Help Me Think This Out (Cancelling to rebook last minute to save $$$)

[discjoker]

I am currently booked on the Dream in November. My final payment is rapidly approaching and I am thinking of cancelling to book at the last minute to save some money. This is my preferred cruise however I wouldn't exclude others...my main goal in all of this is to save money.

 

Am I nuts or do you think I will find something at a last minute discount close to sailing? The cost of the cruise is my only concern and I am not factoring in airfare (since my air costs are fixed regardless of when I go).

 

Thoughts? Advice? What would you do?

[BeccaBecca1713]

For me personally, I wouldn't do it. You could end up with a crummy room assignment. That just seems too stressful to me. Although again, JMO.

 

ps - in the future, just book ES and you can go head to head with "most" rates up to 2 days prior to sailing.

 

Good Luck in whatever you decide.....

[DaytonCruiser]

Thats rolling the dice, but its possible the price may drop last min, it could also rise. When in Nov are you thinking? That is usually a great time to find last min deals. I routinely find cheap cruises in Nov. If you are flexible it might work out.

[discjoker]

Thats rolling the dice, but its possible the price may drop last min, it could also rise. When in Nov are you thinking? That is usually a great time to find last min deals. I routinely find cheap cruises in Nov. If you are flexible it might work out.

 

It's the week before Thanksgiving. I am currently booked on the 11/12 sailing of the Dream.

[Tapi]

I'm sailing on the Dream at the beginning of October. We had originally booked the cruise a few months ago, then decided to cancel. I re-booked a few weeks later, and within that time frame, my cabin had gone up $50pp.

 

So far, my category has sold out, other categories are still available but at a much higher rate, and the next category down from the one I have is currently selling for $120 more pp than what we paid.

 

Personally, I wouldn't cancel hoping for a lower rate closer to sailing. You may find yourself paying much more for the same category you have now, or having to settle for a lower category at the price you have now.

 

One thing that I've done before is to book the lowest category that I'm comfortable with, then watch the prices. If they drop, I can always upgrade to a higher category without having to pay more.

[molole]

Is it too late to switch to ES?

[Redsfan]

Is it too late to switch to ES?

 

for a 7 day it is...ES disappears 5 months before sail date

[truchattycathy]

I would look carefully at what is still available for your cruise. There is a great possibility the cruise price will go up not down. I would not risk it if I knew I wanted that particular cruise. JMHO

[bqkali]

How flexible are you? Is any room on the ship okay or are you looking for a specific deck or part of the ship? Are you entirely willing to switch cruise ships? What about cruiselines? There may not be last minute deals on Carnival but I've seen tons of fantastic last-minute rates on Norwegian.

 

You say your airfare is a fixed cost regardless - but unless you book the airfare now, it is very possible for the flight prices to significantly rise while you wait for a last-minute cruise bargain - therefore negating any potential savings on the cruisefare.

 

If you are 100% flexible, you could book the airfare to Florida now to lock in that price and then pick whatever cruise ends up being cheapest that week. If you fly in on Friday and out on Sunday afternoon, that gives you the choice of cruises leaving on either Saturday or Sunday without worrying about making the ship. You'll end up spending 2 nights in a hotel in Florida, but that sounds like a bonus to me (though may sound like an extra expense to you, again negating your cruise savings). Choose FLL or MIA for your airport and you can depart on a ship from either Fort Lauderdale or Miami since either one is easily accesible from either airport. Sounds like a great plan if you just want to be on any ship heading anywhere in any guarantee room - but not a good plan if you have something more specific in mind!!

[firefly333]

Is your airfare bought yet? If not then why not roll the dice. If you book ES you usually cannot price match pack n go prices because they are gtys. So even ES is no guarantee you have the best price booked.

 

If the price looks high you are booked at and you can cancel and not picky about what port the cruise is out of .. with this hurricane heading in, I think you have a reasonable chance of people getting nervous this next week and carnival lowering some prices. One more hurricane after this one .. you will see prices dropping last minute. (on something). depends on how flexible you are on date and port to leave from.

[MissDiva1]

I agree with bqkali. If you are flexible this can work. There tons of cruises out of Florida on many cruislines. You should be able to score. But I would at least purchase the airfare. This is another reason why I would never ever book early saver because you loose out of many many choices and deals. Good luck!

[Luvsnorkeling]

Don't forget...there are also cancellation fees and loss of any trip insurance you may have already purchased.

 

As for us, we have seen our category sell out, so not much chance of a fare reduction, and everything else has gone up rather than down. Still...I'll be checking up until the last minute for any fare drops!

[MissDiva1]

Don't forget...there are also cancellation fees and loss of any trip insurance you may have already purchased.

 

As for us, we have seen our category sell out, so not much chance of a fare reduction, and everything else has gone up rather than down. Still...I'll be checking up until the last minute for any fare drops!

 

They should be able to tranfer the insurance policy to reflect the new trip and adjust the value. We did this when our swine flu cruise was going up north so we cancelled to go at another time.

[stargate fan]

I am currently booked on the Dream in November. My final payment is rapidly approaching and I am thinking of cancelling to book at the last minute to save some money. This is my preferred cruise however I wouldn't exclude others...my main goal in all of this is to save money.

 

Am I nuts or do you think I will find something at a last minute discount close to sailing? The cost of the cruise is my only concern and I am not factoring in airfare (since my air costs are fixed regardless of when I go).

 

Thoughts? Advice? What would you do?

 

Well, since you asked...:p

I think you do need to factor in airfare from BOS or surrounding airports, unless you are employed by an airline and have no issue. Airfare always seems to go up the closer the flying date comes. What you save on the cruise could easily get eaten up by the airfare. We are sailing JetBlue on 10/26 out of BOS. The flights keep going up and up since I booked them.

 

There are never any guarantees that cruise prices will go down. If you can handle the current price of your cruise, why gamble?

 

Good luck and happy sailing.

[Luvsnorkeling]

I think this would only work if you were rebooking at the time you cancelled. If I understand the OP right, he is wanting to cancel right away and then wait until the last minute to see if he can get a better deal. In that case, I think he would lose the insurance.

[SANDYJABS]

I booked my last 4 cruises (11/10,3/11,5/11,8/11), with ES rate-I did score an OBC of $40 but that was not from a price drop- I think my 3 day Sensation I got $60 (2 cabins) on ES rate but thats it. I watched the prices everyday up until 2 days before sailing. Nothing significant in 4 cruises. Just saying ;)

[Jules215]

I'm leaving Sat. on a cruise I booked just 14 days ago, but had been watching for some time...The cabin I ended up booking only kept going down, down, down until I pulled the switch...And in the last 2 weeks since I booked it's gone down another $160, so it worked for me and I only wish I'd waited another week to book!! :)

 

In fact almost every cruise I've ever taken has been booked within 8 weeks before sailing...( I don't like committing myself a year in advance). LOL And my experience has been that I usually have gotten a cheaper price than I originally looked at...And if I hadn't I'd just look at other dates/other lines/other itn.'s...I kind of plan our cruises around our budget at that given time.

 

I'm sure that it doesn't work that way in every case...And also if you're set on when/where you go it might not work either...I think it depends on your flexibility.

[discjoker]

I didn't buy the insurance so I wouldn't lose that or any $$$ since I would be cancelling before final payment.

 

And in regards to the air, it doesn't need to be factored because I am going to be traveling non-revenue (no restrictions, and I have priority over revenue passengers even if the flight is overbooked) so my air costs are fixed ($0). Fortunately I have this option or this plan might not work so well.

 

Thanks to everyone so far for the advice...I am weighing all options.