Best time to book for best price?

[AandBmom]

Hi there, We are looking to book a cruise for next April.  Are there specific times of year that there are price reductions?  Is American Black Friday a day when prices are reduced? Am I better to get it booked now for best price? Do they honor sale prices if I book now and it drops?  I have sailed Carnival lots but not in a while so I forget this stuff. Thanks in advance for any help. Cruising with a big family is amazing but adds up so any savings would be helpful. 

[RockHoundTX]

There is really no "best time" anymore. Prices are all up 2x to 3x what they were pre-Covid (and over 4x what we paid just after the Covid return). Basically, buy as early as you can and then do price protection if you happen to see a lower price prior to full payment. Pre-Covid it was not uncommon to see 2 or 3 price drops. However, over the last few years the prices just seem to always go up. On our last Carnival cruise the price just prior to full payment was almost twice what it was when we booked. There was a thread on here a few weeks ago when a couple of cruises had a decent price drop but that seems to be the exception these days. Carnival runs "specials" every week but ultimately the prices tend to be exactly the same (plus/minus a few dollars). 99%+ of the time they are just marketing gimmicks. Best bet is to just track the price of your prefered cruise for 2-3 weeks. If the price is pretty stable, then that is pretty much what you can expect. It is unlikely that a "super special" shows up that significantly drops the price.       

 

Don't think I have ever seen a cruise deal on Black Friday. Black Friday usually has a few excursions on sale or cheaper drink packages on certain sailings/ships (but not all). 

[audcc77]

April is an expensive time to cruise because it’s during spring break and everyone is cruising.  
 

As previous poster said, if you must go in April, the sooner you buy, the better. 
 

The least expensive time of year to sail is between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sometimes early November. That’s been my experience at least.  

[jimbo5544]

Generally speaking booking earlier vs later is a safe bet.  Simple supply vs demand.  Sales on Carnival are usually tied to things like reduced deposit, but there are some in non premium times.   I assume you know of the different types of rates you can book to get the best “deal”.  Are you booking yourself or with a TA/PVP?

[AandBmom]

21 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Generally speaking booking earlier vs later is a safe bet.  Simple supply vs demand.  Sales on Carnival are usually tied to things like reduced deposit, but there are some in non premium times.   I assume you know of the different types of rates you can book to get the best “deal”.  Are you booking yourself or with a TA/PVP?

Thank you for your reply. I generally book with a carnival agent (maybe that's the pvp?).

[AandBmom]

2 hours ago, audcc77 said:

April is an expensive time to cruise because it’s during spring break and everyone is cruising.  
 

As previous poster said, if you must go in April, the sooner you buy, the better. 
 

The least expensive time of year to sail is between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sometimes early November. That’s been my experience at least.  

Thank you so much for your reply. We would be going the last week of April which I've noticed is slightly cheaper. I wish we could travel during the cheaper season but with two kids in University and two kids in high school I am limited to times that I can scoop them away 

[Honolulu Blue]

22 minutes ago, AandBmom said:

I generally book with a carnival agent (maybe that's the pvp?).

Yes, Carnival agents are called PVPs.

[DeniseTr]

Thanks for the question, I was wondering that myself. 

Someone said buy price protection, where/how? Never seen that.

If you use a PVP, do the look out for price drops?

[Joebucks]

One of the least effective tactics is to find a date and think you know secrets about when the price will drop. You could be right, you could be wrong.

 

The best way to save money, is to just book the cruise with the cheapest price.

[mjkacmom]

I’ve found that during busy times, book as far in advance as possible, I always look for price drops before final payment but my cruises never went down.

[jimbo5544]

3 hours ago, AandBmom said:

Thank you for your reply. I generally book with a carnival agent (maybe that's the pvp?).

Sounds that way to me.  It is nice when t works that you can cruise during weeks that are less expensive.  Not only the price changes, but the clientele does also (not knocking anybody, just stating it is different).  Just as a point of reference, when our kids were younger we always traveled summer or school breaks.  When we retired we had different options, significantly cheaper (for same itineraries) and the average age onboard jumped 30 years....not necessarily better, just different.

[jimbo5544]

2 hours ago, DeniseTr said:

Thanks for the question, I was wondering that myself. 

Someone said buy price protection, where/how? Never seen that.

If you use a PVP, do the look out for price drops?

Price protection comes with the cruise fare you choose, early saver vs some of the others.  Your PVP can give you the specifics.  We track price drops for our customers, assume the PVP would do the same, but cannot comment on it.  

 

Lastly, since the end of Covid, travel, and specifically cruising is booming, probably hotter than ever before.  The deals you used to find are far and few between, simply because they do not have to offer them to get the business.  Simply supply and demand.  That has to change at some point, when and to what affect, we will not know till it happens.

[teknoge3k]

2 hours ago, DeniseTr said:

Thanks for the question, I was wondering that myself. 

Someone said buy price protection, where/how? Never seen that.

If you use a PVP, do the look out for price drops?

 

You don't buy price protection. You book an Early Saver rate. When you make your booking, you book an Early Saver rate which has price protection. Then if the price drops, you submit the form online for the lowest rate, or contact your PVP. If your cruise is paid in full, you get OBC. If your cruise isn't paid in full, the balance is adjusted accordingly. 

[ginabab]

Hi, a carnival rep told me once there are military sales, but I have never seen one

[firefly333]

46 minutes ago, ginabab said:

Hi, a carnival rep told me once there are military sales, but I have never seen one

They didnt mean for all dates and all times you buy. What they meant was like last minute they could run a special for military, or seniors to fill a ship that isnt full. Now and again, not anytime you want to book always there is this rate. 

[Indiansbaseball]

A PVP does not watch your fare, you must check yourself. Then you can call your PVP and they will adjust if it is indeed cheaper. Love my PVP ! 

[jeblack1]

As others have said not really many discounts these days....Considering that, I would book as early as possible and consider I get to choose my room type / location as the bonus rather than just having to find what is available.

[tree.critter]

2 hours ago, Indiansbaseball said:

A PVP does not watch your fare, you must check yourself. Then you can call your PVP and they will adjust if it is indeed cheaper. Love my PVP ! 

I usually book way early with my PVP and always an early saver rate. you don’t have to call PVP for price drops, as soon  as you see the drops you can get them on your own with this form. 

 

https://www.carnival.com/request-forms/price-protection

 

[staceyglow]

2 minutes ago, tree.critter said:

I usually book way early with my PVP and always an early saver rate. you don’t have to call PVP for price drops, as soon  as you see the drops you can get them on your own with this form. 

 

https://www.carnival.com/request-forms/price-protection

 

Much easier to call the PVP.  Ours is super responsive, and doesn't mind doing this for us at all.  Plus you get immediate confirmation while you are still on the phone with them.

[nc762shooter]

3 hours ago, ginabab said:

Hi, a carnival rep told me once there are military sales, but I have never seen one

I know military is one of the categories along with past guest, resident, etc of rate they offer, whether these are cheaper than other advertised prices will depend from sailing to sailing.

[Indiansbaseball]

48 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

Much easier to call the PVP.  Ours is super responsive, and doesn't mind doing this for us at all.  Plus you get immediate confirmation while you are still on the phone with them.

I agree ! Done right while we’re on the phone. 

[jsglow]

23 hours ago, DeniseTr said:

Thanks for the question, I was wondering that myself. 

Someone said buy price protection, where/how? Never seen that.

If you use a PVP, do the look out for price drops?

Price protection comes automatically depending on the rate code. Early Savers rates typically include it. Just look for the fine print. As to tracking potential price drops, you essentially need to keep check yourself. Understand that experienced PVPs have many hundreds (thousands?) of clients. They can't take the time to go back and re-evaluate everyone's price every day and they don't have some automatic computer system tracking it as frankly Carnival would prefer that you simply didn't notice a drop for obvious reasons. What they CAN and WILL do is easily facilitate your credit when YOU see a price drop; routinely with a simple phone call.