Any advice on last minute bookings?

[rosiebee]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice / thoughts on last minute bookings. I've always wanted to be cruising on my 60th birthday - 07/01/12. I usually book at least a year ahead but in Nov my dear OH was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer. He's gone through all the treatment and everyone is confident that all will be well. BUT I can't bring myself to book until the last minute, well hopefully November. Do I stand a chance of still finding an outside cabin? As long as he's ok, I'm really not that bothered about the itinery, although a cruise and stay would be lovely. We'd just started our retirement when he found a lump so we're thinking of this as a gap year and want to start again with a cruise.

Has anyone any experiences of late bookings - how late can I leave it?

Thanks

Rosie:)

[Cymro1953]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice / thoughts on last minute bookings. I've always wanted to be cruising on my 60th birthday - 07/01/12. I usually book at least a year ahead but in Nov my dear OH was diagnosed with throat and neck cancer. He's gone through all the treatment and everyone is confident that all will be well. BUT I can't bring myself to book until the last minute, well hopefully November. Do I stand a chance of still finding an outside cabin? As long as he's ok, I'm really not that bothered about the itinery, although a cruise and stay would be lovely. We'd just started our retirement when he found a lump so we're thinking of this as a gap year and want to start again with a cruise.

Has anyone any experiences of late bookings - how late can I leave it?

Thanks

Rosie:)

 

Hi Rosie,

Really sorry to hear about hubby, hope everything goes Ok for you both.

We were on Red Sea Magic on 31st March. Thursday sailing and people had outsides who had only booked on the Tuesday, 2 days before.

I'd keep an eye on the Thomson's website by doing trial bookings to see how the cabins are going near to your sailing dates

 

Berwyn

[happy v]

Hi Rosiebee, sorry to hear about your husband fingers crossed everything will be fine. I always do late bookings, it is only since I came on here that I am contemplating an early one. I feel quite confident you will easily get booked in January. I usually wait until four weeks before, this is because I like to get my ticket bookletand not pay TOD charges, but the prices still reduce quite a bit in the two weeks after this.

[Cymro1953]

P.S Rosie,

Don't be put off if it says something like "Hurry only 2 cabins left" on flights from your local airport. It showed this on our cruise for flights from Manchester, but when I checked airports in other parts of the country there were plenty of cabins available in all categories.

 

Berwyn

[h0nl0rdlucan]

I’m new to this thread but not new to cruising

Nine times out of ten its the flights that sell out, not the cabins

We're (x2) sailing on the Spirit.. Red Sea .. 21st April 2011 (Easter) which we booked 6 weeks ago online, it was then showing 'empty' (ship), we wanted this cruise at the offered price and didn’t want to risk waiting .. so booked (very happy)

Checked 2 weeks later 'dumb booking' and showed 1 seat available on aircraft but ship again 'empty' (empty meaning cabins on all levels, even suites)

The same cruise 2 weeks before (7th April) I could get the same cabin/flights up to 2 days before flying

Point being .. if you must have it, book it!

My Girlfriend recently got over Breast Cancer, she will be on the Easter cruise with me dancing in the late night disco

God Bless!

[infoqueen]

Hi keeping fingers crossed for you that everything will now be ok but i can understand that you don't want to tempt fate so i would wait till november time i am sure there will be availability, I am doing the same at the minute because even though i would like to fly from east mids i can also go from bham,manchester or even gatwick and i notice you are from cheshire so you can do manchester,liverpool or even the midlands airports so even though its the flights that can be a problem you have some flexibiity even if you have to travel the day before and book into a hotel at one of the airports. when tough times hit you (i have just lost my best friend) you emerge with the we can do anything attitude, so enjoy the planning and research and hope you have a fab birthday when it arrives

[wales4ever]

Good luck health wise:) And you can leave it as late as you want to, if your not fussy about cabin choice.

[rookery]

We always book last minute as we can be flexible on dates and aren't too fussed about which deck, inside/outside etc or even itinerary. I suggest you start looking towards the end of November with a view to booking about 3 weeks before departure. Under 2 weeks and you will get TOD surcharge which is a bit of a con. You'll have no problem getting a Red Sea Magic cruise at a considerable saving on brochure price and you'll enjoy the winter sunshine. Hope hubby is much better soon.

We have yet to book for a cruise between 30th April and mid May. Trying to find the best compromise between the weather/ship/itinerary. Decisions decisions :)

[ekco]

I've been checking out last minute cruises for a while and have found that as the previous poster said that it's generally the seats on the plane that sell out from Manchester and you can usually get a better bargain leaving from other airports. As for prices, check out the web site and look from Tuesday to Thursday inc. as the prices can go up on Friday for the weekend. I've also found that to get the lowest prices you should be looking around 4-5 weeks before as if the sales go well the prices can go up nearer to but that's from Manchester. We've booked late for holidays many times, even the day before, but in the last couple of years it's often better to look a month before as I've already said. We've recently booked a land based holiday for June with good flights and the week after it crept up in ten and twenty pounds until it was £90pp more a week later. Good luck anyway.:):)

 

Jan

[kruzseeka]

Hi Rosiebee, so sorry to hear about your DH but hope all is going well for you both and pleased that you are now looking forward to planning a holiday.

 

I think you would be fairly safe waiting for a late deal. About three weeks out would be my suggestion - as has already been pointed out you avoid the ToD charge and are also far enough out from departure to be able to book a cabin (if you want to go for a particular area on board). Red Sea cruises typically have some really good last minute deals (which helps to balance out the more expensive excursions on this itinerary) and in my experience, just after New Year is also a slacker time (judging by the reductions).

 

If happy and infoqueen can keep an eye on the cabin sales too (:eek: !) then you will know whether the cabin availability is getting critical!

 

All good wishes to you. :)

[rosiebee]

Thanks everyone for your advice and comments - and for your good wishes. It was an awful shock when my DH found the lump, but we're coming through the other side now. Hopefully as soon as his throat has recovered and he has his taste buds back [all zapped by radiotherapy], we'll be off on our travels again. You're right about Cheshire being within easy distance of several airports. I hadn't really thought about that. Should make it much easier to book that last minute cruise in January. Failing that it could be the Mersey Ferry.

Enjoy your cruising this year, I'll look forward to reading about them on the forum.

Rosie:)