Booking River Cruises - early or later ?

[River Decker]

We are looking at another river cruise in 2009. We have not made up our mind yet which one. My question however is what would be the best time to make the reservation. I know several opinions were expressed at this forum in the past, but the situation and time changed and I wonder what the best approach would be for 2009. Amadeus for example granted early booking discounts until September. They now changed this and reservations have to be made by April 30 to get the discount. I think on Viking and GCT for example one could usually get last minute deals. Then again with fuel surcharges becoming a routine are early bookings locking in the price ? I guess this would not be the case with late bookings. Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks RD.

[Steamboatin]

Been receiving weekly emails from Viking on half price last minute sailings for 3 to 6 weeks out in most cases.

 

We have been thinking of just waiting to take advantage of a half price sale.

 

Called Viking and asked if I book now and they offered a half price offer on my cruise next year would they refund me half of my money I paid them. Naturally the answer was no. My response was well I will just not book now and wait for your half price sale next year. Rep was not to happy with my response.

 

Something to factor in on last minute bookings is air prices. Normally last minute air fare is more expensive.

 

So consider cruise discount savings along with last minute air prices and see which is cheaper in total combined pricing.

[tban]

Hi Steamboating, I can see your point - however I am still a "fan" of early booking. For one you lock in the price and you do not have to worry about any surcharges. Second, as you mentioned, air fares will be higher the closer you get to your departure date, which at this point you do not even know. And third you will have a choice of cabins, versus taking what is left over. The early booking discounts I got (on three river cruises) were always substancial - maybe not half price, but after factoring in surcharges and higher airfare, close. Not to mention peace of mind for having a plan and knowing what it is.

[rogerdawhip]

I am a great fan of GCT's last minute discounts. If you can travel with 3-6 weeks notice you can save a lot of $$$$. GCT's prices inlcude air fare so this is not a problem. Last year I got a trip for half price and I'm now checking their website daily for a trip in June.

 

You may not get the cabin you want or the exact date you want but if you can get freat deals.

[Steamboatin]

I am a great fan of GCT's last minute discounts. If you can travel with 3-6 weeks notice you can save a lot of $$$$. GCT's prices inlcude air fare so this is not a problem. Last year I got a trip for half price and I'm now checking their website daily for a trip in June.

 

You may not get the cabin you want or the exact date you want but if you can get freat deals.

 

We have made 18 cruises with about a third being US river cruises. We have always traveled by ourselves via our local travel agent and the normal major cruise/river lines.

 

Naturally GCT does not operate via travel agents.

 

Have read here on this CC board some very bad stories about GCT's total lack of support when problems develop. What I have read is that they create a bigger problem than the original problem.

 

My question is what have you heard, read and your personal experiences have been with GCT?

[River Decker]

Steamboating & tban,

thanks for your input.

tban, you mention that prices are locked in with your early booking. Are they locked in with the deposit or do you have to pay the full fare ?

I am trying to get my act together - thanks for the help.

RD

[Steamboatin]

Steamboating & tban,

thanks for your input.

tban, you mention that prices are locked in with your early booking. Are they locked in with the deposit or do you have to pay the full fare ?

I am trying to get my act together - thanks for the help.

RD

 

Normally you pay in full the price you agreed upon at time of deposit. Only variance would be if there was a price reduction by the cruise line prior to you making your final payment AND the cruise line grants you that price reduction. Once final payment is made that is normally the amount you are stuck with.

[letsgo39]

With Avalon you can book early,pay a deposit,get cabin assignment and your final payment is due 60 days before your cruise.

[Steamboatin]

Normally you pay in full the price you agreed upon at time of deposit. Only variance would be if there was a price reduction by the cruise line prior to you making your final payment AND the cruise line grants you that price reduction. Once final payment is made that is normally the amount you are stuck with.

 

After reading my above reply I screwed up in the way I worded my response big time. Sorry.

 

What I meant to say was when you pay your deposit that is the price you agree upon. It is than later that you pay the remaining amount at a time establised by the cruise line. The price of the cruise is established at the time you book the cruise by paying the deposit.

 

If the cruise line lowers the price for your category than you request an accordingly reduction in your agreeded upon price to the new lower cruise price.

 

This can normally be done as long as final full payment has not been made.

 

Hope this clears up the matter.

[Blue Bryce]

Deceiding whether to make your reservation early or later you have to watch out for one thing - not to get caught in the middle ! It almost happened to us on our first cruise booking. We were to late for the early discounts and to early for the late discounts. That's when you pay full price !

[River Decker]

Thanks everyone - we made up our plans and just booked the black sea voyage from istanbul to budapest in october 2009 aboard the new amadante. We got a great early booking discount.

[paul929207]

We booked a GCT tour well in advance. The price dropped $200/person. They sent us a check for $400 without us asking for it.

[PinkMEB]

On the Viking Rhine cruise I just went on this month, we booked last November and got an early discount of $1000 off per cabin. I'm not sold on companies that include air because you are at their mercy and I like making my own arrangements.

Pink

[rogerdawhip]

Steamboatin,

Sorry I have not gotten back to you sooner. GCT has gotten a bad name by some on these boards. Many people only write about their bad experiences. My personal experience with GCT (6 river cruises and 4 land trips) has been great...or why would I keep going back to them. There have been a few minor problems andmost were resolved to my satisfaction. I'm leaving next Thursday on their Great Rivers trip for a third time. I traveled once with Amadeus and had more problems on this one trip than my six GCT trip combined. I won't go into detail because it was in 2003, their first year, and hopefully thing have gotten better.

[Carhut]

We just booked a GCT river cruise on a last minute deal and got a balcony cabin for about half price. I've been on 4 other GCT river cruises and they've all been great. Always paid high dollar for the other cruises, but from now on, I'll be watching the last minute deals. Who doesn't like a bargain? How last minute was this booking? 35 days before cruise. That gives me plenty of time to pack.

[halbfl2]

Carhut--curious to know how you handle the air. Are you getting it through the cruise co?

[Carhut]

Carhut--curious to know how you handle the air. Are you getting it through the cruise co?

 

GCT includes air in their prices. Yes, we had our air scheduled the day after we booked. It was online on our account. They sent us confirmation soon after.

[River Decker]

we did'nt book our air with the cruise line either. Since we are going next year I figured there is plenty of time to wait for a good deal.

[rrobbins]

We booked their air but with the intention of trying to get a better deal on our own and then cancelling theirs.

[metraveler]

How can you just book the air and lock in the price ?

We tried the same but then we got 24 hours to buy the ticket in order to lock in the current fare. The costs for taxes and fuel surcharges are not guaranteed and they are going up almost daily. Waiting for a better deal later just turns out to be a big gamble.

[paper7]

Just booked today with GCT our second River trip (Romance of Rhine & Mosel) departing in August. Last year we took the Great Rivers of Europe and loved the trip. Even with surcharge, we are paying approx $3500 less this year than last year. 44 days to sailing. And I agree with GCT experience, wonderful all the way around so we are hoping for the same this year. I am going to post a roll call to see if anyone responds

[steamer61]

I am new to this board, however have been a silent observer for some time. We booked our first European river cruise today - The Blue Danube Discovery with AMA Waterways in September 2009. We made our reservation through an online TA (which I also found here) and we got a great early booking discount. I shopped around quite a bit and their offer was the best.

[Car-Stan]

steamer61,

I would love to have the name of the on-line TA you used. Please send to me at csepstein@mindspring.com

 

Thanks,

 

Car-Stan

[Diane in PA]

cmcdiane@ptd.net

 

Thanks

[retiredslug]

I am new to this board, however have been a silent observer for some time. We booked our first European river cruise today - The Blue Danube Discovery with AMA Waterways in September 2009.

 

That was our choice as well for our first river cruise last September. You're gonna love it! Our only regret was that the cruise portion of the trip was only one week with stays in Budapest and Prague on either end. Hopefully Amadeus still uses the President Hotel in Prague--first class property, great location. We had friends who also were in Prague last year and were stuck in a 3* hotel out in the suburbs. They were frustrated that they had to use the subway to get anywhere and as a result weren't all that pleased with Prague. We feel the hotel can make a huge difference in your appreciation of a city. Hope you will post when you return.

 

With any luck at all Attila will be one of your servers.

 

Bill