Booking for 2017

Hello,

We want to take a 2017 cruise. I am looking and seeing that even this far in advance many cruises are already sold out in the balcony category.

It is common for some of these to open up as it gets closer because people cancel or do I just really need to book a lot earlier. If so, how much earlier?

Thank you for your replies.

If there is a particular cruise line you are asking about, I would ask on the board for that cruise line.

Generally, I would think if those balconies are truly already booked, cancellations commonly wouldn't occur until just before final payment.

Thanks! How far ahead is final payment? About 3 months or so?

If there's a certain line and date you are looking at, google it. A lot of travel agents group book chunks of rooms.

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Thanks! How far ahead is final payment? About 3 months or so?

Again, specific to cruise lines...anywhere from 60 to 120 days prior to sailing.

If you are thinking about waiting until after final payment to book, know that airfares can be more difficult, perhaps more expensive, perhaps different routing.

I would not wait.

Often the lowest price rooms go first and those in the most options locations.

Keith

Hello,

We want to take a 2017 cruise. I am looking and seeing that even this far in advance many cruises are already sold out in the balcony category.

 

It is common for some of these to open up as it gets closer because people cancel or do I just really need to book a lot earlier. If so, how much earlier?

 

Thank you for your replies.

Since the question was asked about 2017 cruises I thought I would "piggy back" on the original question to see if any of you know when fall 2017 cruises will be opened. All I see at this time is spring 2017.

Thanks for your help.

A lot of the cruise lines will start to roll out those schedules in the Spring of 2016.

Since the question was asked about 2017 cruises I thought I would "piggy back" on the original question to see if any of you know when fall 2017 cruises will be opened. All I see at this time is spring 2017.

 

Thanks for your help.

What cruise line are we talking about? If you ask on the board for the appropriate cruise line, you will get specific info, as each cruise line has slightly different scheduling.

We are doing a full transit on Celebrity Infinity in April, 2017 -- I booked it on December 2, 2014! So over 2 years in advance. The cruise is now - 13+ months out and is all but sold out -- only insides and a few ocean views are left. People book early to get the prime cabins.

We are doing a full transit on Celebrity Infinity in April, 2017 -- I booked it on December 2, 2014! So over 2 years in advance. The cruise is now - 13+ months out and is all but sold out -- only insides and a few ocean views are left. People book early to get the prime cabins.

Thank you all for your replies. That's EXACTLY why I was curious about when these cruises would show up.

My only experience with cruising was last year to Alaska and the same held true for those.

Popular destinations book up quickly so I wanted to get in early so we would have the choice of cabin we want.

We prefer the itinerary that Princess offers so we are leaning toward them.

I am going on the Coral Princess in about 6 weeks and it looks like about 1/3 of the cabins are still open, the rates have dropped big time. I booked when the schedule first came out because I wanted a specific cabin. I think it is a bit hit and miss on what ships will be sold out and which will be half empty.

Celebrity 2017 Panama Canal cruises are available as of last month. We're booked on the October 24th sailing, Infinity.

I am doing the partial canal cruise from Miami with NCL (Pearl) and I booked this one in April of 2015. The price has almost doubled from when I booked it.

The Panama Canal and Alaska are popular cruises . Panama sells out because there aren't many full transits in any given year. Princess seems to do the mos tFull Transits in any given year . Hal comes a close second. The rest do the Panama when they re-position from the Carribean to Alaska in the spring and fall.

We have booked a full transit on the Coral Princess for April 2017.We start in Ft Lauderdale and disembark in Vancouver. When I booked it a couple of months ago many of the balcony cabins were already gone.

We also are booked on the Celebrity Infinity for April 2017 and we booked in early 2015.

We have booked a full transit on the Coral Princess for April 2017.We start in Ft Lauderdale and disembark in Vancouver. When I booked it a couple of months ago many of the balcony cabins were already gone.

We decided to take the same cruise as you. We will disembark in LA though. The itinerary is what we wanted and we adjusted other travel plans to go in the Spring. Should be a great trip. Since it's a two week trip we splurged and booked a mini suite. :D

Just booked last week on Norwegian Jewel 14 days leaving in Feb 2017 from LA to Miami. Was looking for a mini suite with balcony and my agent provided me with at least 6 choices. So there "seemed" to be some inventory even 11 months out.

We booked in October for April this year, so 6 months out, on celebrity infinity. At the time there were absolutely no balcony cabins available. Over the next 2 months the occasional balcony popped up but at additional $5000 ($4000usd) to upgrade from an oceanview to a balcony.

Since final payment the prices have dropped and approx 70 balcony cabins became available. This week we upgraded to a balcony for $300usd. It seems that many people cancel the week or two prior to final payment. The two other full transits prior to ours on infinity are also the same, sold out, and at final payment many cabins opened up.

We are doing a full transit on Celebrity Infinity in April, 2017 -- I booked it on December 2, 2014! So over 2 years in advance. The cruise is now - 13+ months out and is all but sold out -- only insides and a few ocean views are left. People book early to get the prime cabins.

I replied to you but found my answer. This is my edit since I cannot delete my post. :)

Thanks! How far ahead is final payment? About 3 months or so?

We booked on April 21, 2015 for the April 2, 2017 Westbound Panama Canal Cruise on Infinity........essentially 2 years in advance.

Final Payment is due January 17, 2017 - however, I understand that Royal and maybe Celebrity is in the process of "simplifying" their final payment schedules - meaning in most cases they want their money earlier so that they can immediately drop their prices for the last minute cruisers.

So, in our case the final payment is due 75 days prior to the sail date. I believe that their new "simplified" schedule requires final payment at 90 days.......how is that for simplification?

We booked on April 21, 2015 for the April 2, 2017 Westbound Panama Canal Cruise on Infinity........essentially 2 years in advance.

 

Final Payment is due January 17, 2017 - however, I understand that Royal and maybe Celebrity is in the process of "simplifying" their final payment schedules - meaning in most cases they want their money earlier so that they can immediately drop their prices for the last minute cruisers.

 

So, in our case the final payment is due 75 days prior to the sail date. I believe that their new "simplified" schedule requires final payment at 90 days.......how is that for simplification?

RCI has announced that they aren't going to drop prices for last minute cruisers. They are preferring to cabins go empty than upset passengers that booked cruises 2 years out.