Jump to content

Does Carnival lower prices as the cruise nears?


Mjasp

Recommended Posts

I've never sailed on Carnival before and really never booked this close in, but does Carnival usually drop prices as a cruise nears?

 

On Sunday, I saw a 4 night cruise to Canada for $339 pp for an inside cabin, waited until Monday to be sure I can get the days off, when I got home last night the cruise went up $50 pp for a total of $100. Not sure whether to book it or wait it out.

 

Any suggestions?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never sailed on Carnival before and really never booked this close in, but does Carnival usually drop prices as a cruise nears?

 

On Sunday, I saw a 4 night cruise to Canada for $339 pp for an inside cabin, waited until Monday to be sure I can get the days off, when I got home last night the cruise went up $50 pp for a total of $100. Not sure whether to book it or wait it out.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Sometimes. It depends on how many cabins they need to sell. As inventory goes down, prices go up

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's all about supply and demand...

Many cruises, especially from the south, go up in price as the cruise nears because the ships nearly always sail full.

From time to time prices drop as the cruise nears but I've never been that lucky...

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Others are correct...

 

They also try for upselling people into higher priced rooms, so at times only certain categories are discounted vs the entire ship.

 

They have an unpredictable way of discounting, seems like they throw darts at a dart board...Sometimes military gets good rates, sometimes seniors, sometimes certain residence reasons, sometimes past guest and sometimes pack and go...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with the others. I've seen the Victory out of San Juan go for $299 about 2 weeks prior for a 7 day southern Caribbean, and I've seen 4-5 day cruises at $499. All 3 cruises I've taken were booked 3 weeks or less prior to sailing, and I've gotten GREAT deals, especially considering 2 of them were taken solo, and solo cruisers typically pay more. If you have flexibility, you can find a great last minute deal. If you're not flexible on the days you need to travel and/or departure port, I'd book asap before the price goes up again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you see those deals close to departure you usually have to jump on them without delay. We got to do an unexpected cruise on Conquest a couple of weeks ago thanks to one of those last minute deals. They are great when you can catch one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They have an unpredictable way of discounting, seems like they throw darts at a dart board...Sometimes military gets good rates, sometimes seniors, sometimes certain residence reasons, sometimes past guest and sometimes pack and go...

 

 

While it can be frustrating, I think the point is in NOT having a pattern. Can you imagine how quickly it would kill the ES rate if you were pretty much guaranteed to get money back no matter when you booked?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never sailed on Carnival before and really never booked this close in, but does Carnival usually drop prices as a cruise nears?

 

On Sunday, I saw a 4 night cruise to Canada for $339 pp for an inside cabin, waited until Monday to be sure I can get the days off, when I got home last night the cruise went up $50 pp for a total of $100. Not sure whether to book it or wait it out.

 

Any suggestions?

The cruise you're looking at on 6-10 (saw you on the roll call)has been going up up up consistently over the last couple of weeks. I know because we booked ES and we were hoping for some OBC, doesn't look that way now. I just looked on the CCL website and OV cabins are not available now.You just never know. 29 days and counting.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cruise you're looking at on 6-10 (saw you on the roll call)has been going up up up consistently over the last couple of weeks. I know because we booked ES and we were hoping for some OBC, doesn't look that way now. I just looked on the CCL website and OV cabins are not available now.You just never know. 29 days and counting.

 

YEP, Just booked the last oceanview cabin. So glad I booked it. Looking forward to meeting everyone

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Congratulations!! I'm pretty sure you and DH are very happy that you didn't procrastinate any longer. It's going to be a great weekend getaway.

 

Very glad we booked, I can't believe how much it went up, but where else can you go to an all inclusive (less the alcoholic beverages) for a long weekend for that price without flying somewhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ALL INCLUSIVE.The only place I can think of is my Mother In Law's house.:D Seriously you're right we live in NYC and love having not to fly. We drove down to Baltimore in February this year to sail on The Pride(BLIZZARD) we had a great time but I don't know if we'll be doing that again.Hope you guys have a great cruise and a Happy Anniversary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why wouldn't you do that again? we did NCL out of NYC during winter break and it was COLD!!! Cold in NY, cold in the Bahamas and cold in Florida.

 

No more February vacations for me

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why wouldn't you do that again? we did NCL out of NYC during winter break and it was COLD!!! Cold in NY, cold in the Bahamas and cold in Florida.

 

No more February vacations for me

EXACTLY. The ONLY really nice day we had was in Nassau. When we got back to Baltimore our car was buried in 36" of snow. Through it all we still had a real nice cruise.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i just pick a cruise that I want and watch it every few days 60-90 days out. It takes 10 seconds to check it on VTG

 

When it dips, book it and don't look back. It will make you nutz!!!!!!

What's VTG?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i noticed yesterday when going over notes for my current sailing (when recording another small OBC ES;)) the majority of price drops/sales were on Thursdays:confused:. Anybody else have this happen on their cruise?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a rule of thumb. I'd say that cruise prices start to go up around April (spring break) and don't go down until around Labor Day. There might be some price drops during that time but in general prices are higher. Better prices during the period between Labor Day and March. Higher when school's out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our price went down twice for our Cove last week, now there are no more 7A's available.

 

We also had a price drop for our girl's interior, but now that price is up $100 pp. If nothing changes between now and next month, I'll feel good knowing we got the lowest possible price for our rooms. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Vacations To Go

 

Which speak of that, I do not see it being any cheaper. "Their price" is always the same as Carnival's from what I've checked into.

 

They are not allowed to be any cheaper than Carnival prices that is Carnivals policy. They may throw in OBC bottle of wine which comes out of their commission to draw cruisers in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...