Ever wait till final payment over to book a cruise??

[Sea and Me]

I realize the choice of cabins would not be great however, did anyone wait until the final payment for a cruise was over and then book?? Just wondering!

 

Thanks for your posts.

[Waynetor]

This common for people that can't book vacation time too far ahead. Also popular for those looking for discounts and not too fussy about destination or cabin selection and are flexible on timing.

 

Depending on how sales are going, sometimes with low availability prices will be higher while other times with lots of inventory there will be discounts.

 

We have done it many times with no issues.

[XBGuy]

I can't say that I've done that intentionally, but more than once I have booked a cruise and, in order to secure my booking, have been required to pay the entire fare. A year ago I booked a cruise 30 days before sailing. A few years ago I booked one 45 prior to sailing. Both times we just decided that we wanted to go on a cruise. No big deal. All cabins have the same itinerary.

[thinfool]

Do a search for Pack 'n Go, Princess cruises, to see why many book after FP.

 

I am retired, so I can do anything, anytime, and go anywhere....our South America trip last December was done (HAL) at 'fill the ship' rates. Wonderful! :cool:

[MrMan]

As a consultant I typically book about a week before the cruise

 

 

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[easyboy]

Previously booked after final payment and got a good price Last Minute Cruise deals.

 

 

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[paf910]

I booked a guarantee balcony 1 week before the cruise and ended up being upgraded to mini suite for 550 pp for 7 day cruise. WHAT A DEAL!

 

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[AE_Collector]

With 33 Princess cruises behind us I may have booked about 3 of them prior to final payment date and those 3 were booked maybe 90-120 days before boarding. The other 30 cruises have all been booked within final payment time. Our shortest wait from booking to boarding so far is 19 days.

 

AE_Collector

[Jasperdo]

I do it all the time now that I'm retired. All of our recent cruises have cost between $50 and $60 per person, per day, because I can book last minute.

[A&Jfamily]

For those of you that do this, how do you deal with airfare? I am assuming you pay a premium booking 30 days or less as the rates seem to get more expensive inside of 12 weeks or so....

 

 

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[thinfool]

For those of you that do this, how do you deal with airfare? I am assuming you pay a premium booking 30 days or less as the rates seem to get more expensive inside of 12 weeks or so....

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Final payment is 90 and in some cases, 120 days before sailing. There is also cruise line air which can be very attractive. And booking with airmiles can also be an effective work around to close-in airfare.

[A&Jfamily]

Final payment is 90 and in some cases, 120 days before sailing. There is also cruise line air which can be very attractive. And booking with airmiles can also be an effective work around to close-in airfare.

 

 

Thanks. Right now last minute trips are impossible; work requires us both to plan things 6 months or more in advance. But someday we look forward to pack n go!

 

 

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[Thrak]

We had a cruise booked. Someone on our roll call noticed a large price reductions so we refared and saved over $600. There were folks on our cruise who booked after final payment and they paid way less than we did even after we had saved $600. It can be great. My problem is that I keep booking way in advance because we want specific cruises. One of these days we will just not care and then we'll book at the last minute.

[Tatka]

Not with Princess, but we decided to book a cruise after final payment date, even later... but one day (a month before cruise) all cabins in all categories became unavailable. We thought it was an error, but we were wrong. They were unavailable the rest of the time.

We were able to get one inside cabin thru one agent, but it wasn't trivial.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We sometimes do this, but only if it is a great deal and if we can get air for a reasosnable price/miles.

 

We usually book 3-4 months out, but are flexible if we find a bargain.

[Meanee]

I just book when I have an idea that I want to go for vacation and approximately when I will be available. Sometimes it's within 30 days. Sometimes it's 2-3 months out. I never really cared about the whole concept of deposits, final payments, etc. If I see a cruise I like, I just book and pay for it.

[casofilia]

We book as early as possible to ensure we get on cruises we want. Then I keep my eye open for price drops. The main reason is that we have to arrange air fares from New Zealand and last minute ones to the Northern hemisphere can be abominable as can last minute hotel costs.

[Shmoo here]

I realize the choice of cabins would not be great however, did anyone wait until the final payment for a cruise was over and then book?? Just wondering!

 

Thanks for your posts.

We once booked a cruise on a Thursday night that departed on Sunday.

 

We've also booked three cruises 2 months out, and two cruises 3 months out.

[VibeGuy]

I've booked under 72 hours such that I had to call in. Aside from one error fare booked two years and change from departure we have never booked before final payment date in 40+ Princess cruises. We just don't know what our clients are going to be up to 30 days from now, let alone 100.

[justafem]

I booked a cruise 2 weeks before departure. Same itinerary as the one we had taken 3 weeks before. I just like being on a ship!

[kate59]

We often do it, if I see the right cruise at right price I book. Not all last minute cruises are cheap thought. Our one in 3 weeks only has Inside cabins left and the price is almost double what I paid 2 months ago.

[knbcruisers]

I wish we could, living in FL means no airfare worries. But we don't have flexible vacation schedules.Anything more than a 3-4 day weekend is scheduled way in advance. Still trying to work in a last minute 3 or4 day on RCL or Carnival next year just to try them out(if the price were right)......or one of the new Cuba itineraries.

 

 

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[Jasperdo]

For those of you that do this, how do you deal with airfare? I am assuming you pay a premium booking 30 days or less as the rates seem to get more expensive inside of 12 weeks or so....

We live on the West Coast and look for deals that leave from there. Then we just drive to the port. The one time we did need airfare was when we found a terrific price on a 15 day Panama Canal cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles. We just needed to get a one way flight to Florida and cruised back to the car. And we lucked out and got a decent price on the airfare, too.