Do you book early OR wait until the last minute?

[BTDookie]

I am kinda new to the cruise deal and I love it.:D

 

Based on many posts here by those with many trips under their belts, do you book early and get the stateroom YOU want, on the sailing YOU want, etc OR do you play Russian roulette (so to speak) and book at or near the last minute looking for value vs. exactly what you want.

 

How many times in booking late do you get what you want?

 

How many times in booking late do you regret waiting until the last minute?

 

Curious.

 

My first X cruise was booked very near departure and it was great.

My 2nd was booked while we were on the first and we had our pick of the ship literally, at booking time. We were spoiled!

 

Right now we can really only do one 7-10 day trip just for time reasons.

 

And there is something about the anticipation of booking a year out...

 

Just really curious how others approach this.

[halos]

I book early with an agency that will honor a price reduction.

This current cruise I'm anxious for was booked 16 months in advance. So far the price has gone UP $200 per person.

When it gets closer to sail time, if the price goes back down and becomes even less than what I'm paying, my TA will upgrade us or get us on board credit. It's a win-win.

[JNLROSE]

My personal situation is--timing is EVERYTHING with my job so yes, we book very early & get exactly what, where & when we want! Research is key! :D

[flashdog_1]

I keep my eyes open for new, different, or longed for itineraries long before sailing time. Sometimes I've overlooked one, and when I know it is THE one, I book it whenever that happens to be. Our current cruise was booked only a couple of months out and there were no balconies left, so that's sad. But had I waited for a sale, I'd have been out of luck. The lowest cat inside is now selling for about $400 more pp than the ov we got two months out.

[greeneg]

If at all feasible, we book the next cruise while we are on board. I like getting the on-board booking credits, they are real money and can be transferred to another booking if you need to change something.

 

Yes, this time, it IS all about the money!!!!

[poetic license]

I have done both: last minute and far in advance. My advanced bookings are done shipboard, for all the reasons other posters have cited, then transferred to my TA.

 

But I have to say that I get what I want when booking last minute, too. Usually the last minute stuff is because we HAVE to get out of dodge to keep our sanity, or a window of opportunity opens up. I've never considered them a 'compromise', since we really do get what we want AND need, and my TA has always come through with a nice shipboard credit to boot.

 

 

Guess it depends on your needs, both short and long term.

 

Cheers,

[BTDookie]

Ed- hey there :)

 

We did not book while on-ship (Connie) this time because, at the time, we were so fed up over the huge group that was onboard with us...you recall them, yes?

 

When I contact X to make these arrangements for '07 I will mention why I did not book onboard and perhaps a small ship-board credit might come my way. Grrrr.

 

I don't use a TA. Should I? I travel for a living (on business) and I just know how to play the games pretty well all by myself.... :)

[meyer4two]

That is a very good question as to when to book. I would like to know the answer to that also.

I booked the Constellation for April about 6 months ago and now the same sailing is going for $1200.pp for concierge which is $1400. below the original booking price of $1900.pp concierge. They seem to bring out specials when its too late to cancel & rebook because everyone is paid in full.

So who knows when is the best time to book.

[usha]

I'd say the best time to book a cruise is while you're on a cruise, and then have your booking transferred to a wonderful agent who will honor any price reductions that come along. You'll get onboard credit just for booking onboard, you'll have your price protected, and your agent will be overseeing your booking, watching for price reductions. :D

[BTDookie]

Do you imply that if there is a price reduction, X will not adjust a reservation made directly with them? Without an outside TA?

[MSBYRDY]

X will indeed honor all price reductions, even if booked directly.

Marilyn

[greeneg]

They certainly do. We actually have done all of our booking directly with Captains Club or on board since 2001. Never have had a problem, (knock wood), and have nothing but excellent customer service via Captains Club.

 

I have to say that I think that you do get better service vial the Captains Club than you do through the regular Celebrity lines; have no way to prove that, but, on the other hand, if it aint broke.......

 

Yes I do remember our friends from Keystone..........we actually did our booking the week before; we knew the onboard consultant from our previous cruises on the Zenith and she had actually done the B2B on the Connie for us while we had been on the Zenith in Jan, 2005.

[Longboysfan]

If at all feasible, we book the next cruise while we are on board. I like getting the on-board booking credits, they are real money and can be transferred to another booking if you need to change something.

 

Yes, this time, it IS all about the money!!!!

 

I do the same thing.

 

But first ask if Ed has booked that cruise.

If not then we book it. ;)

[geoherb]

We've booked our two most recent cruises at the last minute--six weeks before for the Century (Christmas and New Year's, 2004) and four weeks before for a HAL cruise (Christmas, 2005). Since both of these cruises were holiday sailings, it would have cost us a fortune to have booked them before final payment. The difference for the Celebrity cruise was more than $800 per person.

 

We did not pick out these ships or itineraries months in advance. I was watching a lot of different cruises and researching on some of the bargain websites and perusing last-minute email offers from Celebrity, HAL, and Princess. We were willing to take whichever cruise was a bargain. We could have ended up staying at home if an affordable cruise did not show up--but we were willing to take the risk and had a great time on both cruises.

 

I booked us guarantee cabins on both and ended up very happy. On the Century, we ended up in 9201--an inside cabin. On HAL, we got a nice upgrade from an outside cabin with a porthole to the highest category of non-balcony cabin.

[eileeno]

I really don't like how x will have great new booking sales and don't give you a credit or upgrade you if you already paid in full! This is great for the person booking late but not fair to the person who booked earlier. This happened to me for my cruise in April. This week with a new booking you would get a cc for $200 less than what I paid for a 2c. I also was told that if I went with a travel agent instead of going directing with x they could of done something. I learned a lesson to always go thru a travel agent as they have more ways of getting what they want because they do alot of business with x. Live and learn!

[CaliforniaDreamin]

fit my desire and most importantly, the Price is Right. Have booked as late as six days prior to sailing to as early as about six months.

[dmk]

We book our cruises as soon as Celebrity publishes them. We have saved a great deal of money doing this.

As an example, we booked a 14 night to Hawaii for this March as soon as X published the prices and itineraries. Today, the price for our cabin is $2000.00 more per person. I've seen senior specials for this cruise which comes nowhere,nowhere near the amount we saved.

[D&L]

We book very early. We are waiting for the schedule and cruises for March 2008 and will immediately book. 25th anniversary.

[RickandAnne]

We've always booked late. Recently we just hooked onto a Connie repo from San Juan next month and got the much sought FV aft cabin for only $701 for an eight night cruise. We finally broke that mold this week when we booked the Galaxy TA sailing on Dec 1st. It was much more expensive, but still a great deal. And it's the first time we've booked a cruise more that six weeks from sailing. As someone said earlier, "When you gotta go, you gotta go!"

[motherchic]

i would normally say book early.....

we booked our next cruise (on 10-05 ) waaaay early for 02-07. But we decided to go-looked into prices and were able to get an aft CC on the Summit, 14 days, that we wanted so we did it/

But two years ago we decided to get away for a long weekend, found on- line a great price for under $500 each for 7 days on the Connie-couldnt pass up the price for a great trip.

Sooo, i guess for me it just depends on the situation

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We tend to book early because of my work schedule and my DH lack of vacation time. We've been successful booking early but also had a great 14 day cruise that was booked 6 months in advance, which we consider late, at a good price.

[tabasco]

Depends on if its a busy time, we booked a year early through a TA, she kept up on the price as I did on-line - the price went up quite a bit, never went down and now the ship is sold out. We were able to get a good choice of cabins.

[CruiseQueen13]

Depends - usually less than 8 mos in advance. Always get great deals but you have to be flexible, time & itinerary.

 

Next one 3/18/06 I booked about 2 months ago. Great deal!

[lionheart]

I try to book early and onboard (onboard credit). Last May I was on the Zenith and booked my Baltic cruise the day they released the schedules. So when I booked, I had pretty much any choice of cabin. Now, the Baltic cruise is almost sold out (according to Celebrity's website) except for some inside cabins.