Looking to book a cruise out of Canaveral in Aug 2018

[ProgRockCruiser]

Hi all,

 

I browsed through the forum looking for similar topics, and nothing really hit-on-all-cylinders for me, but if there is a similar thread, feel free to point me to it.

 

Looking to book a cruise with the "family": my wife and me, our 20 year-old daughter and her 22-yo female friend, and my Mom. So three cabins, Mom gets her own.

 

Daughter and friend are not really "kids", obviously. Both in college, neither are drinkers (I don't get it either!). Mom is in late-70s, very mobile, no real health issues.

 

Only time available for "kids" as a break from college is first three weeks of August (they do the summer sessions too).

 

My wife and I will be financing this whole schmozzle, so while a 6 or 7 day cruise would be nice, probably looking for the least expensive 3 or 4 day, maybe pop for a 5-day. Kids and Mom have never been on a vacation cruise, so anything will be new and shiny to them. Probably get everyone an interior room.

 

Only my wife and I will get Cheers, maybe my Mom - she likes here G&Ts in the afternoon, and wine with dinner.

 

Everyone but Mom lives in Orlando - she lives "up north" and would just come down for one of her semi-annual two-week visits. So we also aren't concerned about maximizing value of airfare and hotels.

 

Although Aug is in hurricane season, a 3 or 4 day will only take us to the Bahamas, and if we miss Nassau, that might be OK. I don't seem to have any wiggle room on the date range anyway.

 

So: any other factors I might want to take into consideration? When should I expect to see "deals" popping up on the Carnival website for Aug 2018? (I realize there was a promo recently, but I won't be executing on this plan for another couple of weeks, in all likelihood, maybe even later.)

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

[javamom]

Carnival Liberty has three and four days out of Canaveral. Even though you love close by, to me a three day is not an option. You actually only have two full days on the ship. A four day short cruise works for me sometimes, but many won't consider it.

Personally, I would book an Early Saver as soon as you decide on which cruise. Then you will be able to check price drops/sales and get price adjustments. Booking early, you should be able to secure porthole cabins for interior prices.

I love Liberty, my current favorite ship.

[skrufy]

Hi all,

 

I browsed through the forum looking for similar topics, and nothing really hit-on-all-cylinders for me, but if there is a similar thread, feel free to point me to it.

 

Looking to book a cruise with the "family": my wife and me, our 20 year-old daughter and her 22-yo female friend, and my Mom. So three cabins, Mom gets her own.

 

Daughter and friend are not really "kids", obviously. Both in college, neither are drinkers (I don't get it either!). Mom is in late-70s, very mobile, no real health issues.

 

Only time available for "kids" as a break from college is first three weeks of August (they do the summer sessions too).

 

My wife and I will be financing this whole schmozzle, so while a 6 or 7 day cruise would be nice, probably looking for the least expensive 3 or 4 day, maybe pop for a 5-day. Kids and Mom have never been on a vacation cruise, so anything will be new and shiny to them. Probably get everyone an interior room.

 

Only my wife and I will get Cheers, maybe my Mom - she likes here G&Ts in the afternoon, and wine with dinner.

 

Everyone but Mom lives in Orlando - she lives "up north" and would just come down for one of her semi-annual two-week visits. So we also aren't concerned about maximizing value of airfare and hotels.

 

Although Aug is in hurricane season, a 3 or 4 day will only take us to the Bahamas, and if we miss Nassau, that might be OK. I don't seem to have any wiggle room on the date range anyway.

 

So: any other factors I might want to take into consideration? When should I expect to see "deals" popping up on the Carnival website for Aug 2018? (I realize there was a promo recently, but I won't be executing on this plan for another couple of weeks, in all likelihood, maybe even later.)

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

 

The 3 and 4 day cruises go by too fast, just as you have figured out the ships layout and all are enjoying the cruise your back home. I would do no less than a 5 day. We have cruised in hurricane season many times and never had a problem. August and September seem to have lower prices. Early saver and guaranteed rates are usually lower. With early saver there are restrictions that will cause you ro lose money if you cancel. Guaranteed rate guarantees you a cabin in the category you booked but Carnival will assign it to you at a date prior to the cruise. Read up on all the rates regulations. Be aware that booking one person into a cabin incurs an extra fee, called a single supplement.

There are extra expenses, parking, and the gratuities added on to your bill at the end of the cruise. Not sure of each cost but parking is in the $20.00 dollar range ( probably higher now ). Gratuities are around $12.00 dollars per person per day.

If you like beaches look for Half Moon Cay or Grand Turk on the itinerary. Half Moon zCay is paridise.

Have a great family vacation.

[summersigh]

Personally, I would book an Early Saver as soon as you decide on which cruise. Then you will be able to check price drops/sales and get price adjustments.

Read the fine print before booking with Early Saver - maybe even start a thread asking folks who have used both ways to respond with their opinion. Regular, refundable fares are offered for a few dollars more.

We've noticed that lately there are not many price drops the last 4 or 5 months on.

[ProgRockCruiser]

The 3 and 4 day cruises go by too fast, just as you have figured out the ships layout and all are enjoying the cruise your back home. I would do no less than a 5 day. We have cruised in hurricane season many times and never had a problem. August and September seem to have lower prices. Early saver and guaranteed rates are usually lower. With early saver there are restrictions that will cause you ro lose money if you cancel. Guaranteed rate guarantees you a cabin in the category you booked but Carnival will assign it to you at a date prior to the cruise. Read up on all the rates regulations. Be aware that booking one person into a cabin incurs an extra fee, called a single supplement.

There are extra expenses, parking, and the gratuities added on to your bill at the end of the cruise. Not sure of each cost but parking is in the $20.00 dollar range ( probably higher now ). Gratuities are around $12.00 dollars per person per day.

If you like beaches look for Half Moon Cay or Grand Turk on the itinerary. Half Moon zCay is paridise.

Have a great family vacation.

Thanks!

 

Well aware of pretty well all of that, including the single supplement and gratuities, etc.

 

While it is nice to say "just go for 5 days", a five day cruise is currently over twice the price of a 3 day for the date range we are looking at (first three weeks of Aug). For example: $254 pp interior vs $679 pp interior.

 

I know it won't be a nice long cruise if we only go for 3 or 4 days, but at least it will also avoid the situation where someone doesn't like being there - first time for everyone else, remember.

 

My wife and I already have an 8-day booked for late 2018 - so this cruise is for the rest of the family, squeezed in where we can.

 

EDIT: Not trying to ignore or downplay your advice, there is some good stuff there, just acknowledging that reality starts to impinge on some of it.

Edited January 11, 2018 by ProgRockCruiser

[ProgRockCruiser]

Read the fine print before booking with Early Saver - maybe even start a thread asking folks who have used both ways to respond with their opinion. Regular, refundable fares are offered for a few dollars more.

We've noticed that lately there are not many price drops the last 4 or 5 months on.

My bigger concern is whether the prices will go up for some reason. And if the available cabins disappear, well, too bad for us, I guess.

[Hoosierpop]

I’m not sure that prices will drop all that much on a 3-4 day cruise, so if you can get a deal that includes OBC, I’d book it and relax. I do think there is a risk prices go up. Seems like the demand for cruising is pretty healthy.

 

 

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[LuCruise]

Subscribing as i came across your post and we're also looking at a 4 day Bahamas cruise in August. Like you, we have another 7 day cruise booked (following march), but would be nice if we could squeeze in another short one. We're not looking at Carnival, but similar situation...concerned about hurricane season (dont' want to scare off our youngish kids) and wondering how a short cruise will be.

[d12j28]

Hi all,

 

I browsed through the forum looking for similar topics, and nothing really hit-on-all-cylinders for me, but if there is a similar thread, feel free to point me to it.

 

Looking to book a cruise with the "family": my wife and me, our 20 year-old daughter and her 22-yo female friend, and my Mom. So three cabins, Mom gets her own.

 

Daughter and friend are not really "kids", obviously. Both in college, neither are drinkers (I don't get it either!). Mom is in late-70s, very mobile, no real health issues.

 

Only time available for "kids" as a break from college is first three weeks of August (they do the summer sessions too).

 

My wife and I will be financing this whole schmozzle, so while a 6 or 7 day cruise would be nice, probably looking for the least expensive 3 or 4 day, maybe pop for a 5-day. Kids and Mom have never been on a vacation cruise, so anything will be new and shiny to them. Probably get everyone an interior room.

 

Only my wife and I will get Cheers, maybe my Mom - she likes here G&Ts in the afternoon, and wine with dinner.

 

Everyone but Mom lives in Orlando - she lives "up north" and would just come down for one of her semi-annual two-week visits. So we also aren't concerned about maximizing value of airfare and hotels.

 

Although Aug is in hurricane season, a 3 or 4 day will only take us to the Bahamas, and if we miss Nassau, that might be OK. I don't seem to have any wiggle room on the date range anyway.

 

So: any other factors I might want to take into consideration? When should I expect to see "deals" popping up on the Carnival website for Aug 2018? (I realize there was a promo recently, but I won't be executing on this plan for another couple of weeks, in all likelihood, maybe even later.)

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

 

Have you checked going out of Tampa too? Would give you a few more options to look at and really isn't much more of a drive from Orlando than Port Canaveral.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Have you checked going out of Tampa too? Would give you a few more options to look at and really isn't much more of a drive from Orlando than Port Canaveral.

We live on the east side of Orlando, near UCF, so Port Canaveral is about 45 min away - Tampa is closer to 2 hrs from home.

 

But, maybe I'll have a quick look-see...

[summersigh]

My bigger concern is whether the prices will go up for some reason. And if the available cabins disappear, well, too bad for us, I guess.

Both Carnival and Holland America in the past few years have been using a computer algorithm to set cabin pricing - supply and demand. As a result, for at least 3 years all cruises we've booked have gone up in price from what we paid booking 6-9 months out.

I hear folks say they see some price drops but we have not.

[javamom]

Both Carnival and Holland America in the past few years have been using a computer algorithm to set cabin pricing - supply and demand. As a result, for at least 3 years all cruises we've booked have gone up in price from what we paid booking 6-9 months out.

I hear folks say they see some price drops but we have not.

 

We were lucky. We have a cruise booked for April. Last week I upgraded to a better category on a higher level and saved a few dollars. Later in the week I got a price drop of $52pp.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Minor (well, major) update:

 

Mom decided that August wasn't going to work for her: she typically visits her sister that time of year, so didn't want anything that might interfere. Plus, aren't there hurricanes that time of year?! :rolleyes:

 

So we talked it over, and decided a cruise in March might be a good idea for just the three of us: Mom, my wife, and me (Mom will get her own cabin). Settled on a 4-day out of Canaveral in early March on Liberty, booked it yesterday. Might not have gotten the best pricing, but it wasn't much different from what I had seen in the last few weeks. Got interior cabins for everyone on deck 7, aft area, side by side - balconies were just a little too pricey, and I'm not fond of the lower decks where the Oceanviews are - too far from the Lido and Alchemy Bar - just two decks away, opposite directions up/down, from deck 7! We stayed in an aft-balcony on Liberty in Dec (2017), and that part of the ship seemed relatively quiet.

 

Water won't be the warmest, but maybe we'll catch a warm spell (March can be all over the place here in Central Florida, gotta be similar over in the Bahamas). We'll visit a few sites in Nassau, where she honeymooned with my Dad (now deceased) so many years ago.

 

We'll look at booking a different cruise with the "kids" during August at some point later on.

 

Probably get the Cheers! package for all of us: Mom will drink the least, but it should still work out to be worthwhile with a few G&Ts and wine with dinner, and maybe an after-dinner martini-type drink at Alchemy. I need to research current drink pricing...

 

Also need to look at possible excursions at Princess Cay (or not, and just enjoy the beach for a couple of hours).

 

So whoo hoo! Cruising again in about a month and a half!

[Drazil65]

Do at least a 5 day, Liberty is a good one or Magic/Breeze (whichever is there at that time), cannot go wrong with the dream class (going on our 3rd Magic trip for Easter, we love that ship). Go towards end of August (like last week) if you can as many of the schools are back in session (K-12) and the prices are cheaper.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Do at least a 5 day, Liberty is a good one or Magic/Breeze (whichever is there at that time), cannot go wrong with the dream class (going on our 3rd Magic trip for Easter, we love that ship). Go towards end of August (like last week) if you can as many of the schools are back in session (K-12) and the prices are cheaper.

We can't book the last week of Aug, because the "kids" will be back in school.

 

But yeah, looking at a 5-day or more type cruise.

 

We have told the girls they need to get their passports before we book, as an incentive (I know they can technically travel on BCs, but we want them to get Passports anyway for other possible future trips we might have in mind). So now it is up to them to execute - once the applications are submitted, we'll book.

 

If we do book, it will mean 4 cruises within the span of about 53 weeks for my wife and me: a 3-day, a 4-day, a 5?-day, and an 8-day. I think I have created a monster!

 

Good thing our daughter plans to be a lawyer - maybe she can start paying once she gets her student loans paid off!

 

:')

 

OK, OK, I can dream, can't I?