Booking Freedom in Sept

[malacajo]

Just had a question for all of you seasoned cruisers.....We will be doing the Sept 21 Eastern on Freedom-have not booked yet. When we booked Disney Fantasy in 2012 (Sept Eastern also), we knew several people that waited until the 30 day mark to book and got GREAT discounts, being that the ship was not filling up for Sept...I'm wondering if it is worth the gamble to do the same for Freedom, or is this just a bad idea?? Opinions welcome..But please be nice:)

[riclop]

Just had a question for all of you seasoned cruisers.....We will be doing the Sept 21 Eastern on Freedom-have not booked yet. When we booked Disney Fantasy in 2012 (Sept Eastern also), we knew several people that waited until the 30 day mark to book and got GREAT discounts, being that the ship was not filling up for Sept...I'm wondering if it is worth the gamble to do the same for Freedom, or is this just a bad idea?? Opinions welcome..But please be nice:)

Bad idea RCCl doesnt discount like that, book and watch for price drops.

[Robinola]

I doubt they will discount only because they did an incredible sale in, I think it was November when they hugely discounted their promenade rooms. Many many people booked then. So now there are that many less rooms for them to worry about booking. Their was a thread on here about the huge discount that was offered then. You might want to look for it to verify if you want.

[RCI Cruisers 004]

I would book it yesterday ! Watch for a price drop before final payment and keep an eye on a price drop for a better room before your cruise date !

[dacsmom]

I would not wait, the cruise has a 50% change of going up and not down. I agree with the other posters, book now and watch for price drops. I did this cruise in Feb and loved it. The Eastern itinerary is my favorite and the Freedom is a beautiful ship.

[malacajo]

I would not wait, the cruise has a 50% change of going up and not down. I agree with the other posters, book now and watch for price drops. I did this cruise in Feb and loved it. The Eastern itinerary is my favorite and the Freedom is a beautiful ship.

 

Glad to hear everyone's opinions on this....I know that after we booked out Disney cruise, they put out huge discounts, if we had waited until the 30 day mark we would have literally saved around $1000 on the exact same cabin and it was just sickening..We did the Eastern, FOS was right beside us in St Thomas and we spoke to a few people in our cab that just loved it, we are so excited! Thanks for all the opinions, we will be booking by the end of Feb for sure now:)

[papaflamingo]

Depends how badly you want to go on the cruise, and how badly you want a choice of cabins. You can always get a price drop up to final payment, and often an upgrade if after final payment. We did Oasis on Sep. 28. We had a Junior Suite at a great price booked. On Labor Day the Crown Loft Suites dropped dramatically. I was able to upgrade for only $150 per person! However, the lower rate was "new booking only no other discount applies." I have a great TA. She kept after RCCL until they gave me the cabin, and they honored my D+ discount! Now, we are D+ and had 3 more cruises already booked, so my TA used that to "push" them a bit. If we had not had such a great TA we would not have gotten the upgrade. So, point is, often the last minute discounts are "new booking only," and they generally stick to that. So if you already have a cabin booked you can't qualify.

One other comment, we had friends on the same sailing 2 weeks earlier (Sep. 14) and their Crown Loft was over twice what we paid. So it is "week dependent." As I remember last year, the week you are planning is a cheap week, but the week after has been cheaper the last couple years.

My advice is that if you really want to go, and you find a price that is reasonable to you, book it then see what you can do later down the road. If you don't care about going, then wait. Odds are the price may drop a bit (or even a lot), but it may also go up. Keep in mind that Oasis will be gone that month so that is a lot of cabins being withdrawn from the Caribbean.

[malacajo]

Depends how badly you want to go on the cruise, and how badly you want a choice of cabins. You can always get a price drop up to final payment, and often an upgrade if after final payment. We did Oasis on Sep. 28. We had a Junior Suite at a great price booked. On Labor Day the Crown Loft Suites dropped dramatically. I was able to upgrade for only $150 per person! However, the lower rate was "new booking only no other discount applies." I have a great TA. She kept after RCCL until they gave me the cabin, and they honored my D+ discount! Now, we are D+ and had 3 more cruises already booked, so my TA used that to "push" them a bit. If we had not had such a great TA we would not have gotten the upgrade. So, point is, often the last minute discounts are "new booking only," and they generally stick to that. So if you already have a cabin booked you can't qualify.

One other comment, we had friends on the same sailing 2 weeks earlier (Sep. 14) and their Crown Loft was over twice what we paid. So it is "week dependent." As I remember last year, the week you are planning is a cheap week, but the week after has been cheaper the last couple years.

My advice is that if you really want to go, and you find a price that is reasonable to you, book it then see what you can do later down the road. If you don't care about going, then wait. Odds are the price may drop a bit (or even a lot), but it may also go up. Keep in mind that Oasis will be gone that month so that is a lot of cabins being withdrawn from the Caribbean.

 

I have checked and re-checked, and it looks like the Sept 21 Eastern has the cheapest week so far. I know that with DCL, we were already booked and even though price went down with the special, that was it-new bookings only. I know several people that now do that with DCL-wait until 30 day mark and get fantastic deals, but I'm a chicken!! Why won't Oasis be in the mix in Sept?? Where will it be? We really wanted to do Oasis but that meant a drive 3 hrs longer than PC and don't want to drive any farther...Thanks so much for all the advice! I think I will be booking a promenade cabin, I hope we like it-it's a gamble, but having such a hard time deciding between promenade and OV room....Just happy to go at all, but our budget is tight for this one:)

[lv2bcruzin]

We booked a B2B on the Freedom for 9/7 & 9/14. If you don't care about the cabin you could wait. I like to have certain cabins so I book ahead to get them. As well, if there is a price drop after the FP date an upgrade has a good chance of being cheaper than your original booking price, so you can do that.

 

We got a free JS upgrade when our last Jewel cruise had a price drop after the FP date. That being said our D1 dropped $300/pp. So, if we would've waited we could've really saved. That's a chance though and I know that a lot of the people who do that live by the port, so it's a not big deal to do something last minute.

Edited February 6, 2014 by lv2bcruzin

[malacajo]

We booked a B2B on the Freedom for 9/7 & 9/14. If you don't care about the cabin you could wait. I like to have certain cabins so I book ahead to get them. As well, if there is a price drop after the FP date an upgrade has a good chance of being cheaper than your original booking price, so you can do that.

 

We got a free JS upgrade when our last Jewel cruise had a price drop after the FP date. That being said our D1 dropped $300/pp. So, if we would've waited we could've really saved. That's a chance though and I know that a lot of the people who do that live by the port, so it's a not big deal to do something last minute.

 

Thanks! I think we will just book the promenade and then keep fingers crossed for a good drop in balcony prices....hoping against hope!!!

[homeschoolin]

We are looking at the exact same cruise as the OP -- the Freedom sailing from PC on Sept 21 -- and asking ourselves the same questions regarding on when to book. We have limited cruise experience that includes only two cruises:

 

Royal Caribbean Inside Passage Alaska in 1998

Carnival Western Caribbean in September 2011

 

We have a different set of circumstances from the OP. My wife and I will be cruising with our two children, ages 11 and 13. We will travel from AZ to FL by RV and book a single, oceanview room for the four of us. We followed this same format in Sept 2011 when we cruised out of Galveston on the Carnival Triumph to the Western Caribbean. We had a great cruise and are looking to do the same thing with an Eastern Caribbean cruise from 5 to 7 nights in length, preferably 7. We would also prefer a different line than Carnival since our last cruise was on Carnival.

 

For the prior Carnival cruise, we booked about 6 months in advance. We are debating on whether to play the waiting game this year in hopes of getting a really good deal. We have the benefit of having some flexibility on timing and departure port since we are mobile with the RV. At the 30 days out window which everybody seems to be talking about, we could book a cruise out of any of the FL ports then alter our RV travel plans to land us in the right city at the right time.

 

At the moment, the best deal that I see for a RC Eastern Caribbean is the Freedom from PC on September 21. One on-line cruise site has an oceanview room for $659 along with a $400 on board credit. Even with the OBC, however, this is still about 20% more expensive per night than the Carnival cruise we took in 2011.

 

My questions:

 

What is the magic to the 30 days out window regarding pricing?

 

Given our flexibility, should we just get ourselves to FL in early September then look for a last minute deal?

 

Is September from FL ports typically a window that offers good last minute deals?

 

Earlier in the thread, multiple posters stated that RC is not a good line to play the waiting game with. Has anybody out there landed a good deal on RC or other lines for a Eastern Caribbean sailing in September in the prior years?

 

Thanks for any guidance.

[malacajo]

We are looking at the exact same cruise as the OP -- the Freedom sailing from PC on Sept 21 -- and asking ourselves the same questions regarding on when to book. We have limited cruise experience that includes only two cruises:

 

Royal Caribbean Inside Passage Alaska in 1998

Carnival Western Caribbean in September 2011

 

We have a different set of circumstances from the OP. My wife and I will be cruising with our two children, ages 11 and 13. We will travel from AZ to FL by RV and book a single, oceanview room for the four of us. We followed this same format in Sept 2011 when we cruised out of Galveston on the Carnival Triumph to the Western Caribbean. We had a great cruise and are looking to do the same thing with an Eastern Caribbean cruise from 5 to 7 nights in length, preferably 7. We would also prefer a different line than Carnival since our last cruise was on Carnival.

 

For the prior Carnival cruise, we booked about 6 months in advance. We are debating on whether to play the waiting game this year in hopes of getting a really good deal. We have the benefit of having some flexibility on timing and departure port since we are mobile with the RV. At the 30 days out window which everybody seems to be talking about, we could book a cruise out of any of the FL ports then alter our RV travel plans to land us in the right city at the right time.

 

At the moment, the best deal that I see for a RC Eastern Caribbean is the Freedom from PC on September 21. One on-line cruise site has an oceanview room for $659 along with a $400 on board credit. Even with the OBC, however, this is still about 20% more expensive per night than the Carnival cruise we took in 2011.

 

My questions:

 

What is the magic to the 30 days out window regarding pricing?

 

Given our flexibility, should we just get ourselves to FL in early September then look for a last minute deal?

 

Is September from FL ports typically a window that offers good last minute deals?

 

Earlier in the thread, multiple posters stated that RC is not a good line to play the waiting game with. Has anybody out there landed a good deal on RC or other lines for a Eastern Caribbean sailing in September in the prior years?

 

Thanks for any guidance.

Homeschoolin,

The only cruise our family has ever done was on Disney Fantasy, 7 day Eastern, in Sept 2012. So many people played the waiting game (we made friends with some wonderful people that we still keep in touch with) and booked 30 days out-they got fantastic OV and balcony rooms at a steal. We found out that we would have saved literally $1000 on our OV room had we waited. However....From what I'm finding out here is that RCCL might be a bit different-I'm going to go ahead and book this cruise by end of Feb. I'm booking a promenade or OV but going to hope for a balcony if the price drops. I have researched a lot about cruise lines, RCCL or DCL would be the only way to go for our family-the price on this cruise and the "awesomeness" of this ship probably cannot be beat-I've read very very few bad reviews here....Good luck to you, I hope it all works out well for you-everyone that has responded to this post have almost all been together with the opinions to go ahead and book, so I am for sure..By the way, we homeschool too:) Let us know what you do!

[AF-1]

Homeschoolin, I sailed Freedom with my six grandkids; your kids will love this ship; there is so much for them to do. From the time you board, until you go to bed at night; they have programs for the kids; we only saw our kids for dinner and bedtime; which makes your cruise even more enjoyable. Book now; you can look for price drops prior to final pmt.

Edited February 8, 2014 by AF-1

[homeschoolin]

Thanks for the feedback. I am torn as how to proceed. I am sold on Royal as a great line, but this cruise is pricing out quite a bit higher than our last cruise even after adjusting for 5-day vs. 7-day. I am being quoted over $2,800 for my wife and I and two kids all in one OV room. That is:

 

2 adults at $659 each

2 kids at $399 each

4 taxes/fees at $98 each

4 gratuities at $84 each

 

All 4 line items above are a higher than our last cruise on Carnival out of Galveston. For that crusie, the adult rate was $70 per day vs. over $90 per day, the kids were 50% of the adult rate vs. 60%, taxes and fee were only $30 per person vs. $98. All of those increases add up. I know Royal is preferred by most to Carnival, but we may need to cross our fingers for a better deal 30 days prior to sailing.

[malacajo]

Thanks for the feedback. I am torn as how to proceed. I am sold on Royal as a great line, but this cruise is pricing out quite a bit higher than our last cruise even after adjusting for 5-day vs. 7-day. I am being quoted over $2,800 for my wife and I and two kids all in one OV room. That is:

 

2 adults at $659 each

2 kids at $399 each

4 taxes/fees at $98 each

4 gratuities at $84 each

 

All 4 line items above are a higher than our last cruise on Carnival out of Galveston. For that crusie, the adult rate was $70 per day vs. over $90 per day, the kids were 50% of the adult rate vs. 60%, taxes and fee were only $30 per person vs. $98. All of those increases add up. I know Royal is preferred by most to Carnival, but we may need to cross our fingers for a better deal 30 days prior to sailing.

 

Hope it all works out for your family!! Will keep fingers crossed for RCCL:)