Last Minute December Deals

Hi Everyone! I was wondering how likely that it is to find a good deal for the end of December? Are there ever any cabins left and are there any good deals or do prices typically stay the same? DH and I are looking to book now or wait until last minute. Would love some input!

Thanks!

If you are looking for deals the week of Christmas or New Year's, you won't find any "deals". The other weeks should have some rooms available.

With demand very high you have less of a chance of getting some last minute deal with possibly the exception of early December and then if you have to fly not sure what you'll pay for the airline. IF there is a deal it is out there now.

Keith

HAL currently has some good deals for the end of Dec. on 7 day Caribbean runs on Noordam and NA.

Depending on demand, you can in fact snag a good deal on Christmas/New Years cruises. This time last year we booked a 14 day Celebrity cruise over the Christmas period. Did the same the year prior on a 10 day NCL cruise. Both were balcony cabins, guarantees-both at much reduced prices.

We have also done the first week in Dec-many more offers at this time.

Just google Last Minute Cruises and the top 2 pick will be a website that gives you pricing on cruises leaving the next 90 days. Some great deals to be found if you know where to look!

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There are some spectacular deals for the weekend of December 13/14.

There are good deals for the weekend of January 3/4.

In between, peak prices, as usual. Makes sense, right?

I booked us a 3-day and a 4-day on the Caribbean Princess a couple of weeks ago. We sail December 27 on the first cruise and have the turnaround day on December 30. Princess is still selling the cruise on the 27th at a good price. The last I checked, only suites were available for the New Year's cruise.

One thing to remember is that many families can only go on vacation while school is out -- which means the summer (which is hurricane season for the Caribbean), the last two weeks of December/first week of January, and whenever kids have spring break in their district -- ours is always the week leading up to Easter). So demand is very high then.

Our last three cruises were during the holidays and those cruises easily sold out. And these were two-week cruises too. The first time, we booked 13 months early because on our previous attempt to book a Hawaiian cruise, it was sold out a few months ahead and we really wanted to do this cruise. When we wanted to do this cruise again, we called just weeks before (it took us that long to decide we really needed to do that cruise after a family loss), and there was just one obstructed OV left and some expensive suites. Two years later we called just before final payment and waitlisted for several categories and lucked out with an acceptable cabin becoming available a few weeks later.

If anything, the prices went up and not down for these cruises. So you're dealing with cabin availability and pricing due to demand.

Hi Everyone! I was wondering how likely that it is to find a good deal for the end of December? Are there ever any cabins left and are there any good deals or do prices typically stay the same? DH and I are looking to book now or wait until last minute. Would love some input!

 

Thanks!

I think that your chance of getting a last minute cruise deal for Christmas or New Years would be better than finding a last minute flight deal. If you need to fly to the embarkation port this is something worth serious consideration.

HAL and Princess have been aadvertising some deals.

I kept a spreadsheet of cruise prices for the week after Christmas (cruises that started December 26-28). As of today, Holland America still has some bargains on its cruises that week. They're priced less than they were, although you might have to book a guarantee for some categories. For instance, a cruise on the Zuierderdam is $300 less per person than it was when I first started tracking prices in August and on the Westerdam it's $400 less per person.

Other cruises, however, are sold out of certain categories (or totally sold out, such as Emerald Princess). Only a few cruises are charging higher prices now than in August for some categories.

Thanks guys! We've been eyeing one of those HAL Cruises - the deals on them are really good right now and we've cruised with them before and really like their atmosphere so I think we might be hopping on one of those for the New Years Celebration!

Luckily since we live in North Carolina we can drive to Florida or New Orleans to get a good price.