How do you know...

...when to pull the trigger and book? (full disclosure,I'm not a first timer,I went on one cruise):D I'm currently looking at a year out to book (possibly) b/c of the many deals I'm finding.... That said, I called a TA that advertised one I liked,and they said deposit is fully refundable up till 75 days before trip anyway....so I'd 'only' lose about $100 to the agency itself if I changed my plans before then....how early is too early? should I wait and see what other sales come up? I'm agonizing over this..... and it seems so far away to be thinking about it!

If I have a preferred cabin and it is available now, I would book now and regularly monitor price movement to avail of price drops, if any.

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If I have a preferred cabin and it is available now, I would book now and regularly monitor price movement to avail of price drops, if any.

 

 

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How long do I have to change things if the price drops? From what I know (which isn't much) it seems like changing things means losing any special credits etc.... and to make changes, do you go through the online TA used at booking,or do it yourself thru the cruiseline site?

If you booked thru a TA, you can only avail of the new price thru a TA, not the cruise line. You are right. You need to determine the bottomline before grabbing any price drop as you may lose previous perks provided only for the original booking. The TA should guide you on that

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I book early. If the price goes down from the cruise line I have the TA followup to try to obtain lower pricing.

Keith

We booked a cruise for October 2018 while on a cruise in January 2017.

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If I'm trying to book a specific cabin, then I'll book as early as possible. If lots of cabins will do, I'll wait for a deal.

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.....so I'd 'only' lose about $100 to the agency itself if I changed my plans before then....

I would book through another agency that does not charge fees separate from the cruise lines for originating, modifying, or cancelling a booking made through them. That is just unnecessary extra income out of your pocket to them. All TA's are paid the same commission from the cruise lines for their service to you and those that charge extra fees are just taking additional money from you for which they are already compensated.

There are many TA's that do not charge these fees. Do your homework and ask up front regarding any fees charged and if they do, move on until you find one who does not. As mentioned, there are many who don't.

OP is booking a year out with a promo that he/she likes .

TA charges fee's outside of the cruise line penalties .

I'm sure OP can find the same or better deal with another TA that does not charge those fees.

Then , sit back and monitor the never ending Sales up until Final .

Like you I booked a "dream cruise" almost two years ahead. As the final payment deadline approached the expense of the trip (it's more than the cruise fare) and the time away from home got to nagging me. I canceled before the deadline and got all of my deposit back, because did not book through a TA that charges a cancellation fee.

If your TA truly provides services that make you feel comfortable with them, so be it, but f they're just booking the cruise and taking your payment you may not owe them that loyalty.

It's important to note on Cruise Critic that the lines have different cancellation policies in different countries, and even in the US some fares have nonrefundable deposits. But in the US for most fares you should be able to find a way to book without risking any of your deposit should plans change before final payment.

1. Find a TA that does not charge a cancellation fee.

2. Most cruise lines will refare a booking if you have not passed final payment date.

This means that if you book a cabin for $1200.00 and the price drops to $900. two weeks before final payment date, you (or your TA) can call and get the new fare.

If you have perks on the $1200. booking and refaring to the lower price means that you will lose the perks, only you can decide if that is in your favor or not.

...when to pull the trigger and book? (full disclosure,I'm not a first timer,I went on one cruise):D I'm currently looking at a year out to book (possibly) b/c of the many deals I'm finding.... That said, I called a TA that advertised one I liked,and they said deposit is fully refundable up till 75 days before trip anyway....so I'd 'only' lose about $100 to the agency itself if I changed my plans before then....how early is too early? should I wait and see what other sales come up? I'm agonizing over this..... and it seems so far away to be thinking about it!

If you see a killer deal, book it as soon as you see it!! Point in case, we booked 22 months out because of a reduced deposit, kids sale free, and included alcohol package. By the time the next month came around, kids no longer sailed free, deposit back up to normal, AND you had to pay the taxes and gratuities on the drink package. At the time of sailing.. we upgraded to a suite AND paid less than if we would have booked our original room.

Like was said though, try to find a TA with the same or comparable deal who doesn't charge you fees! If you need your TA a lot, it might seem worth it, but one of the first cruises I booked, I didn't know better and the agency charged $25 each change you made or thing they did for you. Not a bad thing if you don't need them.... but if you do... then it adds up.

While I understand the desire to have a "guaranteed" income from each booking with fees, it would be like a car sales man charging you to take a test drive. Sure it would be nice if they were paid for their time, but they are in a commission based position. If you would walk out of a car dealership because they wanted a "test drive" fee, I would say the same thing about choosing a TA.

FWIW, I have and use a TA that charges a cancellation fee, but I’ve found her service and access to be far greater than previous TAs I’ve used. Using a TA isn’t always just about price.......I wouldn’t use one that charged a fee to book with them, but sometimes the work they do is worth risking a cancellation penalty. Just something to consider.

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Thanks for all the advice..... I'm going to start hunting down different TA's and policies I can live with.....

...when to pull the trigger and book? (full disclosure,I'm not a first timer,I went on one cruise):D I'm currently looking at a year out to book (possibly) b/c of the many deals I'm finding.... That said, I called a TA that advertised one I liked,and they said deposit is fully refundable up till 75 days before trip anyway....so I'd 'only' lose about $100 to the agency itself if I changed my plans before then....how early is too early? should I wait and see what other sales come up? I'm agonizing over this..... and it seems so far away to be thinking about it!

I've always booked my cruises a year or so in advance. I get exactly what I want that way. And I book directly through the cruise line's web site. I don't mean any offense but personally with so much available to research online I would not consider losing "only" about a $100 to an agency.

One reason I like to book early too is I budget myself and put aside $100 every month until then. That works well.

How long do I have to change things if the price drops? From what I know (which isn't much) it seems like changing things means losing any special credits etc.... and to make changes, do you go through the online TA used at booking,or do it yourself thru the cruiseline site?

When the cruise line changes the deal, you have the choice of deal one that you are now booked on and book two which is being offered now. You are right, that any special perks included in deal one will be lost if you switch to deal two.

For instance, if you pay $1000 and get $100 in OBC when you book. If the cruise line drops the price to $950, but without the OBC, you are better off staying with the original offer.

Also, I would find a TA that does not impose a change/cancellation fee.

OP why not book through the cruise line with a personal consultant? That way you have control over the entire booking and you have someone to contact when trying to possibly change the reservation without having to go through the TA who then will contact the cruise line and then get back to you. At least with booking direct you can keep an eye on the sales and not have to worry if a 3rd party will actually do the work you want.

We have used a TA that does not charge any fees when we have had to cancel a cruise.

We have booked nearly every cruise at least 1 year in advance -- some 2 years in advance. We know the type of cabin we like.

I would book thru the cruise line, where there is NO fee to cancel before the stated cancellation date.

If I have the money and the leave, we book.

My advice to the OP is to permanently avoid any cruise/travel agency that charges you an agency $100 cancellation fee. There are plenty of excellent agencies that charge no cancellation fees, and others who charge a minimal fee (usually no more than $50). If you want to book a year out, you will need to deal with an agency that charges zero fees to "reprice" your cruise in the event of a price drop or some kind of decent promotion. Unless your cruise is a very popular voyage (this can happen with some longer exotic itineraries), we would not book a year out unless there was no penalty to cancel or reprice.

So now a bit of a personal story. We book 70-100+ days of cruises a year...many of which are not low priced trips. Havng done this for forty years, we have developed our own "short list" of preferred cruise agencies (booking direct with a cruise line will always cost you more). But sometimes these agencies change their policies and start imposing cancellation fees. In our case, some of these agencies will waive those fees because they want our business. But one agency, who we had used for a few years, suddenly started charging cancellation and change fees...and we told them "bye bye." They wanted to know why and we said we will not get involved with all kinds of fees..and there are plenty of other excellent agencies (with amazing deals) that charge small to no fees.

So my message (which is unchanging over many years) is shop around for the best deals among reputable cruise agencies. You will generally save 7-10% over booking direct with a cruise line...and sometimes your savings will be even more. On one longer cruise we saved over $3000 (by not booking direct with the cruise line) and we once helped a gentleman save nearly $10,000 (on a single booking) by using a particular cruise agency instead of booking direct. You have little to lose by shopping around....and much to lose by booking direct.

That being said, there is a good argument for booking directly with a cruise line (especially if you use a future cruise person while on another cruise) and later transferring your booking to a decent cruise agent. We recently did this with a longer HAL cruise and immediately received more than $1000 in OBCs for simply transferring a booking. On that particular cruise we booked while aboard, and then shopped around among several of our favorite cruise agencies by telling them we had an existing booking and would transfer it to the agency that offered us the best deal. This process cost me about 15 min of my time (enough to send out a few e-mails) and put over $1000 in my pocket :). Not a bad investment of our time.

Hank

Well my next cruise, at the moment, was book two years out, as it sells out quickly as a rule. That was the day bookings opened.

Well my next cruise, at the moment, was book two years out, as it sells out quickly as a rule. That was the day bookings opened.

Ohhh and so far the fare on the limited cabins available has just kept going up, and up and up.

Well my next cruise, at the moment, was book two years out, as it sells out quickly as a rule. That was the day bookings opened.

We have one of those cruises booked (its in the spring of 2019) but these are the exceptions rather than the rule for a large majority of CC posters who simply book 7-10 day Caribbean/Alaskan cruises. That's why there is no "one booking strategy fits all cases" answer to how to get the best deals. In forty years of booking our own cruises about the only near certainty we have learned is that we can always save money (usually 7-10%) by booking through reputable cruise agencies (or transferring a booking to an agency) as opposed to booking directly with a line.

So here is a test for anyone wanting to have some fun and gain a little knowledge. Price out a cruise with a high volume reputable cruise agency (one that enhances bookings with OBCs and other perks). Then, before booking, call that cruise line (directly) and ask them if they will match the deal you can get from that particular cruise agency. (we have done this a few times). We have yet to find a line that will say "yes, we can match that offer." What you will more typically hear is "why not book directly with me, and then you can transfer the booking to your cruise agency?" And of course that begs the question, why deal with two parties (the cruise line and a cruise agency) when you only need to deal with a single party?

Hank