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Anyone ever wait too long to book?


trex-de
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Hi,

I have been watching my future sailing in mock bookings online.  I have not done this historically.  The upgrade bid era on my last couple cruises has me thinking...

 

I am within final payment for more than a month and noticed the Sailaway rates have dropped like a rock. If you add perks, same high price. 

 

Though I like to plan, the Sailaway is now $1000 cheaper than my OV with UBP and 3D SDP. That is a number that makes me stop and think.  I am willing to sacrifice location choice for price. 

 

Has anyone waited too long for the best price for Sailaway and when ready to book, the cruise was sold out?

 

thanks

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Yeah information, algorithm,  website, etc...  Any usable data would be very benefiical to make this determination.  We have had it go all ways, to price drop, to price increase to sold out.  We just bought a cruise 5 days out (10 day new york inside room ($449) april 18 ncl gem, got back yesterday) a few hours later it was sold out, then we received an invitation to bid on a balcony of a sold out cruise.  Boy if some insider had info on how to project this, gee i might even pay for the app

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It can definitely happen both ways. It's important to keep an eye on inventory if you want to take the gamble. Right now I am holding off on booking a sailing on the Breakaway for September. There is TONS of inventory left and final payment is May 4th, so I am waiting to see if prices drop after final payment. I am not too concerned about missing out, since there is still so much inventory. But I am checking it daily to be certain.

 

Sail Away rates always drop ridiculously low in the final week or two if there is remaining inventory. However, non-Sail Aways can actually go up pretty significantly as inventory runs out.

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10 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

It can definitely happen both ways. It's important to keep an eye on inventory if you want to take the gamble. Right now I am holding off on booking a sailing on the Breakaway for September. There is TONS of inventory left and final payment is May 4th, so I am waiting to see if prices drop after final payment. I am not too concerned about missing out, since there is still so much inventory. But I am checking it daily to be certain.

 

Sail Away rates always drop ridiculously low in the final week or two if there is remaining inventory. However, non-Sail Aways can actually go up pretty significantly as inventory runs out.

helpful, thank you.  now if there was just an easy non time consuming way to check inventory

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6 hours ago, Newleno said:

Yeah information, algorithm,  website, etc...  Any usable data would be very benefiical to make this determination.  We have had it go all ways, to price drop, to price increase to sold out.  We just bought a cruise 5 days out (10 day new york inside room ($449) april 18 ncl gem, got back yesterday) a few hours later it was sold out, then we received an invitation to bid on a balcony of a sold out cruise.  Boy if some insider had info on how to project this, gee i might even pay for the app

You can have empty cabins on a sold out cruise.  Capacity is based upon number of seats on the life boats, so if you have a ship which has many multiple occupants in a room (like many family vacation cruises), you will have empty cabins that then are available for upgrades prior to sailing for NCL to squeeze that last nickel out.

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10 minutes ago, Surfsup2017 said:

You can have empty cabins on a sold out cruise.  Capacity is based upon number of seats on the life boats, so if you have a ship which has many multiple occupants in a room (like many family vacation cruises), you will have empty cabins that then are available for upgrades prior to sailing for NCL to squeeze that last nickel out.

 

We've never lost out on booking a cruise we wanted, because we tend to book early.  But we have lost out on adding someone to our cabin.   A couple of months before departure, we invited a friend to share our suite, only to find out about the above-mentioned life boat rule.  Couldn't add her because the life boat capacity for our 'quadrant' was full.  Same result even if we switched to another suite at another ship location...  Lesson learned, but a very disappointed friend.😢 

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12 hours ago, Newleno said:

Yeah information, algorithm,  website, etc...  Any usable data would be very benefiical to make this determination.  We have had it go all ways, to price drop, to price increase to sold out.  We just bought a cruise 5 days out (10 day new york inside room ($449) april 18 ncl gem, got back yesterday) a few hours later it was sold out, then we received an invitation to bid on a balcony of a sold out cruise.  Boy if some insider had info on how to project this, gee i might even pay for the app

It cost NCL very little to build a line of people willing to pay for an open balcony, thus the bidding invitation. Someone could still have an emergency or illness that causes a late cancellation. NCL has an option to sell the cabin.

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Our experience has been

If we would be disappointed, but not crushed, if we missed out on a cruise...  We'll wait until an acceptable price

If we'd be crushed by missing out on the cruise...  We'll determine what price for the value we are willing to pay...

 

We missed out on one for this past spring...  But we were OK w/ this

We have next spring already booked...

We are waiting on one now for this fall...

 

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11 hours ago, Nola26 said:

It cost NCL very little to build a line of people willing to pay for an open balcony, thus the bidding invitation. Someone could still have an emergency or illness that causes a late cancellation. NCL has an option to sell the cabin.

Yes we literally received the shore excursion tickets for the people that were suppose to be in our room,  We did not use the tickets but I am curious if we could have.

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