how far ahead do you book a cruise?

[rescuemom]

we are looking to do a panama canal partial transit early april 2014. I just got an email from princess with sale prices and that cruise in nov/dec is now going for a fantastic price. so should I wait until closer in hopes that it will be on sale in early april? or book soon and ask for a price reduction if they do go on sale? how far in advance do you usually book your cruise?

[KirkNC]

we are looking to do a panama canal partial transit early april 2014. I just got an email from princess with sale prices and that cruise in nov/dec is now going for a fantastic price. so should I wait until closer in hopes that it will be on sale in early april? or book soon and ask for a price reduction if they do go on sale? how far in advance do you usually book your cruise?

 

When we retire we will do more last minute bookings but since we are still working we book pretty far ahead. Right now we have one booked for Feb 2015 ;)

[perkydebrajean]

My first cruise I booked about 10 months out and recieved a large OBC for booking a suite more than 9 months out.

 

Next cruise is my husbands first and we booked almost 2 years out. We are splurging on a room in the Haven since it will be a birthday cruise for my husband. By booking that far out it gives me longer to get it paid off.

 

I would love to do a spur of the moment cruise but with my husbands job we have to know well in advance.

[calliopecruiser]

I book the cruise as soon as I've made sure I can get the time and I've decided on the cruise I want. I don't have the desire to play "find the lowest price" because I need to plan my work and other things around the time, as well as plan flights and pre- or post-cruise plans. If I had a life more amenable to last-minute plans (retired, living near the cruise port city, etc) I might do things differently.

 

I'm already booked for a cruise in October 2014, more than a year away.

[janetz]

we are looking to do a panama canal partial transit early april 2014. I just got an email from princess with sale prices and that cruise in nov/dec is now going for a fantastic price. so should I wait until closer in hopes that it will be on sale in early april? or book soon and ask for a price reduction if they do go on sale? how far in advance do you usually book your cruise?

 

 

If you are seeing a great price, book it and don't look back. We have one booked since June for Oct, 2014. :)

[Guest fyree39]

As much as I'd like to book a last-minute cruise, I do realize that I'd have to give up some things to do so: My preferred dining time and room location. For now, I find I like to book more than a year out. This gives me time to pay off the cruise as well as get the dining time and the room location (or a particular room) I want. Right now I'm paying on cruises sailing in October of 2014 and April of 2015.

[Putterdude]

We need an accessible cabin so we book 18 or so months out. However, I have read that Princess has been offering some terrific deals on those partial transit cruises....so I would be inclined to book it now and ride the price down...if it goes down any further.

[Lionesss]

We usually start thinking about the next cruise when we are on a current cruise.....then we say......oh we need a break from cruising;

too much planning

too much money

too much preparation

 

Then about a month after we are home.....

Well maybe one more cruise.

We always cruise in July.....

We seem to book our next cruise for the following year by September

So about 10 months in planning.

Sea Ya

[janetz]

We usually start thinking about the next cruise when we are on a current cruise.....then we say......oh we need a break from cruising;

too much planning

too much money

too much preparation

 

Then about a month after we are home.....

Well maybe one more cruise.

 

We always cruise in July.....

 

We seem to book our next cruise for the following year by September

 

So about 10 months in planning.

 

Sea Ya

 

 

So funny. :p DH and I go through the same thought process. Well maybe one more. Over and over again.

[kruisecat]

We have done as far out as 18 months when we went to Alaska and I wanted a very specific cabin. And as short as 45 days when Carnival offered a 5 day for $209pp out of Tampa that I just couldn't resist.

 

I love the time to do all the planning but it was kind of nice to have it be "here" so quickly :D

[Keith1010]

I am retired but still book very early.

 

The location of my cabin is important to me plus by booking early we can look at hotels and airlines which many times we have found go up in price.

 

Also, I've learned that the lowest and highest price cabins go first as well as the best located cabins in all other categories.

 

Keith

[Sinppu]

I book well in advance.

My bookings are now for April 2014 and September 2014.

April 2015 is in the planning stage.

[biker@sea]

Mostly under 10 days .

Our next 14 day repo cruise I booked 40 days before sailing ( I thought it was selling out so I booked early )

The one before that 12 hrs before we boarded the ship .:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

We book at least 1 1/2 years in advance.

We prefer to be able to choose the cabin we want.

If we waited until the last minute to book a cruise, we have so few flights to anywhere (nothing direct) we would not be able to get flights. Even hotels would be a problem.

[jewopaho]

We have no hard-and-fast strategy. So much depends on when and where we'd like to go. We can drive to the ports of Galveston and Houston, so last-minute bookings (less than two months out) are common ... some of those fares are just too good to pass up (we've sailed seven-nighters for under $400). We've been to the Caribbean so often, it's rare that we even leave the ship for more than a couple of hours.

 

There's a one-time itinerary in February, 2015 (Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) that we've booked (of course, we'll keep an eye on the price), as well as an Eastern Mediterranean trip next September (those sell out quickly, so we get in early to make certain that our stateroom isn't at the very forward or aft end of the ship). We monitor airfares, and purchase tickets when we feel that they're as good as they'll be ... so far, so good.

[Taxguy77]

Book when I find something that sounds interesting, and run it by DW. Usually book the next day, after sleeping on it.

One cruise was Miami-Santiago de Chile, which went through the canal and stopped in Lima, Peru where my wife's two brothers and many cousins lived, and also a couple of ports in Chile which had great memories for DW.

One was 4 days In a hotel in Northern Italy and 10 days on the Royal Clipper. I really wanted to cruise that ship (Wonderful!) and love Italy.

Last one was TA from Lisbon to FLL, because neither of us had been to Portugal.

[ducklite]

The last cruise was about 18 months out, the next one (Tahiti) was a full two years. Only six months to go and getting excited.

 

If indeed Windstar announces Australia and New Zealand for 2015 next week, we'll probably jump on that pretty quickly.

[OCruisers]

We are retired ... but need to book early to get the type of cabin in the location we want. The good ones go very quickly.

 

LuLu

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[Jbird81]

We usually book around the 100 day period out from cruising (if you average them out). Our latest sailing this year we booked about 67 days out (two days ago) since we decided last minute to go away.

[lady_cruiser]

.... how far in advance do you usually book your cruise?

Apparently not far enough even though I usually book over a year in advance because the cabin(s) I want are never available.

[calliopecruiser]

This cruise was booked about 18 months in advance; my last one was just over a year in advance. For this upcoming cruise I realized that it had a very unusual itinerary that I am looking forward to (14 sea days and 1 port day), so I grabbed it as soon as I realized I could take enough time off at that time.