When is it too late to book a cruise?

[bernie5]

Let's say you live in a port city so travel is not an issue, when is the most last minute anyone has booked a cruise?

From the HAL website it looks like one could book a cabin for cruises that depart in two days.

That would be so fun! just pack and go somewhere!

[InTheWASide]

Let's say you live in a port city so travel is not an issue, when is the most last minute anyone has booked a cruise?

From the HAL website it looks like one could book a cabin for cruises that depart in two days.

That would be so fun! just pack and go somewhere!

 

I talked to someone onboard once that said they lived in Boston literally across the street from the pier and had called before first thing in the morning to see if there was space left. Already had his suitcase ready and on more than one occasion booked and paid, then grabbed his bag, locked up and walked across to board the ship.

 

So you can actually do same day

[serendipity1499]

In the spring of 2008 I fell & sprained two ankles..DH felt so sorry for me, that he suggested we take a trip to Alaska in August...He never wanted to go to Alaska before..I hobbled to the phone & booked us to Alaska on HAL..We had a wonderful 16 day land/sea tour..

 

In the meantime, our good Friends were booked on the Maasdam departing Nov. 21 to the Carib...

 

Several weeks after our Aug. Alaska land/sea trip on HAL, I had a ruptured Appendix & ended up having an emergency operation at one a.m. in the morning.. In the Hospital for almost a week..Our Friends convinced DH that I needed a cruise to fully recuperate & DH agreed..:D

 

But the ship was full! :( On Oct. 31, our TA Waitlisted us for an outside cabin on the same cruise with our Friends & we put down a deposit.. On Nov. 14 one week before departure a cabin was confirmed & we paid in full.. We were able to get one of the last outside cabins in the bow of the ship.. Fortunately we can drive to the port..

 

That was a fabulous cruise, as I normally make Thanksgiving dinner & that year we had it on board the beautiful Maasdam..:):)

 

We usually book a few months to a year before departure..

Edited July 9, 2015 by serendipity1499

[InTheWASide]

And the Alaska trip we took in 2012 on Westerdam was one where we booked ourselves the afternoon before departure day. We would never personally push it that close again (getting everything set up at home and with dog boarding on that short of notice was a bit too much stress... but it's absolutely possible

[cruisemama5]

My husband came home from work on a Friday and said he needed to take the next week off work. We looked for a cruise and found one leaving out of San Diego the next afternoon. Called and booked it, packed and left all within about a two hour period and drove through the night to California for the cruise. It was quite fun to do it that fast.

[YubaSutter]

Haven't booked late on HAL. When I lived in a port city, I would call Carnival at 10 am and be onboard at 2 pm the same day. Mostly 3-4 day cruises. Worked approximately 25% of the time.

[MaisonRose]

Haven't booked late on HAL. When I lived in a port city, I would call Carnival at 10 am and be onboard at 2 pm the same day. Mostly 3-4 day cruises. Worked approximately 25% of the time.

 

Wondering...did these late bookers get a better deal on the Fare?

 

When does a late booking deal disappear?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Maybe show up at the pier 60 minutes before the ship sails???

Doubt if you would get a good price on whatever cabin is left.

[InTheWASide]

You'll get access to whatever the promos are on the sailing at the time... those last minute Flash deals may be there, but there's not some crazy rock bottom never advertised thank god it won't go empty rate... :)

 

And KK, maritime law says it has to be at least 90 minutes prior... but the pier likely wouldn't be equipped to do it. Would still have to call HAL to book...

[serendipity1499]

Wondering...did these late bookers get a better deal on the Fare?

 

When does a late booking deal disappear?

 

Who really knows.. We don't have crystal balls..

 

When you book a last minute cabin on an almost full ship, you probably will pay the rack rate..If the ship is wide open then you may get a less expensive rate.. IMO Rack rates have not increased much, except for some of the higher end cabins, since we started cruising once or twice a year since the late 90's..

 

HAL has a sale going on now & we just booked a VD cabin on the Eurodam, for November..The rate is very close to what our OV cabins usually are.. On some of the longer cruises on the Prinsendam the rates have increased..

Edited July 9, 2015 by serendipity1499

[PoppyandNana]

Wondering...did these late bookers get a better deal on the Fare?

 

When does a late booking deal disappear?

 

Not any more. Passenger manifests have to,ne submitted to the Dept. of Homeland Security 72 hours prior to sailing.

Edited July 9, 2015 by PoppyandNana

[PoppyandNana]

You'll get access to whatever the promos are on the sailing at the time... those last minute Flash deals may be there, but there's not some crazy rock bottom never advertised thank god it won't go empty rate... :)

 

And KK, maritime law says it has to be at least 90 minutes prior... but the pier likely wouldn't be equipped to do it. Would still have to call HAL to book...[/quote

 

THE manifest has to be submitted to the DHS 72 hours prior to sailing.

[PoppyandNana]

You'll get access to whatever the promos are on the sailing at the time... those last minute Flash deals may be there, but there's not some crazy rock bottom never advertised thank god it won't go empty rate... :)

 

And KK, maritime law says it has to be at least 90 minutes prior... but the pier likely wouldn't be equipped to do it. Would still have to call HAL to book...

 

It's 72 hours not 90 minutes. The passenger manifest has to be submitted to the DHS no later than 72 hours prior to sailing.

[trophy_23]

When I made a recent inquiry I was told I can book up to 48 hours out assuming there was space left. This was from an online broker.

[Scrapnana]

I played trivia with a woman on the Westerdam who had booked the night before. She said she had booked on-line after 5 pm for about $100 for the 1 night Vancouver to Seattle segment.

[serendipity1499]

Not any more. Passenger manifests have to,ne submitted to the Dept. of Homeland Security 72 hours prior to sailing.

 

Sorry, but this is incorrect!

 

Many Posters are under that erroneous impression.. There is no rule stating Psgrs must be booked 72 hrs before departure..It depends on the Cruise Line & the Ship..

 

Check out the Federal Register: http://www.access-board.gov/eth/establish.pdf

dated Aug 23, 2007 Vol. 72 No 163..Column 1 Pg 2 states:

 

Quote:

 

For sea travel, CBP (Customs & Border Protection) will require vessel carriers to transmit passenger and crew manifests for vessels departing from the United States no later than 60 minutes prior to departure. For vessels departing from foreign ports destined to arrive at a U.S. port, CBP is retaining the current requirement to transmit passenger and crew arrival manifest data at least 24 hours and up to 96 hours prior to the vessel’s entry at the U.S. port of arrival.

 

DATES: Effective Date: February 19, 2008

 

Unquote

 

If you live near a port & want a last minute cruise this is the way to do it.. There have been many cruisers who live in Florida & have gotten last minute cruises by calling the Cruise Line on day of departure...Every Company has it's own rules, so don't be afraid to call each cruise line & ask to speak to a Supervisor about last minute bookings..

 

The URL for the Federal Register is: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2007/08/23/E7-15985/advance-electronic-transmission-of-passenger-and-crew-member-manifests-for-commercial-aircraft-and

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Scroll down the page to the summary section../FONT]

Edited July 10, 2015 by serendipity1499

[Khaos WolfKat]

I'm pretty sure you can't book after sailing. ;)

[PoppyandNana]

Sorry, but this is incorrect!

 

Many Posters are under that erroneous impression.. There is no rule stating Psgrs must be booked 72 hrs before departure..It depends on the Cruise Line & the Ship..

 

Check out the Federal Register: http://www.access-board.gov/eth/establish.pdf

dated Aug 23, 2007 Vol. 72 No 163..Column 1 Pg 2 states:

 

Quote:

 

For sea travel, CBP (Customs & Border Protection) will require vessel carriers to transmit passenger and crew manifests for vessels departing from the United States no later than 60 minutes prior to departure. For vessels departing from foreign ports destined to arrive at a U.S. port, CBP is retaining the current requirement to transmit passenger and crew arrival manifest data at least 24 hours and up to 96 hours prior to the vessel’s entry at the U.S. port of arrival.

 

DATES: Effective Date: February 19, 2008

 

Unquote

 

If you live near a port & want a last minute cruise this is the way to do it.. There have been many cruisers who live in Florida & have gotten last minute cruises by calling the Cruise Line on day of departure...Every Company has it's own rules, so don't be afraid to call each cruise line & ask to speak to a Supervisor about last minute bookings..

 

The URL for the Federal Register is: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2007/08/23/E7-15985/advance-electronic-transmission-of-passenger-and-crew-member-manifests-for-commercial-aircraft-and

[

 

Scroll down the page to the summary section../FONT]

 

First of all the submission of passenger manifests is not cruise line specific. "Every company has its own rules" is only partially correct. Submitting manifests to DHS must be done within 60 minutes of sailing. This is a DHS rule not a cruise line.

 

However, every cruise line does have their own rules on when their online checkin must be done. Most are three days.

[Jeal]

Last winter we booked a Caribbean cruise on Hal less than 24 hours prior to it leaving. We were in our car heading home to Florida from Atlanta. I was fooling around on my phone and saw a great rate for a 14 day cruise. We didn't think Hal would let us book so late but they did. It did take us a little while to check in at the port because our names were not on the regular list and a supervisor had to be called.

[serendipity1499]

First of all the submission of passenger manifests is not cruise line specific. "Every company has its own rules" is only partially correct. Submitting manifests to DHS must be done within 60 minutes of sailing. This is a DHS rule not a cruise line.

 

However, every cruise line does have their own rules on when their online checkin must be done. Most are three days.

 

That is true.. It is a DHS ruling & that is exactly what I said in my post! Your post stated, all lines must submit their manifests 72 hours before departure & I said that is not true.. They must submit their Manifests to the CBP 60 minutes before departure. & must submit their INCOMING Manifests 72 hrs. before departure to CBP (a branch of the DHS) ..

 

There have been many instances where HAL has permitted Psgrs to book at the last minute.. See post 19 in this thread..

[iancal]

We booked six days out on a Caribbean cruise. Saw the advertised prices and decided to go. It was considerably less expensive than the land based property where we had planned to stay for a week.

 

When we called our TA to book (two days after noticing the reduced fare), the price had actually been reduced even further from what we expected. Plus we ended up with a great high category balcony cabin on our balcony gty fare. The previously assigned occupant probably got a suite upgrade.

 

We are always just happy to get on the right ship, with the right itinerary, at the right price.

 

We were once told that the minimum was 48 hours prior to sailing. BUT, I met someone on a cruise who claimed they had booked the night before embarkation. Perhaps this depends on the itinerary. You can certainly book flights within an hour of departure so why not cruises? I would suspect that they have similar reporting requirements.

Edited July 10, 2015 by iancal

[RuthC]

 

Your post stated, all lines must submit their manifests 72 hours before departure & I said that is not true...

And you are right on this one.

Besides that, there is no requirement (at least on HAL) to do an on-line check in. However, if you don't check in on line, you must check in in person in time for the passenger list to be sent to the government (US departures).

[Jeal]

Besides that, there is no requirement (at least on HAL) to do an on-line check in. However, if you don't check in on line, you must check in in person in time for the passenger list to be sent to the government (US departures).[/color][/size][/

 

That is what happened with us - we had to check in in person at the pier. Except for check in taking longer than normal there were no problems with booking the day before and we got an incredible deal.

[YubaSutter]

It's 72 hours not 90 minutes. The passenger manifest has to be submitted to the DHS no later than 72 hours prior to sailing.

 

It's actually 60 minutes. :rolleyes:

[FredT]

Fact. (Not third hand "I heard it somewhere" )

 

 

On a new years eve 2013 RCCL cruise to Couzmel we added 2 passengers (and one stateroom) to our group at 9pm the night before departure. Price was good (but not great) No issue except longer check in time.