Anyone else watching Dream Jan 2016 Journey fares?

[GottaLuvCruising]

I sailed the Triumph 10 day Jan 2015. So many people on board were doing back-to-back! I'd really like to do the 21 day this coming January, but on the Dream since she still has a show band and no playlist.

 

I've been watching fares for months and actually held an inside guarantee on the 2nd leg @ $369. Because it would require airfare both ways, doing B2B is actually a far better choice for us. I wish now that I had confirmed that half and kept watching for the 1st leg.

 

When I booked Triumph Jan 2015 at the last minute (like 10 days before sailing), I got an excellent fare...but many folks on board actually paid less and told me they had booked in October. So I am watching, hoping to snag a deal. I check 2 or 3 times daily just in case...

 

Are others in the same boat? From past experience do you think the lowest fares have been offered or are they yet to come?

[mzloolue]

That is a good question.

 

I will be watching for more posts!

[GottaLuvCruising]

That is a good question.

 

I will be watching for more posts!

 

Are you thinking about the cruise?

 

If I have time this afternoon, I'm going to count all of the available inside staterooms. It's a PITA, but will give me an idea of how booked the two cruises are at this time.

[mzloolue]

We had to cancel our cruise last week because I got sick.

 

So, I'm kind of looking and waiting to get the money back from the insurance.

Yay insurance!

 

Anyway it looks like Jan or Feb will be our next opportunity.

[Sixtytwo]

I have been watching the Jan 3rd fares since we booked. They have gone up but have not gone back down! Been watching daily for several weeks. Still hoping for a little OBC but not going to be too upset if rates don't go down.

[GottaLuvCruising]

It appears that Carnival lists a maximum of 10 staterooms for each location (i.e. Vista deck forward.) Many locations have 10 staterooms available, but NONE show more than that. So I'm assuming that there are actually more inside staterooms available than the counts I found this morning.

 

January 3rd Dream (at least?) 128 inside staterooms available.

 

January 14th Dream (at least?) 160 inside staterooms available.

 

I'll continue watching Verizon rewards for Carnival gift cards and I'll keep checking Carnival.com for these cruises.

[GottaLuvCruising]

Also...we sailed the Carnival Liberty 1/24/15. We had booked 18 months ahead of time.

 

BUT I was sitting on Cocoa Beach the first week of October (time share week so I know when) and received an email notice to my cell phone of a 24 hour sale including our cruise. We rebooked for only $360pp.

 

Remembering that experience also encourages me to forge on, hoping to book both of these Dream Journeys at a great value.

Edited September 3, 2015 by GottaLuvCruising

[GottaLuvCruising]

January 3rd Dream (at least?) 128 inside staterooms available.

 

January 14th Dream (at least?) 160 inside staterooms available.

 

Exactly the same today...

[ready2cruzagain]

According to a certain website, think of fish, the Dream Jan 3rd cruise is 64% full. Probably why the price is not falling on that one. The Jan. 14th cruise is only 35% full.

 

I am not looking at the Dream but we are booked on the Glory in January of 2016. Hoping the prices will go down. The first leg, ES disappeared at 10 months out. Thinking it was because they put it as super saver and gave away free cruises on it (:mad: too bad for me who paid full price).

 

The second leg has gone down slightly. Hoping the cruises will fall in price. Seems as though the really good sales they are offering recently is Guarantee rooms and you have to give up ES and your room. I do not want to do that since have the same room for both legs.

Edited September 4, 2015 by ready2cruzagain

[GottaLuvCruising]

According to a certain website, think of fish, the Dream Jan 3rd cruise is 64% full. Probably why the price is not falling on that one. The Jan. 14th cruise is only 35% full.

 

Good tip! Thank you! I checked it out.

 

We are probably not interested unless we can do both legs as transportation is much less of an issue with the B2B.

 

 

Seems as though the really good sales they are offering recently is Guarantee rooms and you have to give up ES and your room. I do not want to do that since have the same room for both legs.

 

Carnival stacks the odds against the Early Saver by doing that. It's one of many reasons why Carnival is no longer our go-to cruise line.

[MCFTJCH2V]

I keep reading all over that Carnival is giving these cruises out for free. Are they not selling? Is there an issue? I'd hate to pay for one and find out im cruising with a lot of people that didn't, for whatever reason.

[ready2cruzagain]

I keep reading all over that Carnival is giving these cruises out for free. Are they not selling? Is there an issue? I'd hate to pay for one and find out im cruising with a lot of people that didn't, for whatever reason.

Yeah, it stinks! I am one of those paying full price. It does get under my skin when someone says, I just booked this cruise. Got it for free! They got better luck than me.

[GottaLuvCruising]

I understand the frustration at learning you paid a lot more than someone else. Carnival creates the problem with their pricing strategies and booking policies.

 

We'd like to do the B2B. We're retired, on a fixed income and don't have the budget for this additional cruise. We had pretty much written Carnival off (entertainment and new menus), but the Dream still has full production shows with show band, so we'd like to experience her before she is downgraded to playlist. If the price is right, we'll do it; if not, we won't.

 

To get what we want, I have to pay attention. I just read the roll calls for the Triumph Feb 2015 B2B (I was on the 2nd half only.) For both legs, the lowest fares were offered in Carnival's October "35 hour" sale. On one leg, the same low fare was repeated in November.

 

No guarantee of what will happen this time. The 1st leg has fewer staterooms available now than the 2nd leg does. We won't bother with just one of the cruises and will book only if we can get the B2B. I'll keep watching. If others are interested, I'll post info here.

[tallyho8]

It appears that Carnival lists a maximum of 10 staterooms for each location (i.e. Vista deck forward.) Many locations have 10 staterooms available, but NONE show more than that. So I'm assuming that there are actually more inside staterooms available than the counts I found this morning.

 

January 3rd Dream (at least?) 128 inside staterooms available.

January 14th Dream (at least?) 160 inside staterooms available.

 

I'm sorry to tell you but your count is wrong. You say there are 160 inside cabins available but many people have already booked an inside guarantee and have not been given a cabin yet. There could possibly be 159 people booked guarantee and only one cabin left.

 

There is no way to tell how many cabins are available when they book guarantee cabins.

 

When I first noticed the 1-14-16 cruise the insides were $679 and the balcony was $1059. When the balcony came down to $749 I booked it and later they had a 36 hour sale for $709 and I called up and got an $80 refund. Now the guarantee balcony is $699 but I am not going to change to guarantee and risk losing the good location I have just to save $20.

 

Carnival started out with high prices on these Journey cruises but have lowered most of them substantially. When a 10 or 11 day cruise is cheaper than a 7 day cruise Carnival may give them up in the future and go back to all 7 day cruises.

[GottaLuvCruising]

I'm sorry to tell you but your count is wrong. You say there are 160 inside cabins available but many people have already booked an inside guarantee and have not been given a cabin yet. There could possibly be 159 people booked guarantee and only one cabin left.

 

There is no way to tell how many cabins are available when they book guarantee cabins.

 

When I first noticed the 1-14-16 cruise the insides were $679 and the balcony was $1059. When the balcony came down to $749 I booked it and later they had a 36 hour sale for $709 and I called up and got an $80 refund. Now the guarantee balcony is $699 but I am not going to change to guarantee and risk losing the good location I have just to save $20.

 

Carnival started out with high prices on these Journey cruises but have lowered most of them substantially. When a 10 or 11 day cruise is cheaper than a 7 day cruise Carnival may give them up in the future and go back to all 7 day cruises.

 

You're right - I hadn't considered the guarantees that haven't been assigned. :(

 

I also expect Carnival may reconsider the "journey" cruises if they have to offer them dirt cheap. One website (no idea how accurate it is) indicates that 68% of cabins are still available on the 1/14 cruise, but only 36% on the 1/3 sailing.

 

Time will tell. We'll book them if we can get them both at a great deal (maybe $40pp/pd). The dates & itineraries make no difference to us, but we want a longer cruise on a non-playlist ship.

Edited September 5, 2015 by GottaLuvCruising

[coevan]

it appears all deck 11 and 12 balconies are sold out for 1/3

[tallyho8]

Months ago the 1-3 cruise was cheaper than the 1-14 cruise but just lately the 1-14 cruise got higher.

 

I contribute this to the San Sebastion Festival that starts the day, 1-14, that the Dream gets to San Juan. People on the 1-3 cruise can stay a few days in San Juan to enjoy the festival but people on the 1-14 cruise only get to enjoy it a few hours on Thursday.

 

I'm glad I'm flying in to San Juan on Wednesday because the Airport and traffic will be crazy Thursday for those coming and leaving.

[Beth C]

You're right - I hadn't considered the guarantees that haven't been assigned. :(

 

I also expect Carnival may reconsider the "journey" cruises if they have to offer them dirt cheap. One website (no idea how accurate it is) indicates that 68% of cabins are still available on the 1/14 cruise, but only 36% on the 1/3 sailing.

 

Time will tell. We'll book them if we can get them both at a great deal (maybe $40pp/pd). The dates & itineraries make no difference to us, but we want a longer cruise on a non-playlist ship.

 

If you're looking at the fish's categories % for these percentages above - this isn't the % of available cabins on the ship but the % of categories with cabins available.

 

For example say there's 4 categories (there's a lot more but for simplicity's sake) inside, OV, Balc, Suite. If all suites are booked then it'll show 75% available even if there is only one of each inside, OV and balcony left they will each still each count as each of the 25% of categories available. Theoretically it may could only be 1 inside cabin, 1 OV, 1 Balcony and no suites.

 

Also - as you stated there's a max # of cabins showing in each category... if there's 10 showing there could be 200 available but there also could be only 11.

 

Moral of the story - don't go by the % listed on the site... definitely not an accurate representation of cabin availability and that its a complete crap shoot on what's actually available LOL When you hit the sweet spot for pricing BOOK... never know what will happen :)

Edited September 9, 2015 by Beth C

[GottaLuvCruising]

If you're looking at the fish's categories % for these percentages above - this isn't the % of available cabins on the ship but the % of categories with cabins available.

 

For example say there's 4 categories (there's a lot more but for simplicity's sake) inside, OV, Balc, Suite. If all suites are booked then it'll show 75% available even if there is only one of each inside, OV and balcony left they will each still each count as each of the 25% of categories available. Theoretically it may could only be 1 inside cabin, 1 OV, 1 Balcony and no suites.

 

 

 

Good to know - Thanks! The % available for 1/3 changed from 36% to 34% on 9/8. For grins & giggles, I'll count to verify there really are 50 categories on the ship (how else would they have a change of 2%?)

 

I keep counting the number of staterooms that show up as the possible booking selection. At least it gives me an idea. We have a strong preference for the B2B, but if we can only do one way, it has to be the first leg as our transportation total ends up being much less.

 

Right now the 2nd leg presents a lowest inside fare as $439 but when you try to book it, fare comes up as $469. I regret not confirming my $369 hold I had on that leg...

[Funkat]

Color me blonde, but I'm not educated in the art of getting refunds or extra perks when you find a price lower than what you paid. How exactly does that work?

 

I have been watching the Dream 12/6/15 sailing. It has gone up since I started looking a few weeks ago. I thought that I may find a Labor Day sale but nothing there. I'm torn between waiting to see if it comes down or booking now. I also had decided to try the Cove Balcony and now don't see that listed?? Any thoughts from you more experienced negotiators?? Thanks.

[SIENA6334]

We booked the Jan. 14 Dream Journey cruise quite a few months ago - a cove balcony - and the price has dropped by $200. A balcony for $699 on a 10 day cruise is fabulous plus we have a $100 on board credit. We always fly in a day early since the mid-west weather is so unpredictable:).