Research Procedures Used for New Booking

[SCGirl3211]

Interested in those cruisers who really get in to their research before booking a new cruise. What procedures/steps do you use? What sites to do use for various chores? What questions are you trying to answer and what determines your choices? Really interested in the process/steps used. Thanks

 

 

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[gerelmx]

Several questions

 

Where you wan to go?

When you want to sail?

Is the desired cruise available on the dates you want to go?

 

once you decided the Ship and date

 

Research on cruise line site + others for prices, cabins availability, promotions, etc and book it

[Toftwood]

Itinerary comes in at number one for us as we like plenty of sea days and give us a T/Atl and we’ll be more than happy.

 

Grade of ship probably next - anything between 5* and 5.5* and also coupled with that, passenger capacity ...... our next booking is on Silhouette next April from FLL back to the UK and that is about as large as we would want to sail on.

 

As T/Atl are very seasonal then we are not too worried about the date because the itinerary will govern that. You don’t get much choice with T/As!

 

Then, research on cabins if it is not a ship or class of ship that we are familiar with. We always do standard verandah/balcony cabins as long as it on a deck that it is between two decks of cabins .... no cabin under the pool or above the theatre thank you. Availability is rarely an issue.

 

And then obviously sites like this where you can gather so much detailed information about the ship and ports of call and lastly going to the cruise line website and many different agents websites to see where the best pricing is. We are in the UK so have totally different bookings conditions when compared to passengers in USA so will always include some US agencies when seeking quotes.

[NantahalaCruiser]

First look for interesting itineraries on an online TA's website since it has cruises for many cruise lines and it's search capabilities are better and easier to use than most cruise line websites.

 

Second use cruise line website to get more detailed info on fares, perk offers for candidate cruises.

 

Finally book on the website of a big box warehouse TA's website to get about an additional 8% off the cruise line's fare (in the form of a gift card for their store - which is the same as cash to me since I would be shopping there anyway.)

[NantahalaCruiser]

After booking, I use Tripadvisor and CC's port forums to research ports and shore excursions. Also the roll call for my cruise to look for opportunities to share shore excursions.

[SCGirl3211]

Additional question - if flight is involved do you check flight prices first or after cruise has been booked? Thanks for all the expert advise thus far.

 

 

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[NantahalaCruiser]

Additional question - if flight is involved do you check flight prices first or after cruise has been booked? Thanks for all the expert advise thus far.

 

 

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We generally book our cruises about 21 months in advance to get our choice of cabins and to lock in a good price (can always have it repriced prior to final payment if prices drop.) Thus we can only get a rough estimate of airline prices prior to booking the cruise.

 

We only use rough airfare estimates (airfares for flights departing a year prior to the cruise) to make sure the total price is expected to be within our budget. And since we only book cruises with refundable deposits, if the airfare goes out of sight, we can always cancel the cruise!

[Cirdan]

It depends.

 

 

Often I take a lot of catalogs to get some new ideas. (about destinations)

 

 

I have few Berlitz cruise guides, to check about new lines, and which lines I could be happy. On 2018 guide I saw that the only nuclear ship cruise is stopping this year (and we long wait list). Missed occasion.

 

 

 

Check in cruisecritics about ships on selected itineraries (still looking for an African cruise).

 

 

So I get many ideas, and than prices and period will help to decide. This last process is really random.

 

 

 

Few times I go differently: short term decision (so time is important): I check good prices.

 

 

There is also a bucket list (QM2 TA, icebreaker [see the above nuclear ship], fright ship [a total different way to "cruise"]), but these often have low priority on decision process, so they are still there.

[SCGirl3211]

Thanks so much for all the great info!! Trying to step up my research game!!

 

 

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[Muffinz]

We did our first cruise in March / April on Solstice and we did a lot of research...

 

Firstly wife & I looked at Itineraries and we were tossing up between a 7-8 day Hawaiian Island cruise on Holland American I think or a 12 night cruise from Sydney to Port Douglas on Celebrity.... both were about the same price so we chose the cruise from Sydney, as we thought it represented better value for money (12 nights for the same price as 8 nights) plus our TA got us 2 perks free!

 

Plus it was cheaper for us to fly to Sydney from Auckland NZ than it was to fly to Honolulu Hawaii

 

At this stage we still had no idea about the different cruise liners and didn't know the difference between Celebrity / Holland / Princess / P&O...etc... So we looked into it the different cruise companies and found Celebrity looked more of an ‘Adults’ cruise company and as we are late 40’s with no kids, we didn’t want to be on a ship that has nearly 3000 passengers and half of them being kids – that’s not our idea of a holiday (apologies in advance to anyone reading this that does have kids!)

 

It was around this time that I found Cruise Critic and I asked dozens of questions and got a lot of helpful advice. I joined the roll call and managed to book a private tour with someone on the roll call who was organising a tour at one of the ports

 

Now that we’ve done our cruise I am able to offer advice to other newbies who are thinking of doing a cruise on Solstice

[SCGirl3211]

Thanks so much for all the great info. Keep it coming!

 

 

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[Fogfog]

Ship and cabin position are super important... and if itinerary hits many ports we have done before

then really the ship IS the destination --its amenities, cabin position

 

I do A LOT of research about ship style/pax/service.

Will be paying a lot of attention to the post/retrofit/upgrades of the X fleet as the dining exp will change..and the Suites exp will cut out public space. May push us to try other lines

[boom_boom]

Interested in those cruisers who really get in to their research before booking a new cruise. What procedures/steps do you use? What sites to do use for various chores? What questions are you trying to answer and what determines your choices? Really interested in the process/steps used. Thanks

 

 

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First decide where to go. We usually base that on where we've been, what we liked about the area, the port, etc. Then what kinds of cultural or scenic opportunities are there.

 

Once we've done that then we look at dates and cruise lines. We have no interest whatsoever in some of the biggies, Carnival, RCCL, etc. We look at dates, ships and then prices.

 

I use Cruise Critic, cruise.com, Trip Adviser and the kike for initial research, Once booked, I really like the Roll Call on Cruise Critic to help find specific tours, etc.:)

[dkjretired]

Also, don’t overthink everything.

[MarLieb]

Interested in those cruisers who really get in to their research before booking a new cruise. What procedures/steps do you use? What sites to do use for various chores? What questions are you trying to answer and what determines your choices? Really interested in the process/steps used. Thanks

 

 

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My go-to sites when planning cruises are CruiseCritic and TripAdvisor. Many times, before booking a cruise, I'm considering land options as well and comparing all-in costs for both - airfare, food, lodging, etc. My choice of cruise also depends on what time of year we are going. In December, I'm mainly looking in the Caribbean. In the summer, I may be looking at Europe, Galapagos, French Polynesia, for example. If I've narrowed it down to a few cruise options, I'll then price out airfare for all dates and and add that cost in. For our upcoming cruise in December, for instance, I narrowed it down to Caribbean cruises on Summit, Equinox and Edge (which all fell within the week we could travel). Surprisingly, it was cheaper for us to fly from NYC to San Juan than to the Florida ports and, given that the Summit cost was less than Equinox and Edge (oh goodness, prices on the Edge!), it was a no-brainer. After that, I research ports, in depth so we can choose our activities and then start getting into more detail regarding ship amenities and activities. I love doing the research. I feel with good preparation, I typically make better decisions in regard to choosing ships/itineraries/ports that my family will enjoy.

[MarLieb]

Additional question - if flight is involved do you check flight prices first or after cruise has been booked? Thanks for all the expert advise thus far.

 

 

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If flights have been released for the cruise dates I'm considering, I always check flights prior to booking the cruise to make sure my all-in costs are going to be within my ballpark budget. If flights haven't been released, I will put down a deposit (as long as it's refundable!) and go from there.

[Fogfog]

Interested in those cruisers who really get in to their research before booking a new cruise. What procedures/steps do you use? What sites to do use for various chores? What questions are you trying to answer and what determines your choices? Really interested in the process/steps used. Thanks

 

 

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Are you writing a book? Putting together a new site? Are you a TA?

[MightyMike]

Having a kid in school, the first thing we do is to identify when to travel. Then we book about three cabins on different ships and cruise lines for roughly the same time period.

 

Booking a cruise is easy because everything is refundable for so long. Airfare is much more difficult. We watch the airfare starting about eight months out to the port of each cruise. When we see a sale on a flight we are watching, we book the flight, cancel the two cruises we no longer want, and apply the deposit refunds to the airfare.

[SCGirl3211]

Also, don’t overthink everything.

 

 

 

Great advice!! Enjoy being spontaneous too.

 

 

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[SCGirl3211]

Are you writing a book? Putting together a new site? Are you a TA?

 

 

 

I wish I had the talent to write a book or a blog but alas not! I’m not a TA either though sometimes I wish I had gone in to that business. I actually just really enjoy the planning process and knew others on CC could/would teach me a few new things.

 

 

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