POA 1 January 2011 - Please help!

[sydneycruiser]

Hi all,

 

DH and I are interested in booking this cruise to Hawaii. Just wondering how far in advance it's necessary to book. The Fly/Cruise packages probably won't be available here in Australia until early next year. Should I book just the cruise now and worry about the flights later?

 

We've cruised before with Princess and Royal Caribbean but don't have any experience with NCL.

 

Thank you.

 

Cheers

Georgena:)

[Nelie]

Hi fellow Aussie here. i booked my cruise about 3 and a half months before the cruise date. It was a kinda spur of the moment idea to go on a Hawaiian cruise. My friend and i both came into some money and decided to treat ourselves. (we did however have to pay for the entire trip within two weeks. This isnt a option for everyone obviously)

 

I would personally book the cruise but hold off on the flights. There are always deals going on during the year and you can take advantage of them. Also you may want to get to hawaii a few days before the cruise and stay a few days after as we are doing. You may find you can spare a few extra days (if you are taking time off from work that is) also time to recover from Jet lag. It will also depend on which airline you fly with, they dont fly in and out every day.(You may or may not be aware of, i assumed there would be a large variety of times and dates, there werent)

 

My trip is in Oct so i can give you a fellow aussie opinion of my trip :)

[sprout76]

Just to give you an idea...we booked the cruise July 2008 for February 2010...so VERY far in advance. We wanted to make sure that we got the cabin we wanted so I went ahead and booked. I'm booking our flight seperately so that wasn't a concern (and obviously not flying from Australia). If you know you're going to go...and since it is over a holiday...you may want to consider booking to get a cabin that you want. If you find out at a later time that it is cheaper to book flight/cruise together once those bookings open you can always work it so that you can apply that to your current booking. That is what happened to us...the price of our cruise has gone down twice since I booked originally and I've gotten the price adjustment both times.

 

Plus, it is always fun to have something to look forward to.

 

Good luck with your decision....

[sydneycruiser]

Thank you for your replies.

 

Firefly - I'll look forward to reading a review and getting an Aussie perspective. BTW, who are you flying with?

 

Sprout76 - how did you manage to get the price adjustment? Did you book directly with NCL?

 

Many thanks

 

Georgena:)

[sprout76]

sydneycruiser...I booked through a TA I've used for years. Once I saw that the price decreased and called her and she took care of it for us. The other time she caught it and went ahead and got us the decrease. As long as you're vigilant...whether you use NCL or a TA...you should be able to do the same thing.

[smrtypnts]

I booked in February, 2009 for a cruise in July 2011!!:eek::eek:

I too, have gotten 2 price reductions--so far. :)

I too have a TA and am vigiliant. I look almost every day. Sometimes an entire week goes by without my looking, but if i find a lower price, I just email my TA and she gets everything fixed up nicely with the new price. At this point, we have 4 cabins, but may add another cabin or two.