Sooooo….since tips and drinks are never included, just when is the best time to book RCL cruise ?

[brockmom]

Just looking at a little 5 nighter for next January. No special need for a particular cabin, just a plain balcony 

is fine. Would it stand to reason, after final payment would be a good time for the best rate ?

Hoping for any tips for this cruise line, we usually cruise on Celebrity and have that one figured out.

thanks

Brockmom

[mets123]

The rule of thumb is to book when you're comfortable with the price. If it goes down, you can always ask Royal to reprice it. Waiting until final payment is past doesn't always work, especially for summer cruises. If the cruise is almost sold out, prices will be much higher.

[smokeybandit]

Book whenever the price seems good for a price you like. 

[BND]

We book when we feel like it and there are cabins in the category we want.  You can drive yourself crazy trying to beat the system.  After final payment booking can backfire if the ship is close to being sold out.  Supply and demand - so prices can and have gone up on ships with limited cabins available.

Edited June 2, 2022 by BND

[Tree_skier]

Book when cruises itineraries are first released and then watch for drops.  

[Sunshine3601]

If we see a sailing we know we want then we book it and monitor the prices every week (or 2 times a week) as you can always do a reprice should it lower.   

I prefer to book early as we like to pick our preferred cabin locations or score one of those corner aft balconies, if lucky😃

[orville99]

10 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Book when cruises itineraries are first released and then watch for drops.  

We do as well. The prices tend to drift up all the way to final payment date.

[foxgoodrich]

Our experience with booking  for January is to do it by early to mid summer.  (like now)  Prices are usually pretty decent in the summer.  Then continue to check the price up until final payment - we've gotten a few price drops on Jan cruises..

[karena1]

I book as soon as itins come out.  Sometimes the cruises go down, but many times they go up.  I watch prices all the time and if it goes down, I get the new pricing.  

[neverbeenhere]

If you are willing to forgo the cruise, if it was to sell out or skyrocket in price, then yes waiting until after final payment is frequently the best price. 

[firefly333]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

Book when cruises itineraries are first released and then watch for drops.  

Lol me too. Rates more often go up than down now. Book as early as possible. 

[Tree_skier]

6 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Lol me too. Rates more often go up than down now. Book as early as possible. 

I haven't had many price drops especially since I often book my TA's group rates.  Those are usually rock Botton strait out of the gate.

[brockmom]

Thank you everyone!

If it was a must do cruise yes I would definitely book early. 
appreciate your thoughts

Brockmom

[MightyMike]

Book early. You can always reprice if the price drops. You can't lock in what you haven't bought.

[broadwaybaby123]

You can also call sites such as "Vacations To go" and place a 72 hour hold on a stateroom while you make your decision.  You can also book the cruise through them.  Be sure to ask for special discounts such as military status, 65+ status, or state residency discounts.

 

Also, drinks, while not included, are a perk that's reserved for Diamond (I think) members.  If you ever become a Diamond member, you get 4 free drinks a day, at least alcoholic drinks (I don't know about non-alcoholic ones and I haven't quite reached Diamond yet).

[ARandomTraveler]

The biggest problem with waiting until the last minute to book a cruise is that even if cruise prices are low, last minute airfare rarely is. 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

26 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

The biggest problem with waiting until the last minute to book a cruise is that even if cruise prices are low, last minute airfare rarely is. 

Thats a fact. Best time to get airfare genuinely in the uk is to book flights as soon as they come out, usually at the 12 month mark. After that unless they do a massive sale (hardly ever)  its more expensive to fly.

We tend to identify a cruise we want and track the prices over a number of months. Mostly the price fluctuates between £20-£70, only very occasionally does it fluctuate more then that. 

Rcl like all companies pricing is clever and the sales sound good but if you really study it and keep track you will see how little the price moves. Base prices per passenger go up when the sale seems to offer a bigger discount.

 

However there have been exceptions. 

[hal2008]

On 6/2/2022 at 6:51 PM, neverbeenhere said:

If you are willing to forgo the cruise, if it was to sell out or skyrocket in price, then yes waiting until after final payment is frequently the best price. 

 

If you have total flexibility (like retired and live in or near port city) opposite is true.

 

Friends live in Manhattan during warmer months and between FLL and MIA during colder months.

They usually wait until few hours before sailing needs to shutdown to hand over manifesto to DHS.

(they make a call 36 to 48 hours before sailing)

Getting base cruise fare at peanut price were not unheard of. (of course one has to pay full port fees and taxes)

 

If ship is full or cruise line is not in mood of bargain basement price, there is always next week (or if open to different ship, even more possibilities)

 

When it comes to upgrade, one would think that cruise line will give preference to guests who paid the most or to guests with most points. So it was really surprising when 199 base fare for 7 day Bermuda got upgraded to mid ship balcony. Go figure!!

 

[deliver42]

As long as the price meets my criteria, I book as soon as possible. If the fare goes up, I'm protected. If it goes down, i just call and get repriced. That's before final payment.

[RD64]

Just remember RCL have now instituted NO Refunds on non-refundable deposits. If you aren’t serious about your booking opt for the refundable deposits.

 

[Biker19]

10 hours ago, RD64 said:

Just remember RCL have now instituted NO Refunds on non-refundable deposits.

There were no refunds before either - just time limited FCCs.

[Mum2Mercury]

"Best" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone: 

 

• - When I was younger and had to deal with children's school schedules, we could only cruise occasionally.  I really cared about having a perfect cabin.  With four of us sharing a cabin, we needed that big corner aft balcony.  And we were both still working, so paying for it wasn't a problem.  I watched for itineraries to open and booked literally the first possible day.  
• Now we're retired and traveling as a couple again.  A tiny cabin is fine for us, and we care more about multiple trips than about the perfect cabin.  We just booked our first retirement cruise, and we nabbed a last-minute rather unbelievable price.  
• In each case, though the answers were different, we chose "best".

[fsufancc]

We booked the Quantum to Alaska for June 2023 sailing some weeks back for a group of 8 (4 balcony rooms).  I set a price tracker (with notifications) on and have seen prices go up 10%-14% and then drop back down to what we paid.  The prices have not dropped below what we have paid.  Only the Yo-Yo up and then back down to our original rate.  Did we get a good price for booking early?  At this point yes. 

 

I am now watching for price breaks on the add-ons.  DBP, The Key and such.  The prices started out outrageously high for add-ons and now have dropped to only extremely high - LOL.  

[CruiseWendy]

We booked as soon as we are ready to make a decision and our travel agent tracks any drops in prices. Last cruise (Feb 2020) we actually got two price drops and managed to upgrade a cabin. We are particular about placement on the ship so booking our exact room is always a preference. 

[DCPIV]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:50 PM, brockmom said:

Just looking at a little 5 nighter for next January. No special need for a particular cabin, just a plain balcony 

is fine. Would it stand to reason, after final payment would be a good time for the best rate ?

Hoping for any tips for this cruise line, we usually cruise on Celebrity and have that one figured out.

thanks

Brockmom

 

January is not a particularly popular time for cruising much anywhere 5- nighters happen, so I wouldn't expect prices to improve much between now and final payment. I'd go ahead and get the balcony you want and then monitor prices. 

 

You're going to be monitoring prices, anyhow, so you may as well have something you want in your pocket.