Purchasing at the last Minuete

[MarWaves86]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am interested in taking a cruise to Eastern Europe on the Carnival Splendor in October. My issue is I am active duty military and stationed in Asia right now. I want to purchase the cruise and tickets all in one day, but I have to wait for my flight date (back to the U.S.) confirmed. My concern is it won't be a for awhile, probley not until late August. I guess my question is; when do the cruises stop selling? I have looked on the site, and the final payment is at the end of this month!!!! Can someone please give me some advice on this situation? Thank you, and happy cruising.

[janazaz]

I've seen cruises open until 2 weeks prior to sailing but they get more expensive the longer you wait.

[texancruzer]

We booked our Nov. 23rd cruise from Rome in mid-September and got an UNBELIEVABLE deal !!!! so not necessarily true that they will go up in cost. In fact, many times right near the final payment date is when many people will back out (or move their deposit to another cruise) and this opens many cabins back up. This causes the cruiselines to discount them in order to get them filled. It is all supply and demand. The cruiseline will sell cabins until the deadline for the manifest. Not sure for Europe how far out that is. I would call the customer service and ask. Explain your situation too.

 

I would not worry about waiting to book. The only downside is that the selection of cabins gets smaller and sometimes less desirable areas.

 

Also - do not wait to have everything planned such as hotels if planning a precruise/post cruise stay. Also have everything planned regarding what you want to do in ports. I would get a legal pad and start researching etc. now. Write everything down with email addresses or phone numbers so it will be easy to book when the time comes. Or there is always ship tours which can be booked when you book your cruise. We did a mix of private tours, ships tours and On Our Own days.

 

Have fun planning and hope it all works out for you.

[jg2256]

Of course availability is the big "if" but as long as there is availability they are selling to the last minute. If you look at last minute sites like *****.com they have cruises leaving next week. This of course may be different for departing from Europe and the particular itinerary you will be taking but if there is availability they are selling. I would definitley advise you to look at ***** as a military guy. Sometimes they have some really good discounts for military. And if you do not see a discount listed and you are interested in something call them. Back in January I saved $100 per person even though there was no military discount listed on an already drastically reduced Caribbean cruise because I mentioned I am retired military.

 

Good luck and have a safe trip back home.

[floridasun lover]

Ususally after final payment date more rooms will be available since some people cancel and won't be making the final payment. Also, be sure to check the military rate. That date you're looking at had some unbelievably good rates which may be available for a while. Some tiimes the military rate disappears, but then somes back a little later so just check it out when you're ready to make final plans.

 

We got a great military rate for the Oct 13th Freedom- Carnival is great in that you don't have to be active or retired, but have just served in the past.

 

Thanks for your military service!