Money!!!

[Tatka]

I don't think anybody interested in the amounts I paid but except for the first time when we knew nothing about cruising and booked at the last moment I never use TA or Cruise Line site.

 

My preferred sites are

 

www.cruisequick.com (internet based) one of the best quotes I ever had

 

www.icruise.com <---- the best user interface and you can reach them by phone/e-mail easily

 

I recently found even greater prices on some cruises on www.itakeatrip.com

but I don't know how reliable they are. Based on their ad on CC they must be pretty good.;) When you are checking their price don't look at their first page price , continue "booking" and you'll see internet based "lowest" price.

[Sunshine101]

March 7/05 sailing on the Brilliance, 11 day Ultimate Caribbean

 

$2616 total including tax, port charges ect, for 2 people, E2 balcony.

[vivian02]

This becomes a great tool for those who like to cruise and the more money saved is money saved for the next cruise. I was lucky enough last cruise (Europe) to make contact with a online T/A that said I could save if I booked my own airfare. This lady is getting my business now. I figured I save $400 on the cruise and another $400 on the airfare. Since I declined the travel insurance that puts me ahead another $350. I now have $1150 in the bank for the next Meditterian Cruise next year. In the mean time I will be watching for one of those dirt cheap flights into Barceloan or Frankfurt. Yes, this is great site for travel information. Tim

 

 

Norwegian Sky 5/03 Alaska

Norwegian Star 11/03 Hawaii

Royal Caribbean Splendor of the Seas 5/04 Meditterian

[fireguy091]

Our last cruise was on the Serenade.Nine nights out of Philly We pd..$2400 for 2 in a Jr. Suite.

Our next cruise is on Celeb. the Galaxy. 11 nts. Sky Suites for $4200. I know the Serenade cruise was a great deal. Don't know about the Galaxy. Of course these are cruise only prices.

[mojo4trav]

We decided to try an inside cabin (since this is our second cruise this year) and booked a CAT N on Navigator's 10/09/04 sailing for $632 p/p including tax and port. I got the C&A coupon for $125 off which will be applied to the booking to make our total cost $1159. We booked through CruiseQuick for the second time as they were very fast and offered the best price at the time.

[rangerdog]

anyone sailing Rhapsody over Christmas/New Year's Eve with a cost for a D1 balcony room? We are going to book a holiday cruise and I want to know a ballpark figure of what to expect, so when my TA calls, I'll know it's a good deal. Thanks.

 

We paid $1,800 for 3 in oceanview cabin on Splendor. (Spring Break week)

[cme]

I am doing a b2b on the Navigator in Oct. Promenade cabin first week was $599.00 and the second week $650.00.

 

Last year on the Brillance 11 night ultimate caribbean cruise in a D1 (9256) for two $2,450.00 total. :D

 

carrie :p

[Reijo]

My husband and I have reservations for Mariner of the Sea, sailing on 8/22/04 for $1395.90 for an Inside Guarantee. We were upgraded to a Category N. Room is towards the aft of the ship on Deck 6 but pretty good location.

[DarSee]

Try Sam's Club Cruises - great prices, great service. 7 nights Western Carib, RCCL, Splendour of the Seas, 4/2/05, 1063.10/pp (includes all port fees & taxes) cat.D-1 balcony.

[ambergloww]

October 17,04 - Rhapsody - Oceanview stateroom - 2 adults - $1105.00 - Taxes & port charges & travel guard ins for both included - purchased thru our own TA! Sweet!!

ouch ! LOL , we paid 1001.50 for a mean ole inside!!!!

for september 12. oh well I am just thrilled I'm going:)

[ssatterly]

$1423 For 2 people all chages inculded for a E-1 Balcony cabin with the bigger Balcon on the Radiance of the sea's

[jbrewster630]

9/10/04 Voyager Of The Seas out of NJ

 

$1049.00 + tax /E2 balcony.

 

 

Wow, how did you get a balcony for basically the same price that I paid for an inside cabin?

[xpcdoojk]

There are actually several web sites on the Internet devoted to managing a database of bids and results for Priceline and Hotwire. It seems to me that cruise pricing is as variable as those, so it would be a great public service if someone would offer that as a service. While it would be interesting to see anecdotally what people are paying, I believe it would only be of great value if there was more than two data points, for the same itinerary, in the same month of they year, in the same class of cabin. How can you compare $900 in July to $1000 in April???

 

Whoa, I am going to have to visit my doctor, as I agree 100% with Bicker! :D You are going to have single points of data on any given cruise, and comparing the prices from sailing to sailing is dangerous and misleading. If you want to know if you are getting a good deal on a particular sailing contact 5 or 6 other online pricing services and make sure that you are comparing apples to apples. I think on a meet and mingle thread where everyone is on the same sailing that it could be viewed as tacky, by the way. Sort of like asking what you paid for your wife's wedding ring. If you want to find the cheapest time of the year to sail you should visit this site and ask. Typically, it is cheaper when kids are mostly in school and it is higher when they are out. It is typically cheaper when the weather could be bad, ie hurricane season than when the weather should be good.

 

 

jc

[greybear]

Bicker and JC, nice to see y'all get along!!!

 

Concerning bargain prices, I think that a few weeks before X-mas, such as Dec. 6 to 13 or in that vicinity is usually a good deal.

 

Personally, I looked at a bunch of different sites for my next cruise and decided on booking with Bestpricecruises as they had the best price that I could find for my sailing (Nov. 22/04; Ultimate Caribbean on the Brilliance). It's a Thanksgiving cruise and I still found it to be quite affordable.

 

Other techniques also include booking WAAAAYYYYYYYY in advance or minutes before ship departure (if you are not too picky and don't need to worry about air fare). Oh, almost forgot, repositionings can also be very well priced, specially if you can leave or arrive near your hometown as you only have to book a one-way flight.

[MyCousinRachel]

I paid $3000 for my wife's wedding ring 14 years ago. Just FYI. ;)

[pokyd]

See, that's the trouble with this whole topic. Unless you are comparing the same ship, itinerary, time of year, category of cabin, length of cruise, and port charges/taxes, etc. you aren't comparing apples to apples. You can do this on the internet sites so why bother with a less than useful long thread? Not helpful unless you can isolate what exactly you're looking for, too.

[jbrewster630]

I think it's great of people to get ideas of prices from others. You can look up tons of websites the same exact cruise and find the lower rate. But there is always someone for whatever reason that got a better one. And even if it is too late and you already booked your cruise, you know what, you'll know for next time. No reason to get upset but be happy you know a little more that you did 5 minutes ago!

If some people get offended, they don't have to read the thread, right!

9/10/04 lowest catagory inside cabin
Voyager out of Bayonne.

SMILE!

[jbrewster630]

[quote name='bicker']There are actually several web sites on the Internet devoted to managing a database of bids and results for Priceline and Hotwire. It seems to me that cruise pricing is as variable as those, so it would be a great public service if someone would offer that as a service. While it would be interesting to see anecdotally what people are paying, I believe it would only be of great value if there was more than two data points, for the same itinerary, in the same month of they year, in the same class of cabin. How can you compare $900 in July to $1000 in April???[/QUOTE]


I don't believe anyone is comparing July to April or RCL to NCL. Everyone is posting their dates and others will read them and it two happen to match then they can chat and share advice, opinioins, etc. ;)

[xpcdoojk]

[quote name='jbrewster630']I think it's great of people to get ideas of prices from others. You can look up tons of websites the same exact cruise and find the lower rate. But there is always someone for whatever reason that got a better one. And even if it is too late and you already booked your cruise, you know what, you'll know for next time. No reason to get upset but be happy you know a little more that you did 5 minutes ago!

If some people get offended, they don't have to read the thread, right!

9/10/04 lowest catagory inside cabin
Voyager out of Bayonne.

SMILE![/QUOTE]

I am not offended, but, and I hope this doesn't offend you, this thread is a waste of time and effort for all of the reasons stated by others. :p Therefore, most people will give up on it after they read thru it and realize this. Can you imagine when there are 15 pages of this information for a noob to wade thru. :D

jc

[MrsPete]

I don't think it's a bit tacky to discuss price paid for a cruise in this particular forum. It's informative for other people who are interested in the topic, and those who aren't interested in saving a buck can bypass the thread.

I think it would be tacky to discuss it, say, at dinner on the ship. At that point people have already bought their tickets, and discussing prices could lead to hard feelings.

[kimjeanne]

I too paid $1049 pp for a D2 cabin on the Voyager leaving 9/10 from NJ.

[iowacruiser]

We have two cruises currently booked

Explorer- Oct 24th Western Carib
GS 1560 $3168 for two
Booked through Cruisequick in January

Oosterdam-Jan 2 2005 Eastern Carib
Aft S suite 5187
Originally booked through Buycruises In April for $3680 for two
Currently transfering to Bestpricecruises.com for $2677 for two.