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Booking Far Ahead


babs135
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Now that the 2022 brochures are dropping onto people's mats and booking will start early next year I'm curious as to how many people will book within hours/a few days of availability. I'm also curious as to whether the majority of bookings are upheld or do many cancel. Based on personal experience, booking in February for travel in December and having to cancel, I would be very nervous booking so far ahead.

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Whilst on board in 2018, we booked for 2020, and this year, again whilst on board we booked for 2021.

 

For regular Cunarders, it's surely the best way to book. Prices always seem to rise as the date gets closer. To book our 2020 trip now costs an EXTRA £5000 for two. We also have been getting good OBC which has been in excess of $1300 each trip.

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25 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

Whilst on board in 2018, we booked for 2020, and this year, again whilst on board we booked for 2021.

 

For regular Cunarders, it's surely the best way to book. Prices always seem to rise as the date gets closer. To book our 2020 trip now costs an EXTRA £5000 for two. We also have been getting good OBC which has been in excess of $1300 each trip.

Have you never been tempted to change your mind within the 2 years? And do you take up extra insurance 'just in case the worst happened'.  As senior citizens with health issues I do worry about our health. Or am I overthinking the whole thing?

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We invariably book at least two cruises when the new itineraries are released which means now, more than two years in advance.

It means we get the cabins we want. We’ve cancelled a cruise, once but as long as the new cruise is more expensive, a small management fee is all it takes to transfer the booking.

No brainer for us.

Edited by Victoria2
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With only one exception, any crossings/cruises we have booked a year or more in advance have had lower rates appear. Fortunately, we have not had any expenses in cancelling and re-booking although this can be a nuisance. One time we were not able to keep our "future cruise deposit" as the deposit with OBC. Our deposit was refunded and we had to re-book with a small non-refundable deposit (Can.$130 pp) and keep our benefits for a future voyage.  Until a few years ago Cunard's U.S. office would simply do a fare adjustment.

 

Another consideration for booking far in advance is that voyages can get cancelled. It doesn't happen often, but from what I have observed it is more likely with Atlantic crossings. It has  never happened to us when we have booked. But one time we were going to book an unusual crossing (Southampton-Halifax on the QE) and this was cancelled about a year in advance.

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Changes in prices are swings and roundabouts, some have gone down a little, some up, last September's Med cruise more than doubled.  But we have the cabin we want, whatever early booking perks there may be, and something to look forward to. We accept that, if we are ill or one of us dies, we shall lose our deposit.

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5 hours ago, babs135 said:

Have you never been tempted to change your mind within the 2 years? And do you take up extra insurance 'just in case the worst happened'.  As senior citizens with health issues I do worry about our health. Or am I overthinking the whole thing?

 

Join the "Health Issues Club"!

 

Never yet changed our minds, but we've squeezed in extra ones.

 

The deposits have only been around £350, so if we had to lose the deposit it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world for us.

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Depends on the terms - if you can cancel without penalty or nearly so I can see the advantage of booking early. But with health issues we waited until Nov to book a cruise in Feb - that was when  he could get insurance -because it was withing 90 days of sailing - that wasn't bad we've had to wait until a month before to get medical clearance for him.   

 

I used to book in advance when I had to book leave but now he's retired and I'm self-employed last minute works better. The cruise also dropped  NZ$1000 (US$700) pp between Oct and Nov so I now see the 90 day must pay full cruise amount as a good point to book 

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12 hours ago, babs135 said:

Have you never been tempted to change your mind within the 2 years? And do you take up extra insurance 'just in case the worst happened'.  As senior citizens with health issues I do worry about our health. Or am I overthinking the whole thing?

We generally build other plans around a cruise, so if there is a ship and itinerary we want and accommodations we prefer, we are inclined to book well in advance.  This does not rule out a last minute booking if we have nothing happening and a good opportunity arises — but the fact is, we do not cruise just to cruise if it is cheap — we generally want to do it when we want , on the ship we want, going where we want, and have to make related arrangements - which become more problematic on short notice.

 

And we always carry insurance - a risk is a risk, whether you incur it two years or two weeks out.

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51 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

And we always carry insurance - a risk is a risk, whether you incur it two years or two weeks out.

 

In most countries you cant get travel insurance for pre-existing conditions until a reasonable distance out - for my partner it seems to be around the 3 month mark - but I imagine it varies depending on the patient. 

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We have World Cruises booked for 2021 as we will be travelling with friends and booked 2022 this week as we required a cabin for 3 and there were few in the grade we wanted.  We have also booked another voyage in 2021 and this was booked 2 years in advance again.  We have good annual travel insurance so if we had to cancel should be well covered.

 

In the past we never booked so far in advance but then the cruise lines only brought the brochures ot 12 months in advance.

 

Certainly the Early Booking benefits are a great incentive.

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We book in advance once we have a general idea what we are doing.  Our TA encourages us to book advance since we usually book Princess Grill and those cabins are limited especially on the QM2.  If prices drop, our TA re-books us at the lower price.  And we get travel insurance because we are old and have a very old mother/mother-in-law.

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4 hours ago, tv24 said:

We book in advance once we have a general idea what we are doing.  Our TA encourages us to book advance since we usually book Princess Grill and those cabins are limited especially on the QM2.  If prices drop, our TA re-books us at the lower price.  And we get travel insurance because we are old and have a very old mother/mother-in-law.

You are very lucky that if the price drops you can re-book at the lower price we dont have that option in the UK. Once booked if the price drops Cunard dont want to know the only option you have is to cancel lose your deposit and book again if it is financially viable.

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On 12/20/2019 at 8:00 PM, BigMac1953 said:

 

Join the "Health Issues Club"!

 

Never yet changed our minds, but we've squeezed in extra ones.

 

The deposits have only been around £350, so if we had to lose the deposit it certainly wouldn't be the end of the world for us.

I'm assuming that price is per person and just for a crossing? A longer cruise would need a larger deposit, something that we couldn't 'afford to lose'. I'd have to check whether our insurance would cover the cost. 

But just to prove how fragile health can be, DH goes into hospital tomorrow for a small procedure and our original plan was to hope that we could still book the January eastbound crossing, but I've developed phlebitis and I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow expecting him to tell me that flying is out of the question at the moment. Good job we hadn't booked.

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1 hour ago, babs135 said:

I'm assuming that price is per person and just for a crossing? A longer cruise would need a larger deposit, something that we couldn't 'afford to lose'.

 

No. Both trips that are booked in QG are for 14 nights and each cost nearly £5K per person. Total deposit per trip was £350.

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19 minutes ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

No. Both trips that are booked in QG are for 14 nights and each cost nearly £5K per person. Total deposit per trip was £350.

 

I aasume this is booking on board. Whether you'd have to stump up more if you cancel is somewhat moot, but it's a good perk.

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You'll get a mix of responses in this thread, as US bookings are usually fully refundable up until about when final payment is due.

 

We can also buy trip insurance early; in fact to insure pre-existing conditions it's generally required that trip insurance is purchased within 10-14 days of paying the initial deposit.

 

Edit: As a matter of fact, I recently booked an Alaska cruise for May 2021 and decided to buy trip insurance at the time of booking.

Edited by Underwatr
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8 hours ago, tv24 said:

We book in advance once we have a general idea what we are doing.  Our TA encourages us to book advance since we usually book Princess Grill and those cabins are limited especially on the QM2.  If prices drop, our TA re-books us at the lower price.  And we get travel insurance because we are old and have a very old mother/mother-in-law.

We do the same.  We have an excellent Cunard TA.  We booked an Alaskan cruise more than a year ago.  About six months ago a promotion came up that gave us an cabin upgrade, drink package,  gratuities and a OBC for the same price.  You can get any promotion up until your final payment which is due 3 months before sailing. 

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8 minutes ago, charlesspinney said:

You can get any promotion up until your final payment which is due 3 months before sailing. 

Note that Cunard's US fares are no longer fully refundable within 120 days of embarkation, so that may affect whether you can get new promotions that close in.

Edited by Underwatr
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1 hour ago, BigMac1953 said:

 

No. Both trips that are booked in QG are for 14 nights and each cost nearly £5K per person. Total deposit per trip was £350.

Interesting. The deposit on our last (cancelled) cruise was 15%. However, I would assume that it was that high because the package included 3 cruises, one was with Princess, and 5 nights Hotel stay in Fort Lauderdale and New York. 

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4 minutes ago, babs135 said:

Interesting. The deposit on our last (cancelled) cruise was 15%. However, I would assume that it was that high because the package included 3 cruises, one was with Princess, and 5 nights Hotel stay in Fort Lauderdale and New York. 

 

The standard deposit for cruises booked on Cunard's UK website is indeed 15%. But certain voyages shown on the Cunard UK website are currently being advertised with a 5% deposit. They can be found under "Special offers", "Additional money to spend on board with 5% deposit."

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1 hour ago, Underwatr said:

Note that Cunard's US fares are no longer fully refundable within 120 days of embarkation, so that may affect whether you can get new promotions that close in.

 

That, and starting with cruises after the 2020 world voyages (for QE, her first 2020 Alaska cruise), the final payment date for most voyages booked under the US terms and conditions will also be 120 days prior to the sailing date. So for those of us in the US, we will need to start thinking of 120 days out for both the final payment date and the cancellation penalty date on voyages of 30 nights or less (150 days out on voyages of more than 30 nights).

Edited by bluemarble
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2 hours ago, charlesspinney said:

We do the same.  We have an excellent Cunard TA.  We booked an Alaskan cruise more than a year ago.  About six months ago a promotion came up that gave us an cabin upgrade, drink package,  gratuities and a OBC for the same price.  You can get any promotion up until your final payment which is due 3 months before sailing. 

 

Yes, it can be beneficial to re-book, although there are some occasions when it isn't worth re-booking to get a lower fare. Now that Cunard does not simply "re-price" a booking, cancelling and re-booking can mean losing the original benefits such as OBC or pre-paid gratuities. It can also be difficult getting the same stateroom.  It is worth checking carefully - or having one's travel agent do it.

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