Best time to book

There is a cruise in the spring that we are very interested in booking. However, since our recent experience of having our booked cruise for October drop several thousand dollars after final pay we are somewhat reluctant to do it before final pay as it may be further reduced.

Regent did offer some help with a future cruise booking but that settlement is a hook to continue sailing Regent. We very much prefer to sail Regent but don't want to feel like we have to.

Our preference would be for them to settle pricing before final pay or make a financial adjustment. Obviously we don't run the cruise line so need to deal with existing pricing practice.

Any advice on whether to book now or wait. I know the usual reasoning about getting a good cabin by booking early but we are not to particular about where we are and just select a regular suite.

Thanks for any suggestions and advice.

Which ship? I've never sailed in an aft suite on Navigator or Voyager, but I've read reports here about vibrations. And if it's a really popular itinerary, the lower-priced suites can sell quickly.

I know, that doesn't tell you anything.

Thanks, Pam, Those are two points to keep in mind.

I agree with the last post. Things are not clear at the moment. Actually, the OP and I have so many cruises, we should have the answer but we don't. There are some itineraries that are pretty obvious in terms of selling well. If, on the other hand, you are looking at the Middle East or Russian itineraries, it may pay to wait. If an itinerary appeared that we thought would be popular, we would book immediately. An example of that is the Cape Town to Cape Town cruise in November. It was so obvious to me that it would be a sell-out that we booked ASAP (and I was right).

There are certainly other things to consider. If you have not visited many ports around the world, you may want to book earlier rather than later. At this point, I have no interest whatsoever in booking a summer cruise in the Med. or a winter cruise in the Caribbean. If something came up that amazing, I might reconsider (note: we did not book the Explorer maiden voyage mainly because we did not want to be in that part of the world in July).

BTW, not only is the Regent CPT-CPT a sell out but so is the Oceania on exactly the same dates.

BTW, not only is the Regent CPT-CPT a sell out but so is the Oceania on exactly the same dates.

Thanks for the update. It seems to have taken a while for the Oceania cruise to fill up but at least it got there. We are very happy that they changed the itinerary around a bit so that we aren't in port together every day as it was originally. I may be looking to this cruise more than any in the past (but not quite as much as our Explorer cruise next year:-)

Just in case anyone is interested, Regent is currently showing some categories available on CPT-CPT and some guarantee. Oceania is wait listed in all categories.

There is extensive availability in the cruise we are looking at with only the top suites booked. But based on Drib's thinking our "personal demand" feels high.

I think we are looking at booking it even though I vowed to not book before final pay. Seduced yet again.

Yes, there is some availability on the Capetown cruise, would love to do it but timing doesn't work. I'd probably do a Micato Safari instead but with the state of Africa these days it will probably have to wait a bit.

Re the OPs original question, if you are looking for a "deal" and are flexible on date and itinerary then it's best to wait and see how it all plays out. I have found the "deals" never appear when you want them so it's a gamble. If you have restrictions on when you can cruise and specific cruise itineraries then you should probably book and if price reduces before final payment then ask your TA to go back to Regent for a price adjustment. After final payment...don't check the price, just go end enjoy your cruise and suck it up knowing you might have paid a bit more than some others...but maybe you got better flight assignment by booking early.

Words of wisdom, Sunprice. Thanks for sharing them. We are taken with the itinerary.

Sunprince, I'm surprised you are still around as you were so disappointed with our December, 2013 Caribbean cruise? I must say I am confused about pricing and uncertain when to book in the future. We are going on the 9/10 Voyager sailing to Northern Europe (Russia). We did receive the Seven Seas Society savings. It appeared there were very light bookings until they offered the "free" business class in all categories. I don't know if they offered other discounts outside of the US, but it not only filled quickly but they eliminated the "free" business class (in essence a price increase for those flying business). We have the ability to travel in shoulder season, and we have many many cruises and places to go before we catch up to TC2 and others. I'm now inclined to wait as opposed to booking as soon as they offer the itineraries.

Sunprince, I'm surprised you are still around as you were so disappointed with our December, 2013 Caribbean cruise? I must say I am confused about pricing and uncertain when to book in the future. We are going on the 9/10 Voyager sailing to Northern Europe (Russia). We did receive the Seven Seas Society savings. It appeared there were very light bookings until they offered the "free" business class in all categories. I don't know if they offered other discounts outside of the US, but it not only filled quickly but they eliminated the "free" business class (in essence a price increase for those flying business). We have the ability to travel in shoulder season, and we have many many cruises and places to go before we catch up to TC2 and others. I'm now inclined to wait as opposed to booking as soon as they offer the itineraries.

You no doubt will meet and surpass our cruises. It sounds like you have many years of cruising ahead of you while we will be slowing down. Agree with you about waiting to book...... unless there is an itinerary that you really want!

Just in case anyone is interested, Regent is currently showing some categories available on CPT-CPT and some guarantee. Oceania is wait listed in all categories.

Thank you for the info........ that is most interesting since we have passed the date to cancel without penalty! There have been cancellations since we booked but it is surprising to see availability at this time.

Sunprince, I'm surprised you are still around as you were so disappointed with our December, 2013 Caribbean cruise? I must say I am confused about pricing and uncertain when to book in the future. We are going on the 9/10 Voyager sailing to Northern Europe (Russia). We did receive the Seven Seas Society savings. It appeared there were very light bookings until they offered the "free" business class in all categories. I don't know if they offered other discounts outside of the US, but it not only filled quickly but they eliminated the "free" business class (in essence a price increase for those flying business). We have the ability to travel in shoulder season, and we have many many cruises and places to go before we catch up to TC2 and others. I'm now inclined to wait as opposed to booking as soon as they offer the itineraries.

Taxare, this is not the case at all. I'd have to go back a re-read my review of the Dec/13 cruise but it was not a negative review. In fact we did very much enjoy it. As with any cruise, everything wasn't perfect and there were some areas of improvement. Overall though it was good. We have since done a Seabourn cruise, which overall we enjoyed very much. It too was not perfect, but there were some areas quite a bit better than Regent. My " problem" with Regent these days is their high prices and their pricing schemes. This combined with the low Can $ makes it unlikely for us to book with Regent in the near future (but I do like to keep tabs on what is going on here).

I tried to post this yesterday, but must have made a mistake as it didn't show up.

Very controversial issue, because of shifting prices AND availability. DW and I have credit with Regent, but when we went to book CPT-CPT we only could get a lowest guarantee. Our preference is always a phb and so we looked for an alternative. We went to Oceania for a ph and were satisfied although not ecstatic. We love Regent and the included excursions and on O we have less room and the cost is about the same if you include excursions. To discover that after final pay date pha & phc are now available on Mariner is particularly frustrating because we would have taken these in a nanosecond. Talked to our TA and she opined the issue is groups who book the nice suites and can't sell them. My take is there must be a better way. We might not have gotten a ph on O if we had waited and yet we would have been better off if we had:eek:

newlondon - I can only imagine how frustrating it was for you to learn of openings on the CPT cruise. Is there no way that Regent would allow a switch? After all, it is the same company! PH-A is stills showing available today.