Do prices

[allanna]

generally go down nearer departure date?

[lifes-a-beach]

There’s really no way to generalize about that.  It depends on so many factors.  Departure port, itinerary, cruise line, length, time of year.   My experience has been book what you want, when you want it and watch for price decreases until the 90 mark.  After that just quit looking and enjoy your cruise.  

[CruiserBruce]

Yes. No. Maybe. All depends on how the cruise is selling.

[allanna]

A little background about us, we live in Crete so we have to fly to find a suitable port.

 

Southampton is the nearest (apart from Athens and Heraklion, been there done that )

 

We are after a 14 day winter cruise to Portugal, Canaries area in October(Due to my working schedule)

 

There are so many companies offering deals at the moment we are so confused, this will be our 3rd cruise so we are virgin cruisers.

 

We do not have the benefit of the USA deals re re-booking before the 90 day clause.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

 

[leaveitallbehind]

As CruiserBruce has indicated there really is no way of predicting and no pricing pattern that you can count on when deciding on a booking.  Pricing is based on supply and demand and prices can either remain stable, go up, or go down on any given itinerary as departure date approaches.  With most cruise lines, however, once you have passed the final payment date you are locked into whatever price you paid at that point, usually with few options that would not include a financial penalty for making a change.

 

What you need to do is determine your desired itinerary and compare preferred cruise lines in conjunction with any other travel arrangements needed for best pricing at the time of your decision and go with that.  Perhaps consult a travel agency to assist with the process and in offering comparative alternatives.

Edited June 22, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[CruiserBruce]

20 minutes ago, allanna said:

A little background about us, we live in Crete so we have to fly to find a suitable port.

 

Southampton is the nearest (apart from Athens and Heraklion, been there done that )

 

We are after a 14 day winter cruise to Portugal, Canaries area in October(Due to my working schedule)

 

There are so many companies offering deals at the moment we are so confused, this will be our 3rd cruise so we are virgin cruisers.

 

We do not have the benefit of the USA deals re re-booking before the 90 day clause.

 

Any help is appreciated.

 

 

There are many sailings from Rome, Venice and Barcelona. Unless you are saying you have sailed the Med and wish to move on to different areas. But it is not a long flight for you to Southhampton, or the Baltic ports, like Copenhagen.

 

October is a definite limiting factor. If the Canaries is all you are interested in, then yes, you are limited to Southampton.

[ed01106]

To expand on what beach said....sometimes they go down, sometimes they go up.  If two months before sailing half the boat is still empty prices are gonna drop.  If there is only one unsold cabin...the price of that last cabin is going to go up.

 

In general if you have fixed vacation week and you have an exact cruise in mind you are better off booking as early as possible.

 

Last minute deals work best for very flexible people.  Eg retired couple, that doesn’t care what line or what destination as long as it inexpensive and leaves from Florida.

 

[allanna]

Thanks cruiserbruce and ed01106,

Yes, we have sailed the Western Med and the Dalmatian coast so a change of destination is needed for winter.

 

Southampton is only a 4 hour flight (better than 13+ to the USA)

 

I suppose I must just suck the lemon and pay for the best and cheapest deal from Southampton.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

[jocap]

The 3rd week in October is often the half term week, so any cruise out of Southampton fitting those dates will not be an empty one, and the prices will probably reflect that.

Or you can look at the adult only ships, which won't be affected- P&O have 2, all Cruise and Maritime, and some Fred Olsen cruises are adult only.

[evandbob]

I've seen fares go up close to sail date as well as go down.  All depends on how well or poorly the ship is getting filled.

[allanna]

Thanks for that information joecap, didn`t know school holidays were in October.

[BlueRiband]

21 hours ago, allanna said:

Thanks cruiserbruce and ed01106,

Yes, we have sailed the Western Med and the Dalmatian coast so a change of destination is needed for winter.

 

Southampton is only a 4 hour flight (better than 13+ to the USA)

 

I suppose I must just suck the lemon and pay for the best and cheapest deal from Southampton.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

Since you have to fly to a departure port, any cruise fare savings can be eaten up by last minute airfare prices.  Just another consideration to keep in mind when comparing pricing.

[allanna]

Thanks BlueRiband,

We are able use Low Cost Airways, ie Ryanair, Easy Jet from Greece to the UK but I agree this cost has to be factored into the final cost.

Thanks for the imput.

[ed01106]

5 minutes ago, allanna said:

Thanks BlueRiband,

We are able use Low Cost Airways, ie Ryanair, Easy Jet from Greece to the UK but I agree this cost has to be factored into the final cost.

Thanks for the imput.

I think the point that was being made is last minute airfares are often much higher than those made earlier.  So lets say you wait for a better cruise deal and save $250 on the cruise, but now airfare is $300 higher than booking earlier, you are worse off overall.  

 

Or maybe the budget airline will be sold out if you wait.

Edited June 23, 2019 by ed01106

[allanna]

Point taken ed01106,

 

More stress...lol

[iancal]

Maybe.

 

The only way to get an indication, just an indication, is to follow pricing for your target destination.

 

As an example, if you check out late booking cruises for Alaska there are many of them and yes, the prices are not just going down, they  are going down to the basement on several cruise lines.  It has been this way for a few years.  But, I have been looking at Med cruises since we will be doing a land trip in the fall.  Prices there are high.  A few reductions but nothing like the Alaska run so I doubt whether there is any chance of us scoring a Med deal this fall.

 

It all comes down to supply and demand.