Advice needed: to book or wait( January, 2024 Europe)

[olya1972]

It’s been a while since last NCL cruise for us. I am considering NCL Epic sailing at the end of January, 2024. It’s a sailing from Lisbon, Portugal, to Canary Islands, Gibraltar and Spain( 10 days). I usually book cruises after final payment date, however I found good price for air tickets and bought them. The ship seems to be empty - every category of Balcony or Club Balcony Mini suit I check shows almost full availability. We never cruised in Europe before. I kind of know the trends when it comes to Caribbean and Alaska sailings, but with this type of itinerary I am at a complete loss. For anyone who sailed on similar sailing, can you share your booking experience? I imagine end of January is not just “ shoulder”, but a low season for this destination. Thank You all who will reply.

[sherrihall128]

If they're running a promotion for on-board credit, or if you're particular about your cabin, maybe book earlier. However, we all know the prices change daily and that they decrease significantly after 3 months to the cruise. 

 

EPIC is a large ship, and I feel like the Mediterranean during the off months has the best prices and lower capacity sailings. I feel like there will be a lot of empty rooms for those reasons.

[eileeshb]

23 minutes ago, olya1972 said:

It’s been a while since last NCL cruise for us. I am considering NCL Epic sailing at the end of January, 2024. It’s a sailing from Lisbon, Portugal, to Canary Islands, Gibraltar and Spain( 10 days). I usually book cruises after final payment date, however I found good price for air tickets and bought them. The ship seems to be empty - every category of Balcony or Club Balcony Mini suit I check shows almost full availability. We never cruised in Europe before. I kind of know the trends when it comes to Caribbean and Alaska sailings, but with this type of itinerary I am at a complete loss. For anyone who sailed on similar sailing, can you share your booking experience? I imagine end of January is not just “ shoulder”, but a low season for this destination. Thank You all who will reply.

I haven’t done that itinerary but it’s interesting to see Epic on that route, they usually have one of the Jewel or Dawn class ships on that sort of route for the European winter. You’re right about January being low season as almost all the schools across Europe will be in session then. You might see a few more Irish than in the past for that time of year as we’ve a new public holiday on the first Monday in February. The impact of that on our domestic tourism was substantial this year in Ireland so I imagine the travel agents here will be pushing overseas holidays for next year, and a couple of our colleges are off for January too.

there is an increased risk of high seas going across to the Canaries as well since it is prime surf season for the big wave hunters of the North Atlantic. That may be why they’ve put Epic on that route as it wouldn’t feel the effects as much as the smaller ships.

[MeHeartCruising]

1 hour ago, olya1972 said:

It’s been a while since last NCL cruise for us. I am considering NCL Epic sailing at the end of January, 2024. It’s a sailing from Lisbon, Portugal, to Canary Islands, Gibraltar and Spain( 10 days). I usually book cruises after final payment date, however I found good price for air tickets and bought them. The ship seems to be empty - every category of Balcony or Club Balcony Mini suit I check shows almost full availability. We never cruised in Europe before. I kind of know the trends when it comes to Caribbean and Alaska sailings, but with this type of itinerary I am at a complete loss. For anyone who sailed on similar sailing, can you share your booking experience? I imagine end of January is not just “ shoulder”, but a low season for this destination. Thank You all who will reply.

If you put the deposit down now and the price goes down prior to final payment due date, you can call to have it repriced to the current pricing.  But pay attention to the promo terms.  They will reset to match the new pricing. 

[olya1972]

Thank You all for the informative replies. I had purchased Cruise First certificate online the day I posted this question. I realized that to derive benefit of NCL matching my amount, I'd still have to book 120 or more days in advance.