shopping for best fare

[tomculb]

I'm guessing there is no good answer to this question, but let me try anyway. . .

We want to do an eastern Med cruise out of Venice in the summer of 2013 (assuming the same cruise is available then), and I'm assuming those cruises will be posted within the next several weeks. Any strategies for getting the best fares? Book early? Wait until the last minute? Does HAL have any regularly scheduled sales (based on what I get in the mail from them there's always a sale!). Better through a TA or not?

 

Thanks for any thoughts.

[tcook052]

We want to do an eastern Med cruise out of Venice in the summer of 2013 (assuming the same cruise is available then), and I'm assuming those cruises will be posted within the next several weeks. Any strategies for getting the best fares? Book early? Wait until the last minute? Does HAL have any regularly scheduled sales (based on what I get in the mail from them there's always a sale!). Better through a TA or not?

 

I wouldn't recommend waiting until last minute for summer sailings as they go on sale less due to higher demand. The same hold for the airfare which will get more expensive the closer you get, especially if making connections through London with the Olympics there in late July & early Aug.

 

MHO would be to book early though a TA and keep watching for price drops before final payment.

[iancal]

It is very much supply and demand.

 

This past fall we had two top of the category balcony cabins on a 12 day cruise fron Istanbul for $100. per day/per person. We were able to get good air prices about 45 days out. DS did the same. She already had airfare but was able to score the same price for a 10 balcony out of Rome.

[excruisestaff]

I'm guessing there is no good answer to this question, but let me try anyway. . .

We want to do an eastern Med cruise out of Venice in the summer of 2013 (assuming the same cruise is available then), and I'm assuming those cruises will be posted within the next several weeks. Any strategies for getting the best fares? Book early? Wait until the last minute? Does HAL have any regularly scheduled sales (based on what I get in the mail from them there's always a sale!). Better through a TA or not?

 

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

I agree with the poster about better to book early, and with a TA, then keep an eye out for price drops, but just one little correction: the Olympics are being held in London next year, not in 2013. You will still have to deposit it within a certain amount of time, but if you are comfortable with that, I say go for it. JMO.

 

Maxine

[tcook052]

one little correction: the Olympics are being held in London next year, not in 2013.

 

Correct Maxine and apologies for not catching poster actually asked about 2013. :o

[excruisestaff]

Correct Maxine and apologies for not catching poster actually asked about 2013. :o

 

No problem. It's happens to all of us :D

Maxine

[Randyk47]

I'm guessing there is no good answer to this question, but let me try anyway. . .

We want to do an eastern Med cruise out of Venice in the summer of 2013 (assuming the same cruise is available then), and I'm assuming those cruises will be posted within the next several weeks. Any strategies for getting the best fares? Book early? Wait until the last minute? Does HAL have any regularly scheduled sales (based on what I get in the mail from them there's always a sale!). Better through a TA or not?

 

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

I'm a advocate of booking early but not so much because there are bargains to be had but more because we like specific cabins and don't want to take what's left over. Certainly you can or sometimes will catch a "last minute" sale but then again some of these sales are sales in name only and really not that much if any cheaper. We don't book directly with the cruise line, any cruise line, and work with two or three Internet based TA's. On the average we save 12% over the published fare and have saved as much as 25% and as little as 10%. Obviously it depends on the category of cabin, the length of the cruise, and the itinerary but since we book suites on 10-day or longer cruises it can add up to some significant savings.

[iancal]

You can book early and we sometimes do and then watch for price decreases. If you see somehting better outside of the cancellation window you can easily cancel.

 

We are going to be booking air for an extended vacation period since we usually wrap a land based tour around a cruise.

 

We may book in advance but prior to final payment we will look to see what the prices are for other ships, other cruise lines that we like in addition to HAL. Then we decide whether to switch reservations, or just cancel and see what comes up.

 

We find HAL and Princess to be a bit slow to reduce pricing in the cancellation window for our preferred category. The last three cruises that we have booked in the cancellation window were on another cruise line. The price was too good to ignore.

[carlo7]

When I booked our 4/13 Westerdam cruise I called HAL before calling my T/A and asked the same question as the OP. I was told any fare reductions usually occur 6 to 8 weeks before embarkation. I relayed this to my T/A and she said any fare reduction would would be passed along to me. So I see no risk in booking early, reserving the cabin I want and waiting to see what happens.

[iancal]

Notwithstanding what your TA said, fare reductions often do take place 4-8 weeks prior to the cruise.

 

Unfortunately one would be well within the no cancellation period and the price reduction would typically NOT be passed to the customer.