Book now? Or wait until Nov?

[sue117]

We will be going on a HAL cruise in Nov (over Thanksgiving). We are looking at doing the Celtic Cruise in 2013 on the Prinsendam (June 2013).

 

Question is...should I go ahead and book it now, or wait until we are on board and do the "future cruise" thing?

 

I suppose I know some of the "pros", but need all of your expertise help!

 

Waiting to book on our cruise in Nov:

-Smaller deposit

 

Booking Now

-Be sure that we get the room we want (as there are less spaces on the ship and we will probably do an outside guarantee)

-Bigger deposit, but more time to pay the cruise off before it starts

 

Any other pros/cons that we need to consider for either option?

 

Thanks everyone! :)

[sail7seas]

Prices are likely to go up IMO

We have found a number of our cruises are priced higher than what we paid when we booked earlier.

 

Maybe that depends upon cabin category one chooses.........I don't know if that makes a difference?

[sue117]

True...and if the prices go down I can always call and get the reduced price, but I can only do that if we're already booked! :)

 

So that's another reason to do it now....

hummmmmmmmm

[sail7seas]

You also have a better selection of cabins available. The later you book the fewer vacant cabins.

[wdw1972]

Sail brings up the only really meaningful reason to book now. A smaller deposit doesn't mean anything because you're still paying the same total amount. Paying less now and more later isn't a "pro" to me.

 

Since you plan to book a guarantee anyway, that's not a reason to rush to book. Having more time to pay it off doesn't make sense....if you know you're cruising, set aside "so much" each month starting now so you've got it covered by the time of the cruise (nothing to do with when you actually book).

 

The biggest variable out there is price, and with the Prinsendam being a smaller ship there's less chance they'll need to discount deeply to fill the ship. If you book now you can adjust your fare down if it drops, but if you book in Nov & the price is higher then you're stuck <g>. Not knowing what your "booking onboard" credit would be, I guess if you're certain the price won't go up by more than that between now & Nov you could wait, but most likely it's a smarter move to just book now. Good luck, and have a great cruise!

 

Sue/WDW1972

Noordam 11/16/12

Ryndam 3/3/13

[andeesue]

You've gotten good advice already and seems like you know the score.

The Prinsendam is so much smaller than other HAL ships. Best to book now and keep your eye on prices. You have a long time until final payment.

[sapper1]

We will be going on a HAL cruise in Nov (over Thanksgiving). We are looking at doing the Celtic Cruise in 2013 on the Prinsendam (June 2013).

 

Question is...should I go ahead and book it now, or wait until we are on board and do the "future cruise" thing?

 

I suppose I know some of the "pros", but need all of your expertise help!

 

Waiting to book on our cruise in Nov:

-Smaller deposit

 

Booking Now

-Be sure that we get the room we want (as there are less spaces on the ship and we will probably do an outside guarantee)

-Bigger deposit, but more time to pay the cruise off before it starts

 

Any other pros/cons that we need to consider for either option?

 

Thanks everyone! :)

It sounds as though we are on the cruise prior to the one you are considering and we booked about a week ago simply because it is a unique cruise and the ship is relatively small, so we were thinking that in order to get the category we wanted, we had better strike now. Granted, we used FCC's and were not faced with a large deposit right before this year's cruise. There is already an active roll call going on this cruise.

If the ship were larger I would advise you to wait until November but the Prinsendam seems to have quite a devoted following and you may be disappointed in your available cabin choice by then.