Book Now or Wait for a Flash for Nov 11

[sjgertz]

We are looking at the November 11th sailing on the NA out of Fort Lauderdale. There seems to be plenty of space. Should I book now or wait six weeks or so and see if there is a flash sale? We are looking at a balcony cabin.

[Kim Fontaine]

I would start looking daily: Never know what great deals might pop-up_

We found $320 airfare to Ft. Lauderdale from Maine for our cruise coming up the week before Christmas: Normally i would expect to pay double that: I quite often check cruise and flights on tuesday and wednesday evenings at bed time:

[sail7seas]

We book when we know the cruise we want as we are particular about our cabin. We want the cabin we want and it is not unusual to see prices go up. We have seen prices rise on our cruise/our category in the weeks/months after we booked.

 

It's always a guessing game at which point you will get the absolutely best price.

No one can tell you for sure. IMO

[fann1sh]

If most any balcony cabin will do, you can probably wait until mid-to-late August.

 

Like Kim Fontaine, I just check prices daily on my-travel-agency-websites-I-can't-name-here. I don't find the flashes useful.

 

But I'm partial to very particular cabins. So, I can't agree about availability from what I'm seeing. VD's are only available as guarantees, which means you won't get a VD. And I don't like the narrower balconies you can get with "upgrades" to some VC, VB, VA.

 

Maybe they have whole categories blocked, and will release specific cabins later. But....maybe not.

[PathfinderEss]

If you want to insure a balcony cabin I wouldn't wait to long. If you really don't care which cabin you get then wait till after final payment for that cruise and see if they have a flash sale. Payment would be about 90 days out.

[sjgertz]

Thanks all. Looking at a balcony but not married to it. Think I will check dailyish and wait for the right deal to come along.

[cruz chic]

If you want to insure a balcony cabin I wouldn't wait to long. If you really don't care which cabin you get then wait till after final payment for that cruise and see if they have a flash sale. Payment would be about 90 days out.

I think final payment is generally 75 days out not 90. I think the only times it's 90 are for holiday or maybe longer cruises.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I would book asap...

[sapper1]

I think final payment is generally 75 days out not 90. I think the only times it's 90 are for holiday or maybe longer cruises.

 

I have final payment noted on my calendar as August 28th.

[serendipity1499]

I think final payment is generally 75 days out not 90. I think the only times it's 90 are for holiday or maybe longer cruises.

 

For our 21 day, B2B Nov 26 cruise on the Noordam, our final payment is due Aug. 26, which is 90 days out.. No Holiday involved as Thanksgiving is the Thurs before we leave..Do you consider this a longer cruise?

Betty

[serendipity1499]

I have final payment noted on my calendar as August 28th.

 

Is that 75 or 90 days before travel?..

[sapper1]

Is that 75 or 90 days before travel?..

 

Out of curiosity I have just finished counting and it is 75 days and it is a 14 day cruise.

[cruz chic]

For our 21 day, B2B Nov 26 cruise on the Noordam, our final payment is due Aug. 26, which is 90 days out.. No Holiday involved as Thanksgiving is the Thurs before we leave..Do you consider this a longer cruise?

 

Betty

I have no idea what the cutoff is. I've only had one cruise in recent memory that I had to pay 90 days in advance and that was New Years 2010. Maybe it's your TA that is reqesting that. You might want to ask.

[kazu]

I have no idea what the cutoff is. I've only had one cruise in recent memory that I had to pay 90 days in advance and that was New Years 2010. Maybe it's your TA that is reqesting that. You might want to ask.

 

Actually now that I think about it (scary thought) our final payment is due in February and we don't sail May next year - that puts it closer to the 90 day mark than the 75 day - not sure if it's because it's a collectors' cruise or not - or an efficient TA - but the deadline date is on the HAL form.;)

[sapper1]

Actually now that I think about it (scary thought) our final payment is due in February and we don't sail May next year - that puts it closer to the 90 day mark than the 75 day - not sure if it's because it's a collectors' cruise or not - or an efficient TA - but the deadline date is on the HAL form.;)

 

Our deadline for the same cruise is February 16th for a May 17th sail date.

[serendipity1499]

Out of curiosity I have just finished counting and it is 75 days and it is a 14 day cruise.

 

I have no idea what the cutoff is. I've only had one cruise in recent memory that I had to pay 90 days in advance and that was New Years 2010. Maybe it's your TA that is reqesting that. You might want to ask.

 

Not the TA's date, it's HAL's final payment date..Maybe anything over 14 days is a 90 day deposit..For our Jan 5 cruise I think there was a 120 day final pay met, but in our case we paid early to get another 5% plus discount..

 

The OP did not say how long his/her cruise on the NA is..That will determine when final payment date is..If the ship is not sold out by then, HAL may have flash sales...But those sales might be for cabins which are not that great..If we wanted a certain type of cabin, we would not wait to purchase our cruise..

Betty

[cruz chic]

Not the TA's date, it's HAL's final payment date..Maybe anything over 14 days is a 90 day deposit..For our Jan 5 cruise I think there was a 120 day final pay met, but in our case we paid early to get another 5% plus discount..

 

I really don't know the criteria. That would be a question for HAL. I've kept my confirmations for years, even after the cruise was long over. I just took a look at the confirmation for a 16 day cruise in April 2011 and the payment was due 75 days before. I took a 26 day cruise in Nov 2008 and final was due 90 days before. Looks like the breaking point is somewhere between 16 and 26 days but maybe it depends on the area/ship. Since the OP is looking likely looking at either 7 or 14 day I think it's fairly safe to assume 75 days.

[Fb_cruiser]

I hadn't really thought about this, but interesting based on this thread...

 

We just transferred our booking for our Thanksgiving week cruise from a TA to Amex Travel because of some perks from Amex that we weren't aware of at time of booking. (We gave the TA a chance to match the offer, but they couldn't do it.) Final payment with the TA was to be 75 days out, and final payment with Amex is 90 days out. Sounds like it's more of a TA thing than a HAL thing.

 

Frank

[PathfinderEss]

I think final payment is generally 75 days out not 90. I think the only times it's 90 are for holiday or maybe longer cruises.

Your right Lorekauf, I believe most the time it is around 75 days out.Though on our up coming cruise we had to pay 82 days out. When we went on a 30 day cruise we had to pay even further out, I think about 90 days.

[cruz chic]

I hadn't really thought about this, but interesting based on this thread...

 

We just transferred our booking for our Thanksgiving week cruise from a TA to Amex Travel because of some perks from Amex that we weren't aware of at time of booking. (We gave the TA a chance to match the offer, but they couldn't do it.) Final payment with the TA was to be 75 days out, and final payment with Amex is 90 days out. Sounds like it's more of a TA thing than a HAL thing.

 

Frank

I'm fairly certain that Lisa Laffin (sp) mentioned one time the certain TA's do have final payments a little further out so people can have money in time to make final payment. I guess some folks aren't good with money commitments so they need more time to come up with cash. This seems so foreign to me. Personally if I don't have the money in the bank long before final payment I'd be rethinking my vacation plans.

[midgecruiser]

I'm a wait and book at the last min type...after final payment and within one week. OK, the very last min is usually out of Seattle (home port) or Vancouver where I don't have to book air. However, I have always been able to book the date and cabin category with last min booking with a really great rate. However, if you want a certain cabin or week and can't be flexible then that must be considered.

 

Wendy

[chloes nana]

I hadn't really thought about this, but interesting based on this thread...

 

We just transferred our booking for our Thanksgiving week cruise from a TA to Amex Travel because of some perks from Amex that we weren't aware of at time of booking. (We gave the TA a chance to match the offer, but they couldn't do it.) Final payment with the TA was to be 75 days out, and final payment with Amex is 90 days out. Sounds like it's more of a TA thing than a HAL thing.

 

Frank

What kind of perks? We have Amex plat. Never thought to check