Are people waiting longer to book?

[caribbeanboy]

Now that Carnival has taken away the possibility to get money back or some OBC after final payment if the price drops, I'm wondering if people are waiting longer to book their cruise.

 

I've been seeing the same cabins available for the last couple of weeks on my Feb. Liberty cruise, and this cruise gives you the (automatic) possibility that you can upgrade from 4A-4F to 4G immediately.

 

I have also noticed that the price is not going down.

[kujobie]

Too soon to tell I think. I haven't seen any dramatic last minute deals lately either, but that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future..

[jakieemma]

We have a party of 15 and are sailing on Feb 22nd...we are still not booked for our air, cruise, or hotel pre-stay...but I have my finger on the trigger and will fire when prices drop on air or the cruise. It's a slight gamble, but if you are flexible, worth it.

[LHP]

We are a family that will book most of our cruises in the future about 2 months out...or less.

 

We are no longer restricted to the school schedule and can go more last minute sailings.

 

Now if there is a specific "event" (like the Blogger's Cruise on the Dream in Dec.) then we will book ahead.

 

Otherwise it will be last minute and not when school is out.....

[Rosebud5t]

I'm doing the same thing for my Feb 9th cruise. I'm watching the cruise like a stalker - keeping track of how many cabins are available. (My PVP sees how often I check and has been calling me asking if I'm ready to stop stalking and book!) I'll probably book in the next week or two to be safe, but the price has dropped almost $100 in the last week! (This might be because I'm going on the Miracle, which is having propulsion problems, so people might be avoiding it until the problem is fixed.) But with the economy the way it is, I know bookings are down and cancellations are up.

 

I say definitely hold out as long as you can for the best price, but keep in mind it's a gamble on what cabins are available, too. Not too hard to check, just a little time consuming. I travel alone, too, so cabin is no big deal to me. I'd be more worried with a bigger group... jakieemma - you are brave!

 

Happy cruising!!!

 

~Tammy :)

 

 

.

[steveaaaaa]

Now that Carnival has taken away the possibility to get money back or some OBC after final payment if the price drops, I'm wondering if people are waiting longer to book their cruise.

 

I've been seeing the same cabins available for the last couple of weeks on my Feb. Liberty cruise, and this cruise gives you the (automatic) possibility that you can upgrade from 4A-4F to 4G immediately.

 

I have also noticed that the price is not going down.

 

For our 2010 cruise, we are going to do it last minute and take a chance.We are a few hours from 5 ports so a weeks notice is what we are going to try and see where we are going.If not, we will go to the keys for the week.

Steve

[firefly333]

All you folks waiting on prices to book, too bad you didnt book about 45 days ago when the prices were way down, just before they announced the fuel surcharge being given back. My cruise price is up over $100 pp as are many. Im going Jan 24th, but was looking at Feb dates as well when they were dropping so low. I think ya'all missed out as we are already past final payment on Feb dates, so few are going to cancel.

[jakieemma]

All you folks waiting on prices to book, too bad you didnt book about 45 days ago when the prices were way down, just before they announced the fuel surcharge being given back. My cruise price is up over $100 pp as are many. Im going Jan 24th, but was looking at Feb dates as well when they were dropping so low. I think ya'all missed out as we are already past final payment on Feb dates, so few are going to cancel.

 

I agree...but if you asked me a few weeks back if I thought Carnival would drop the fuel surcharge and then just add the reduction to the price of the cruise, I would have said no way...that is crazy. But, that's exactly what they did on our cruise. Our prices are exactly the same now as they were 6 weeks ago when you figured in the total cost including the surcharge. I think it's dirty pool myself, but it's also my loss for gambling. I'll make it up somehow...:cool:

[firhill]

There are defintly short-notice deals to be had. I think the key is checking the offers daily (or more frequently) if possible.

 

Carnival was offering balconies (7A for $299pp/8A for $319pp) at great rates yesterday for the Jan 11th Pride sailing.

 

FWIW..they still have aft 8I's available for $499 and 8E's for $419 as I type.

 

BTW...This is the resident or senior rate.

[Vanessa L]

We have a party of 15 and are sailing on Feb 22nd...we are still not booked for our air, cruise, or hotel pre-stay...but I have my finger on the trigger and will fire when prices drop on air or the cruise. It's a slight gamble, but if you are flexible, worth it.

 

We are sailing either the 3/1 Valor or the 3/8 Valor or the 3/15 Westerdam. We typically book around 30 days out so we'll see what happens. We'll book whichever has the best deal at the time. I'm very grateful that DH has a job that allows us to book last minute. I've been reading posts here that have noted price lowering around final payment time (when folks typically cancel if need be) and then again around 30 days out. The prices are good right now, so unless they skyrocket, I'm ok with where they are now. If they lower, it's icing on the cake.

[cathyz]

We have booked both our group cruises a year and a half out so the group can get the best cabins close to each other (aft wrap-arounds, other afts, etc) and already have a group price so OBCs aren't important (you really can't get them with a group anyway). But when it's just DH and me, we book within 6 months and usually try to book during a sale at a price we are willing to pay. We don't pay much attention to price drops since we already have what we think is a fair price or we wouldn't book in the first place, we don't book counting on a price drop so the OBC change is meaningless to us anyway.

[mringenoldus]

While we are platinum on both RCCL and Princess (also cruised Costa and Azamara), we are booked on the Elation this Thursday. It will be my 5th Carnival cruise, but the first in a while.

 

Not crediting late price drops would be a deal breaker for me in the future - I'll be back to the cruise lines who respect the passenger who gave them cash in their accounts far in advance.

 

IMHO....I also believe that Carnival could beef up its suite and return passenger perks if they want to make those passengers feel valued. Without this, they may get new cruisers but won't establish the loyalty as other lines have done.

[CJHAN]

we booked early to get the cabin we wanted and then pushed the final payment back as far as we could as the price drops our ta makes ajustments seems to be working ok we even upgraded our cabin and still got a better price.

[MaryZ]

All you folks waiting on prices to book, too bad you didnt book about 45 days ago when the prices were way down, just before they announced the fuel surcharge being given back. My cruise price is up over $100 pp as are many. Im going Jan 24th, but was looking at Feb dates as well when they were dropping so low. I think ya'all missed out as we are already past final payment on Feb dates, so few are going to cancel.

 

Absolutely. I booked my son on 1/24 on the liberty and paid $369 a person for an inside on empress. then we got the fuel surcharge back as obc.

So for a total of a little more than $800 they have a cruise for the week.

I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

All prices are higher now.

 

As opposed to the cruise my husband and I are taking in feb. We booked that in oct of 07.

Way too long and I will never do that again.

I'm not even anticipating it, because it's just been so long.

We aren't good long term planners. We are more spur of the moment and find much more joy in that.

[caribbeanboy]

Absolutely. I booked my son on 1/24 on the liberty and paid $369 a person for an inside on empress. then we got the fuel surcharge back as obc.

So for a total of a little more than $800 they have a cruise for the week.

I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

All prices are higher now.

 

As opposed to the cruise my husband and I are taking in feb. We booked that in oct of 07.

Way too long and I will never do that again.

I'm not even anticipating it, because it's just been so long.

We aren't good long term planners. We are more spur of the moment and find much more joy in that.

 

I'm cruising on Feb 07. When am I suppose to get my fuel surcharge back?

[Jeans*Fanatic]

Absolutely. I booked my son on 1/24 on the liberty and paid $369 a person for an inside on empress. then we got the fuel surcharge back as obc.

So for a total of a little more than $800 they have a cruise for the week.

I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

All prices are higher now.

 

Wow!!! What a good deal! Congrats!

[firefly333]

Absolutely. I booked my son on 1/24 on the liberty and paid $369 a person for an inside on empress. then we got the fuel surcharge back as obc.

So for a total of a little more than $800 they have a cruise for the week.

I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

All prices are higher now.

 

As opposed to the cruise my husband and I are taking in feb. We booked that in oct of 07.

Way too long and I will never do that again.

I'm not even anticipating it, because it's just been so long.

We aren't good long term planners. We are more spur of the moment and find much more joy in that.

 

I think there is a happy medium of when to book to get that anticipation too. I booked 4 days before one cruise and knew no one on my roll call. The rest of the roll call exchanged gifts, I barely had time to post I was coming. A few months before is good too.

 

I wouldnt post what Im paying, and even at that, there was another $60 price drop I didnt get, and dont even care that much, as we also got a great deal for Jan 24th. Prices went as low as $199 and now insides start at $399 and OVs at $359 (I know, yes lower than a inside). I couldnt get the lower price, but Im still $10 less pp than I paid in 2006.

[caribbeanboy]

How long before the sailing will the price drop?

 

3 weeks?

[firefly333]

How long before the sailing will the price drop?

 

3 weeks?

 

usually around the time of final payment, or shortly before if they need to fill the ship. If not then prices dont usually drop. I saw a cruise drop about 4 days before it left to a lower price than it had been at lately last spring and jumped on it. So it can happen even during the last week. No rhyme or reason, depends on how the ship is selling or if a lot of last minute cancellations. (like all the sudden there are some hurricanes, the prices dropped last minute that week).

[jakieemma]

Price dropped a bit on my cruise, 2-22 Triumph...waiting paid off, even if it was only about $50.