Timing pre-cruise details

Family of four booked for Miami Departure for Holiday cruise in 2014. We will be flying from New England - probably Manchester or Boston. Just depends on $$ and schedules. We may fly into FLL or MIA so I don't know the best choice for hotels etc.

I have never booked anything so far in advance and my question is....

When is the best timeframe to book flights and hotels? Is there a window that has worked for you? If anyone has any experience from this area - what is the best choice for flight / hotel location / shuttle / taxi????

Much appreciated.

Teri

As discussed endlessly on the Cruise Air board, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=128

there is NO MAGIC TIME to book flights. You just have to do the research, see the trends, book, and don't look back. Holiday airfares will likely be higher than average, due to demand. And they typically sell quickly, particularly travel dates between 12/20 and 1/2.

I would be booking the hotel now. It rarely costs you anything to book a hotel far in advance. After you book, if you see the rates drop, cancel and re-book at the lower rate.

Reading down the board will reveal hotel recommendations, the common advice to fly in the day before, and that taxi is probably the best way to get around.

I would book the hotel you want as soon as you know where you will be flying from. I always book very far in advance, and then keep checking the rates. At some point they usually go down a bit, and then i cancel and rebook.

I have even booked more than one hotel at a time, and then wait to see if either of them go down.

Claudia

Thank you - I certainly know the flights are going to be tricky - I need to wait until Southwest opens and then evaluate the options - SW only flies into FLL but other airlines from Boston and Hartford have flights to MIA. Who knows what airlines will still be in business by next December?? (or merged)

I am certainly are watching the boards for ideas about hotels. The Port of Miami will have six ships boarding with 17K passengers!! I assume this will have some impact on the hotels and pricing - so the earlier the better - maybe?

Teri

Again, some reading on the Cruise Air board would reveal Southwest might have the cheapest airfare on date of release of schedules, but it is quite likely the legacy carriers with have cheaper fares prior to Southwest's release. Southwest just looks and sets fares to be slightly lower at date of the release to claim to be the lowest. There is a perfect example of this situation on this thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974731

on the 14th post.