Advice on Last-Minute Booking?

[JamieLogical]

We are looking at the June 2 sailing on the Escape. We have never booked this close to the sail date before. I have been tracking inventory on the ship for a week and it seems about 8 rooms or so sell per day. As of this morning, there were at least 535 rooms still available. Specifically, we are interested in an Aft Balcony. There have been 24 of those left since I began tracking inventory on April 29. None have sold in that time. I have been hoping to see prices drop some now that we are inside of 30 days, but they have stayed pretty consistent for the week I've tracked them so far. Is it worth waiting a few more days to see if prices drop further or should I just book now and be sure to get a room location I am certain we'll be happy with?

[vacation44]

Jamie, I have been watching our Escape cruise which leaves the week before the one you are interested in.  There has not been any significant price decrease in months.   However, I think there are a lot less cabins left and it is over Memorial Day weekend.   On another note, how did your sister enjoy her first cruise a few weeks back?

[JamieLogical]

Just now, vacation44 said:

Jamie, I have been watching our Escape cruise which leaves the week before the one you are interested in.  There has not been any significant price decrease in months.   However, I think there are a lot less cabins left and it is over Memorial Day weekend.   On another note, how did your sister enjoy her first cruise a few weeks back?

 

She had a great time! She wants to try to plan another one for sometime over summer break in 2020 to bring her kids. She even bought some CruiseNext deposits.

[vacation44]

So happy to hear it. Maybe now you can plan one with your whole family.

[Nclgetawaymenhoney]

I'm sailing on may 19th on Escape and have been tracking since early April and I've seen a 50 then another 30 price reduction, nothing more

[JamieLogical]

4 minutes ago, Nclgetawaymenhoney said:

I'm sailing on may 19th on Escape and have been tracking since early April and I've seen a 50 then another 30 price reduction, nothing more

 

Were those drops across the board or in specific categories?

[All-ready2cruise]

Jamie, I would wait, at least another few days.  When looking at the number of cabins still available, it seems quite high to me.  Lots of aft balconies still available, at least 15 and still quite a few H5s available (I only include these since they seem to sell quite well on most cruises). Seems there's lots of inventory in other cats. as well so I'd give more time.  

 

I'm doing the same type of thing on the BA cruise I've just booked on the BA to get a feel for the pricing and it seems to be selling quite well.  However, timing is everything and my cruise will have lots of kids (no worries for me, it's why I have a balcony). 

 

Hope you have a great cruise, hang in there. 

Cheers

[JamieLogical]

16 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Lots of aft balconies still available, at least 15 and still quite a few H5s available (I only include these since they seem to sell quite well on most cruises). Seems there's lots of inventory in other cats. as well so I'd give more time.  

 

Yeah, there are still 24 aft balconies available. Same as have been available for the whole past week, so they are definitely not selling at the current price. Only one H5 has sold since I started tracking on the 29th. In fact, that's the only Haven of any variety that has sold in the week I've been tracking. There were a total of 37 Haven rooms remaining when I started and as of right now there are still 36.

[Nclgetawaymenhoney]

46 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Were those drops across the board or in specific categories?

Hi Jamie, I'm specifically tracking balcony and mini to try and score free upgrade for friends in s balcony, so that s the 50 and 30. The havens dropped by w200 or 300 hundred

[YVRBassElectric]

I booked the Joy May 11 sailing 16 days before sailing - the last H6 dropped by several thousand, not sure the specific amount and I've been watching the whole season, not a specific sailing. We are paying 30% less than our Bliss sailing in Sept and when itineraries were first released Joy was close to double the amount we paid for our Bliss Alaska sailing

[Son of a son of a ...]

I remember when Del Rio said that NCL was not going to discount cabins close to sail dates to off load inventory ... how did that turn out for you, Frank? 😂

[Chesneygirl]

We have our sail date picked out but I'm not booking anything yet. Its past final payment and there's still plenty of inventory left in the mini-suites categories and 41 Haven suites.  I'm just taking my time watching prices and inventory before I pull the trigger. 

 

 

 

 

[Von & John]

Jamie  --  w/ 4 weeks to ago, @ some point your may see some changes due to the upgrade program...

[JamieLogical]

Between yesterday and today, inventory across the ship decreased by 10, including THREE Haven rooms (two H5s and an H3). However, still no change in the Aft Balcony inventory and still no price changes in any category. I found out today that my PCC is out of the office through Thursday, so I may hold off on booking until she gets back, at the very least.

[GC456]

In my experience, 3 weeks out is the safe booking cut off point.

 

Unless you can go the week after I would advise you to not risk it much longer.

 

Good luck 😎

[graphicguy]

Jamie...I can’t figure out why the Escape seems to lag in bookings.  I booked her a couple of months ago when there were only 2 weeks to sail date.  I knew I was cutting it close.  But, prices stabilized from 4 weeks out, so I booked.  

 

You’re probably seeing the bottom of the price ladder as they’ll start assigning bid cabins next week.  What are you looking at fare-wise for an Aft cabin (my favorite, BTW)?

[bam1957]

I think because of the Bidding system the prices won't go down much on the higher category cabins. Maybe in the past but I don't see that happening anymore.

[luv2kroooz]

Rock bottom rates will generally happen 3-7days prior to sailing based on capacity. If you didn't have a specific sail date and cabin category in mind, I would hold off til then.

[JamieLogical]

57 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Jamie...I can’t figure out why the Escape seems to lag in bookings.  I booked her a couple of months ago when there were only 2 weeks to sail date.  I knew I was cutting it close.  But, prices stabilized from 4 weeks out, so I booked.  

 

You’re probably seeing the bottom of the price ladder as they’ll start assigning bid cabins next week.  What are you looking at fare-wise for an Aft cabin (my favorite, BTW)?

 

Afts are currently listed at $1449. On the Escape sailing I was on in April, I saw prices on Afts drop from $1499 when I originally started tracking (well before final payment), down to $1349 around 33 days before sailing, and then ultimately down to $1199 at exactly 14 days out. I would love to see them get down in the $1200 range, but the idea of waiting until only two weeks out is pretty terrifying.

[graphicguy]

8 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Afts are currently listed at $1449. On the Escape sailing I was on in April, I saw prices on Afts drop from $1499 when I originally started tracking (well before final payment), down to $1349 around 33 days before sailing, and then ultimately down to $1199 at exactly 14 days out. I would love to see them get down in the $1200 range, but the idea of waiting until only two weeks out is pretty terrifying.

Terrifying now, but once you book last minute, 2-3 weeks of sail date, you find subsequent last minute bookings become easier and somewhat of a booking sport. 😉

[Mike_DeA]

It's now showing at $1,399.

 

I usually book the sailaway rate which is guarantee cabin.  Since you're looking at a specific category, don't wait too long.

[Newleno]

2 hours ago, blcruising said:

Rock bottom rates will generally happen 3-7days prior to sailing based on capacity. If you didn't have a specific sail date and cabin category in mind, I would hold off til then.

Yeah we have been killing it doing this, but this we are frugal last minute inside cabin people,  we like good locations on ships but will settle for the worst (I could not get the 3 days I needed to make it work but may 11 ams 14 day roundtrip, great itinerary popped up at $549 per person.) 

Edited May 7, 2019 by Newleno

[JamieLogical]

2 hours ago, Mike_DeA said:

It's now showing at $1,399.

 

 

Looks like the assigned a bunch of GTYs today as inventory dropped by 46 across the ship. Also looks like they lowered prices by $50 per person in most of the remaining categories. Still 24 Afts left, as none of those got assigned to GTYs apparently. Looks like it was mostly Family Balconies and Mini-suites that got assigned to GTYs today. Now several categories of Family cabins are showing as sold out on a sailing that is not offering 3rd and 4th guest free.

[Son of a son of a ...]

Is this an NYC departure phenomenon? I’m on the Escape for 6/30 and there a lot of cabins available, as well.  I’m starting to think that the booking strategy for NYC is to wait until after final payment.

[JamieLogical]

Just wanted to update all of you that we went ahead and booked last night. There is still a chance that prices will drop between now and sailing, but yesterday morning, two aft balconies finally sold (none had sold the whole time I'd been tracking inventory) and they just happened my two top choices for room locations. So rather than miss out on a decent location, I decided to just go ahead and book. Plus there was that promo code announced yesterday for $100 extra OBC, and I didn't want to pass up a sure thing on the off chance of saving another $50-$100 per person. Worst case, if prices do drop between now and sailing, I could at least call up my PCC and try to get 25% of the difference in OBC.

 

Also, truth be told, not being officially booked was REALLY stressing me out. No matter how many times I told myself that it would be fine, we would definitely at least get a room since there were over 400 left, the irrational part of me just really couldn't handle the waiting. I definitely feel relieved to have it on the books now. I will try not to beat myself up too much for my impatience if prices do drop again.