When Do Marella Stop Bookings

[Jim The Scot]

How All,

 

We normally book our cruises many,many months in advance but currently tracking prices which are up and down like fiddlers elbow and possibly looking to make a lateish booking

 

Anyone know how long before a cruise they stop advertising or taking bookings?

[Brummijam]

We had a fortnight around the canaries which we booked late January 2020, The trip was the second week in February onwards. It was one of those that we weren’t intending to do but the price was too good to miss we had a junior suite for the price of a balcony. At the moment we are looking at a couple of weeks in the canaries late November,December or early January I won’t be booking until last minute regardless.

 

The transatlantic trip in December is at a cracking price but unfortunately the insurance will cost as much as I would be paying for the cruise.🤷‍♂️

 

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Brummijam

[howmuch!]

I keep an eye on prices, and they are still showing cruises available to book, on the day of departure.eg, Explorer 2 for today is still on - but going through a dummy booking, eventually brings an error.

With testing required before flying, I'm not sure I'd want to book very late.

 

Having no cabin choice is the downside of booking in the last 2 weeks, so we don't book that late. Having said that, if the price was too good to miss!!!

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by howmuch!

[davecttr]

Today my local TUI TA was advertising cruises on Discovery for October

[Brummijam]

1 hour ago, howmuch! said:

I keep an eye on prices, and they are still showing cruises available to book, on the day of departure.eg, Explorer 2 for today is still on - but going through a dummy booking, eventually brings an error.

With testing required before flying, I'm not sure I'd want to book very late.

 

Having no cabin choice is the downside of booking in the last 2 weeks, so we don't book that late. Having said that, if the price was too good to miss!!!

 

With testing required before flying, I'm not sure I'd want to book very late.

Thats a good call Howmuch, I hadn’t factored in the time required to order and receive the testing kits.👍

I would think that a couple of weeks notice would be ample to get them sorted.

Keep well.

[dronnygirl]

But you don't now need to test for Palma or Dubrovnik,  so you could book almost to the last minute if after 1st October 

[Jim The Scot]

Thanks folks

 

Looking at a cruise in a few weeks time,price dependant and as dronnygirl says,no testing required for Palma

[dronnygirl]

Our cruise on 11th October has come down by approx £100 pp.  However the cabin supplement has gone up so it's only a little cheaper than we paid.  Definitely need to do a full dummy booking to get the exact cost. 

[Jim The Scot]

Hi D

 

Its the 11th October we,re tracking and always do a full dummy booking with the extras.Its dropped just over £200 since the weekend 

 

The risk we take leaving it late is  flight/seat availability from our local airport but if there isn,t when and if we decide to book,hey ho

[Rebel Rouser]

52 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

Hi D

 

Its the 11th October we,re tracking and always do a full dummy booking with the extras.Its dropped just over £200 since the weekend 

 

The risk we take leaving it late is  flight/seat availability from our local airport but if there isn,t when and if we decide to book,hey ho

Oh well. We miss each other by a week this time 😁

[Jim The Scot]

Now tracking price for the 4th and the 18h 😅

[nancyneptune]

Hi Jim, 

 

A few years ago we booked just one week before departure. We already had annual travel insurance in place. Booked at the TA so had confirmation, did API and got boarding passes on the same day.

 

Unfortunately things are a bit more complicated these days.

 

There is also the chance that your choice of airport could sell out and you may not get the cabin grade that you would like.

 

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

 

[nancyneptune]

8 hours ago, Brummijam said:

We had a fortnight around the canaries which we booked late January 2020, The trip was the second week in February onwards. It was one of those that we weren’t intending to do but the price was too good to miss we had a junior suite for the price of a balcony. At the moment we are looking at a couple of weeks in the canaries late November,December or early January I won’t be booking until last minute regardless.

 

The transatlantic trip in December is at a cracking price but unfortunately the insurance will cost as much as I would be paying for the cruise.🤷‍♂️

 

 

 

That's the problem with insurance for the Caribbean.   You have to have Worldwide including the USA. Can be very expensive if you have medical conditions to declare or are over a certain age.

[Brummijam]

5 hours ago, dronnygirl said:

But you don't now need to test for Palma or Dubrovnik,  so you could book almost to the last minute if after 1st October 

Not sure on this. We are looking at the Canaries trips but I can’t find any info regarding the pre travel fit to fly/ boarding tests for Gran Canaria or Tenerife.

I will keep on digging.

Keep well.😉

 

Edited September 22, 2022 by Brummijam

[Jim The Scot]

12 hours ago, nancyneptune said:

Hi Jim, 

 

A few years ago we booked just one week before departure. We already had annual travel insurance in place. Booked at the TA so had confirmation, did API and got boarding passes on the same day.

 

Unfortunately things are a bit more complicated these days.

 

There is also the chance that your choice of airport could sell out and you may not get the cabin grade that you would like.

 

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

 

Hi Nancy

 

The closest we have booked was two weeks but that was a number of years ago and it was down to cost and the unusual circumstance of availability from our local airport at such a short time before departure and very unusual

 

As you say the longer we leave it our choice of airport could well sell out but thats the chance we,ll have to take if we decide to go ahead

 

The other stumbling block is,we always pay to select our seats and theres a possibility if we decide to book there are no seats together,something we would,t know until we complete the booking.Dont see why this cant be done at time of booking when your paying £44pp(£38 in July)for it

 

Getting the cabin grade isn,t a big issue for us as it,s only a weeks cruise and we spend very little time in our cabin although that wasn,t the case in July,in fact it was the polar opposite 😆

 

Still bouncing about whether to book or not.Decisions,decisions

 

I used to be indecisive but unsure now

 

 

12 hours ago, nancyneptune said:

 

That's the problem with insurance for the Caribbean.   You have to have Worldwide including the USA. Can be very expensive if you have medical conditions to declare or are over a certain age.

Thats one thing we do have through our BS account although I pay a supplement for medical conditions

[Brummijam]

1 hour ago, Jim The Scot said:

Hi Nancy

 

The closest we have booked was two weeks but that was a number of years ago and it was down to cost and the unusual circumstance of availability from our local airport at such a short time before departure and very unusual

 

As you say the longer we leave it our choice of airport could well sell out but thats the chance we,ll have to take if we decide to go ahead

 

The other stumbling block is,we always pay to select our seats and theres a possibility if we decide to book there are no seats together,something we would,t know until we complete the booking.Dont see why this cant be done at time of booking when your paying £44pp(£38 in July)for it

 

Getting the cabin grade isn,t a big issue for us as it,s only a weeks cruise and we spend very little time in our cabin although that wasn,t the case in July,in fact it was the polar opposite 😆

 

Still bouncing about whether to book or not.Decisions,decisions

 

I used to be indecisive but unsure now

 

 

Thats one thing we do have through our BS account although I pay a supplement for medical conditions

Hi Nancy.

I didn’t see your response tagged on the bottom of Jim’s post, the smiley was in response to him.🤦🏻‍♂️

In response to insurance it must be age related because we managed to get worldwide cover without problems two years ago all medical conditions accepted for sub £300.

Keep well.

[AlanCruise]

January this year we booked a Marella Canaries trip one day before it departed!
This was due to another cruise (different company) cancelling on the day of departure.

We found Marella availability online, but got an error when we tried to pay. However, the local TUI agent was able to make the booking for us.  Flight tickets came through  immediately and the only issue was on arrival at the ship where it took some time for them to find out what cabin we were having.

At the time we needed a Covid test after 9pm the evening before departure and it was too late to order one for posting to the house - but we were able to get it done at Bristol airport on the morning of departure.

[Jim The Scot]

Couldn,t do that so close to the cruise.Mrs JTS would have a hissy,she needs two weeks to pack the suitcases 😆

[howmuch!]

20 minutes ago, Jim The Scot said:

Couldn,t do that so close to the cruise.Mrs JTS would have a hissy,she needs two weeks to pack the suitcases 😆

Jim - you are not alone 🤫

[Jim The Scot]

This cruise I,ve been   for 11th October, on checking today i,m no longer allowing me to select/choose a preferrred deck/cabin.No longer showing deck layout or cabin availability

 

It shows cabin options/choose cabin but when I click continue it jumps straight to flights
 

Was wondering  if this is a glitch on their system or is that they stop the ability for the customer to select/choose/book a cabin a certain time before the cruise?
 

Anyone know?

Edited September 28, 2022 by Jim The Scot

[dronnygirl]

I've just done a dummy booking and got the same. Maybe you can get more details through a Tui agent.

[Jim The Scot]

Hi D

 

Yeah if we decide to to book we,ll be popping into a TUI shop to book

 

Last night there were over 30 inside cabins available on Deck 3,today deck 3 wasn,t even a deck options,started deck 6,7 or 8

 

Another thing I noticed,its also now showing as an easyjet flight,yet next page you can select and pay for your seat but for a TUI flight 🤔😁

[Jim The Scot]

Too late to edit previous post

 

Ignore the easyjet flight,its now showing TUI flight

 

Regards selecting/booking a cabin.Did a bit digging 

 

You can reserve a cabin when you book, or up to 15 days before you go, from just £50. If you want to request a cabin number after you’ve booked, just call 0203 451 2682 and we’ll do the rest.

[Jim The Scot]

Well we left it a day late so lost out on the cruise we had been tracking for 11 th Oct.Cruise was and still is available I think but theres no flight availability from our local airport or any airport in Scotland.Thats the risk we took and were aware of that

 

Looked from last Thursday and over  the weekend for cruise/flights from local airport but nothing.Checked again yesterday and lo and behold a cruise and flights from our local airport appeared at a vert good discounted price so it was all systems go.Booked our test today  for Thursday then straight down to local TUI TA and booked the cruise and off on Friday.

 

Never booked this late before but looking  forward to it plus its on the Explorer which we never been on before so a new adventure

 

Fingers crossed and hope this cruise turns out a whole better than our last

 

Every cloud

[dronnygirl]

Great itinerary, have a great cruise