How far in advance do you book?

[gymbomb]

I book as soon as I know I want to go. That has been as early as over a year in advance, and as late as less than 2 weeks before departure. Each of my children has been booked on a cruise before they were born. If I book really early I do check prices/perks every once in a while. If a better deal comes up (like a price drop or kids sail free), which it has on at least 3 of the cruises I've taken, I call or email my travel agent and she adjusts my booking to get me the better deal. I stop checking after final payment though 🙂

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, gymbomb said:

I book as soon as I know I want to go. That has been as early as over a year in advance, and as late as less than 2 weeks before departure. Each of my children has been booked on a cruise before they were born. If I book really early I do check prices/perks every once in a while. If a better deal comes up (like a price drop or kids sail free), which it has on at least 3 of the cruises I've taken, I call or email my travel agent and she adjusts my booking to get me the better deal. I stop checking after final payment though 🙂

 

Reminds me of when we booked a cruise when one grand wasn't quite 'here' yet.  We had had to cancel a cruise when we realized 'Mom' was expecting #2, and she'd be at the wrong stage for a cruise.  So we booked for the next year, same cruise (and same as we had taken the year before).

 

So our TA put their cabin in both parents' names, plus toddler's name, plus "X <LastName>", with fictitious b-date of approx right timing.

Either this wasn't noticed, or "X" is a common first name for cruisers 

Before final payment, we changed to the real name.

 

This 'place holder' is recommended, as adding another passenger closer to sailing date *might* run into problems with lifeboat capacity of the muster section, even though the cabin/suite can hold another passenger.

GC

[Expat Cruise]

Most of my cruises for the last 10 years have been within a few months. Sometimes I will book out the year in January  I will book cruises for March, July , October, since I'm free to cruise most of the time I look for deals and then take the cruises that fit what I need.  Lately the longest out cruise was about 15 months, with Future Cruise Credits, or whatever your line calls them it makes booking very easy.

[gymbomb]

44 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Reminds me of when we booked a cruise when one grand wasn't quite 'here' yet.  We had had to cancel a cruise when we realized 'Mom' was expecting #2, and she'd be at the wrong stage for a cruise.  So we booked for the next year, same cruise (and same as we had taken the year before).

 

So our TA put their cabin in both parents' names, plus toddler's name, plus "X <LastName>", with fictitious b-date of approx right timing.

Either this wasn't noticed, or "X" is a common first name for cruisers 

Before final payment, we changed to the real name.

 

This 'place holder' is recommended, as adding another passenger closer to sailing date *might* run into problems with lifeboat capacity of the muster section, even though the cabin/suite can hold another passenger.

GC

 

 

Yes, I think ours were booked as "Baby LastName" or something similar, with estimated due date as birthday. Then of course our travel agent updated it with real name, birthday, and passport number before sailing.

 

[LuckyStar]

On 1/28/2019 at 7:06 PM, Dana'sDaughters said:

Do you book as soon as you know the cruise you want to go on, or do you wait until the best deal?  The cruise we are looking at is May 2020. I didn't know what the recommendation is for booking this far in advance.

 

I tend to book as far in advance as able so I can get the cabin I want.  I always book refundable deposits and do call if I see price drops.  They won't always drop the price but I can ask anyway.  No harm, no foul.  If I need to cancel or change dates, etc., it's not a big deal to do so. 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We booked our Argentina and Antarctic cruise just over 2 years out.  We book most of our cruises early, Alaska was about 18 months out.

[navybankerteacher]

Just booked QM 2 Christmas and New Years cruise from New York - 11 months out.  Good sailings from NY are rare (NCL food and service  not attractive and that absurd bloated Royal Caribbean monster is more Vegas hotel than ship) - earlier good itineraries from NY seemed to sell out desired spaces quickly so we booked more in advance than usual.

[Corby114]

Book when you are happy with the price. If the price goes down before final payment you can adjust the fare by contacting the cruise company. If you book with a travel agent or online company they own the booking and have to contact the cruise company on your behalf. Personally my family of three just returned from a fifteen Asia cruise on Holland America’s Westerdam from Singapore. The cruise was booked directly to Holland America by my wife in December 2017. We originally had a balcony cabin on Deck Four in the bow of the ship. Six months after the original booking the price dropped approximately six hundred dollars. My wife contacted Holland America for a price adjustment. Approximately three months later my wife called Holland America again and we received a cabin upgrade to Deck Ten for no additional charge.

[SRF]

23 hours ago, Corby114 said:

Book when you are happy with the price. If the price goes down before final payment you can adjust the fare by contacting the cruise company. 

 

It depends on the market that the cruise was booked through.

 

This is not true for UK and other booking rules.

[squick64]

I book when I decide what I'm going to do and when I feel like sitting down and dealing with it. There's no "I want to book cruise X on date Y but will wait until next month in case the price drops" or something. My only exception to that was that I was looking at a particular Norwegian cruise (Norwegian in both the cruise line and the itinerary) and had never been on NCL before. I had a cruise with them coming up, so I decided, "Assuming that cruise is going OK and I don't hate NCL, I'll book it onboard for whatever special deal they're offering."

 

Half the time, I seem to book them at like 2 am on a Sunday and then wonder what happened the next day. :) My last one was booked at work one afternoon almost entirely on a whim, up to and including an unnecessarily expensive cabin. (Shortly thereafter, I said to someone, "Some people buy lots of shoes...I seem to book cruises." :)) I should note that these bookings aren't entirely impulses, though. I have a rough idea of my travel schedule for another couple of years and I know that a cruise going to place X or place Y is probably what I'm going to do in the fall of year Z, so...it happens. In the case of this last one, the itinerary looked interesting, and then I noticed it was on their newest megaship and it had fun new things, so...yeah. They convinced me to click the button, bless them.

 

Anyway, I'm not worried about price because in my experience so far, the cruise lines will adjust my costs if needed--if the cruise fare drops, I can call and get my price reduced. I'm sure there are exceptions to this among cruise lines or bookings, but so far, this has worked. Plus, booking early means I get a good choice of cabins.

[amwarner78]

If we are worried about airfare, we usually take a look at the rates a few times in different months to see how much it swings from low to high. If we're good with the highest fares, then we book the cruises we want. The farthest out we have is August 2020. We cruise Carnival and they allow for a payment plan so giving ourselves 9-12+ months to pay makes getting a great room easier to pay for.

[LuCruise]

Our furthest cruise out us March 2021, which we booked Dec 2018 when the date was released.  We know our March break date and recently realized how much we love cruising so booked it.  We book refundable when it's so far out and I check all the time for price drops.  

Edited February 2, 2019 by LuCruise

[Warm Breezes]

On 1/28/2019 at 9:06 PM, Dana'sDaughters said:

Do you book as soon as you know the cruise you want to go on, or do you wait until the best deal?  The cruise we are looking at is May 2020. I didn't know what the recommendation is for booking this far in advance.

I just booked my farthest out Dec. 2020 for Carnival Mardi Gras.  When I book early it is usually to get a room I want at the lowest rate.  In this case it is an Aft Balcony on a new ship.  I have booked as close as a month out due to a great rate and availability to go.  And we have booked everywhere in between.  I usually book as soon as I know we can go and I know where we want to go, but sometimes I have just a general that we will want to do something during specific months and I just watch the sales for a great deal.  The closer we have come to retirement the more flexible and spontaneous we have become with booking cruises...but those cruises have been anywhere from a month out to almost 2 years out. 

[LuckyStar]

On 1/28/2019 at 10:08 PM, Heidi13 said:

When you are comfortable booking a cruise can depend on the cruise line and your preferences. Our preferred cruise line prices rarely drop and cruises sell out quickly. Many 2019 itineraries are already sold out.

 

Personally, if we find an itinerary we want, at a price we find acceptable, we book it. Our next cruise departs Jan 2020, which we booked in April 2018.

I do the same. I have booked a year in advance since we wanted connecting rooms and they tend to sell out faster.   I have no problem with calling and asking for price drops if fares are lower.  But with my most recent cruise, we saw the prices rise so we felt pretty good about having booked early.  Cancelling without a penalty is also a perk to booking early, in case life happens. 

[LuckyStar]

On 1/30/2019 at 1:46 PM, Sea,Sun&Sail said:

I'm having a cruise this summer. I  booked it in 2018. It's a cruise in Northern Europe including Russia and I was concerned to arrange all shore excursions in advance.

 

I am already finding some Europe cruises are sold out for June 2020.  Crazy. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

1 minute ago, LuckyStar said:

I am already finding some Europe cruises are sold out for June 2020.  Crazy. 

 

1 minute ago, LuckyStar said:

I am already finding some Europe cruises are sold out for June 2020.  Crazy. 

Oceania announced it's 2021 World Cruise only several days ago and, already, more than half the available allocated cabins are booked.

[babs135]

52 minutes ago, Flatbush Flyer said:

 

Oceania announced it's 2021 World Cruise only several days ago and, already, more than half the available allocated cabins are booked.

As Americans can chop and change their bookings almost to the last minute (unlike us in the UK), do you think people who have booked are actually genuine or haven't quite made up their minds and are, in effect, 'holding' a cabin while they decide?  Just curious.

[FlyerTalker]

On 1/29/2019 at 5:41 AM, SRF said:

If you are booking under US rules, you can get any price drops up to final payment.  If not, book when the price is acceptable, and then stop looking. 😄

 

There are no "US rules".  It completely depends on the corporate policies of the cruiseline.

 

I know of some where you cannot take an existing booking and rebook at a lower price.  And there are some where you can.

 

Caveat Emptor.

[evandbob]

If a Caribbean cruise, generally 6 to 9 months out so we can select a nice balcony cabin.  Now that we live in SWFL, we can also book last minute from ports we can drive to - TAM, FLL, MIA.

 

For an extended cruise (beyond a week's length)  a cruise on a new ship, or an international or Alaskan cruise, maybe 1 and 1/2 yrs out.

 

When we book that Galapagos bucket list cruise, probably up to 2 yrs before.

[calliopecruiser]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

There are no "US rules". 

I do believe there are different rules to the travel industry in different countries (or at least to travel agents in different countries).

[squick64]

I am already finding some Europe cruises are sold out for June 2020.  Crazy. 

 

I'm booked on a cruise in November 2020. I'm sure there are plenty of cabins still, but at least a few of the ones around mine had been taken already (they're desirable cabins). My cruise coming up in April was booked in March of last year (so about 13 months out), and I remember seeing quite a number of cabins had already been taken when I was choosing mine.

 

IMHO, it really pays to book whenever you decide you want to do that cruise, especially if you're particular about getting a certain location or cabin type.

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, calliopecruiser said:

I do believe there are different rules to the travel industry in different countries (or at least to travel agents in different countries).

 

True...but there is no such blanket regulation in the USA, thus the comment "no USA rules".

 

Other countries have various regulations, thus you do have, for example, "UK rules".

[taglovestocruise]

On 1/28/2019 at 6:06 PM, Dana'sDaughters said:

Do you book as soon as you know the cruise you want to go on, or do you wait until the best deal?  The cruise we are looking at is May 2020. I didn't know what the recommendation is for booking this far in advance.

We have April 2020 booked and a few weeks ago booked Nov. 2020. If the price for your cabin drops you can call and get it repriced.  As far as airfare you can look at May 2019 to check round about prices.  You can also check your cruise line air prices. 

[navybankerteacher]

7 hours ago, LuckyStar said:

I am already finding some Europe cruises are sold out for June 2020.  Crazy. 

Not really crazy- when you look at what is offered, you will find that most itineraries are similar - but there are a few which are really unusual, and these will sell out much more quickly than a standard seven day Caribbean itinerary.

 

Additionally, you want to start looking at air fares as soon as possible to get best idea of prices - and to avoid being stuck with very high last minute fares.   Also, if a hotel stay is involved, you want to keep monitoring rates.  On our recent cruise the room rate we got a week in advance was $45 less than the rate for a room at same hotel, same night we had reserved three months earlier:  not a huge difference, but the sort of thing being proactive gives you.

[Hlitner]

We book cruises a far out as 18 months....and also within the last 10 days (prior to the cruise).  Getting hung up on a non-flexible strategy (such as always booking far in advance or at the last minute) is not usually a good thing.  Many cruises that might appear to be sold out are not!  Space might be held by consortiums, certain cruise agencies, etc.  Again, this is an issue often solved by flexibility....i.e. shopping around for availability and the best deals.  In more then forty years of cruising we have seldom seen cruises "sold out" a year in advance...except for some very special itineraries on smaller high end ships or World Cruises.  We have talked to folks who will tell us a cruise is sold out and we will take a quick look and find all kinds of available cabins.  They then explain, "we wanted a certain cabin....or a certain category."  If you are unwilling to be flexible either book very far in advance or convince yourself that your way is best.  Meanwhile, those of us who are flexible will generally take the cruise we please.

 

Hank