Will RCCL lower their prices or increase?

[MaryL_Trvls]

I want to book a cruise for May with the Liberty of the seas. The price increased from last week by $50 for the cheapest room.

 

Will prices continue to increase or will they lower when it's closer to sailing?

 

The reason we don't book it yet its because we are waiting on our friends to make up their mind!!

 

Please help with advice!

 

( no sarcastic, rude replies please)

[Ocean Boy]

It all depends on how well the ship is selling. If the cruise is moving well prices will continue to go up. If bookings are low the price will start to drop. It is possible to make some generalizations depending upon the season and week that you are looking at but there really is no way to predict which way it will go.

 

If you are set on a particular week go a head and make a booking. It will protect you from any price increases and you may be able to take advantage of any price drops. And if you decide not to go you can just cancel and get your deposit back.

[Morecruisesplz]

I want to book a cruise for May with the Liberty of the seas. The price increased from last week by $50 for the cheapest room.

 

Will prices continue to increase or will they lower when it's closer to sailing?

 

The reason we don't book it yet its because we are waiting on our friends to make up their mind!!

 

Please help with advice!

 

( no sarcastic, rude replies please)

 

All signs seem to point to lower prices closer to sail date. That having been said, RCCL guarantees the lowest rate so even if you booked that cabin today that is $50 more than last week and it goes down $50 in a month, you can call and get the lower price. Then if it goes down another $100 a few days before sailing, call again and they will match that price. (Put it back on your cc if you have already paid.) Only problems are that they have your deposit money til sailing and, unless you use a good Travel Agent, you will need to check every day to see if the rate has gone down because it could be a temporary decrease and if you don't catch it you don't get it!

[monn_a]

It's really hard to predict, the trend tends to be closer to the cruise date the price will start to drop (but there have been times that it increases, quite a bit).

 

You can put a deposit down while you wait on your friends. If you all decide on another cruise you can switch your deposit or cancel the cruise...but this way you can get the cabin you want and if the price does drop you can request an adjustment on your invoice.

 

Good luck!

[MaryL_Trvls]

Thank you all for your quick replies! This is why i like cruise critic!

 

I think I am going to call and put my deposit just in case, we kinda already have a date in mind!

 

monn_a you mentioned I can switch the deposit for another date, can i really do that even if I plan on dealing with RCCL directly?

[Tranquil Waters]

RCI will lower prices if they have to. They will raise prices if they can. And that's the way the ship sails......... ;)

[Ocean Boy]

Thank you all for your quick replies! This is why i like cruise critic!

 

I think I am going to call and put my deposit just in case, we kinda already have a date in mind!

 

monn_a you mentioned I can switch the deposit for another date, can i really do that even if I plan on dealing with RCCL directly?

 

Sure, just call RCI customer service. As long as you book directly through RCI you can make any changes that you want to the reservation by calling RCI. If you book through a travel agent then you have to deal with the TA to make any changes. You would not be able to call RCI and make any changes yourself.

[Morecruisesplz]

Sure, just call RCI customer service. As long as you book directly through RCI you can make any changes that you want to the reservation by calling RCI. If you book through a travel agent then you have to deal with the TA to make any changes. You would not be able to call RCI and make any changes yourself.

 

But a TA can make the changes for you and save your time and trouble plus offering you a perk like OBC's or pre-paid tips. One offer I saw yesterday was offering both for any new booking completed by tomorrow. (No, I'm not a TA. I just know if you want the lowest price you will find a good one and use them faithfully.)

[MrZoey]

We were on the Indy at Xmas this year and our prices were up and down the whole previous year before, I just kept an eye out for the price drops that I could take advantage of. i just booked a New years cruise on Freedom (early last week, and the price pp has already gone up $100! Book asap! You can always switch things around before final payment:)

[AudioFilly]

Thank you all for your quick replies! This is why i like cruise critic!

 

I think I am going to call and put my deposit just in case, we kinda already have a date in mind!

 

monn_a you mentioned I can switch the deposit for another date, can i really do that even if I plan on dealing with RCCL directly?

 

In my experience, not only will they do it, they will do it with a smile in their voice. :)

[firefly333]

I got this in a travel email saying cruising is up this year. (which doesnt mean lower prices to me?)

 

No Recession for the Cruise IndustryThis may be a record year for cruising, despite (or because of?) of the economic downturn. In a surprise announcement, the Cruise Lines Industry Association predicts that 13.5 million people will cruise North America this year, an increase of 2.3 percent over 2008.

[firefly333]

monn_a you mentioned I can switch the deposit for another date, can i really do that even if I plan on dealing with RCCL directly?

 

Just make sure you don't go past final payment. After that there would be penalties involved. Depending on when in May, final payment may not be too far off.

[Morecruisesplz]

I got this in a travel email saying cruising is up this year. (which doesnt mean lower prices to me?)

 

Does that % increase keep up with the increase in stateroom availability or is it all just industry hype?

[yogimax]

You lose nothing by booking early. You lock in your price and can advantage of future price declines.

[negc]

I got this in a travel email saying cruising is up this year. (which doesnt mean lower prices to me?)

 

That is certainly an optimistic prediction but I think we might want to wait until the end of the year to judge just how accurate it is. What might be more relevant would be a comparison of how many bookings have been made as of this date compared to the same date last year and how the prices for the two periods compare. It is conceivable that the cruiselines could set their prices low enough that the number of passengers they will carry this year actually increases but that both gross and net revenues could be lower than a year ago. Be a bit wary of overly optimistic predictions and remember that numbers can be made to back up almost any premise. As someone once said: " There are lies, damned lies, and statistics".:rolleyes:

[Scotch]

You lose nothing by booking early. You lock in your price and can advantage of future price declines.

 

But you do lose out on the "new bookings" only specials that seem to come out regularly. On another thread several mentioned they were frustrated to see huge price drops due to these new booking specials but they were not allowed to benefit from those deals. One said the difference on their cruise cabin was something around $2,500. I think the more accurate statement is that: odds are decent that you will not lose anything by booking early [because of ability to adjust for future non-special deal price declines]; you will not be able to take advantage of super deals offered for new bookings (but who knows if those will be offered for your sailing).

[holomuku]

In my opinion the problem with booking early and watching the price is travel insurance.

 

Most, if not all, travel insurance companies only cover pre-existing conditions (which means almost everything medical except an accident) only if you get the insurance within 10 to 30 days of booking, depending on the company. If you book, pay for insurance and then decide to change your mind and cancel--you are out the insurance money usually. One company allows you to cancel and use the insurance for another trip if it is within one year of original cruise departure date. That company is Travelex, the company we have used. (hope it's okay to use the name?)

 

Some choose not to take travel insurance but we are avid that it is necessary unless it's a super cheapie cruise that if we lost all the money it wouldn't be a hardship. Haven't seen many of those except for a 2 day repositioning!

 

It's been a few years since we have cruised, but we have used Travelex in the past specifically because they allowed this one year date transfer option. Anyone who considers them may want to verify that is still applicable. By the way, we've have used them in the past and had a couple of small claims-- absolutely no problem.

 

Maybe the cost of travel insurance is not an issue when you look at the total cruise price-- it might be worth the risk to go ahead and book and insure. Travel insurance is based on your age so if you are younger and it is not that expensive it could well be worth the early booking to lock in the price.

 

Or, if you are one of those who never take travel insurance-- then no risk involved!

 

Agh....never easy, is it?

[Scotch]

Is Travelex the only insurance company that lets you cancel and apply the insurance to another cruise within a date frame? If so, we were LUCKY because I recently switched our 2009 cruise plans to the FOS instead of the Carnival Dream because DBIL thought he'd have trouble getting Xmas off this year. We have Travelex and we were told no problem with the switchover. I recall feeling thankful that we didn't lose the hefty insurance premiums for the six of us on this trip, and I thought this was something all travel insurance companies would permit. Of course now I feel lame that I didn't consider this issue/term when selecting policies. I looked at other coverage terms when comparison shopping; I don't think I even thought of this possibility!