Jump on a booking or wait?

Bit of a back story before people tell me I should have booked early...

I mentioned a few months back that instead of not cruising this year my husband decided we should. Problem was he told me at a time where the early prices had gone and the January-March sales had gone too so I have found it really hard to find a cruise.

Because we thought we were not cruising I spent some of the holiday fund on much needed house things so the budget is only £2300ish (&3500) at the most and because we have a Vista cruise booked next year which does Corfu,Dubrovnik,Siciliy, Sardinia and all the usual Italian ports its trying to get a cruise that does do not those but we want to see Kotor, other parts of Greece and Malta/Morocco as we havent been there yet.

We have looked at cruises mainly with Royal (our top choice), P&O (a close second), Celebrity , Princess and MSC (Costa's odd dining et al put them out the running) that go to the Med or Iberian coast as well as Northern Europe cruises that are not the Baltics. We have also found that a lot of cruises we like with a good price are HAL or adult only ships and as a young couple it would likely not suit.Prices are high and we usually spend $100 pp per night with at least an outside and prefer longer cruises.We are teachers who are off from 23rd or July to the end of August so have 6 weeks to play with for flexibility.

Thank you if you are still reading...so my question is shall I just book say a P&O iberian cruise and get it done with even though the price isn't great or wait for last minute deals in the summer school holidays?

We are worried brands like Royal sell out quickly/rise to even higher than now so are unsure what to do.

Thanks for any thoughts or replies :)

Only you can decide if you have the money to book the cruise.

Me -- I would book the cruise -- now.

Thanks for the response,

I guess I am trying to ask if cruise prices will drop more. I am worried I will book say a 7 day cruise then find a 11 cruise I like also has dropped to the same price as the 7 day in late June.

I have no experience of last minute booking or viewing the prices.

I no experience with P&O or booking in the UK but here in North America many of us book now if the price looks reasonable and then hope the price drops. Again in NA cruise lines tend to give us the lower price so long as it is before the date of final payment and sometimes a TA can get us the sale price after final.

I suggest you look at Thomson. Celebration has a 7 day cruise out of Dubrovnik that visits Kotor and other ports in Greece. And Malta. You aren't going to get Morocco on a summer cruise...Go to http://www.cruisetimetables.com and choose places you would like to visit from the middle list. then choose the time you want to sail, and it will tell you who calls there and their itineraries. EM

Usually we book one special cruise a year, at full price and with the cabin of our choice, and then do very last minute ones in between....yes, the prices can be extremely low, but cabin choices, parking etc are not included.

You've mentioned the worst time, in my opinion, for thinking about last minute offers....the cruise lines know exactly when schools break up, and those 6 weeks can be very full early on....I understand you've no choice with the dates, but now that parents aren't allowed to take children from school in term time, it has meant a rush for the ships, and the prices remain high.

Just a suggestion- can you look at the adult only ships for this time? I know they might seem a little staid to some, but they don't have to think about the school holidays. P&O's 3 adult ships, C&M, some Saga (if one of you is over 50) might be a little more accommodating price-wise.

Thanks for the advice :)

As you can see by my signature we found a deal on a Celebrity largish ship..which was a surprise. Its well within budget with the travel and is a 13 day cruise with Montenegro and Malta (as well as Corsica as an added bonus). It repeats a few ports for us next year but nothing too drastic and it is costing us less than £75 a day per person!

We are actually a little wary of adult only ships as we are quite young (28) and like a ship to have a certain amount of energy. We loved Oriana's (PandO) unusualvoyages and prices but decided an adult only ship may not be for us just yet. Maybe one day our budget will mean we do book an adult only ship and we will be surprised. We also looked at Thompson cruises last year but recently some family members have been screwed out of thousands by that company so the whole lot of us will not touch them with a barge pole which is a shame as again they have some wonderful ports.

All sorted anyway! I have also booked the transport to the ship so feel relaxed now.

Enjoy! :)