Deals for Asia cruise

Hello everyone,

Happy holidays! Hoping I can get some help with when is best to go for deals and which cruise line you would recommend. We would like to take my mom to Vietnam, Cambodia from Singapore port of call.

Thank you in advance

If you are located in Asia you might want to try local travel agents seem to have access to packages that are sometimes cheaper (but sometimes much more expensive) than booking directly with the cruise lines or with a US/European based travel agent.

The challenge on this is that while if you wait till closer to the cruise to get a lower price on the cruise you may pay a lot more for airfare.

We book early and then we watch pricing and if it goes down we followup to get the lower price.

Keith

On a whim I was looking at cruises on the HAL website, and found a great price on a 15 day cruise (leaving in a few weeks from now), which sounds like what you might be looking for (Singapore-Thailand-Cambodia-Vietnam-Hong Kong). I also checked the same itinerary for the following year, and it would have been $3000 more for the same dates and stateroom. If you are flexible, and can book 60 days out there are some great deals to be had. The cruise dropped even more after I had booked, but I'm not SO flexible than I can book a cruise 30 days out, and still feel like I have time to plan for my ports. I did not experience any price increase on the airfare portion to Asia, so think it was a great deal and happy it worked for us. However, if you are a planner, or need to secure specific dates, I would book something ahead directly with the cruise line of your choice (research beforehand to get the best perks with my booking) and then possibly transfer the reservation to another TA closer to the date if they could get me a better price and perks. If you book ahead it seems you need to be diligent about checking for price drops and might still be able to get a deal (on your already booked cruise) if you have not yet paid your final deposit. I am only mentioning this in relation to HAL, because that is who I cruise with the most, and have recently been getting advice on.

Thank you for all your feedback. We will be flying from Toronto, Canada. We will look into securing the cabins and watch for deals. Should we do that with a travel agent instead of direct with the cruise line and still get rojce reduction?

The only scenario I read about that seems to be consistent, is if you had booked directly with HAL and then the rate drops, that if you then transfer your reservation to another Travel Agency they can get you that good rate. Some people have tried to get HAL to reduce their price, but I'm not sure that can be relied upon (it has work for some but not all). Others have cancelled and rebooked when the price drops, provided that they are within a time-frame that there is no penalty for cancellation. Many different scenarios have been posted on the boards here so I don't feel confident advising that there is one best way. I do like that some have "double-dipped" if you will, by taking advantage of an offer from HAL that includes shipboard credits, then later transferred their reservation to a TA that is also offering shipboard credits AND a reduced fare. They keep the credits from HAL and get the extra goodies from the new travel agent. I have never done this myself, but it sounds like a great deal if you can get it! Dollar for dollar though (and I am talking in Canadian dollars too), booking within a short time-frame when you usually have to pay 100% of your non-refundable fare can give you the best savings on a sailing that is not close to being sold out. Of course last-minute travel plans aren't for everyone, and you have to be quick to arrange your land tours and flights. From Toronto though, you have lots of options for flights so I wouldn't be worried at all. Cheers.

I’d recommend booking 2-6 months in advance. As per the previous comment, you want to book far enough in advance that you can get your airfare at a decent price (and hopefully with an airline that has good ratings). Depending on the ports of call, you may also want to consider visiting a travel clinic for medication, vaccinations and advice. You may also need to figure out if you need a travel visa, or if the ship will provide arrangements onboard. I think the only benefit booking a year or more in advance is that you’ll have a better cabin selection. Princess, Celebrity and RCI all have ships out there too. Any of those lines including HAL would work for me, but I chose Princess for 2018. Something else to consider is the cost of pre or post accommodations; I’ve noticed the prices of hotel rooms four months prior to our sailing were much better than 1-2 months prior.

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We believe that it really pays to price cruises in various countries. Our late booking Australia cruise on RCI as priced by RCI Australia at 30 percent less than out US on line TA (or the US RCI site) price. We have been watching for cruises from Singapore but never saw quite what we wanted. The prices are often reduced in the final payment period but you cannot count on it.

Air prices and time to by air really has really varied for us over the past four years. The cheapest air (of four trips) from Canada, for us, has been obtained 10 days prior to departure and six months prior to departure. You just never know. It comes down to supply and demand. We are flying in to Singapore and home from Manila two months later. Picked up the fare for $700 CAD several months ago. You need to watch the flight times/elapsed times. Going to Bangkok, the elapsed air time is anywhere from 20 hours to 35 hours so you need to be aware of these difference when booking.

We have been travelling in SE Asia for four winters. Leaving in ten days for another winter. WIth the exception of Chinese New Year (you very much need to be aware of this dates as hotels/ air fill up) we have found that hotel prices are the same or better a month to two month out, or less. Often the chains like Accor, Marriot etc. have very attractive pre pay rates for 3 day stores.

We booked our mid Jan stay in Singapore in late December. The prices had gone down. We are about to book three days in Kuala Lumpur for the same reason. Non refundable, breakfast included. We have found that booking direct on hotel websites is usually more advantageous than using booking engines.

We believe that it really pays to price cruises in various countries. Our late booking Australia cruise on RCI as priced by RCI Australia at 30 percent less than out US on line TA (or the US RCI site) price. We have been watching for cruises from Singapore but never saw quite what we wanted. The prices are often reduced in the final payment period but you cannot count on it.

 

Air prices and time to by air really has really varied for us over the past four years. The cheapest air (of four trips) from Canada, for us, has been obtained 10 days prior to departure and six months prior to departure. You just never know. It comes down to supply and demand. We are flying in to Singapore and home from Manila two months later. Picked up the fare for $700 CAD several months ago. You need to watch the flight times/elapsed times. Going to Bangkok, the elapsed air time is anywhere from 20 hours to 35 hours so you need to be aware of these difference when booking.

 

We have been travelling in SE Asia for four winters. Leaving in ten days for another winter. WIth the exception of Chinese New Year (you very much need to be aware of this dates as hotels/ air fill up) we have found that hotel prices are the same or better a month to two month out, or less. Often the chains like Accor, Marriot etc. have very attractive pre pay rates for 3 day stores.

 

We booked our mid Jan stay in Singapore in late December. The prices had gone down. We are about to book three days in Kuala Lumpur for the same reason. Non refundable, breakfast included. We have found that booking direct on hotel websites is usually more advantageous than using booking engines.

Great information, I wish I would have held off on my Singapore booking now. The hotel was expensive (and I'm used to staying in pretty great hotels) even though I booked the best rate I could directly from the hotel website.

When you price-shop for your cruises in other countries, do you do that by web? Or do you actually contact a TA in Australia, for instance?

We do it by web. We also google and find travel agencies in those countries that specialize in cruises.

We googled on line TA's in Australia and noticed the pricing variance between booking in North America and booking in Australia. I also got some great information from the Australian and New Zealand page on this website. They have a sub section called cheapskate cruising where poster advise others of great late booking deals. We found this extremely helpful.

We emailed the on line TA, no prompt followup. So we simply called the Australian RCI office. They had access to our past cruising history. It was all done and dusted in less than ten minutes ...and at an even lower price than the RCI Australian web site because they offered us the seniors rate. We have done the same for travel pruducts in Europe, once in South Africa, and last year in Argentina with the Aerolineas call center in Buenos Aires. It really does pay to shop around and try non North American based websites. Many travel vendors have multiple sites based on continent, etc.

I hear you on Singapore. Huge difference in price between that and Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. We booked on the Accor site @ Ibis Bencoolen. They had a boxing week sale. Had to prepay for three days/no refund.

Thank you! Now, I have to ask a question here (actually a few of them) now that I've been to the RCI Australia site. I don't see a section specifically for cruises. If one registers on the site do you then have access to looking up cruises? Is it similar to Interval International (where I put my timeshare in to trade for others)?

I took a poke around on the Australian part of the site but couldn't find a cheapskate thread. Is the thread called "El Cheapo Cruises"? Or is that a different one? Thanks for the valuable tips, after this initial Asia cruise (leaving next week), I am considering South America or maybe Japan with a transpacific route. Not sure if Japan is better to do as a land trip or not. For the South America route, is there any specific countries you would advise to search their cruise sites for deals? I don't speak/read Spanish or Portuguese ... :p

yes, el cheapo cruises. I happened to look at it when someone posted this offer on RCI so we followed up on it.

re rci....are you on the rci timeshare site or the Royal Caribbean International site. I suspect the former.

We have a long distance phone card (globetrotter) that we use for calling overseas. Extremely low long distance rates and we can use it when travelling in other countries.

I was on the RCI Australia (timeshare site). See -- I don't know the acronym (I haven't cruised Royal Caribbean before!). I thought you were just sending me to a travel agency site that also specialized in cruises! Sorry about that. :o

Okay, so now that we have that squared away, and you have mentioned globetrotter -- It looks like it is for international calling, but but I don't really do that very often. I am currently with Bell as a service provider, and for some reason Vietnam and Cambodia are not included when I upgrade my plan to include international calls and use my data. I'm wondering if maybe I could buy a SIM card in Singapore, or do something that would minimize my surfing costs while in various ports. I really rely on google maps and all the points I've dropped to get around cities... Can you point me in the right direction? It seems like you've already done your homework! What do you do for internet connection while your'e outside of North America?

Some of the better/best deals in Asia cruises, are, available for residents from that region (passport holders, national identity cards & valid travel documents, etc.) only.

I can VPN into places abroad from the US, look and see to check them out. But, booking them & getting the proper discounted pricing isn't always possible - even if you can "tunnel" into the local booking sites selling the packages - it will sometimes ask for a local address, i.e. Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. and passport/travel document, and local contact phone #'s and email addresses (granted, I have those, well established and oversea #'s to use). Was looking at a Christmas - New Year (2017) last minute cruise - pretty good prices, about $250 to $300 USD less than the prices shown on US website .... I didn't do a mock booking to see how far it will allow me to go.

I backed out anyway b/c last minute airfare was crazy for traveling - more than doubled the price of the base cruise fare, 16 hours nonstop flying coach ... not worth the trouble, for now.

As for traveling abroad - for US residents, our best approach is Google's Project Fi - voice, SMS/text & high speed 4G/LTE data (3G in some places) at $10 GB in 135 plus countries, that's unlimited calling, etc. Where free or WiFi calling isn't available, pay as little as 4 cents to 6 cents a minute, no more than 20 cents a minute over cellular.

Solution exists for Cambodia, but Vietnam isn't - and, there really isn't any global/travel options for use in that country, except to buy a local prepaid sim card (thus, I travel with a good dual-sim smartphone (Android) plus my "Fi" - and,for good measures, a backup iPhone 5S ... just in case.

https://fi.google.com/about/rates/?country=KH

There is a workaround - to use Project Fi if you live in Canada, with a little bit of setup.

I took a poke around on the Australian part of the site but couldn't find a cheapskate thread. Is the thread called "El Cheapo Cruises"? Or is that a different one? Thanks for the valuable tips, after this initial Asia cruise (leaving next week), I am considering South America or maybe Japan with a transpacific route. Not sure if Japan is better to do as a land trip or not. For the South America route, is there any specific countries you would advise to search their cruise sites for deals? I don't speak/read Spanish or Portuguese ... :p

Yes, "El Cheapo Cruise" Thread is where Aussies let other Aussies know about last minute specials, which have been advertised.

Some of the better/best deals in Asia cruises, are, available for residents from that region (passport holders, national identity cards & valid travel documents, etc.) only.

 

 

 

I can VPN into places abroad from the US, look and see to check them out. But, booking them & getting the proper discounted pricing isn't always possible - even if you can "tunnel" into the local booking sites selling the packages - it will sometimes ask for a local address, i.e. Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. and passport/travel document, and local contact phone #'s and email addresses (granted, I have those, well established and oversea #'s to use). Was looking at a Christmas - New Year (2017) last minute cruise - pretty good prices, about $250 to $300 USD less than the prices shown on US website .... I didn't do a mock booking to see how far it will allow me to go.

 

 

 

I backed out anyway b/c last minute airfare was crazy for traveling - more than doubled the price of the base cruise fare, 16 hours nonstop flying coach ... not worth the trouble, for now.

 

 

 

As for traveling abroad - for US residents, our best approach is Google's Project Fi - voice, SMS/text & high speed 4G/LTE data (3G in some places) at $10 GB in 135 plus countries, that's unlimited calling, etc. Where free or WiFi calling isn't available, pay as little as 4 cents to 6 cents a minute, no more than 20 cents a minute over cellular.

 

Solution exists for Cambodia, but Vietnam isn't - and, there really isn't any global/travel options for use in that country, except to buy a local prepaid sim card (thus, I travel with a good dual-sim smartphone (Android) plus my "Fi" - and,for good measures, a backup iPhone 5S ... just in case.

 

https://fi.google.com/about/rates/?country=KH

 

 

 

There is a workaround - to use Project Fi if you live in Canada, with a little bit of setup.

Yes I do live in Canada, and read the setup steps for Canadians. I’m near the border and those steps are all doable, just not in my timeframe. I’m leaving on Friday and working until then. And where on earth did I put my old android phone? [emoji848]Thanks so much though, I could absolutely use that for future trips, as well as my trips into the US (a couple of times a month).

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Yes, "El Cheapo Cruise" Thread is where Aussies let other Aussies know about last minute specials, which have been advertised.

Well, I sure hope they don’t mind a Canadian spy following along! [emoji6]

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Well, I sure hope they don’t mind a Canadian spy following along! [emoji6]

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Not at all. Hope you find a special which attracts your interest.

Yes ... where on earth did I put my old android phone? [emoji848]Thanks so much though, I could absolutely use that for future trips, as well as my trips into the US (a couple of times a month) ...

Excellent - it's a well known, open secret among business travelers and seasoned cruisers. We used it in Bermuda, Bahamas & the Caribbean islands - on a typical 7 nights cruise, our EXTRA net cost is usually less than $5 USD for use in ports, with 1 smartphone & 1 data sim enabled (downside, it doesn't work on cruise ships - where we generally make good use of "free" satellite WiFi, if we can & as needed)

To setup Fi services, you will need to "invest" in a Fi approved - compatible device, a good pre-owned Nexus 6 (by Motorola) is about $150 to $175 USD shipped, or a newer Nexus 5X (by LG) or Nexus 6P (by Huawei) - all under $200 USD (via Swappa, a better site vs. eBay)

For travel data use - consider a dual sim Android phone, 1 for your Fi sim and 1 for your regular (Telus, Bell or Rogers) home-sim card - by Blu (via Amazon) or Huawei or Xiaomi (both had global models, compatible with North America bands ... check coverage carefully before buying) - no contract & unlocked, no need to spend more than $200 to $250 USD (or CAD equivalent)

Fi services can be suspended free for up to 3 months - DIY online by logging into the account, it will save money for the long haul. Enjoy your cruise & travel - a cold front sweeping south across mainland China, still warm by our standards.

We travel on Canadian passports. We had no problem booking with Royal Caribbean in Australia. They knew who we were because they accessed our cruise history status which provided an extra discount. For some reason the Australian on line TA were not anxious to deal with us. Just as well because we got a better deal going direct.

We found the folks on the Aus/NZ 'el cheapo' cruise threat very helpful. Typical Australian friendliness and helpfulness which we experience multiple times on our land travels in Australia.

Excellent - it's a well known, open secret among business travelers and seasoned cruisers. We used it in Bermuda, Bahamas & the Caribbean islands - on a typical 7 nights cruise, our EXTRA net cost is usually less than $5 USD for use in ports, with 1 smartphone & 1 data sim enabled (downside, it doesn't work on cruise ships - where we generally make good use of "free" satellite WiFi, if we can & as needed)

 

 

 

To setup Fi services, you will need to "invest" in a Fi approved - compatible device, a good pre-owned Nexus 6 (by Motorola) is about $150 to $175 USD shipped, or a newer Nexus 5X (by LG) or Nexus 6P (by Huawei) - all under $200 USD (via Swappa, a better site vs. eBay)

 

 

 

For travel data use - consider a dual sim Android phone, 1 for your Fi sim and 1 for your regular (Telus, Bell or Rogers) home-sim card - by Blu (via Amazon) or Huawei or Xiaomi (both had global models, compatible with North America bands ... check coverage carefully before buying) - no contract & unlocked, no need to spend more than $200 to $250 USD (or CAD equivalent)

 

 

 

Fi services can be suspended free for up to 3 months - DIY online by logging into the account, it will save money for the long haul. Enjoy your cruise & travel - a cold front sweeping south across mainland China, still warm by our standards.

Wow, you’re a wealth of information mking8288 — thank you! I have copied your posts to digest when I get back and will get my act together so I’m tech-ready on my next trip. Cooler weather sounds fine by me — I’m expecting to melt once I reach Singapore. [emoji6]

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We travel on Canadian passports. We had no problem booking with Royal Caribbean in Australia. They knew who we were because they accessed our cruise history status which provided an extra discount. For some reason the Australian on line TA were not anxious to deal with us. Just as well because we got a better deal going direct.

 

 

 

We found the folks on the Aus/NZ 'el cheapo' cruise threat very helpful. Typical Australian friendliness and helpfulness which we experience multiple times on our land travels in Australia.

That’s great to hear, iancal. Now, when I do want to book an Australian - New Zealand cruise, do you happen to know if they also get the best deals in their own backyard? Or is there another market that is targeted for travel there?

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No idea. We were travelling in Australia and decided to try for a late booking cruise. We did two, one on Sun Princess (not late booking) and a longer one Aus/NZ on RCI Radiance of the Seas.

No idea. We were travelling in Australia and decided to try for a late booking cruise. We did two, one on Sun Princess (not late booking) and a longer one Aus/NZ on RCI Radiance of the Seas.

Sounds like some fantastic trips. [emoji1305]I’m fairly comfortable with waiting for those late-booking deals, as long as I’m not in love with a rare itinerary. I’m not fussy about my cabin type if I can get the ports I want on a decently maintained ship. I care about the food-quality more than my stateroom. An entirely different subject altogether!

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