Learned a valuable lesson about when to book

[Another ship trip]

Seems like the last 4 out of 5 cruises went down in price substantially after I booked. I don't ever book 5 months out for my cruises but typically book 1.5-4 months prior. The last two Carnival cruises I have booked (February 2012 and July 2012) dropped substantially after I booked and made final payment, but I am locked into the much higher price. I could get the same category room that I paid for less than 30 days ago for 460.00 less today. I have watched prices drop each week. This being peak sailing season with a new ship (Magic) in a port with very few ships (Galveston), I thought I needed to book when I did. But I see none of the trips in June or July (peak season) have sold out and prices have dropped.

 

I guess the lesson I have learned is: either book Early Saver to get the drops in price as they occur, (which I usually cannot do since that is too far out for me to book most of the time due to uncertainty of who can travel that far out), or wait until about 2 weeks from sailing to get the best prices. I knew the price I paid was hundreds inflated over what I was used to paying and wasn't happy about it, but now I am just shaking my head that the same cabin is now 460.00 less than what I paid a short time ago. I thought the higher prices were due to it being a new ship and highly popular. Apparently based on the number of rooms I still see available, there are still plenty of cabins left as the prices keep moving down every few days.

 

Princess, RCI, and often NCL always sell out so I book with enough time to ensure I get a room, but I see that Carnival must not fill up until much closer to sailing. Has anyone else had this experience?

[firefly333]

I think another lesson might be, new ships are not holding their prices. I saw this with Dream and now Magic .. that the prices were sky high early on .. but not enough demand to keep the prices high.

 

You could draw all kinds of conclusions if you watched prices like I do.

 

Not just a conclusion about prices in general .. but it seems to be true of new ships on Carnival the last two .. so I mentioned that to someone who booked ES with Breeze .. to watch for price drops.

[Ron_L]

so I mentioned that to someone who booked ES with Breeze .. to watch for price drops.

 

The December 8th sailing on the Breeze has gone up $260pp since we booked. Most of that increase has been since the inaugural cruise. I'd love to see it drop between now and December, but I doubt it.

[KPfromCT]

This is where I'm torn about booking PG, or ES for the Breeze next April. Just thinking that because the ship is BRAND NEW, it will be full, and I won't get any price drops. If I book PG, I get free upgrades. Grrrrrrrrr.....:rolleyes:

[nydney1]

Our Elation cruise in August has went up $139 per person. That is over a 30% increase over the price we booked at.

 

It looks like I booked during the sweet spot.

[golfadj]

Generally we find that Sept and winter cruises are cheapest.

 

However our next cruise on the Dream in Sept has seen prices go up and stay there and the ship is mostly sold out.

 

For Jan on the Valor they never came down either.

 

Last Sept on Miracle we did very well when prices dropped.

 

In other words who knows.

[firefly333]

In other words who knows.

 

Exactly .. I was just saying I have seen a lot of posts with big OBC on the newest class of ships .. but of course its all luck. .. and if we knew prices would go up or down.. then we would book different. My crazy 8 ball is a little fuzzy right now.

[Another ship trip]

Our Elation cruise in August has went up $139 per person. That is over a 30% increase over the price we booked at.

 

It looks like I booked during the sweet spot.

 

Kinda like gambling, isn't it?

[needabreakcanada]

In my case my TA didn't know what rate we booked - so when the price drops came she kept calling in to see if I qualified.

 

After final payment was when it became evident that I was not booked early saver.

 

I remember asking her a month before final payment and never got an answer. Imagine my frustration when I was shopping sale prices to try and upgrade and found out I could not.

 

Never again - In future I will book myself and do ES

[gone_cruisin]

When I booked our November Dream cruise 5 months ago, I contemplated ES. However, after thought, I realized I'm booking an 8N (aft view) and there were very few cabins. I knew once they sold out, there would be no price drops. I also don't like the restrictions. So I booked PG, and the price only went up. Two months ago, all 8N's were sold out. So we made the right decision.

[golfadj]

In my case my TA didn't know what rate we booked - so when the price drops came she kept calling in to see if I qualified.

 

After final payment was when it became evident that I was not booked early saver.

 

I remember asking her a month before final payment and never got an answer. Imagine my frustration when I was shopping sale prices to try and upgrade and found out I could not.

 

Never again - In future I will book myself and do ES

 

Or a TA that understands what they are doing.

[halos]

Seems like the last 4 out of 5 cruises went down in price substantially after I booked. I don't ever book 5 months out for my cruises but typically book 1.5-4 months prior. The last two Carnival cruises I have booked (February 2012 and July 2012) dropped substantially after I booked and made final payment, but I am locked into the much higher price. I could get the same category room that I paid for less than 30 days ago for 460.00 less today. I have watched prices drop each week. This being peak sailing season with a new ship (Magic) in a port with very few ships (Galveston), I thought I needed to book when I did. But I see none of the trips in June or July (peak season) have sold out and prices have dropped.

 

I guess the lesson I have learned is: either book Early Saver to get the drops in price as they occur, (which I usually cannot do since that is too far out for me to book most of the time due to uncertainty of who can travel that far out), or wait until about 2 weeks from sailing to get the best prices. I knew the price I paid was hundreds inflated over what I was used to paying and wasn't happy about it, but now I am just shaking my head that the same cabin is now 460.00 less than what I paid a short time ago. I thought the higher prices were due to it being a new ship and highly popular. Apparently based on the number of rooms I still see available, there are still plenty of cabins left as the prices keep moving down every few days.

 

Princess, RCI, and often NCL always sell out so I book with enough time to ensure I get a room, but I see that Carnival must not fill up until much closer to sailing. Has anyone else had this experience?

 

When it comes to booking, timing is definitely everything. I booked a cruise to Bermuda very far out and got a great rate. My BIL/SIL wouldn't commit that far out...finally when they decided they could go, the prices had skyrocketed and I doubt they will go down at this point because the ship is selling well....so they paid a lot more than they would have.

 

I told them next time just book the dang thing when the price is right and if you have to cancel, just eat the $50 fee...its worth the gamble. The price of our suite is up more than $800 since we booked.

[CRUISE4JANE]

I booked last July for this July and had 7 price drops. Since the price drop during Memorial Sale, the price for a balcony has gone up.

So you can't say that the prices will go down later. Now there are no balconies left.

[dljones]

I think the best thing is to book ES if you can. If other parties can't agree then it is their loss. Book with what you know at the time. My two cents worth....:)

[cccer]

We booked our July Magic cruise back in January and have seen no price drops at all. We have a Lido balcony and they were sold out a month ago. It may also depend on location and type of room.

[SavFam06]

We booked early saver for our spring break cruise. Of course price drops will be nice, but really doubt it. Would be ok for the price Togo up and to know we got a better deal.

[lbow2006]

So far the price of our room for our September cruise has gone up $270 between the two of us. I'm hoping as we are just coming to final payment in the next day or so that I may see some price drops soon, but I honestly have no idea. I do know that there are a minimum of 20 cabins still available in our category though so I keep checking several times a day.

 

I can understand the frustration though when you're booked at a rate and see prices go down and you're not eligible for a price reduction. We were lucky to know our plans were highly unlikely to change so we felt comfortable booking ES.

[popsec]

We booked our Sept 11 Miracle cruise at a great rate and the price went down twice in the 2 weeks after we booked so we saved $200!....and still got what we thought was a sweet deal initially.

[9876]

Kinda like gambling, isn't it?

 

Exactly...at least after final payment.

[Kilnwood]

I think the best thing is to book ES if you can. If other parties can't agree then it is their loss. Book with what you know at the time. My two cents worth....:)

 

BBM

 

Agree and would only add that you may want to sign up on

cruise fish dot net to monitor the price(s).

 

HAPPY CRUISING!