Book airfare months out and wait for last minute cruise deal?

[nets33]

As we all know cruise ships like to sail full and rates for many cruises seem to drop dramatically a few weeks before sailings. DH and I have been debating the following vacation scenario:

 

- Plan to go on a cruise on a specific week (for this example I'll use November 1, 2014) from the FLL/MIA area

- Book airfare a few months in advance to fly into FLL or MIA the Friday before the cruise week and the Sunday after the cruise week to get the best rate on flights

- Wait until a few weeks before the cruise to get the last minute sale rate on a cruise leaving from MIA or FLL (leaving Saturday November 1 or Sunday November 2)

 

We're not picky on what room we have on a ship and enjoy most ports that we've stopped in. With so many cruises leaving out of MIA and FLL we'd have a lot of choices.

 

Has anyone planned a cruise vacation like this? Would you?

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Also thinking about a last minute strategy but with no air involved!:) Especially off season!;)

[roger001]

Just doesn't work for us. We're picky about which ship, cruise, cabin....all of which might not be available if we wait. Also, price drops are not guaranteed. In fact, it seems price increases are more common. To me, the only way that can work, or would work for us, would be if we lived just a short distance from a port and could drive on very short notice.

[RJ2002]

We would not do this, but I guess it might work for others.

 

Something to consider... unless you are flying on Southwest, the hefty changes fees you might potentially incur might negate any last minute booking savings. Also, if your airline timing is off by a day or two, you might have an extra hotel night to pay for.

[polySeraph]

We do a variant of this every year except that, being FL residents, we don't need airfare. DH schedules vacation for the week after Thanksgiving and then about 6 weeks before embarkation, we start watching cruise fares for 3 or 4 itineraries. When we actually book varies from year to year, but usually it's 3-4 weeks out. Our Plan B (in case cruise fares remain high) is to spend a few days at Disney World.

[kpytoi9]

Worst case scenario is you spend a week in Miami. I would book a hotel for the week with a cancellation policy just in case.

[Oldgoat61]

This sounds like a very interesting way to approach a cruise. We waited until about a month and a half from embarkation before we booked the cruise we wanted....not the best of choices as far as cabins (we got what we wanted), but if you don't mind, that is a good idea.

Depending on the demand, good prices can be had! And you will have an abundance of choices with all of the ships available.:D

[jdvmd]

We've done the same thing. Definitely can work if you are flexible.

[mrobstad]

As we all know cruise ships like to sail full and rates for many cruises seem to drop dramatically a few weeks before sailings. DH and I have been debating the following vacation scenario:

 

- Plan to go on a cruise on a specific week (for this example I'll use November 1, 2014) from the FLL/MIA area

- Book airfare a few months in advance to fly into FLL or MIA the Friday before the cruise week and the Sunday after the cruise week to get the best rate on flights

- Wait until a few weeks before the cruise to get the last minute sale rate on a cruise leaving from MIA or FLL (leaving Saturday November 1 or Sunday November 2)

 

We're not picky on what room we have on a ship and enjoy most ports that we've stopped in. With so many cruises leaving out of MIA and FLL we'd have a lot of choices.

 

Has anyone planned a cruise vacation like this? Would you?

 

I'm going to give this some serious thought....

I'm an educator and must cruise during school (peak) breaks. My Feb cruise, I booked choice air and just saw on my itinerary, I leave New Orleans at 6:05 pm! Ugh! For my Easter cruise, airfare was sold out thru cruise line. I had to book Spirit (ugh again) into FLL instead of MIA, and I'm out of NYC so loads to choose from....at a very high price!

I will def think about your idea....

[April29]

Yes, I had my eye on a cruise for Sep 2013.

 

I booked the flights in June when they went on sale.

 

Then I booked the cruise on July 12...8 weeks out.

 

But if I had waited until July 25...they had a balcony gty sale

 

Then I checked every week & the best price was 2 weeks out.

[tel2]

We did it in 2012 for our Alaska cruise, but didnt quite wait til last minute - we booked about 3 weeks out. We are from PA, and wanted to leave out of Seattle where my husband's children lived. So we picked a week, scheduled airfare for the Friday before and scheduled return on Monday after almost a year in advance and got terrific prices on flights, but didnt book cruise til about 3 weeks out - after final payment dates. We wanted one of two NCL cruises leaving from either Seattle or Vancouver (easy train ride from Seattle) and we wanted a balcony, mini-suite or suite. So I signed up for one of those alert services that tell me when prices on each catecory dropped, and as we passed the final payment date I started checking every day to make sure categories werent compeltely selling out, and we caught a 400. price drop on a suite about 3 weeks out, which also gave us a big chunk of on-board credit. We paid less for the suite for both of us than the original price listed per person.... So if you can orchestrate it, it can be worth it.

 

Terry

[Da-Painter]

We did a Med cruise last year, about a month out, I was watching for any drop on remaining suite prices, when another cruise ship leaving from the same port, around the same time, cancelled their sailing. All remaining cabins on our ship sold out immediately, as folks from the other cruise line booked what they could. The cruise line was not about to discount any prices.

Sure, your idea can work, but it could back fire big time.

Have you considered booking 1-2 years out, we find very competitive prices, and get the cabins and locations we want. Especially suites with a $300 obc booked 9 or more months out.

If your schedule is flexible, see when the lowest prices for the sailing dates are, and try to coincide with the low prices for the airfares. Holidays/main vacation periods are always going to be higher, and fully booked. We try to travel during the off season, lower prices, and less people traveling.

Good luck. ;)

[HowardK]

I think if you are flexible and have fallback plans (perhaps even another cruise line) it is a good idea.I could be wrong, but it seems November 1st would not have crowded ships.

However, I found when doing my Miami flight 3 years ago for mid December that around 2-3 months out was the optimal time.

 

Although I am not flying, I actually reserved the week of October 19th off to try for a last minute Breakaway deal (vs. booking Getaway and flight sometime in advance)

 

I might actually just put a hold on the breakaway to get the $100 OBC and then determine if I should keep it or make an adjustment/rebooking later

[Planmaam]

Glad you brought this up; I've thought of doing this for a September Alaskan cruise. Plan a trip to Seattle, wait for prices to drop. Again, Southwest for the flights, as they don't penalize for changes, just the difference is fare.

 

We'd be happy to continue a vacation there if for some reason a cruise slips through our fingers, but I figure last-minute rates are cheaper than staying in a hotel for a week and meals for the two of us!

 

Besides, this is all in an effort to be Platinum before our next scheduled cruise! ;) Only need 6 points.

Edited February 1, 2014 by planma'am

[gardiner41]

very interesting..I just did this tonight.

Booked our flights for a Bahamas weekend getaway and am planning to watch and see when prices drop for that weekend.

We fly in the Day before and will either stay with friends or book a hotel through hotwire

 

The same cruise is selling for half for a month out right now so I am hoping in a couple of weeks same will happen for the weekend we want.

[nets33]

Glad to hear we're not the only ones thinking of this option.

 

We usually book 1 year to 9 months in advance but for some of our recent cruises we've seen significant drops in prices after final payment. As others have noted their are some risks like not being able to find a cruise or having to pay for extra nights hotel before/after the cruise.

 

Ideally we'd love to be in a cruise port to take advantage of last minute sails at any time but until we retire that doesn't look like an option!

 

Keep the comments coming, I'd love to hear more success stories.

[xcell]

I dont see why not

 

But as someone has already mentioned - as long as you dont mind spending a week in Miami then shouldn't be an issue.

 

Also I would think you would be looking at cruise prices a lot to see if you are indeed getting a good deal as some sales are quick. For instance, I am going out of NYC this March and booked beyond final payment. I thought I was getting a good deal (got a great deal on the flight) but within a month's time it dropped $500. Then within 3 days of that it dropped another $500. But then 3 days later went right back up again.

 

It's totally doable...any case, plane tickets are written in stone (and in canada, they don't change much) so booking it first wouldn't be an issue.