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How far out do you plan your cruises and other ?'s...


valancy1

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How far out do you plan your cruises? How are some of you planning your 2011 cruises--is this information readily available or do you have some "in" with a PVP or TA?

 

Do you (or better asked, CAN you) pay a deposit and continue to pay on it throughout the full year plus?

 

I would love to plan something for 2011 (Hawaii? Exotic? Southern?) and to do something longer and more special would need more time to pay it off.

 

It feels a bit overwhelming to me to plan that far out simply because I don't know. Anyone want to chat about cruising in the future?

 

I would love to have a couple in the "cooker"... lol...

 

Thoughts?

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I'm always looking at the email deals that get sent to me on a daily basis. I think I'm on about a million travel agent mailing lists. So--when something good comes my way, I book it. We currently have 4 cruises booked. EEEEK!

 

CeleBrat

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Most cruiselines, including Carnival, have released cruises thru mid April 2011, so many of us have some early 2011 cruises already booked. I have January 2011.

 

Sometimes there are exceptions. There are rumors that Magic will make a annoucement in the next few weeks and it wouldnt be here until later in 2011, so we will see if they open bookings early for Magic, its possible for a brand new ship like this.

 

For regular cruises, you wouldnt be able to book past mid April 2011.

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I really don't plan.....I just book what looks good, i have a 2010 & 2011 booked and i book shorter cruises about 2 weeks before sail time.

 

I used to plan everything, now, i don't even pack until the day before.

Lifes all an adventure and i intend to take full advantage of this fact!

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We have been lucky enough to be able to do a cruise everyother year. We will start to plan our next cruise when we get back from our cruise in October. I have looked a little but not really planning anything. Still doing some looking around a different things for the upcoming one.

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How far out do you plan your cruises? How are some of you planning your 2011 cruises

 

It feels a bit overwhelming to me to plan that far out simply because I don't know. Anyone want to chat about cruising in the future?

 

Hi, Debra, the Kraz Queen!!! :D

 

Sorry if I'm re-telling something we've already chatted about, but I tend to book the vast majority of my sailings waaaaaaaay in advance. Some have been more than twenty-four months prior to the sailing.

 

For me (and I do realize it's easier to schedule for one person) it's the opposite of overwhelming. I find a good ship, a fun itinerary, the times I can be scheduled for vacation, a price I think is inviting . . . . and I just go for it.:)

 

There is one particular annual week in February that I've decided I'll be on a ship, and not at home, and I've done that for several years. That week in 2011 is already booked, paid for, the CCL luggage tags are printed, and the details are in a file. All I have to do is (1) live until that sailing date, and (2) just show up at the port. For me, that's underwhelming, and I love it.

 

Would enjoy crossing paths (particularly those having waves) with you and Barry again. Take care!! :D

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3-5 days for me, so I'm probably not much help for you. Sorry.

 

All my planning revolves around when I can get away from my business for a week, what ships I'd like to cruise on, what itineraries I'm interested in, etc., but finding a WINDOW in my schedule of projects is the KEY for me. The rest is actually unimportant in the grand scheme of things. :D

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We have a cruise in 11 days and another in 364 days. Between the two cruises we currently have four land trips planned - Burning Man in August, St. George, UT in October, Seven Mile Beach, Tasmania in February and Oro Valley, AZ in April. Those are the planned trips. Who knows what else may pop up. We're retired and like to travel.

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I have five booked with the farthest out being a Celebrity cruise in January '11. I realized that we like certain types of cabins that are in short supply and high demand (aft wraps, etc). In order to get those I have to book early. Every one of my future cruises is for this reason (with the exception of the Oasis cruise). I also like paying for it a little at a time. I do know that anything can come up between know and then, but there really isn't much risk involved. If something does come up I can either get my money back or move the cruise to another date.

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We have 3 cruises booked right now, Oct this year, Sept '10 and Jan '11, normally we book about 9 months out, however the Sept '10 one we are going with a group off friends and the Jan '11 one is for my birthday.

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I love planning for my cruise far in advance. I have two booked one being 12/19/2010 and as soon as the Majic info comes out I plan on booking that for the Med. I have know that I would book that one since I heard it was going to be built. The same as I did with the Splendor for the Baltics. That one took me the entire time to plan but that to me is half the fun.

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The longest I have planned a cruise is a little over 2 years. We knew which ship/itinerary we wanted. We knew approximately when we wanted to go. Once the info was posted we were able to book fairly quickly. I do plan on paying on this every month or so until it's paid off. I figure this would be easier than paying a large amount at the end.

 

I have been known to book with only 2 or 3 weeks notice as well. Either way is good. It's just harder waiting when you book a long time in advance. But, the planning is pretty interesting.

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I suppose for you "veterans" this is a simple question... what happens if the ship changes places? Does that matter then?

 

That happened to us twice! We booked almost two years in advance for the Triumph out of Miami (?) and Carnival redeployed it to New Orleans. They offered us several other ships at same fare (with OBC) and we took the Miracle. Then they moved the Miracle to NY and changed us to the Legend. With the first change, we were on a different itinerary (didn't matter).

 

Most of the time we book 6 months to a year in advance. I'm a planner and saver, so that works for me. A few times we have booked last minute (four days to a month prior to sailing) and that's very exciting.

 

We are currently waiting for fall 2011 Hawaii sailings to open. We may do fall 2010...watching fares and waiting for airfare to be available. We'd like to do 2010 and would have the advantage of confirmed flights at time of booking (ES makes me nervous otherwise). But for 2011 we could book as soon as they open, have first choice of staterooms and plenty of time to save.

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This trip was done a year in advance however our prior cruises have not been that far out. We generally know what we will do for our *big* vacation each year however don't plan till maybe 6 months out as that is the earliest we can book time share if we do that route.

 

This trip is special and had to work around school schedules and give one brother enough time to plan and budget. As it turned out, he couldn't swing the cruise but will still spend some time in NYC with us.

 

vacation in 9 days, cruise in 10. Is it time yet???

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All,

 

How far out do you plan your cruises? How are some of you planning your 2011 cruises--is this information readily available or do you have some "in" with a PVP or TA?

 

Do you (or better asked, CAN you) pay a deposit and continue to pay on it throughout the full year plus?

 

I would love to plan something for 2011 (Hawaii? Exotic? Southern?) and to do something longer and more special would need more time to pay it off.

 

It feels a bit overwhelming to me to plan that far out simply because I don't know. Anyone want to chat about cruising in the future?

 

I would love to have a couple in the "cooker"... lol...

 

Thoughts?

 

We have an official group cruise (a B2B) planned for 2011. Several of us who are currently booked on it cruised together recently on the Pride's Panama Canal cruise and became such good friends that we decided to do a reunion cruise. A lot of people already had cruises booked for 2010, so we had to look at 2011. Carnival has a lot of 2011 dates available now, so we've picked two great ones. If you're looking for something "longer and more special", why not look at doing both 8 day cruises with us. You can also join us for just one cruise.

 

Also, many of the Official CC group cruises allow a deposit of only $25 per person, which is great. And you can make payments whenever you like, not just at the required times.

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I narrow down which ship and sailing I want, and wait for it to be released, booking shortly after it's available. I like the extra time to plan, and having 2 younger kids and being an in-home child care provider, I need that time to save my pennies.

 

We're currently on the "every other year" cruising plan...but this next cruise we're taking the kids on THEIR first one. If all goes well, we may ditch the "in-betweener" vacations and just start trying to swing it every year.

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We are currently waiting for fall 2011 Hawaii sailings to open. We may do fall 2010...watching fares and waiting for airfare to be available. We'd like to do 2010 and would have the advantage of confirmed flights at time of booking (ES makes me nervous otherwise). But for 2011 we could book as soon as they open, have first choice of staterooms and plenty of time to save.

 

LOL!!!

 

I'm doing exactly the same thing!!

 

I asked valancy1 if she wanted to join us. Maybe that's why she started this thread?!?!

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I usually book my cruise about 1.5 years out. Currently booked for 7/10.

 

Do you (or better asked, CAN you) pay a deposit and continue to pay on it throughout the full year plus?

 

Yes you can. I book my trips, pay the deposits and pay the balance a little each week until paid in full. It works for me.

 

OH and I book through Carnival directly.

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We planned for about 45 days and purchased 480 days out, I've converted to Early Saver and caught several price drops saving 1,800 between the 6 of us. The fare is now 300 dollars more than the rate we are locked in at, and while another drop would be nice, I'm happy with what I paid. Looking back I'm happy with the early purchase, it has allowed me to get great prices on plane tickets, swing some deals for pre and post cruise hotel rooms, and directly book with tour guides during a busy time of the year.

Plus we hit 160 days out next week and it feels great to be 2/3rd of the way there.

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Just booked the Valor 81 days out....

 

not the shortest we have ever done.... but close.

 

The Dream is the longest we have ever booked out...(over a year) because I wanted a specific cabin.

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I wish the cruise I want for 2011 (new Disney ship) would open up, as I really need to know what I can expect to spend. So far they don't even have any itineraries or the dates for the first sailing yet. I would have liked more time to plan as I know the cost is going to be outrageous but one way or another I will book the trip. That or we may book early 2012 depending on the sail dates. Already told my BF that is the only trip I have planned for 2011/2012 and so I haven't booked any other cruise while I am awaiting details on that one.

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