Should we book now or wait?

We are looking at a trip next Summer around Europe. Currently on offer are the classic drinks package and flights at 149.00. Should we book or wait for better offers (eg including OBC, upgrades, etc)? As I'm a new cruiser, I'd like to know if we can guarantee that if better offers come along, they can apply to us? Any thoughts or experience from you cruise experts? Thanks in advance. :)

if you can get the drink package now and the price is ok, I'd book it now. If you are flexible and want to hold out for a last minute deal, then wait.

We are looking at a trip next Summer around Europe. Currently on offer are the classic drinks package and flights at 149.00. Should we book or wait for better offers (eg including OBC, upgrades, etc)? As I'm a new cruiser, I'd like to know if we can guarantee that if better offers come along, they can apply to us? Any thoughts or experience from you cruise experts? Thanks in advance. :)

If you are booking in the UK, you can't easily take advantage of later price drops, as you can't cancel and re-book without losing your deposit and original freebees, although you might be able to switch to a better cabin for the same price if your TA can negotiate it.

Prices often dip briefly around final payment date if there are a lot of unsold cabins, and the drop can be greater than the benefits of bundled drinks packages etc. For example, a cruise I've booked on Eclipse was advertised with an included drinks package and parking for around £1300 (balcony guarantee) earlier in the year. At final payment date, this came down to £750 with no perks, but only for a couple of days.

Thanks Cruise Junky - you're probably right, it's just we'd heard of all sorts of offers after people booked that they'd lost out on. Booking a cruise is a bit of a minefield! :rolleyes:

Thanks Cruise Junky - you're probably right, it's just we'd heard of all sorts of offers after people booked that they'd lost out on. Booking a cruise is a bit of a minefield! :rolleyes:

It definitely is in the UK. Drink package is a pretty nice carrot though as long as prices didn't increase too much.

Steve CH - that's what I was referring too - I think there should be one price only but maybe with early incentives, that would seem fair. I shall continue to ponder for a little while .............

If your cabin location is important, booking early will give you a better cabin selection.

LuLu

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I think it all depends on how much you want a particular cruise and date. You can hang on for price drops, but they might not happen, so you would have to be prepared to walk away.

If you do go for a package with included extras, and you're happy to go along with the total price, then enjoy the anticipation of knowing you're all set and for peace of mind, stop checking the prices after you've booked.

Don't forget, the US booking system is different. There, you can get price reductions because you can cancel up to final payment date without loss of deposit.

I can only tell you what we have done, and we've booked both of our cruises for next year - both on the last offer (which ended 31st July) as they were offering classic alcohol package and obc for sailings from the UK. As both cruises we wanted to do were uk/uk, we went ahead and booked.

The new offer includes more med cruises, and, as you say, £149 offers for flights. I'd still def book early, but probably only if you were going to buy the drink package anyway. Both cruises we booked, we know we wouldnt have got the price any cheaper if we'd waited, as we would def have to factor in the cost of the drink packages, and we wouldnt have got any obc. Hope this makes some sense.

We now have our cruises booked, the cabins we wanted, obc and the classic packages thrown in, so I, for one, am a happy bunny.

Work out what's best for you, and if you are unsure whether you'd buy the drink package, it might be better to wait and see if any good offers come up. All I would say is that bookings will probably have been quite heavy, and you may not like the cabin location you get if you leave it too late.

Hope this helps.

Lou

We normally don't book till 90-120 days out. For whatever reason the wifester and her BF pushed us to book our Nov cruise on the Reflection last Feb, and are we glad we did. Our C2 is up $480 pp and our friends OV is up $500 pp. We would not have booked at the current pricing.

If the sailing you want is within budget now, book it. If we all waited for 'the sale', no one would be sailing;)

I am a UK cruiser. We booked our Baltic Cruise last Sept - it just kept rising as we went in July! This year we debated booking for next prior to boarding. We decided to leave it as it was our first time with Celebrity. When we boarded it was already £450 more expensive. It's gone up again too. We did get the on board benefits though. Personally, if you are happy with the price- book it!

I am definitely in the sooner is better side. Our April 1 cruise has now gone up $2200 more then we paid for a Jr. Suite. Even balconies are now more then we paid for our Jr. Ste.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and advice......... Very helpful and has given us much to discuss. :)

Can people from the UK book with a U.S. travel agent? If so, aren't they allowed to same advantage of the cancel before final pay like we do here?

In June there was a sale for verandas at the same price as insides on European 2013 itineraries. Maybe that will happen again.

We tend to book most of our cruises at popular times. We cruise the Caribbean in March and the European Med cruises we've taken have been in September. So more often than not the advance booking rate is the best and prices go up as the cruise gets closer - sometimes substantially.

But if you are booking at less popular times of the year then there is a good chance that there will be sales on cruise fares as the cruise gets closer, especially after final payment if there are lot of unsold cabins. It is all a matter of supply and demand.

Of course booking far in advance allows one to be certain of the booking and cabin location and to plan things like airfare purchase and scheduling vacation time. Waiting until the last minute involves the risk that prices will increase to too high a level making the cruise uneconomical, poor cabin selection or even selling out completely.

Can people from the UK book with a U.S. travel agent? If so, aren't they allowed to same advantage of the cancel before final pay like we do here?

Officially, no. If you try to log on to the Celebrity website from a UK location, it simply re-directs you to the UK website. US TA's are not supposed to take UK bookings, although it may be done through a proxy.

This all leads to a lot of heated debate about US offers not being available to UK residents.

In June there was a sale for verandas at the same price as insides on European 2013 itineraries. Maybe that will happen again.

typo: I meant 2014.

:)Thanks everyone - just to let you know I went in today and booked our cruise in May. Free drinks package and cheap flights - so we're happy at the moment. Apparently if the prices do go down then there may be a reduction depending on the difference between our package with our benefits. I'm looking forward to it now that my mind's been made up.

:)Thanks everyone - just to let you know I went in today and booked our cruise in May. Free drinks package and cheap flights - so we're happy at the moment. Apparently if the prices do go down then there may be a reduction depending on the difference between our package with our benefits. I'm looking forward to it now that my mind's been made up.

We had discounted flights in July year + some OBC from an Open Passage. When prices dropped (-£350pp) I chased it and X would honour the cruise price drop but I would lose our incentives ($200 OBC and cheap flights through X).

The lower cost cruise saving would have been eaten up by X insisting that the discounted flights would need to be re-priced at the current price (extra £300pp), even though clearly the same flights would still be needed.

Of course with a cruise only booking the flight would be my own so would not have been a factor so I could have seen a saving after losing my OBC.

If the prices do drop - be prepared that may have to sacrifice your perks (drinks package and discounted flights promotion) to get a lower cruise fare.

I was happy to pay the price at which we booked, and had a great cruise but price drops are not always going to work as you anticipate. Although I suspect the treatment may have been more advantageous with a non-UK booking.

Officially, no. If you try to log on to the Celebrity website from a UK location, it simply re-directs you to the UK website. US TA's are not supposed to take UK bookings, although it may be done through a proxy.

 

This all leads to a lot of heated debate about US offers not being available to UK residents.

Honestly, I don't think it's fair that perks are not offered to all travelers. No wonder people from the UK get upset. I would too, if it were me.

We are from the UK and always book via a US TA. We have just come back from a Silhouette cruise and we got all the 123 offers and a huge chunk of OBC.

We will be waiting till 90 days out again for our next cruise it paid off for us.

If you install Tunnelbear, then choose the US option, the Celebrity site thinks you are in the US and won't divert you to the UK site. I got this tip from Cruise Critic (thanks:)) I'm technologically challenged but even I could do it

If you install Tunnelbear, then choose the US option, the Celebrity site thinks you are in the US and won't divert you to the UK site. I got this tip from Cruise Critic (thanks:)) I'm technologically challenged but even I could do it

Doesn't the site throw a wobbler when you put in your address?

Doesn't the site throw a wobbler when you put in your address?

Oh, never thought of that:o. I only use it to check for price drops. I seem to remember others have checked prices online then phoned Miami to book, but I use a US TA so haven't tried it myself. BTW I use a Tesco prepaid card to phone the US- it costs about 2p a minute