Best way to book for 2026 ?

[Table 6 UK]

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Hi Everybody

 

The Mrs & I have booked a sailing on the Virtuosa in Feb 2025 around the Caribbean in the Yacht Club and then in Feb 2026 on a B2B, on maybe Seaside on a 3 & 4 night cruise which we have not booked so far..

Our question is - would it be best to book now so we can buy at a decent price - or wait until we are on board the Virtuosa to hopefully grab some

extra on board credit through next cruise ?

Any thoughts on this or indeed on Seaside itself (in the Yacht Club) would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many Thanks

Kev & Ali

[Stockjock]

My answer probably doesn't completely apply to you, since I'm in the U.S. and could cancel the original booking without penalty.  I believe that's not how it works in the UK.

If you like the pricing that you see, book now, as you don't know what prices would look like in 2025.  You certainly could wait, but the risk is that the pricing is different, OBC is different, or perhaps the booking isn't even available, which is unlikely, but possible.

I booked a cruise out of Copenhagen that sails in 2025.  They are no longer taking reservations for the Copenhagen departure, but only out of Kiel the day before.  I prefer to sail out of Copenhagen, as I find the city more interesting and convenient versus Kiel, plus the that departure was probably about 50% or so cheaper.  

Again, I concede that this is type of unavailability is unlikely in your case, but possible.  Obviously, in the U.S., cruises don't leave from different ports, as they do in Europe, so there are differences.  Further, we've been seeing a lot of inflation recently, and that often means price increases.

Edited July 22 by Stockjock

[Table 6 UK]

Stockjock - many thanks for your info. Perhaps the best course of action is to book the 2026 B2B through a U.S. agent that takes bookings from the UK (Vacations to Go or MEI Travel for instance) on a refundable deposit, then if the deal we can come up with when we are on the Virtuosa is better - then cancel the agents booking (without penalty ? ?) 

 

What do you think ?

 

Cheers

[perakcruiser]

Not sure. If you book outside UK you give up UK travel rights which are maybe the best in the world. If anything goes wrong you have to deal with MSC USA, which as a non-US-cititzen can cause all kinds of trouble. And another thing is that you mess up your Voyagers club account. Expect that you cannot access it anymore through MSC UK as well as MSC USA. I know what I am talking, what a hassle this was. I will not do it again or better said I will only do it again if it really saves a fortune. 

 

 

[Stockjock]

4 hours ago, Table 6 UK said:

Stockjock - many thanks for your info. Perhaps the best course of action is to book the 2026 B2B through a U.S. agent that takes bookings from the UK on a refundable deposit, then if the deal we can come up with when we are on the Virtuosa is better - then cancel the agents booking (without penalty ? ?) 

 

What do you think ?

 

Cheers

If you can make it refundable, then I do recommend doing that.

Not sure if you're aware that naming travel agent/agencies aren't allowed here, which is why I deleted their names from my reply.

Edited July 23 by Stockjock