JMO - Don't book early on Seabourn

Seabourn pricing is crazy and if one books early, one just might end up having paid too much. I say this based on two different bookings with Seabourn.

The exception to this would be a cruise itinerary that is very popular.

Seabourn pricing is crazy and if one books early, one just might end up having paid too much. I say this based on two different bookings with Seabourn.

 

The exception to this would be a cruise itinerary that is very popular.

I keep an eye on prices and if they go down before final payment my TA gets our fare reduced. The time they went down after final payment, Seabourn made us whole with an upgrade and on-board credit.

From my personal experience, Seabourn plays pretty fair.

And, of course, prices can go up too. Veranda prices on our next cruise have been bouncing all over the place.

All cruise ship lines' pricing can make you crazy. I once met a wise woman on a cruise who said to the this effect: Everyone on this cruise has paid a different fare. If we discussed and shared what each of us had paid, some of us would be thrilled and have the best cruise of our lives. Some others would get pissed off and have a miserable vacation.

That said, we are booked on Seabourn for a long trip in November, 2018. We reserved in November, 2017...yes we are crazy people who plan ahead. We made our final payment yesterday, so today I checked the current pricing on this sailing that is still available in all cabin classes. The prices are substantially higher than what we reserved at so many months ago. So right now I am feeling good. I hope I have no regrets as the months roll by...but we do have a good TA who works with cruise lines when prices drop.

BTW, at the cocktail party where the wise woman addressed a small group of us, we all decided to not disclose what each of us had paid. We all had a good time at the party.

We booked a cruise while Seabourn was having their 30th birthday special, category upgrades, OBC etc paying a deposit for a December sailing early March and now finding there is another special price for our sailing which is quite a bit cheaper

Seabourn use the words Not combinable with other offers

Would this mean that a future cruise deposit along with the 5% discount not apply? We also have another discount on a future cruise which Seabourn gave us on the last cruise we did due to the poor weather we had, missed ports etc . We never expected that discount as Seabourn can not control the weather

If I do a dummy booking this new price which Seabourn is offering at the moment is a lot cheaper for the same cabin without these future cruise deposits we have also with the deposit we paid while on the last cruise

We are due to pay the final payment mid July and wondering where we stand? Is it worth chasing my TA and wasting his and my time?

We booked a cruise while Seabourn was having their 30th birthday special, category upgrades, OBC etc paying a deposit for a December sailing early March and now finding there is another special price for our sailing which is quite a bit cheaper

 

Seabourn use the words Not combinable with other offers

 

Would this mean that a future cruise deposit along with the 5% discount not apply? We also have another discount on a future cruise which Seabourn gave us on the last cruise we did due to the poor weather we had, missed ports etc . We never expected that discount as Seabourn can not control the weather

 

If I do a dummy booking this new price which Seabourn is offering at the moment is a lot cheaper for the same cabin without these future cruise deposits we have also with the deposit we paid while on the last cruise

 

We are due to pay the final payment mid July and wondering where we stand? Is it worth chasing my TA and wasting his and my time?

It’s not a waste of time to try! Don’t know about the 'not combinable' as all the cruise lines make special offers when sailings are light or?...... Our cruise went down by $2,000 per person. I called our TA and he had an adjustment in less than an hour. This WAS prior to final payment. Just our experience.

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It’s not a waste of time to try! Don’t know about the 'not combinable' as all the cruise lines make special offers when sailings are light or?...... Our cruise went down by $2,000 per person. I called our TA and he had an adjustment in less than an hour. This WAS prior to final payment. Just our experience.

 

 

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The way I was reading it is that the new sale price is maybe it does not combine with other discounts like future cruise deposits, etc with their words that Seabourn use on their site " Not combinable with other offers"

This cruise has also dropped about $2,000 a person as well

Will chase my TA up

The future cruise discount is not an offer. It is a contract. You will get 5% off your final payment price.

Get your TA to work on this asap.

I am not exactly in agreement with you OP, the last two med cruises on SB I have booked were booked early and were the cheapest prices bar none I have seen and I monitor regularly. I think alot of it depends on timings and popularity of sailings but I agree with those who see SB as being pretty fair to deal with too.

Tilly I think you are correct. Thank you for getting me to check again before I got hold of my TA and look stupid

I looked at the base price which was about $2.000 cheaper than the base price when we booked which is why I did a dummy booking for the cabin which was close to ours as this new offer did not offer the free cabin upgrades, OBC etc

I just looked at the amount I was quoted by the TA and thought this is strange compared to the new base offer

PS Just checked again and I reckon the price has dropped as my maths is no good with all these discounts and converting Australia dollars to NZ dollars.

Have to get TA to sort it out

It really depends on from where you reside. In the USA you can cancel your booking with no cost and re-book so it make no difference, whereas in the UK you would loose you 10 pc deposit if you cancel at any time after booking.

Pricing shenanigans and draconian, one-sided contracts are two (of many) reasons why I cruise very infrequently. Employing a good cruise TA might alleviate some of the former, but they can't exempt the latter. Air travel can be similarly frustrating, but is a necessary evil. Cruising is an elective choice.

Choose a cruise you like. Decide if you can afford or want to pay the fare. Either book or do not according to your decision. And as all my friends in New Jersey will advise......fugedaboutit!

And as all my friends in New Jersey will advise......fugedaboutit!

That's also the tl:dr on pax rights in cruise contracts.

If you don’t mind what category of suite you have, nor it’s location or even what date(s) you cruise then by all means book at the last minute and fingers crossed you get a good deal. Then there’s your country of residence and the exchange rate fluctuations to factor in and whether you have a good agent who can secure that elusive bargain. Apart from being rather rude, asking fellow pax what they paid on any given cruise will probably open a can of worms and ruin your trip if that kind of thing bothers you. Don’t ask, don’t tell and enjoy your cruise in blissful ignorance.

My October cruise is only seen if I tick “show all sold out cruises”. The TA websites have the cruise as no longer available.

The last I was able to see prices, the base price was cheaper but only for the cabins I don’t want to be in. I am on the ship at a price I am prepared to pay.

If I waited till now to book I wouldn’t be on the ship.

IMO SB has every right to vary the prices as airlines do to fill there craft, and equally we have the right to look around and get the best deal. But also, as in booking on an airline, we may miss out on what we want and personally, I would rather book it and know I have booked what I wanted.

Taking my case a bit further I have found by clicking The Terms and Conditions I get this

*Top Ten Sale pricing expires June 25, 2018. Featured fares are per person based on double occupancy, cruise only. Fares are in U.S. dollars. Taxes, Fees & Port Expenses are additional and range from $160 to $615. Subject to availability and valid only for residents of the Americas. Pricing available for new bookings only; not combinable with any other discounts or with any other offers and are not transferable or refundable. Applicable on select departures; capacity controlled, and may be modified or withdrawn without prior notice. Other restrictions may apply. All savings amounts are included in fares shown. Seabourn reserves the right to correct errors.

BUT if I book online through the Seabourn Australia site today, which we in NZ have to, I took it through until Seabourn wanted payment I get a price about NZ$8000.00 cheaper for a cabin in the same location without the Future Cruise Deposit and 5% discount which I should get making it cheaper again. We also have a discount of 10% of what we paid for the last cruise for a future cruise, due to the poor weather, of which I do not remember how much we paid for that cruise, to factor in as well. We have paid a deposit of NZ$2500.00 with the rest due next month

Sorry to be a pain as I can not get hold of my TA at the moment to sort it

Got hold of TA today and he is working with Seabourn to not make it a new booking

By the sounds of it getting that cheaper price. Even if it was going to be a new booking and lose my deposit I will still be miles ahead with the new price

I always book early. When I decide on an itinerary and a date, I book. This is often a year in advance. I do not want to miss out on my cruise or desired location on board. We want rooms mid ship on lower decks-less of an issue with seasickness.

On several occasions I have discovered better deals. My TA has usually gotten the better deal.

We just had a situation that was not 100% resolved in our favor, but a close compromise: we are booked on a cruise in October and we have already paid our final payment. I saw that the current price on our cruise is $100 per person less than what is on our invoice. Our travel agent called and Was able to get 200 additional dollars of onboard credit. I am satisfied with that.

As an aside, I did notice that there were quite a few rooms still available for that cruise even though we are now less than three months away.

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I am not exactly in agreement with you OP, the last two med cruises on SB I have booked were booked early and were the cheapest prices bar none I have seen and I monitor regularly. I think alot of it depends on timings and popularity of sailings but I agree with those who see SB as being pretty fair to deal with too.

Yes, a lot depends on the popularity of the cruise.:):) The one that we booked has had significant price drops once two months after booking that we caught. We were traveling when final payment came due so missed that drop. Same cabin category $1,500.

Seabourn flatly refused my travel agent when she tried to look into a credit for the fare difference.

Be warned!

I cancelled my day in the retreat in retaliation. Think I’m no worse off

You originally booked a day in the Retreat? What for? Talk about throwing good money after bad... Glad you cut your losses.

Happy and healthy sailing!

You originally booked a day in the Retreat? What for? Talk about throwing good money after bad... Glad you cut your losses.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

I thought the $245US special for a sea day wasn’t too bad a price for a bottle of Bolly. Then again, we’ll be perfectly happy with NF, cocktails and caviar anywhere else on the ship an say the vintage Krug for when we get home!

You originally booked a day in the Retreat? What for? Talk about throwing good money after bad... Glad you cut your losses.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

Ditto! You made the right decision to cancel The Retreat, irrespective of whether you got a cruise price reduction/OBC compensation. The Retreat is highly over-rated!

Wow, if they do not match before Final Payment that is pretty bad, most lines will do that to keep you from cancelling. At that point they are discounting fairly close-in cruises and so is the competition.

The only reason we book early is for the itinerary. Also if you want to book airfare early or hotels in a popular area, you may want to know that the cruise is reserved at a particular price. Booking airfare at the last minute can whip out any difference in the cost of the cruise. We just always try to get within our target per day cost for the vacation.

Thanks for the reminder to keep checking.

Should we also look at this from the other side. If Seabourn have 300 cabins to sell on a cruise and after some time they have only sold 270 should they reduce the price of all 300 or is it reasonable to try to sell the remaining 30 at a discount to fill the ship.

If you are in the States you can always cancel before final payment and re-book at no cost , here in the UK we would loose our 10pc deposit but that is our decision .

Just playing devils advocate :D