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Pick Your Perk...do you think it's a good deal?


Ski Mom 2
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I'm turning the big 6-0 in 2021 and we are thinking about doing the CLASSIC ITALY & DALMATIAN COAST cruise in September 2021 in addition to traveling around Italy and visiting my Italian cousins.

 

What do folks think about the current Pick Your Perk promotion?

 

We have our 5% alumni discount plus an additional 5% since we are within the 60 days of just coming off our Caribbean cruise. Deposits are only $50 per person which seems like a no brainer but I'm still trying to decide if this will be the best price/promo, especially since it's a year and a half away. I do realize I can re-book if the price lowers but if I had to do that, would I lose the extra 5% from the 60 day out piece?

 

Thanks for your input!

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Hi, My Malta cruise which I reserved a year ago.   I received 5%x2, perk worth $300, OBC from WS and AMEX, the price was really reduced on VTG last week.  I called WS and AMEX told them my history with WS and thought they should grant me that price without giving up my awards, ( perks )   AMEX called me back and I ended up saving $1000 and keeping everything.  I was happy indeed. Sometimes I think you never know. I always reserve way ahead because my life is such that I need to do  that. Perhaps, I went on WS Wizard, there were lots of cabins empty this is a cruise for September 2020, maybe they needed to fill cabins. Who knows. Thrilled and can not wait as you know. The Dalmatian Coast trip  was great. I have good advice. Happy Sailing

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44 minutes ago, Strenz said:

Hi, My Malta cruise which I reserved a year ago.   I received 5%x2, perk worth $300, OBC from WS and AMEX, the price was really reduced on VTG last week.  I called WS and AMEX told them my history with WS and thought they should grant me that price without giving up my awards, ( perks )   AMEX called me back and I ended up saving $1000 and keeping everything.  I was happy indeed. Sometimes I think you never know. I always reserve way ahead because my life is such that I need to do  that. Perhaps, I went on WS Wizard, there were lots of cabins empty this is a cruise for September 2020, maybe they needed to fill cabins. Who knows. Thrilled and can not wait as you know. The Dalmatian Coast trip  was great. I have good advice. Happy Sailing

This is fantastic news; I’m so happy for you!  We will definitely chat 😉

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I am at the other end of the spectrum and can’t compare pricing per se as I’ve only cruised in the Caribbean with Windstar, where pricing is substantially less than in Europe. That being said, I usually wait to book as I can’t really plan too much time ahead anyways and I always manage to get a great price within 2 months of sailing sometimes with OBC but most of time with nothing else and never pay more than $1,600 for lowest category and as low as $1,799 for 2 weeks last Fall.  We also always get upgraded, sometimes by 2 and 3 categories. Don’t think this promo is a great deal(slow wifi and $100 0BC for one week no thanks) and we got a better price for our upcoming March cruise through the special for Canadian residents.  The new Windstar wizard tool really helps to see what’s still available  and quickly see which cruises are really popular (such as the recent Bridgetown to Aruba sailing on the Surf) and whose price never came down and which ones are less (the following leg to Colon where pricing remained low until departure). I guess everyone has their reasons for booking a long time ahead but I am not one of those. 11 days until we board the Surf. can’t wait

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I agree that Caribbean is must more reasonable. The lowest prices are normally   in the fall. We always go in January on the Surf my least favorite month because while  I live  in the NE  I can not stand the cold. I try to keep the prices in the Caribbean about $1400-1600 per week. Always the lowest priced cabin, we love being down and under we get the best sleep ever. We do not even accept " upgrades ". On the Surf the cabins mostly the same. We have 23 cruises 240 days. One reason we book way out,  I have found the airfares from NE to the Caribbean are the least way out. Pricing is always tricky within minutes individual needs. I agree the WS Wizard is very helpful. Happy Sailing.

 

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Ski Mom,

My husband and I did that cruise two years ago. We booked at around $4800 with a small OBC over a year out. I avidly watched the price and got two different price reductions that ended up lowering the price to $3200. It was worth losing the 5% onboard discount. I ended up negotiating OBC that worked out to be about the same as the lost discount. We recently booked onboard a fall 2020 Barcelona to Lisbon cruise and got such a fabulous discounted price that I’m not really expecting to beat it. But I look every week anyway! 

You will love the Classic Italy Dalmatian cruise. It was lovely! 

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Thanks to all your replies so far!

 

We are planners, especially for something that will be as complicated as coordinating a cruise, where to go and stay while on land (for up to 3 weeks), visiting my Italian cousins, etc. I realize the pricing for September 2021 is the same as 2020 and I also see that this May is lower in price. I like that the deposit is only $50 per person and that we can cancel/change our minds up to 120 days out.

 

Since I'm about 99% positive we want to do this cruise I'm leaning heavily to booking it now. I just wish I could remember what kind of other promotions WS does throughout the year to know if this is a good one or not. 😉

 

 

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It was a good deal for us. We also have our 5% and 5% plus a 20% FCC and said lets book a suite! 🙂 So we did for the Jan 2022 Bridgetown to Aruba sailing and also received the All In Package as a perk. We would have at least bought the Captains Drink Package anyway and we also got $300 OBC from our TA.

Edited by minidonuts85
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2 minutes ago, minidonuts85 said:

It was a good deal for us. We also have our 5% and 5% plus a 20% FCC and said lets book a suite! 🙂 So we did for the Jan 2022 Bridgetown to Aruba sailing and also received the All In Package as a perk. We would have at least bought the Captains Drink Package anyway. We also got $300 OBC from our TA.

Wow that's great!

 

And you will love the Bridgetown to Aruba sailing. That was the second of our back2back in January and we really enjoyed the ports on that portion of our cruise.

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I looked at the promo a little closer and the promotion is good value only if you do a 14 nighter as then you can get the all-in package included which is not insignificant.  In our case, we wouldn't really pay for wifi but the total value of the all-in for 14 days is pretty good if you can snag a good price on the cruise at the same time. 

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