Prices after final payment

[panzafit]

I currently have someone that now wants to join our cruise.  Final payment is due April 1st.  I noticed this morning our cruise raised in price by about $400 between last week and this week.  I know final payment is due 90 days before which is April 1st.  Do prices typically drop after that point?  Just trying to figure out if I tell him to grab it now or advise he wait until after the final payment date in hopes it goes back down.

[Clarea]

Unfortunately, price changes are unpredictable.

 

If stateroom location and/or selling out are not concerns, and since we are so close to 4/1 now, I'd wait to book until after final payment.

[ramja96]

Probably depends most on availability.  Run a dummy booking and see how much comes up. If there's a lot of room choices, your chances are better to see a price drop (although, not guaranteed to do so).

[panzafit]

Thanks!  He was just going to do an interior guarantee, so location isn't a concern.  There does look to be a good number of rooms left so maybe I will tell him to wait.  I've been monitoring prices since we purchased in case he wanted to come.  Of course this week when he finally decides is the highest price it's been since December.

[h20skibum]

It is really a toss up.  The last cruise we booked as a last minute cruise, we booked at 47 days out.  We thought about booking an inside, about a week prior, and the price wasn’t too bad.   Then, the inside went up by $400 in a couple days, and we thought we would pass.

 

On the Saturday we booked, our TA had a sale on an OV that included gratuities, and was less than the inside we had looked at, so we booked right away.  Our cabin is now $1,000 higher, because it has limited inventory, and is only 3 weeks away.

 

Prices fluctuate daily, so if you see a deal that is good for you, book it.

[BND]

It's really a supply and demand thing.  Usually if there are very few cabins left, the prices are high.  I've seen some crazy high prices for one or two cabins left available before.

[dwp10mm]

I agree with others on the mock booking.  I would wait until after final payment as there could be cancellations.  I just booked Harmony for May at 65 days out.  I was watching the price for about 4 weeks on Central Park balconies.  For the first 2 weeks, it kept fluctuating by $100 each way.  It then dropped by $200 in week 3.  Then on Friday night, I pulled up the RCCL website on my iPad and it said "complete your booking" with a price that was down an additional $200 per person.  Central Park balconies were the cheapest rooms available.  But each time I checked, I would always pull up the deck plans to see how many rooms were available.  There were enough that I could be patient and wait for a drop.