Best way to get a deal at the last minute

[Ktuluorion]

Can anyone help me understand where the best deal if you are looking to hop on a ship at the suite level within 2 weeks or so of sailing? TA? Direct through NCL? I've noticed there are also sites that claim to have undisclosed last minute deals that you need to sign up for.

 

I'd imagine there would be a way to have someone come in at the last minute and claim an open suite at a reduced rate/good price, but I can't seem to find any information on this.

 

Thanks in advance!

[islesdave]

Everyone sells cruises at the same rate. Any rock-bottom price used to fill a ship will not have the perks (no beverage package, etc.) It also seems that the days of claiming a cabin for pennies on the dollar are over in terms of grabbing last minute fire sale price. Plus, any savings on the cruise would potentially be offset by booking last minute airfare unless you're close enough to drive to the port.

 

As someone who works in IT and also plans cruises and vacations for people, watch who you give your email address to - those sites are fronts for SPAM bots and other Internet junk including malware and viruses.

[hawkeyetlse]

Everyone sells cruises at the same rate. Any rock-bottom price used to fill a ship will not have the perks (no beverage package, etc.)

Both of these statements are untrue. There are agents that undercut the cruise line's published fare. Sometimes you have to call for a quote, but sometimes these lower rates are advertised openly. It's not hard to find an agent like that, just not through Cruise Critic.

 

The Free At Sea perks are offered even for super last-minute bookings. There was a short period of a couple of months at the end of 2015 where they tried to exclude bookings made within 30 days of sailing, but they quickly gave up on that. For some reason it really stuck in people's minds and it's still frequently mentioned when the topic of last-minute bookings comes up. There are many disadvantages/challenges to booking last minute, but this is not one of them.

[Ktuluorion]

Both of these statements are untrue. There are agents that undercut the cruise line's published fare. Sometimes you have to call for a quote, but sometimes these lower rates are advertised openly. It's not hard to find an agent like that, just not through Cruise Critic.

 

The Free At Sea perks are offered even for super last-minute bookings. There was a short period of a couple of months at the end of 2015 where they tried to exclude bookings made within 30 days of sailing, but they quickly gave up on that. For some reason it really stuck in people's minds and it's still frequently mentioned when the topic of last-minute bookings comes up. There are many disadvantages/challenges to booking last minute, but this is not one of them.

 

Do you have any recommendations for who a good TA would be to get in touch with? (PM is fine, as I understand this can't be shared on the boards).

[Thrilled2012]

There is no pm-ing on this site unfortunately :(

[jancl57]

We booked through a TA and got a reduced rate for our Boston/Bermuda cruise. (not last minute) Our OV picture window was $500 less then if we booked through the NCL site. We got the UBP and prepaid gratuities as our 2 perks.

[biker@sea]

Do you have any recommendations for who a good TA would be to get in touch with? (PM is fine, as I understand this can't be shared on the boards).

 

I check NCL.com 3 or more time a day when hunting for a last minute deal. ;)

[Thrilled2012]

I check NCL.com 3 or more time a day when hunting for a last minute deal. ;)

 

And have you been successful by doing this?

[biker@sea]

And have you been successful by doing this?

 

:) Got us to Platinum Plus ;)

[allison0523]

We booked through a TA and got a reduced rate for our Boston/Bermuda cruise. (not last minute) Our OV picture window was $500 less then if we booked through the NCL site. We got the UBP and prepaid gratuities as our 2 perks.

 

When are you going? I was looking at this cruise for June 2nd.

[Thrilled2012]

:) Got us to Platinum Plus ;)

 

Awesome!!!

 

Guess who will be stalking the NCL site now? 😜

[biker@sea]

Awesome!!!

 

Guess who will be stalking the NCL site now?

 

I was watching a cruise till the night before it sailed.

 

About 10 p.m. I saw the price cut in half, Said to D.W.

" wanna go to Bermuda tomorrow "

 

Turn into a great anniversary cruise .:)

 

.

Edited March 22, 2017 by biker@sea

[Budget Queen]

I late book frequently and have gotten some fantastic deals. What I am finding, a few poor selling cruises will offer the dumps early, but overall, most bottom rates aren't coming out until close to sailing, sometimes less than a week prior.

 

For best opportunities, you need to look frequently sometimes with action, multiple times per day. This is especially true, if you see a great rate, then when trying to book, the rate isn't available. Chance of a "hold", which might expire, so check again to make sure. I snagged a cruise in Nov. this way, for 2 days later.

 

You will be far more successful, if you are flexible, can make immediate decision, and open to any cabin. The more restrictions you have, the less will be available for you.

 

I've used this strategy with NCL, 10 times in the past year. I have 2 more starting Friday.

 

A given savings is to have a stockpile of Cruise Next deposits. Those each are $125 cash in your pocket. :) I've redeemed 22 since last March.

[hoopics]

I second the sentiment that not all rates are the same. For my recently booked cruise, which was the first I'd booked in about 10 years, I scoured the web to see what the Internet commerce model had done to prices. As the guidelines permit only posting about the "Type of agency" a person might use, rather than specific agencies, I checked with:

 

1) the cruise line;

2) a local TA that came highly regarded for cruises;

3) a supposed "internet only" TA website that billed itself as having pricing advantages for those who didn't need any TA advice, as they could cut out the overhead of actually employing people [i assume by returning part of their commission as a discount];

4) an airline's affiliated travel agency that offered miles for money spent with them;

5) a website that allowed you to specify the cruise you want, and then had travel agents bid on that cruise;

6) major cruise-focused online travel agencies found through travel search engine aggregators;

7) supposed low budget online travel agencies that would give you prices only if you called;

8) a "luxury vacation" specialist recommended by a friend.

 

I ended up getting 12 or 13 quotes in all, on a cruise that was just under $7,000 via NCL during the search; the only NCL promos at that time were the free at sea items and greatly reduced deposit. From worst to best, a couple of the major websites and the luxury specialist were at exactly the NCL price. A couple of the others were offering the same price and between ~$200 and $400 OBC. One, which I found through the site that had the agents bid, yielded an offer of almost $1,000 under the NCL price, as a straight discount. This one seemed too good to be true so I threw it out as an outlier. But one of the other offers I received there was for a ~$600 discount, which seemed legitimate and would have gotten me all the same perks as booking through NCL.

 

The airline was at the NCL price, but they were offering miles that I valued at between $400 and $800 [depending on how I ultimately use them]. They also had a 110% price match guarantee, if you could point them to a lower price on a website that didn't require you to log in or call for price (i.e., something available to the public). The website that billed itself as an online-only agency with no travel agents quoted a price that was not quite $500 under the NCL price. The local TA was willing to match that via an OBC. The TA at the airline said they couldn't match, but did throw in a $75 OBC to get the deal done with her.

 

Taking a chance, I booked with the airline. I then submitted a link to the airline's price match portal, pointing them at the online-only agency. They matched it, via a payment in that amount to the cruise line against my final balance. I still got the $75 OBC, the NCL free at see benefits, and had the reduced deposit. I'll get the miles after I sail. Assuming the miles are deposited as advertised, if you value them at a midpoint, I'll have ended up saving ~$1000 on a not quite $7,000 cruise vs. just booking at rack rate. And I get all the same benefits.

 

Now, it took WAY too much work to pull it off, and my wife would argue the return on investment for my time wasn't there; some of the ~$400 OBC credits were found within my first 30 minutes of checking different sites. But I enjoy 'beating the system', and in this instance I feel like I squeezed out the best possible deal that was available at that moment in time.

 

If I hadn't had need for the miles, the calculus would have shifted to either the no-TA website, one of the TAs who bid through the other website, or the local TA who was going to match via an OBC. They were all +/- $200 of each other, and it would have come down to comfort factor with their being there if some problem arose during my trip. I did get the sense that as to any particular sailing and cruise line, these results are going to skew, potentially a lot, as different agencies buy rooms in bulk for different sailings and/or may have incentives to meet quota for a particular time of year. That can impact either the credits or OBCs you'll be offered.

 

Your mileage may vary.

[Budget Queen]

I second the sentiment that not all rates are the same. For my recently booked cruise, which was the first I'd booked in about 10 years, I scoured the web to see what the Internet commerce model had done to prices. As the guidelines permit only posting about the "Type of agency" a person might use, rather than specific agencies, I checked with:

...........

 

Taking a chance, I booked with the airline. I then submitted a link to the airline's price match portal, pointing them at the online-only agency. They matched it, via a payment in that amount to the cruise line against my final balance. I still got the $75 OBC, the NCL free at see benefits, and had the reduced deposit. I'll get the miles after I sail. Assuming the miles are deposited as advertised, if you value them at a midpoint, I'll have ended up saving ~$1000 on a not quite $7,000 cruise vs. just booking at rack rate. And I get all the same benefits.

 

,,,,,,,,

 

If I hadn't had need for the miles, the calculus would have shifted to either the no-TA website, one of the TAs who bid through the other website, or the local TA who was going to match via an OBC. They were all +/- $200 of each other, and it would have come down to comfort factor with their being there if some problem arose during my trip. I did get the sense that as to any particular sailing and cruise line, these results are going to skew, potentially a lot, as different agencies buy rooms in bulk for different sailings and/or may have incentives to meet quota for a particular time of year. That can impact either the credits or OBCs you'll be offered.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

Overall, you can potentially see huge differences on higher cost cruises. A lot more room for price options. I never pay anywhere near those amounts, my only priority is itinerary, and don't care about the ship. So, frequently the differences aren't $1000 because my total cruise price isn't even that much. :) So, that $100+++ difference could be the jackpot at a 10% savings for me :)

 

As I mention- free money is given for the Cruise Next deposits. A savings that can be a good percentage, depending on the total cruise cost. But still "money". :)

[MCC retired]

Keep in mind that TA's often have Speculative Group rates that are often lower than current cruise line rates and may include additional group amenities .

However , they must return unsold space to the cruise line by Final Payment date .

Waiting too long you could have missed your best deals on a sailing .

 

 

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