Are you booking any future Carnival Cruises now simply due to inflation and higher future cruise prices?

[tallnthensome]

Is anyone booking more Carnival cruises than usual for the future out of fear of rising cruising costs instead of simply a desired cruise? I started booking cruises for 2023 a bit back and even one on the Jubilee for August 2024 a month ago. Normally I book for desire and destination but have been booking any great deals I can because of price thinking that cruising costs will continue to rise very quickly and may price many out. Anyone approaching their bookings this way or are you approaching your cruises for 2023 and 2024 in your usual manner with prices down the road not being a concern? 

[Jamman54]

9 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Is anyone booking more Carnival cruises than usual for the future out of fear of rising cruising costs instead of simply a desired cruise? I started booking cruises for 2023 a bit back and even one on the Jubilee for August 2024 a month ago. Normally I book for desire and destination but have been booking any great deals I can because of price thinking that cruising costs will continue to rise very quickly and may price many out. Anyone approaching their bookings this way or are you approaching your cruises for 2023 and 2024 in your usual manner with prices down the road not being a concern? 

 

Yes, we are booked into spring 2024, but we normally book a couple of years out, which usually gives us the best prices anyway. Since we do like booking B2B cruises, booking further out insures that we get the cabin we want for both legs. 😎

[1kaper]

We booked for February of next year simply because my husband had a great casino deal that was only good until May 2nd for cruises up to February. 
We would have preferred to go in March but the price difference was just too much and didn’t want to bank on getting another offer. 
 

($100 pp balcony with $200 OBC and $200 free play for him. We booked an ocean view in family harbour instead because it was likely a cove balcony and I don’t like them) 

[tallnthensome]

Yea, when Carnival had that 50% off sale a few weeks I had to jump on it for 2024. It wasn't so much because it was such an appealing cruise in itself. I knew that sailing a new ship (Jubilee) with wife and two teenage daughters for a week in an extended balcony for $1700 was steal and come 2024 who knows how much it would be. I find myself booking insurance policy cruises out of economic speculation and the outlook isn't pretty in my opinion. Take whatever amazing deals I'm handed now knowing in two years they could be double or triple. 

[Amyracecar]

I want to book a 2023 sailing but my travel agent is ignoring me. If she doesn't reply tomorrow I might go direct. 

It's was my plan anyway, but certainly the thought prices might increase is a bonus reason for doing it now. 

[reeinaz]

I'm definitely booking more because of the deals I'm getting but not because I anticipate prices getting higher. I tend to book when the sailings are first released so I usually get them at their cheapest or close to it. Even pre-COVID I had cruises booked years in advance but I am booking sailings that I normally wouldn't consider simply because I got a great deal.

 

[vwrestler171]

I book if I find something I want, current situation means nothing different to me.

[JandPB]

Just got off the Magic and we are taking a pause for a while. We have other things in play as well but with rising prices and staffing issues we experienced we will take that pause for a bit to let everything sort itself out. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

We booked the Celebration for October 2023 because we thought it would only get more expensive, and because we had a Citi Card offer for a $250 statement credit for spending $1,000.

[csm5986142]

I am thinking along the same lines as you are, and cautiously booking more cruises in advance than usual, but on the other hand, the airfare is making me really nervous.  We have to fly to pretty much every port (we could drive to port of Seattle, but that has pretty limited cruise options).  Airfare is so high for us right now.  I have tried booking airfare nearly a year in advance as well as watching it continuously until closer to the cruise, either way, it's just expensive.

[tallnthensome]

23 minutes ago, csm5986142 said:

I am thinking along the same lines as you are, and cautiously booking more cruises in advance than usual, but on the other hand, the airfare is making me really nervous.  We have to fly to pretty much every port (we could drive to port of Seattle, but that has pretty limited cruise options).  Airfare is so high for us right now.  I have tried booking airfare nearly a year in advance as well as watching it continuously until closer to the cruise, either way, it's just expensive.

I agree, the airfare is horrid. Had to book at $569 a piece for 4 from Detroit to Seattle for August non-stop. That's with a red eye getting into Seattle at 1AM too. The air cost only about $500 less than our 8 day Alaskan cruise for four. 

[Saint Greg]

I booked into 2024 because the prices were so good during the sales. But if what I wanted wasn't there I didn't book it. My summer of 2023 is still open.

[TeresaJ]

We are booking because Carnival keeps giving me or my husband phenomenal deals. Otherwise, if prices were not reduced, probably wouldn't book right now.

[Ilovesailaway]

I am checking offers all the time. So many great deals to cruise this spring but I cant go again till fall. Carnival finally sent me a great offer for Feb 23 so I jumped on it. I will book more when I see more.

I have 2 HAL cruises booked as well but those deals aren't really. 

I love Carnival for its value especially some of the eye popping sales.

 

Edited May 6, 2022 by Ilovesailaway

[shof515]

i would love to book 2024, it would be nice if they release the schedules for most home ports like new york

[SNJCruisers]

Recently booked B2B's on the Celebration for September of 2023 and again in January of 2024.  

[IslandHppy]

This is all over the place.  Some lines like Cunard put out crazy high list advance prices to capture the faithful who will pay any amount for their cabin.  Then have a last minute sale.  Others are like airlines and freak out they have sold no seats.  But recent searches hint at higher prices ahead.  I will miss the Carnival prices from the last month.  One disadvantage of super early booking is what about price drops.

[Eli_6]

I have been booking good deals and planning out trips way ahead of time for "far off" destinations.  It hasn't been so much in terms of thinking of inflation as much as I want to lock in good deals when I see them.  Also, I try to put all of the expenses I can (business and personal) through credit cards to get the "miles."  I have paid for 4 business r/t class tickets to Europe this summer this way and have almost enough to do next summer as well.  I will soon start saving for Australia 2024.  However, this takes quite a bit of planning ahead.  Planning from the perspective of which card to use (i.e. British Airways is great for Europe but not Australia) and also needing to book the flights as soon as they come out (about 11 months in advance) in order to get 4 reward tickets all on the same flight. Right now, I have 6 or 7 cruises booked, but two of them are B2B Australia...because to go that far, I have to make it worth it.

[audcc77]

Yes.  I was telling someone on here that this was the perfect time (during Covid) to grab a suite as prices may  not be this low ever again.  

 

Haven’t sailed Royal in many years since starting on Carnival in 2009.  

 I then took my own advice and booked on Royal.  I figured: If not now, then when?   

[djcass4199]

I’ll be honest, we only booked our July Mardi Gras cruise because we got a a Havana interior with $200 obc and prepaid grats for less than $1,300. We had planned on being done with Carnival because it’s just gotten boring for us as a cruise line and we wanted to try other lines. However, I’m excited to check out Mardi Gras.

[Tapi]

I have cruises booked all the way into the Spring of 2024, but not because I fear that prices will go up, but because these are cruises that I genuinely want to take. And I’m not sticking to Carnival. I’m actually finding better pricing and more interesting itineraries on other cruise lines.

 

I am looking at squeezing in one extra Carnival cruise this summer, and I’m actually shocked at the rock bottom pricing that I’m seeing on some sailings, specially considering how historically expensive summer cruises are. 

[rj59]

Inflation isn't a huge issue with cruising, because they know they can't significantly raise base fares, particularly Carnival, and instead cut back some things and increase prices/sales pressure for other things to create more revenue--I believe that even with reduced capacity since restart, on-board spending has been higher than ever. Thanks drinkers/gamblers/excursioners/photo buyers for subsidizing my low fares--especially all the people giving money to Carnival in the claw-cash machine!  I've found that Carnival is still throwing almost-free fares at me through VIFP offers, like a $90 6-day Alaska cruise I'm taking in a couple of weeks, which I chose over a $50 4-nt Radiance or $100 Panorama, all for an inside solo.  I found similar great bargains since restart on Princess and Royal--only HAL and NCL have been worked really hard to maintain a higher price point. It's all about supply and demand, though, not inflation, so another Covid wave next winter could cut demand, and then if you sail around the holidays or summer or school breaks, higher demand will outweigh any inflation. That's why my family does a Christmas cruise in mid-December, and why I do European and Alaskan cruises before schools get out. If you have flexibility to find cruise deals or sail last-minute, and limit onboard spending and don't demand balconies or suites, then it's easy to counteract any inflation. Another thing I've done is to pre-book airfare through Southwest for a future desired cruise date, which gives me the freedom to get flight refunds if the price doesn't come down enough. 

[LatinaInTexas]

No I never book that far ahead. I usually book about 3 months out for any vacation. 

[tallnthensome]

8 hours ago, Tapi said:

I have cruises booked all the way into the Spring of 2024, but not because I fear that prices will go up, but because these are cruises that I genuinely want to take. And I’m not sticking to Carnival. I’m actually finding better pricing and more interesting itineraries on other cruise lines.

 

I am looking at squeezing in one extra Carnival cruise this summer, and I’m actually shocked at the rock bottom pricing that I’m seeing on some sailings, specially considering how historically expensive summer cruises are. 

Normally for me Carnival is my last choice but the offers I received from them are so much better than most of the other lines offerings by a mile right now. I do have a spring break cruise booked on MSC for April 2023 at a spectacular price. I'm not seeing anything of great value from Princess, Holland, or Celebrity.  Royal has some ok deals while my old favorite NCL went from the best value to the absolutely worst value in my opinion and future cruise pricing with them is laughable. 

[Drazil65]

Yes, similar in thought with OP, our next 3 cruises were great deals through December 2023.  We have typically cruised 2 times a year anyway pre-covid as we can easily drive to most east coast ports (preferred) so airfare has no bearing on our cruise decisions.  Our only limitation now is DS college schedule and for the offers we received we made the calendar work.  

Edited May 7, 2022 by Drazil65