When to book?

[emilymad]

I am looking at booking the 9 day Southern Caribbean on the Jewel for either Feburary or March of 2008. When is the best time to book? I obviously missed any early bird discounts. Is it better to book soon or what until closer to see if the price goes down. Thanks! I am new to NCL and am not sure how it works.

[Toyz711]

i just watched my cruise until it got to a price i could live with. prices have changed every week since then...up/down/up and back down. when DH called the 1st time, he was going to put a hold on a cabin...i said to just wait another week. (didn't want to get caught up in the "only new bookings" if the price did drop). called 4 day later and saved $100 a person.

now the other side, last year....we booked the alaska cruise on NCL star and the prices went in one direction...UP!!! some of my family booked last minute and paid a pretty penny for a inside room. if the cruises you are looking are a popular time and start selling well, the prices will go up between now and then, if the ship isn't selling (as fast as NCL would want) the prices will go down. you can read the big discussion going on in another thread....NCL is unlikely to adjust your price if the prices do go down.(ut they won't charge you more if the price so up)

[cruizinwithkids]

The Majesty began and ended it's Boston to Bermuda run this year with short cruises. I was planning on waiting until last minute in the spring and get it cheap. Instead I watched the prices go up. We didn't go.

 

In October I waited for a while and booked it. The price ended up coming down for new bookings so we weren't eligible.

 

We had a great cruise but as usual things didn't work out with my financial scheming.:)

[cruise4kicks]

The Majesty began and ended it's Boston to Bermuda run this year with short cruises. I was planning on waiting until last minute in the spring and get it cheap. Instead I watched the prices go up. We didn't go.

 

In October I waited for a while and booked it. The price ended up coming down for new bookings so we weren't eligible.

 

We had a great cruise but as usual things didn't work out with my financial scheming.:)

Tara, I thought you answered this question once before? I thought you told the OP that they should look at what you're doing and do the opposite??? ROTFLMAO

 

Now to get serious for the OP: I agree with Cathi -- Watch and wait until the price is what you can live with. Since NCL has gone to soooooo many "New Bookings Only" offers, there's absolutely no incentive for people to book early if the early booking price is too high. What's too high? I guess that's for you to decide. However, I will say that I booked our Gem 1/5/08 AE back in the third week of Jan. '07, and the price has only gone up and up. There's _no way_ I'd have paid where prices went two weeks later, and they never came down. Sometimes with NCL you snooze, you lose. Other times, NCL favors the procrastinator.

[honeydog714]

We always book early and it has always paid off, but there sure are a lot of sales lately, you should get on some mailing lists so you know when to pounce. Our TA sends us like three sales a week.