Price reductions -- When?

[royal65]

Normally I book cruises pretty far in advance, so I really haven't paid too much attention as to the timing of price reductions. For some time, I've been considering a 6/23 Norway cruise on the Ryndam, but haven't booked it yet. I'm ready to book, but will delay if there's a good chance of an imenient price reduction. As near as I can tell, there appears to still be pretty good cabin avaiability. For those of you familiar with these things, when would you epect a reduction be offered, if there will be one? thanx

[Crusing Bob]

You just missed a two week sale that ended last Sunday. I doubt anyone can predict another sale. I suspect the one that ended got a great turn of sales.

[sail7seas]

We have found on a number of our cruises, which we often book a year in advance, the price has gone up after we booked.

 

 

If the ship is not full, after final payment is usually when they have reductions in order to fill the ship. Of course, by then you only get what is left over and your category choice may be gone..... if you get a cabin at all.

[Krazy Kruizers]

It has been years since we have seen a drop in price in our cruises.

Our recent Maasdam cruise wasn't completely sold out -- and I imagine that HAL did have a sale -- the only cabins I knew that were left were the insides.

[Typhoon1]

With oil prices climbing, don't look for reductions. Expect prices to climb in the future.

 

Booking a year in advance may actually save you money.

[bozemanman]

With oil prices climbing, don't look for reductions. Expect prices to climb in the future.

 

Booking a year in advance may actually save you money.

 

 

A VERY good point!;)

[royal65]

For those who may be curious as to the answer to the question, my patient waiting was rewarded with a $300 per person price reduction. $600 off on the cabin was terrific, plus $200 in a promotional $200 OBC. I don't know how they determine if/when to reduce/increase prices, but they certainly do. Now, if only they don't decide to implement the fuel surcharge, which they are entitled to do. Thanx for the responses.

[Sea42]

We were just offered a $250 pp airfare credit for our Med. cruise in September. Unfortunately, you have to use HAL air to qualify. No choice of airline or flight times without paying a penalty. The price they were quoting (with the credit) for ORD to FCO was the same as I could get on my own so I won't be taking advantage of that offer.

However, it does indicate to me that these sailings are not selling as quickly as they'd like so I wouldn't be surprised to see a price reduction in the near future.

[PathfinderEss]

Normally I book cruises pretty far in advance, so I really haven't paid too much attention as to the timing of price reductions. For some time, I've been considering a 6/23 Norway cruise on the Ryndam, but haven't booked it yet. I'm ready to book, but will delay if there's a good chance of an imenient price reduction. As near as I can tell, there appears to still be pretty good cabin avaiability. For those of you familiar with these things, when would you epect a reduction be offered, if there will be one? thanx

I wouldn't count on it. I think with some 33 cruises with Hal we have seen two price reductions. We have booked a year out and as close as 2 months in, doesn't seem to matter much for us. It is what it is, as the saying goes.

[GeriatricNurse]

We have found on a number of our cruises, which we often book a year in advance, the price has gone up after we booked.

 

 

If the ship is not full, after final payment is usually when they have reductions in order to fill the ship. Of course, by then you only get what is left over and your category choice may be gone..... if you get a cabin at all.

 

It has been years since we have seen a drop in price in our cruises.

 

Our recent Maasdam cruise wasn't completely sold out -- and I imagine that HAL did have a sale -- the only cabins I knew that were left were the insides.

 

With oil prices climbing, don't look for reductions. Expect prices to climb in the future.

 

Booking a year in advance may actually save you money.

 

I received a price reduction, at/before final payment, of almost $600, on my interior stateroom for my upcoming Caribbean cruise! :);):D

[IkeEsq]

I have, by no means, the amount of cruise experience as many here. However, I read a lot and keep very detailed records of prices, and ask lots of questions. I have come to the following conclusions on pricing:

 

1. Everything depends on how things are selling.

2. Prices vary by Itinerary, Ship, Cruise, and Cabin type.

3. For itineraries that don't sell out, 60-45 days out seems to be when you can get good discounts.

4. You cannot predict sales with any reliability without putting in a lot of time studying.

5. If you are going to purchase before full payment, purchase as soon as possible and watch for price drops.

 

In December 2009, we did the Panama Canal on the Zuiderdam. There were ~5 identical (ship and itinerary) cruises before ours and one after. The ones over holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) were significantly more expensive from the start. I watched prices on every category of cabin on each of the seven cruises on a weekly basis from May through December. I was able to see a pattern and we purchased at the low point about 6 weeks before sailing.

 

We are going on the Eurodam in July and I have been again watching all of the similar Eurodam cruises since last July. A couple of weeks ago, I surmise as a result of lower bookings due to Concordia, fares dropped $400-600 pp across most of the cheaper (Inside-Verandah) categories. We booked and a week later prices went back to 'normal.' I continue to watch prices and if they drop before full payment, I'll call my TA. Note that the suites did not change at all in price and an inside cabin dropped 20%+.

 

You can't generalize when a sale will occur or what cabin categories it will affect. Usually, groups will book far in advance and as a result some cruises will start with higher prices because more cabins are already sold. HAL (and others) will run targetted sales, by state or country, for Mariners, for some subset that is not easily quantified, or for the general public. The first three months of the year (wave season) is when the mass of cruises are booked, so that affects prices. Sometimes there are sales around Black Friday and early December. If something like the Concordia occurs, it affects different segments differently. It is more pronounced in Europe where it occurred, more pronounced on Costa and perhaps generally more on Carnival lines. We are going on a European Cruise during the London Olympics. That may affect bookings. Unfortunately, we can only guess.

 

Ike

[kenevenpar]

There are deals to be had on all lines. Unfortunately, you need to be extremely flexible or more importantly, LUCKY (right place at the right time). The timing of the deals seems to be random, and as others have mentioned, there seems to be more increases than decreases.

 

Obviously the largest discounts are for slow selling cruises. So, in general the time of year is important. April, after spring break and Easter is usually good. June in carib, before school lets out is usually good. Late Aug/early Sept (right after school is back) is another. And one of the best is the two weeks before Christmas.

 

The problem is you have to wait to close-in before booking and in all liklihood, you will not get the exact cruise/ship you want. For example, I have never paid more than 1299 for SC, 999 for Sz(?), and have almost always received a teachers discount (DW). Granted it has been a couple of years and we had to go to X to get the great deals we wanted( $799 for a Sky Suite, 699 (RCI) for junior suite (later upgraded to Grand Suite by RCI)

 

So it seems logical (at least to me) that:

 

If you know what you want, book early and keep checking for price drops and only book if you will be happy with the cruise and price you paid if there are no reductions.

 

If you are like us, we cruise based on price more than exact itin and ship, and we have the flexibilty to make last minute plans (we have booked as short as 10 days out). We only look for HAL, =X=, and RCI in that order.

 

Sorry, I got rambling.:o

 

Ken

[styles27]

We booked our Bermuda cruise back in January for May and the price is now $200 more per person for the same category.

 

So we're feeling pretty good about our decision to book when we did.