How soon to book?

We are thinking of doing a cruise/tour in late August early September of 2008. What is the soonest we can book?

Depending on the cruiseline - probably not until April or May. Carnival was first this year (Feb. or March) with availability for 2007 Alaska cruises, then NCL. RCI/Celebrity opened bookings April 25th (I know - that's when I booked mine), then Princess about mid-May, and last of all....Holland America in early June.

When we put our future cruise deposit down on our recent cruise, we asked about Alaska bookings for August of 2008 for our next trip and the agent told us those bookings would most likely open in April of 2007.

Dusty

As only an insight to the clueless??? (me) :) How do people plan so far ahead??? Are you traveling in between?? I am just wondering as it is so different from my traveling. I have gotten where I am booking more ahead due to traveling trends, but have never, in the past been more than a year and usually 6 months or less. I've got trips in progress for this fall that are no where near final. This is my limit. :) (I only have air booked for Ireland in October, nothing else :) New Orleans in December- only ball park dates picked. :) ) I find it hard to plan that far ahead. Boy is everyone different. :)

As only an insight to the clueless??? (me) :) How do people plan so far ahead??? Are you traveling in between?? I am just wondering as it is so different from my traveling. I have gotten where I am booking more ahead due to traveling trends, but have never, in the past been more than a year and usually 6 months or less. I find it hard to plan that far ahead. Boy is everyone different. :)

Well, for what it's worth, I'm jealous of your spontenaity!! :) You can tell from my sig line that we've only cruised once every five years or so. Vacations in between, of course, but in between work, moves (we're military) and childcare arrangements, we have to plan in advance or it just won't happen. Plus, I'm one of those obsessive personalities who worries if I don't book in advance, every cabin on every cruise ship on every cruise line on every itinerary will be taken already. :) And, to be honest, I'm enjoying the planning and anticipation. But it would be nice to be a little more impulsive and travel on a whim. Maybe someday, right? :)

I know this seems a little anal but I need a cabin for 4 and judging from the deck plans they seem to be scant. Also because we are paying for 4 peoplel to fly from the east coast and take all the excursions etc. I need to get the best price on the cruise and the airfair that I can. I know that sometimes you can really clean up on a last minute cruise but only with a 2 person cabin and then the airfair might be an issue. If you have any suggestions on how I can work around this I would be most grateful for any advice you care to give. Joan

As only an insight to the clueless??? (me) :) How do people plan so far ahead??? Are you traveling in between?? I am just wondering as it is so different from my traveling. I have gotten where I am booking more ahead due to traveling trends, but have never, in the past been more than a year and usually 6 months or less. I've got trips in progress for this fall that are no where near final. This is my limit. :) (I only have air booked for Ireland in October, nothing else :) New Orleans in December- only ball park dates picked. :) ) I find it hard to plan that far ahead. Boy is everyone different. :)

I can't plan dinner more than a few hours ahead, but I always have a future trip in the works! We use frequent-flyer miles, and for summer trips to Europe or Alaska - those flights need to be booked ASAP - which is about 11 months out.

A great deal of my trip enjoyment is in the planning (or obsessing...same thing), so planning way ahead gives me a lot of time to learn as much as I can about where we're going.