What’s the point of booking so far out

[shof515]

How are you able to pay it off little by little? We would love to do this for a cruise, but I never saw that as an option.

 

(Although I did just see Carnival added this where you can pay off your cruise rather than being hit with that big final payment)

There is no automatically payment plans like what carnival has. For now, you can manually make a payment for any amount you want. When you click on Make Payment button in the Vacation Summary, you should see this:

If you booked with a travel agent, they can do the same. Just say you want to make 200 dollar payment for example.

[buddylover]

We typically book when itineraries and sailings come out....we get the EXACT cabin we want and in recent years, the price has only gone WAY up. But even if you book way out and the prices drop, you can get the drop, but the 'perks' may change (so beware)! Our Med cruise in Oct 2019 has already gone up $450 per person.....can't beat booking early and holding the price!!

[Linda the Book Lover]

We book early for the cabin choice. Check out our Getaway cruise - way early! My DD and I wanted a certain spa angled balcony on the Getaway and the price was right especially without the government fees etc.

[littlelulu01]

Our October 2019 Jade med has increased in price drastically. We booked almost 2 years out on this one. $500 increases per person for inside and ov. over $700 pp increases for balcony and ms. The full suites are almost sold out and we’re still over a year and a half away from sailing. I’d be shocked to see a price drop. If looking for the typical milk run sailing and off time, pricing might be different but for a great itinerary, the pricing only goes up. The full suites on this sailing didn’t see such drastic price jump that other staterooms saw. I guess on some sailings they would rather sell all full suites at a decent price instead of the upsell process.

 

We’ve definitely benefited from way out booking. Saved thousands. The only risk is that Ncl might cancel sailing closer in and if not offered price protection to switch you are left with either an alternative that is double priced or no cruise.

[rtkenmore]

I don’t get it. Every time I do the promo changes for something better anyway and I gotta call to change it or the price drops. Even when the escape and getaway debuted I still would have got a better deal close to booking.

 

 

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I'd rather get the best selection of rooms available and have time to pay it off. We treat it much like a layaway so to speak and make monthly payments towards the cruise instead of having to charge the entire amount all at once.

[brookie848]

We like choosing the right cabin for us. If we have already sailed on the ship, we try to get the same cabin.

When NCL was still offering an additional Latitudes point for booking nine months out, we would take advantage of that -- that's how we managed to become Platinum in five cruises.

Most of the time, the prices just go up. The only time we've seen drastic price drops was on our Dawn cruise in November. We were the first sailing out of Puerto Rico and with the hurricane, there were a lot of cancellations. The price drops didn't bother us because we were happy with our cabin and what we paid for that cabin.

[ray8905]

We book early for the extra reward points sometimes offered. So we can get the suite we want, most often there are only 8 of the style we want to choose from and they go first. We make the down payment and then break up the remaining due and never carry a balance on a credit card. It works well for us.

[gambit57]

Going on Bliss. My cabin category is sold out, and we're still not even at final payment time. Price has also gone up every time I've checked.

 

Depends on what you're going for. If you absolutely require something that can sell out, you book early. If you only have two people and can fit in any cabin category and aren't going on a super popular sailing (so, very flexible), then waiting for last minute deals works great. That's basically how my parents cruise. They could care less where they go or stay as long as it's an incredible deal. I have to work out PTO, etc. so I book EARLY. My upcoming cruise, I have 5 people in 1 cabin, so that's another reason I had to book early as the number of cabins that can fit 5, even at the suite level, is super limited.

[fstuff1]

I don’t get it. Every time I do the promo changes for something better anyway and I gotta call to change it or the price drops. Even when the escape and getaway debuted I still would have got a better deal close to booking.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

1) get the room you want

 

2) prices increase till final payment. (90days out)

then start dropping.

fire sales 1 or 2 weeks b4 sail date

 

if you dont have a preference for the coveted cabins (fore/aft balconies, angled balconies, Large angled balconies (M6), etc) then waiting till after final payment is better

[titangas]

It all depends on the demand of your cruise.

 

We booked our upcoming Epic Med cruise when they were first released.

Booked an Aft balcony room that has never been cheaper than the day we booked it.

[Carnac767]

If you’re able to be flexible and it’s easy for you to get to the port, you can sometimes get away with waiting for a last second deal. But if your cruise is going involve transatlantic or transpacific air travel, hoping you’ll get a last second bargain on the cruise, flights and hotels is like buying a lottery ticket.