Booking on board

[terrierjohn]

7 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

Totally agree with your comments, we book in advance because we want to be on a specific deck cabin and location, if you wait till after balance due it is a lottery what you get but each there own.

@Selbourne and I need accessible cabins, and we know their location and are generally happy with any accessible balcony cabin. So if one becomes available late on, then we are more than happy to book it, and at the saver fare as well.

Edited April 21 by terrierjohn

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

@Selbourne and I need accessible cabins, and we know their location and are generally happy with any accessible balcony cabin. So if one becomes available late on, then we are more than happy to book it.

Exactly. No lottery at all in our case. On both occasions that we booked after balance due date we were told the cabin numbers prior to paying, and they were cabins that we would have chosen had we booked on launch day at a much greater cost!

Edited April 21 by Selbourne

[Bazrat]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Exactly. No lottery at all in our case. On both occasions that we booked after balance due date we were told the cabin numbers prior to paying, and they were cabins that we would have chosen had we booked on launch day at a much greater cost!

That obviously works if you have flexibility in what time you can take your holidays, alas I have not got that flexibility 

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

That obviously works if you have flexibility in what time you can take your holidays, alas I have not got that flexibility 

Yes I completely understand that. Neither did I until retirement, hence why we always used to book at launch. Obviously booking at launch gives the satisfaction of having secured your first choice and being able to look forward to it over a prolonged period. Usually it also has the added benefit of being the best time to book, price wise, which was another reason why we always did it. It was a pleasant, but unexpected, surprise that we managed to nab two cruises at short notice at bargain prices. No idea if we will be as lucky again, but booking over 2 years out is no longer sensible for us given my wife’s health, so it’s a chance we’ll take. In the end, we all have to do what’s best for our circumstances. As we often say, there’s no right or wrong answer. 

[Bazrat]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes I completely understand that. Neither did I until retirement, hence why we always used to book at launch. Obviously booking at launch gives the satisfaction of having secured your first choice and being able to look forward to it over a prolonged period. Usually it also has the added benefit of being the best time to book, price wise, which was another reason why we always did it. It was a pleasant, but unexpected, surprise that we managed to nab two cruises at short notice at bargain prices. No idea if we will be as lucky again, but booking over 2 years out is no longer sensible for us given my wife’s health, so it’s a chance we’ll take. In the end, we all have to do what’s best for our circumstances. As we often say, there’s no right or wrong answer. 

The thought of retiring and booking holidays as and when we wished, have been tempered by the fact the government changed the retirement ages of women, being 5 years older then my beloved I will be 72 before she can retire so by 2030 the worlds our oyster.

[david63]

2 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

so by 2030 the worlds our oyster.

If there is any of it left!

[lindyloo22]

Well it’s been interesting to read all the replies, as it’s still over 2 years to go to the cruises I have been looking at I’m going to wait until June my next cruise and see if they are offering anything if not probably wait until next year but I will keep an eye on the prices. Never booked at the last minute as we like to pick our cabin but thanks all for the information.

[Selbourne]

25 minutes ago, lindyloo22 said:

Well it’s been interesting to read all the replies, as it’s still over 2 years to go to the cruises I have been looking at I’m going to wait until June my next cruise and see if they are offering anything if not probably wait until next year but I will keep an eye on the prices. Never booked at the last minute as we like to pick our cabin but thanks all for the information.

If booking within the 3 months prior to the cruise (after balance due date - when the bargains can sometimes occur) isn’t an option for you (which I quite understand), booking at launch will usually be the best option.
 

The general pattern tends to be that once the launch period has ended, prices go up. Thereafter, until the balance due date, prices will usually be higher than at launch, and sometimes by a very large amount (double the launch price isn’t at all uncommon). The best you can then hope for is an extra OBC offer that effectively takes the net price down towards launch price territory. It’s important to re-state that the two bargain fares that I secured were both after balance due date (so 3 months prior to departure). Booking a 2026 cruise in 2025 is almost certainly going to cost you a lot more than booking it now. Hope that all makes sense. 

Edited April 21 by Selbourne

[david63]

The other point to bear in mind is that if you want a particular cruise/date/cabin combination then the longer that you leave it then there is more likelihood that you can be disappointed as it may not be available - in fact there is always a possibility that there the ship is fully booked.

 

I was reading just the other day that in general Carnival has increased the number of bookings over last year, or put another way "cabins are selling fast".

[crompton21]

As a factual comparison, Aurora is doing a 3 night cruise to Zeebrugge on 21/4/25 and 21/4/26, so that's the same ship to the same destination at the same period of year.

The 2025 cruise is available to book this morning at £558 for an inside early saver, the 2026 cruise available to reserve this morning is £598 for an inside early saver.

I think that makes the launch price more expensive than booking a cruise which is a year away which isn't what people tend to post as being the case.

There will be many reasons to explain the pricing, but as a direct like for like comparison it doesn't tend to reflect what many people believe regarding launch pricing and booking a year out (myself included until noticing this)

[david63]

I don't think that is really an accurate comparison. What you need to know is what the early saver price was for the 2025 cruise at launch not what it is now.

[yorkshirephil]

53 minutes ago, crompton21 said:

As a factual comparison, Aurora is doing a 3 night cruise to Zeebrugge on 21/4/25 and 21/4/26, so that's the same ship to the same destination at the same period of year.

The 2025 cruise is available to book this morning at £558 for an inside early saver, the 2026 cruise available to reserve this morning is £598 for an inside early saver.

I think that makes the launch price more expensive than booking a cruise which is a year away which isn't what people tend to post as being the case.

There will be many reasons to explain the pricing, but as a direct like for like comparison it doesn't tend to reflect what many people believe regarding launch pricing and booking a year out (myself included until noticing this)

I have noticed that if you book select on the 2026 version it is £592 with the early bird discount. 

[Bazrat]

Booking a cruise wether it's early late middle is entirely down to your own personal circumstances, we book early so we know everything is sorted, others prefer to book late to get that bargain if there is one. There's no-one on here can say with any authority which is the best choice.