Booking Dilemma

[Sandie]

Hi everyone,

 

I am hoping that someone may have had this experience and can provide us with some guidance. We have selected an Alaskan cruisetour for 2014 that we want to book. Currently verandah cabins are the same price as concierge. We will be sailing on Summit in early May to Bermuda. We are trying to decide whether to book now to secure the price and then, if the pricing, obc, and other perks are better, cancelling the "land" booking, and re-booking while on the ship.

 

Does anyone have any advice that might help us with our dilemma?

 

Thanks,

Sandie

[Essiesmom]

I would book now. I am not sure how cruise tours work, but with a regular cruise, you can get the price drop if it is not for new bookings only. EM

[Chicago Boy]

Hi everyone,

 

I am hoping that someone may have had this experience and can provide us with some guidance. We have selected an Alaskan cruisetour for 2014 that we want to book. Currently verandah cabins are the same price as concierge. We will be sailing on Summit in early May to Bermuda. We are trying to decide whether to book now to secure the price and then, if the pricing, obc, and other perks are better, cancelling the "land" booking, and re-booking while on the ship.

 

Does anyone have any advice that might help us with our dilemma?

 

Thanks,

Sandie

 

I would book now and secure the price and as long as Concierge is the same price as the verandah cabins I would take it. Enjoy your cruise:)

[jhans24]

Concierge isn't worth much, in my opinion, but you do get two cruise credits working towards the next loyalty level. For zero dollars book concierge and watch daily for price drops...then enjoy your cruise!

[Wine-O]

Concierge isn't worth much, in my opinion, but you do get two cruise credits working towards the next loyalty level. For zero dollars book concierge and watch daily for price drops...then enjoy your cruise!

 

You get a larger stateroom with Concierge than a regular veranda cabin. Assume you are booking on an M-Class ship.

[Sandie]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your input. My dilemma is whether to wait until we are onboard Summit in May. Usually there is OBC offered when booking on a ship and sometimes the prices are lower. If we do book in advance to hold the current pricing, can we cancel the original and then Re-book the same cabin while on the ship?

Sandie

[Essiesmom]

Yes, but you would be booking at the price that day, not the original price you booked, so any price increase might cancel out the OBC. EM

[flames9]

If one books thru a travel agent--most offer OBC as part of the deal

[Gig103]

Hi everyone,

 

I am hoping that someone may have had this experience and can provide us with some guidance. We have selected an Alaskan cruisetour for 2014 that we want to book. Thanks,

Sandie

 

Sandie, for the Summit I'd book the Concierge Class so that you can get the larger cabin and extra tier credit.

 

But the more important (to me) advice is off topic. Make sure that you pick the land booking which includes the "Tundra Wilderness Tour" in Denali; it's the tour that goes the furthest into the park and is most likely to see wild life. I remember passing the "Natural History Tour" at mile 15 and Tundra goes to mile 53.

If you "do it yourself" you can get even further with the Shuttle Bus that goes to mile 66 or 92.

[Sandie]

Thanks again for all of your thoughts. We have decided to go ahead and book now - selecting the concierge since it is the same price as the regular balcony cabin. We are looking at deck 8, but want to avoid the area where the "window washing" mechanism is housed. We have sailed on all of the M class ships, so I have been looking at my photos to see if I can determine a good location. According to the deck plans, they have designated several on deck 8 as having an obstructed view - so I am assuming that those designated obstructed view cabins have the mechanism near them much of the time.

 

The cruisetour that we have selected does not include the Wilderness Tour, but we have an additional full day in Denali during which we had planned to privately book that tour. We did have that experience on a previous Alaska trip (1994) so we recall how nice it was to be able to go deeper into the park. I didn't know about the shuttle bus - I'll look into that, too. Thanks for the good advice.

 

Since we are booking a 2014 trip, our local TA at AAA does not yet have the Booking Benefits available, but certainly they will offer some OBC, and other goodies. We are also Elite, so we will also have those perks. We will also check pricing while we are on Summit in May to see what is available.

 

Again my thanks for the replies. Happy Cruising!