How early did you book your XMAS/NEW YEARS cruise?

[Alphen]

How early did you book your XMAS/NEW YEARS cruise?

We are looking ahead to the XMAS/NEW YEARS cruises of December 2013 and would like to know when did you book yours for 2012? At this moment they are not yet available, but I hope they will come available in the next 3 months. So knowing when anybody booked their holiday cruise for December 2012, could give me an indication when they come available for booking.

Appreciate your help. :)

[travel123456]

for our holiday cruise in 2011 I booked at the end of Oct. The room selection was more limited so we did a VH gty and ended up with VA's.

[sail7seas]

The sooner you book the better chance of getting exactly what you want.

Holiday cruises (usually) sell out.
Of course, given the economy, who knows?

[Big Dawg CC]

The 2012 Holiday cruises were released late June or early July 2011. We were on the Amsterdam in Alaska at the time, and we booked one on board as soon as it was released. So, for 2013, you may need to wait for this summer.

[califgary]

We were just on a holiday cruise for 2011 and they were offerring extra perks to reserve a 2012 holiday cruise while on board - so we did!

[Jemima]

We booked our 2011 holiday cruise in early October. At that time specific cabins in most categories were still available.
My main criteria for selectin this cruise were:
- Longer than 7 or 8 days with 14 being preferred
- Included both Christmas and New Year's
- Began at least a couple of days before Christmas
- Ended after New Year's Day
- Preferred that Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's were all sea days
- We also preferred a closer embarkation port to keep total cost down since holiday cruises are higher priced (flight + hotel + cruise)
- We usually want port intensive itineraries with some or all new to us ports. This was an exception since the emphasis was on a relaxed Christmas cruise.

We ended up selecting the 14 day Hawaiian Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Rotterdam which was round trip San Diego. It met our criteria well. 14 days, both holidays, holidays on sea days, boarded 4 days before Christmas & disembarked 3 days after New Year's, short flight of about an hour.
We were very pleased. 14 days was also much better than a 7 day or a 14 day B2B would have been. The full 14 days meant more experienced travelers, fewer kids than shorter holiday cruises, fewer large family groups, and fewer 3 or 4 to a cabin resulting in less crowding. I was told 125 kids when I booked, 200 by another passenger early in the cruise, but my observation was 100 at most. There were also only about 3 large family groups. It was an excellent holiday cruise.

[Alphen]

We booked our 2011 holiday cruise in early October. At that time specific cabins in most categories were still available.
My main criteria for selectin this cruise were:
- Longer than 7 or 8 days with 14 being preferred
- Included both Christmas and New Year's
- Began at least a couple of days before Christmas
- Ended after New Year's Day
- Preferred that Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's were all sea days
- We also preferred a closer embarkation port to keep total cost down since holiday cruises are higher priced (flight + hotel + cruise)
- We usually want pThanks for the responses, also many thanks for the tip on the 14 day cruise instead of the B2B cruise. We are looking at a cruise that includes both holidays, with departure and arrival at the same port. We also think we prefer sea days for both of the holidays, so similar to your preferences. We were hoping that cruises might by available as soon as April/May 2012, but this looks like it is not going to happen.ort intensive itineraries with some or all new to us ports. This was an exception since the emphasis was on a relaxed Christmas cruise.

We ended up selecting the 14 day Hawaiian Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Rotterdam which was round trip San Diego. It met our criteria well. 14 days, both holidays, holidays on sea days, boarded 4 days before Christmas & disembarked 3 days after New Year's, short flight of about an hour.
We were very pleased. 14 days was also much better than a 7 day or a 14 day B2B would have been. The full 14 days meant more experienced travelers, fewer kids than shorter holiday cruises, fewer large family groups, and fewer 3 or 4 to a cabin resulting in less crowding. I was told 125 kids when I booked, 200 by another passenger early in the cruise, but my observation was 100 at most. There were also only about 3 large family groups. It was an excellent holiday cruise.


Thanks for the responses, also many thanks for the tip on the 14 day cruise instead of the B2B cruise. We are looking at a cruise that includes both holidays, with departure and arrival at the same port. We also think we prefer sea days for both of the holidays, so similar to your preferences. We were hoping that cruises might by available as soon as April/May 2012, but this looks like it is not going to happen.

[mllewis48]

We booked the 2012 Prinsendam cruise while we were on the Bermuda Cruise this past summer. We have heard that the ship fills quickly and wanted to be able to choose the cabin we wanted.