What is the advantage of booking early

[cruisin1982]

I have 3 questions

1. What is the adavantage of booking a cruise early. I see Carnival has last minute deals all the time. They have had our money but offer perks to last minute customers. I feel we should get the same offers. I knew someone that booked 45 days out and got a $75.00 per preson ship credit and had a choice of cabin ( does not seem right)

 

2. How can you get a better deal from other compaies than what you can get from the cruise company. Doesn't seem right you would think the cruise lines would have the best prices. But after we booked I see other companies with better deals.

 

3. Does it matter what side of ship you are on?

 

Thanks

[redlef]

What is the adavantage of booking a cruise early. . . . I knew someone that booked 45 days out and got a $75.00 per preson ship credit and had a choice of cabin ( does not seem right)

 

Early bookers get best choice of cabin location. I know someone who booked 2 weeks before and got what they had left.

 

How can you get a better deal from other compaies than what you can get from the cruise company.

They either book blocks of rooms at discounted prices, or can discount their commissions.

 

Does it matter what side of ship you are on?

Depends on itinerary. On a Northbound Alaska Cruise, the starboard faces the shore so you might have a better view. I guess for any northbound cruise, sunrise will be in the east which will be the starboard side, and sunset will be in the west, which willl be port. Opposite sides for a southbound cruise.

 

But you are allowed to walk around the ship to change your view :rolleyes:.

 

One more thought: If you're traveling with your in-laws and they're on the port, than you'd also want to be on the starboard. :D

For the most part, you don't know how the ship is going to dock so the advantages aren't as predicatable.

[OceanDreamin]

1. What is the adavantage of booking a cruise early. I see Carnival has last minute deals all the time. They have had our money but offer perks to last minute customers. I feel we should get the same offers. I knew someone that booked 45 days out and got a $75.00 per preson ship credit and had a choice of cabin ( does not seem right) You lock in a good rate. A lot of cruises go up as the date gets closer (supply and demand - if demand is high the price goes up). If the rate drops (not just for a one day sale, but an actual rate drop), you can usually get the lower rate. Also you get to look forward to your cruise for longer.;)

 

2. How can you get a better deal from other compaies than what you can get from the cruise company. Doesn't seem right you would think the cruise lines would have the best prices. But after we booked I see other companies with better deals. My upcoming sailing on Paradise I booked direct with Carnival. I then got a better deal from a TA, so I transferred the booking. It is very easy to transfer your booking from the cruise line to a TA.

 

3. Does it matter what side of ship you are on? I think it would depend on the itinerary (and having an outside cabin - LOL). On Mexican Riviera Cruises it doesn't matter - one side of the ship gets the coastline view on the way down, and the othe side gets the view on the way up. If you are doing an itinerary that is not a there-and-back-again sort of thing, then yes, I imagine it does matter.

[Taleci]

Well, the cruise I booked for our September cruise is now sold-out of the balcony level that I am booked on, and the price for the next level beneath is now $300 more per stateroom than I paid. I'm happy with my deal!:)

[firefly333]

September prices on the Conquest, some are now over $700 for a inside 4a!!! I cancelled this October (going on RCI) but rebooked for next year at the same price and Im better out of Galveston prices go up before our cruise again.

 

I think it depends on the port. If you can clearly see a lot less ships in that ports future, Id book early, if no chance or new ships coming to that port last minute works out fine. I dont think there is a one size fits all answer here, depends on the port too much.

 

I was just looking at the next 60 days on Ecstasy, a 4/5 day cruise and there are cruises up over $700, one at $779 that is now sold out. So it also depends on date.

[sea_u_onboard]

As someone else stated - booking early gives you the best selection and when a ligit price drops occurs and you are watching you can get discounts, OBC or upgrades.

 

I always book a year in advance if possible. Heck I was the first one to book our ship for Alaska. You can ask how I know but it's a really long story and I don't want to bore everyone. I will say it did pay off though as the price dropped a couple times and I now have over a thousand dollars OBC (for a quad) and a cabin I am very happy with.

 

So the early bird gets the worm and sometimes some OBC to go with it.:D

[DqALEX]

I like to book early for the price, and a better choice of cabins. I also like the fact that I pay it off before the cruise.

[cwestbrook]

On our recent cruise (June 3), all the balcony cabins and nearly all other category of cabins were sold out before sailing.

 

Much to my surprise and delight, I was upgraded several levels to a suite. The only reason my TA thought I might have gotten it was because I booked early. I was not a past Carnival cruiser.

[pe4all]

We always book very early to get the cabin category and location we prefer. Just for an example, for our August Valor cruise, the only categories left are cat. 12 and 6A, and the cat. 6 is going for $250 more pp than our cat. 8C balcony. While we didn't hit any price reductions, we are happy. (and we didn't even book this trip as far out as we usually do - only about 6 months or so - we usually book from 1 year to 18 months out) Find a category and sailing you like, lock in the price - you can always get it reduced.

[Doug&Suzy-Q]

We booked our Sept '07 cruise last November and received a 2 deck upgrade plus a discounted "sale" price they had running at that time. We liked our room on the Glory last year so much that we booked the same room for this Sept....choices were available.

I have checked every week since November and the prices have never gone down, just up. So in this case we did good....this must be a popular destination. I will continue to check prices though.

Even though the price has not gone down any since we booked, we could have received a second deck upgrade in addition to the original....we passed on that since we are quite happy with what we have.

Along the way, I check many many travel sites....just in case...I have had Carnival match the price, within reason, of something I found elsewhere.....not always...on occasion.

Don't know why....habit...but we always go port side:confused: Seldom are we disapointed. Like another person wrote, you get one view going up and another going down......we are on a cruise....when I am relaxing on my balcony I am never disapointed:D

[kinggartk]

As someone else stated - booking early gives you the best selection and when a ligit price drops occurs and you are watching you can get discounts, OBC or upgrades.

 

I always book a year in advance if possible. Heck I was the first one to book our ship for Alaska. You can ask how I know but it's a really long story and I don't want to bore everyone. I will say it did pay off though as the price dropped a couple times and I now have over a thousand dollars OBC (for a quad) and a cabin I am very happy with.

 

So the early bird gets the worm and sometimes some OBC to go with it.:D

 

 

How do you go about getting these Discounts and OBC onces you have already booked. DO you just tell your TA that you see the price has been reduced and they handle it for you. I know sometimes the TA will tell you that you are locked in to that rate and cannot get the new reduced rate.:confused:

[millykin]

My upcoming sailing on Paradise I booked direct with Carnival. I then got a better deal from a TA, so I transferred the booking. It is very easy to transfer your booking from the cruise line to a TA.

 

3. Can you transfer your booking from the cruise company to a TA in the UK or is that USA only?

Millykin

[snorkelman]

Cabin selection is about it. If the cruise is fairly full, then all of the cheap cabins will be gone.

[rhuntington3]

I'm glad I book early (in May for a Sep 2007 cruise). The price has gone up since then.