How early should I book travel plans

[tom e boy]

Cruising in Apr 07, Carnival (25th wed aniv) ..reservation is set...was I too premature in making this reservation, should I have waited? What about my hotel in Miami and rental car, to early to book this? Thanks

[tom e boy]

thats how you do a count-down:rolleyes:

[Sheffie]

It is never too early to book a cruise! The earlier you book, the more choices there are for cabins. If the price goes down, call you TA or CCL and get a rebate on the difference.

 

Hotels - if you want to go ahead and just book, I don't see any reason to wait. If you want to bid for one on Priceline, that may be different.

 

Have fun planning for your cruise, and congrats on 25 years!

[wrp96]

April is a very popular time to cruise, so no you didn't book too early. If you had waited, you might not have gotten the cruise you wanted.

 

Now the fun part begins, the planning what you will do onboard.

[Roz]

I booked my April, 2007 Hawaiian cruise in December, 2005.

 

Roz

[Joie58]

We are going on the Dec. 29th '06 cruise. We booked cruise, pre-cruise hotel, air flight all in Feburary.

 

It is now mid-July and the cruise now cost $50 more per person, the hotel was booked at a cost of $103 a night, last check it was $229 a night, then it was sold out, air flight was booked at $949 round trip for 3 people, prices now are $3955.80 for 3 people, same trip.

 

So it shows that it is never too early too book ahead. As was mentioned earlier if the cost comes down on the cruise, you can get reimbursed either with money or have it put to your on-board cruise credit.

 

Like the old saying goes "The early bird gets the better deal" or something like that.

 

Have fun on your cruise!

[last_mango]

We are notorious for booking early (we love to hurry up and wait!), but I think it's smart to book early now because the price of fuel seems to keep going up and up. The more expensive the fuel is, the higher the cruise prices/airline prices/fuel surcharges will go. By booking early you can lock in your rate now for those things and it won't matter what prices are up to in April. Plus, the cruise lines are good about giving you a lower price if for some reason the prices go down the future.

 

Just remember to buy travel insurance. :)

 

And anyone reading this that may need to book air, remember to book a flight that leaves you some wiggle room, itineraries may change between now and your cruise...we booked air last month and our return flight times have already changed twice.