How far in advance do you book? I'm just curious

[stbmom]

We booked our cruise 12 months in advance. However, we needed to get a delux oceanview balcony room since we are traveling with my son that will be one and we will have the RCCL Pack n Play in the room - so we had to make sure we could get a larger cabin.

 

However, even without our son we usually booked 9 months in advance.

 

What is standard for everyone else?

[Dawniepoo]

We book ours about the same time frame. 9 months to a year has been our standard, however, we have been thinking of booking something at the last minute as a pre-cruise cruise!

[Driftwoodgal]

Our first cruise was about 4 months out all of the others have been a year or longer. Our Rhapsody cruises were booked about 16 months out to get our aft cabins. When on board I book out as far as I can so I can move my shipboard credit to my cruise of choice when the new sailings come out.

[molly361]

Usually a year or more- booked March Carnival cruise one and 1/2 years ago, last fall booked December 2006 QM2 and last week booked for April 2007 RCL- gotta have stuff to look forward to- will book HAL for November 2007 but they are taking them yet!!!!:eek:

[spammie]

Our first cruise in August 2003 (Voyager) we booked 4 months out. Our upcoming Freedom cruise - 9-10-06 we booked April 2005.

[CRUSINGFAMILY]

The last couple of years we have booked more than a year in advance. As the cruises are posted in May for the next year I try to book then because the savings are very good. WE are going to Hawaii in May on Radiance and we paid 1339pp for 14 days, they are now asking 2400pp for the same cabin.

We also are booked in the fall on Explorer repo in an aft balcony cabin for 1109pp and it now is 1398pp and the crusieline airfare is higher. It seems to book early, book while on board and own stocks in RCCL and be a Diamond Crown & Anchor member!!!!! gives you the best value.

 

Enjoy your cruises

[Sheffie]

We cruise during Spring Break, and at that time we book the next year's cruise. I like that $100 cabin credit!

[ckrobyn]

We book at least a year in advance - this time within 48 hours of getting off the AOS!

I like booking early to have my choice of cabins. We booked for next March 2007 on the AOS again and were able to snag aft JS 1694 :)

[Alexis]

I booked our next back to back cruises on July 8, 2005 for the weeks of December 2 and December 9, 2006. (I have since changed it to September.) So, 17 months out from sailing.

We always try to book that far in advance to get the cabin we want. Any price changes are always given to us unless they are a special for new booking only.

I will book the one after that as soon as the schedule comes out for 2007.

[garypayne]

I book through Travelocity. If I see a cruise I am interested in then I will go ahead and book to lock in the price. Then I watch the cruise constantly and call to get an adjustment if the price goes down. Unlike airlines, the cruise industry is great about adjusting the price, at least up till when the final payment is due- 90 days out. In fact, I have been known to book two cruises for the same week just to hold the price, and then cancel the cruise I decide I don't want. By the way, customer service at Travelocity has always been great!

[stbmom]

Now I see why there were hardly any rooms available when we tried to book something on a cruise in 04!!

 

I also don't feel bad about booking a year in advance anymore either. Some folks looked at me like I was crazy when I told them we had booked - but we ended up with a great cabin for this December (I think!)

[raytownlady]

We generally book a year in advance. That makes it easier to get the cabins that I want as well as the planning phase can begin. We've already got one scheduled for early '07 and are anxiously waiting for the Fall '07 schedules to be realeased so we can schedule another one.

[critterchick]

We book as soon as we think we might be interested in a particular cruise, usually well over a year in advance for anything 7 nights or longer. 3-nighters on Monarch we book as the spirit moves us.

 

I'm waiting for the Northern Europe 2007 itineraries to come out so we can pounce on something.

[over the edge]

Wow, that is quite a list of past and upcoming cruises. You must dream well at night!! If I had that many cruises to dream about, I'd sleep like a baby. Pretty soon you will have a thread called, "Have a cruise question? Critterchick has the answer!" ;)

[mustangjoe]

Our 1st cruise was 4 months, 2nd was 8 months and our 3rd cruise was booked 12 months in advance.

[ciderapple]

12 months for the 1st cruise. Wanted to be able to choose our cabins. I would not be able to plan any further in advance than this though because of our lifestyle.

[beachnative]

We would like to book a cruise to the Baltic for the summer of 2007. When will the sailing dates be posted? Is there a site that gives the information early?

[logan1_2000]

I've booked 17 mos. in advance, 15 mos. in advance, and in once case, on a cruise I never ended up taking, about 23 months in advance. I'd book Thanksgiving 2007 today if I could (am holding an April 2007 on the Radiance that I know I won't take, I just wanted the on-board credit and to give myself the maximum amount of flexibility before switching the ressie to Thanksgiving). I'd book spring break 2008 if I could.

 

Stop me before I book again!!

[Lewdog]

We have booked anywhere from 4 months to a year in advance.

[critterchick]

Stop me before I book again!!

 

Tell me about it!:D :eek: :D

[Kteacher]

We usually book about a year in advance. The Freedom was the earliest we have ever booked - as soon as bookings were open to Crown and Anchor society for this coming July. I already have another cruise booked for April vacation week '07 - I always go away that week, and things tend to fill up quickly!

[Laxman35]

I guess it also depends on what type of cabin you want. We are taking our third cruise in March on Brilliance and each time we have booked 7-9 weeks out through *****.com. We don't have a lot of $ to play around with so price is most important to us - we try to stay at $100/pp per day which is usually not hard when booking less than 90 days out.

 

Of course as everyone will point out the downside is we are always on inside cabins down in the bottom of the ship. We don't have a problem with that as we spend very little time in the cabin anyway but you have to be willing to be in a small room. For the Brilliance in March we got an inside guarantee and actually ended up on the 9th deck with we are thrilled with...no 20 min trips to the room :D

 

Anyway..thought I'd add this viewpoint since everyone else seems to book really nice rooms a year in advance :p

[wrp96]

Let's see, first cruise booked 4 months out - post-9/11 deal that got me hooked on cruising.

2nd cruise booked 14 months out - graduation cruise

3rd cruise booked 5 weeks out.

4th cruise booked 4 months out - Christmas/graduation cruise

5th cruise booked 45 days out - leave this Friday, post bar exam cruise

6th cruise booked 12 months out - post bar exam cruise

7th cruise booking on cruise two days from now with less than a month to go - another post bar exam cruise

8th cruise booking a year out.

 

No rhyme or reason, depends on schedules for me. Definitely trying to maximize my discounts for next year's cruise though.

[suzeyQ]

I've booked 6 weeks ahead and I've booked 15 months ahead (and everywhere in between). We actually got a fantastic room the one time we booked 6 weeks ahead. We try to book as far ahad as possible to have the best choice of rooms but I have the sort of career that every so often, I end up with a free few weeks at the last minute so we try to take advantage of that!

[Kevbear]

I try to book us when we know the next years vacation schedual, preferably 9 months to over a year out. Waiting on being on the Adventure in 2 months to book an October shorty cruise to go up to Diamond before we cruise on Celebrity to transfer at the elite level for CC.

Kevin