of walking up to a ship or long gone but I got a great deal on a Norwegian cruise two years ago by booking a week before.

Edited January 11, 2019 by jmsnyc

[capriccio]

9 hours ago, jmsnyc said:

Does anyone know of a thread where people will post last minute Florida resident deals?   I realize the days of walking up to a ship or long gone but I got a great deal on a Norwegian cruise two years ago by booking a week before.

Get on the cruise lines mailing lists with your Florida address.  You'll get emails in the period following final payment if they are trying to fill the ship.  Then you can follow availability and pricing of those cruises and decide if and when to commit.

[jmsnyc]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

Get on the cruise lines mailing lists with your Florida address.  You'll get emails in the period following final payment if they are trying to fill the ship.  Then you can follow availability and pricing of those cruises and decide if and when to commit.

 

 

Thanks.  I updated Carnival.   Was looking for place to update address on RCCL but could not find. ?

[zippyjet]

On 1/15/2017 at 1:05 PM, Lido_Deck said:

 

No, you have to be on the manifest at least 24 hours in advance as a stand-by. You won't get any better deal at the port than you would booking a couple days out. In fact, you would probably get a worse deal.

I've been on 9 cruises all Carnival. I keep hearing from people that booked last minute and got rediculously low fares. For example on my recent 8 day cruise on the Horizon, several different fellow passengers were taking the next sailing which was a 6 day cruise. The paid under $500 and at least one was sailing solo! They had to disembark in Miami and do the embark process for the six day cruise. Worth it if you have the time.

[neptuno]

24 hours is a close as I have seen.  The 90 day ticker can be helpful.

[jmsnyc]

Looks like a post was removed. Guess because it was promoting an agent