Best time to book

[Cruise till you drop]

So my DW is one to decide and book very early for a cruise (like 2+ years in advance).  And it’s not always about type of room selection.  It’s usually just to have something booked and out there, as well as locking in a specific ship

and itinerary.  When we do this, we usually lock in a room and rate and live with that.  This rate generally are not discounted nor do we get any OBC.

 

However I’ve been arguing that if we wait and book closer to the cruise timeframe (like 6 to 12 months in advance), we will possibly get a discounted fare and OBC.

 

Just curious if there are any opinions on what’s the best approach 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[voljeep]

book the day the cruises come out ... then monitor for fare drops 

[LACruiser88]

25 minutes ago, voljeep said:

book the day the cruises come out ... then monitor for fare drops 

Exactly what we do.  We just booked a cruise for April of 2025.  That is far out on the calendar, but I will monitor prices and re-fare/re-book if the prices drop.

[Guest Michael4650]

We book at casino rates and always want aft suites so we tend to book very early. We have 7 cruises booked between June 2023 and October 2024. If the rates drop you can  almost always get an adjustment 

[voljeep]

1 minute ago, LACruiser88 said:

Exactly what we do.  We just booked a cruise for April of 2025.  That is far out on the calendar, but I will monitor prices and re-fare/re-book if the prices drop.

yep ... booked on SUN for fall 2024 - will book STAR for fall 2025 when it comes out for US inaugural

[LACruiser88]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

booked on SUN for fall 2024 - will book STAR for fall 2025

We also have the Majestic booked for April of 2024 (33 days) and the Sky for November of 2024 (43 days).  It has really paid off for us to book far in advance and we always get the cabin that we desire.

[Cruise till you drop]

So for those that re-fare / re-book if fairs drop

 

1) are you booked directly with Princess or with a TA ?

2) when you book, are you doing anything special on your booking that allows re-fare / re-booking ?

3) are you re-faring / re-booking online or directly with an agent

4) are you able to keep your room or are you at the mercy of what’s left

5) how close to sailing can you do this ?

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[LACruiser88]

 

@Cruise till you drop

 

So for those that re-fare / re-book if fairs drop

 

1) are you booked directly with Princess or with a TA ? With a TA

2) when you book, are you doing anything special on your booking that allows re-fare / re-booking ?  No                                                                                              3) are you re-faring / re-booking online or directly with an agent  With our TA

4) are you able to keep your room or are you at the mercy of what’s left  On a re-fare you keep your same booking and cabin.  On a re-booking you can usually re-book the same cabin, but not always.  On a re-booking, you are actually cancelling your existing booking and booking a totally new cruise.

5) how close to sailing can you do this ?  Until final payment has been made.  If after final payment, you can sometimes get some OBC's if there is a significant price drop.  But do not count on this.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by LACruiser88

[Jersey42]

Everyone so far has offered pretty much the same advice.  I agree with the approach if you want a specific cruise/date and even more so if you are very particular about you cabin.  

 

We take a different approach for most of our Caribbean cruises.  We book after final payment date and often weeks (occasionally days) before sailing.  To make this work, we are flexible.  We are ok with several cruise lines, four different Florida departure ports, and a variety of itineraries. We are often somewhat flexible with sail dates in a 2-3 week range. On some ships and cabin classes we will book a guarantee and others we want to choose our cabin.  This approach often gets us a great deal.

 

Before we lived in Florida, we sometimes followed a similar, but more restrictive approach because last minute airfare could eat up lots of the cruise savings.  We would pick a week and book a round trip flight to Ft. Lauderdale.  Then we would hold off booking the cruise (RT Ft. Lauderdale or Miami) until after final payment date.  We always got a good deal, but never as good as some of the ones we have using the first approach.

 

Of course in situations where we do not have the flexibility, we book as soon as we decide on a cruise, and we monitor the prices like everyone else suggests.

[memoak]

We book with our CVP and have always kept our same suite. We book usually 6-10 months out lately there have not many lower rates 

[portiemom]

I book directly with Princess and use the same strategy discussed above. Probably every cruise I've booked has been refared at least once. These days I use a Princess vacation planner, but before I had a PVP, I called the regular Princess number for refares. These days I still monitor for lower prices on my own. I check to make sure it is a deal I want because sometimes there are trade-offs in OBC, or specialty dinners, etc. but the overall cruise fare is lower. In other words, you need to compare the current booking to the promo in effect at the time of the refare. I look at the total picture. Then I call my PVP, previously I called Princess customer service. You don't need to do anything special when you book. You just need to keep an eye on prices after you book. I tend to be picky about my stateroom, which is why I book early and then watch for price drops and refare. You don't lose your room in a refare. I don't think I've ever done a refare after final payment, but not 100% sure. Might have.

[Puggy13]

I booked 1.5 years ahead for Apr 2024, old plus package, $100 x 4 obc. Fare has been maintaining +$600 pp more, I'm now at under a year to go and only a decrease of $80. It's not looking like it will get lower for my cruise. Also, looks like this cruise to Hawaii will be only one way out of Vancouver, at least for Sept 24/ Apr 25.

[trbarton]

11 hours ago, Michael4650 said:

We book at casino rates and always want aft suites so we tend to book very early. We have 7 cruises booked between June 2023 and October 2024. If the rates drop you can  almost always get an adjustment 

Curious as what the casino rate is for an aft suite?

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, trbarton said:

Curious as what the casino rate is for an aft suite?

Pretty much the lowest full suite price minus the regular cost for whatever freebie you were offered. All suites are the a sea me price when you are upgrading on a casino comp cruise. So an owners suite and a vista cost the same. We generally go for a penthouse aft

[caribill]

17 hours ago, voljeep said:

book the day the cruises come out ... then monitor for fare drops 

 

Best, but not all countries allow the rebookings without losing deposit or even more.

[Cruise till you drop]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Best, but not all countries allow the rebookings without losing deposit or even more.

Good point. Are you referring to the UK or Canada ?

[Honolulu Blue]

22 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

So for those that re-fare / re-book if fairs drop

 

1) are you booked directly with Princess or with a TA ?

2) when you book, are you doing anything special on your booking that allows re-fare / re-booking ?

3) are you re-faring / re-booking online or directly with an agent

4) are you able to keep your room or are you at the mercy of what’s left

5) how close to sailing can you do this ?

I'll answer these for the one rebooking I did for my cruise on the Ruby that I was on last month.

 

1) I booked and rebooked with Princess.com

2) IIRC, the rebooking was a rate that was available for new bookings only.  So I booked a nearby cabin in the same category.

3) I did this online with no agent involved.  I had a Princess rep some months ago, according to the e-mails that she/they sent me.  I never booked with her, and eventually I stopped receiving e-mails from her.  These bookings were after I stopped seeing her name in the promotional e-mails I got from Princess.

4) As a rebooking, I gave up my original room and it was available for me to rebook, since I did both in the same day.

5) The original booking was done in August and the rebooking was done in November.  YMMV.

[caribill]

12 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Good point. Are you referring to the UK or Canada ?

 

As I understand it, UK bookings are with non-refundable deposits and even to rebook the same cabin is only allowed one time and comes with a rebooking fee.

[CruizinSusan70]

We book when bookings open or sometimes if we're going to be cruising within 2 months, we'll wait until we get on board for the lower deposit and extra OBC.  This is what we'll be doing for the fall 2024 and winter 2025 sailings on the Sun.  We'll also purchase FCC for future bookings on the Star for fall 2025 and winter 2026.  We will then transfer the booking to a TA to get a discount or additional OBC.  

[nini]

We book our preferred cabin IMMEDIATELY and monitor fare reductions. This has worked well saving us hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

Edited May 18, 2023 by nini
Additional words