Cruise price will it go down?

[asda]

When do ncl reduce prices for unsold cabins. ( month, week or just days before cruise departure)

The jade cruise we booked for July as gone up quite alot but we are now into 94 days before so just wondering when the price may drop.(or it might just keep going up)

[roger001]

Totally impossible to tell. In my experience, prices have continued to increase as the cruise date approaches. Very few cruises sail without the ship having the maximum permitted number of guests on board. Because of the guest count being the factor, sometimes the ship will sail with some cabins empty. If a particular cruise was not selling well, the few reductions in price I've seen are maybe 6 weeks or so before sailing date. But again, no way to guess. We've never done this before, but instead of booking well in advance, we are gong to do a last minute booking on our next cruise. I'm monitoring the cabin prices now and will be interested to see what the prices are 3 weeks before the cruise. Of course, I take a chance that they might all be sold then.

[asda]

Totally impossible to tell. In my experience, prices have continued to increase as the cruise date approaches. Very few cruises sail without the ship having the maximum permitted number of guests on board. Because of the guest count being the factor, sometimes the ship will sail with some cabins empty. If a particular cruise was not selling well, the few reductions in price I've seen are maybe 6 weeks or so before sailing date. But again, no way to guess. We've never done this before, but instead of booking well in advance, we are gong to do a last minute booking on our next cruise. I'm monitoring the cabin prices now and will be interested to see what the prices are 3 weeks before the cruise. Of course, I take a chance that they might all be sold then.

 

Thanks. Last year when we sailed on jade in July. The prices dropped a lot in june so we managed to pay for an upgrade to a balcony.but it doesn't look the same this time.

[nbsjcruiser]

Its been my experience over the last few years that booking 12-14 months out and then watching the prices during the first 2-3 months tends to give the best results for price drops and so on. Prices seem to rise steadily from the 9th or 10th month on. The only exception is booking last minute. If a person wants to wait until a few days before the cruise then you can get a good deal. We got a last minute (3 days prior) 4 day cruise on the Majesty of the Seas for about $425 total, taxes in. For our Indy cruise next year, we booked it 13 months out and we picked up significant price drops in the first couple of months. That seems to have stabilized though and prices have risen a bit in the last few weeks.

Edited April 8, 2014 by nbsjcruiser

[AF-1]

I booked Jade for May 2015; hopefully the price may go down in the next few months; however, I won't hold my breath if it doesn't. We are still going

[Irene7]

My sister was looking at the first week in June on the Breakaway 74 days out of the sail date and the price had a big drop. She didn't book it and went back on line a few days later and the price jumped back up to where it was before. The strange thing is that there were still a lot of the same cabins still available.

[Irene7]

Its been my experience over the last few years that booking 12-14 months out and then watching the prices during the first 2-3 months tends to give the best results for price drops and so on. Prices seem to rise steadily from the 9th or 10th month on. The only exception is booking last minute. If a person wants to wait until a few days before the cruise then you can get a good deal. We got a last minute (3 days prior) 4 day cruise on the Majesty of the Seas for about $425 total, taxes in. For our Indy cruise next year, we booked it 13 months out and we picked up significant price drops in the first couple of months. That seems to have stabilized though and prices have risen a bit in the last few weeks.

 

Did you have to call RCCL to get the price drop on the Indy cruise or did they automatically adjust your balance?

[Irene7]

I booked Jade for May 2015; hopefully the price may go down in the next few months; however, I won't hold my breath if it doesn't. We are still going

 

Same here for the Gem in May 2015. I booked it in Feb and here it is April and the price hasn't changed.

[Ewoodspark]

I can never quite understand this fixation in looking at prices after booking to see if the price falls. If I buy something or book anything, I am happy at the price I am paying. What is the point of keep looking to see if the price has reduced (or risen). Surely, if you were happy to book at the price quoted, you must have been able to afford the cruise. Is this an American idea to keep checking on prices?

[swilliams1660]

Its all based on supply and demand. High inventory of unsold cabins equal low price. Low inventory, high price.

[roger001]

I can never quite understand this fixation in looking at prices after booking to see if the price falls. If I buy something or book anything, I am happy at the price I am paying. What is the point of keep looking to see if the price has reduced (or risen). Surely, if you were happy to book at the price quoted, you must have been able to afford the cruise. Is this an American idea to keep checking on prices?

 

I would imagine it's a human nature, multi cultural idea (well, except for you of course). I am indeed happy with the price I original pay. But then I am even super happier if a new and lower price is made available to me before final payment. It's called shopping.

[Demonyte]

Very few cruises sail without the ship having the maximum permitted number of guests on board.

 

Based on what I've read and seen on documentaries, I have to strongly disagree and would say exactly the opposite: what you said is true on some most popular peak season cruises, but definitely a lot more than "very few cruises" sail without reaching the max lifeboat capacity. Cruise lines are happy and can make profit already from cruise fares if they get ships to sail at full capacity (double occupancy) and getting to the point where some cabins need to be left unsold because of the maximum permitted guests in one muster area is reached (max capacity) is much higher and not happening on regular bases on most cruises.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Demonyte

[SteveH2508]

asda

 

That 12 July itinerary is a one off in peak season so I doubt there will much in the way of price drops. If booked through the UK site it needs to be a substantial drop to make the loss of deposit ad any OBC worth re-booking.

 

That site which tracks prices shows that cruise as fairly well booked up. We work on the principle of 'we booked at a price we are happy with so we do not obsess over it' (and we do have a bit of OBC as well for this cruise).

 

Now to start booking trains and hotels for the before and after legs of our 'Grand Tour' (London-Paris-Milan-Venice then Venice-Munich-???-Cologne-Brussels-London is looking good at the moment):D

[millineumwoman]

So far I have booked 15 months in advance and have only seen the price go up a little. I am hoping for it to go down as I would love a free upgrade to one of the suites as I originally booked the family balcony with upgrade to mb( mini suite). So here is hoping the prices go down!!

[cruisezr1]

I can never quite understand this fixation in looking at prices after booking to see if the price falls. If I buy something or book anything, I am happy at the price I am paying. What is the point of keep looking to see if the price has reduced (or risen). Surely, if you were happy to book at the price quoted, you must have been able to afford the cruise. Is this an American idea to keep checking on prices?

 

Great! I have a room for you $20,000 and it yours.

[Ewoodspark]

Great! I have a room for you $20,000 and it yours.

Thanks for the offer but I don't pay in US Dollars. Anyway. the details are a bit sketchy.:)

[SteveH2508]

Anyone want to buy a bridge?:rolleyes:

[bingo3]

mine dropped right after final payment and has dropped twice since. Sail in 7 weeks.

debbie

[mrobstad]

I've never gotten an upgrade until this year, and now I understand the zeal with which people pursue them and watch prices. I booked the Getaway on 1/24, a studio. Last month, right before final payment, the price had dropped so much that I got upgraded to a balcony ! As a solo ! I'll watch from now on !

 

 

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[mking8288]

It's a matrix of variables (multitude of factors) that affect pricing changes - including the particular ship, itinerary, sailing dates, and the ports.

 

Typically, a new mega ship for the inaugural season generally get top prices for its bookings, even for shoulder season. Exception, however, might be true for the Gateaway - prices are dropping already and it's for last minute booking. I haven't look at the details since Miami is its home port - if it's based in NYC, that would be a different story. It comes down to supply & demand - and, with so many lines and ships based in Florida, NCL have had to deal to fill the cabins - by offering incentives, that is - lowered the base prices. As a general rule and historical trend, holiday cruises do not drop in prices as they will fill out at the "rack" rates - rising airfares trending will prompt many to look at cruises closer to their home ports, and not necessary good for those of us in the Northeast with fewer ships based here (unlike Florida.)

 

Watching some cruises this Fall close to home, and prices aren't moving down yet (or, minimally) - as it get closer to final payment/cutoff dates and with cabins not filling up, prices generally do drop - it's a game of patience and will, let's see who will blink first.

[Demonyte]

Typically, a new mega ship for the inaugural season generally get top prices for its bookings, even for shoulder season. Exception, however, might be true for the Gateaway - prices are dropping already and it's for last minute booking. I haven't look at the details since Miami is its home port - if it's based in NYC, that would be a different story.

 

Excatly the same happened with Breakaway - there were a lot of angry threads here when people realized that somebody got on their Breakaway cruise for less money that they paid.

[pokerpro5]

A lot of people are talking about upgrades, but you can do better than upgrades if you are more than 75 days out.

 

You are allowed at that point to cancel and immediately rebook at the lower price for NO PENALTY, and you are almost guaranteed to get the same room back. (There is a tiny chance someone will grab your room in the 5-minute interim, but it almost never happens.)

 

After 75 days, you are in the penalty zone, and are usually better off going for an upgrade. The general upgrade policy on NCL is that you can upgrade to another cabin by paying the difference between what you already paid and its current price.

 

So let's say it's 60 days out and you paid $600 for an Oceanview a few months ago. If a Balcony is available for $650, you can pay $50 and upgrade to it. If a Balcony is $600 or less, you can upgrade for free.

 

There's exceptions, but that's generally how it works.

 

Believe it or not, I got a rare exception made for me on my December cruise, where I got a refund on the difference between a dropped fare AFTER the 75 day deadline. This is because a rep wrongly told me that I could get onboard credit for the difference if this happened. They pulled the call and saw I was right, so they honored it and in fact just credited back my card the difference.

[Ewoodspark]

A lot of people are talking about upgrades, but you can do better than upgrades if you are more than 75 days out.

 

You are allowed at that point to cancel and immediately rebook at the lower price for NO PENALTY, and you are almost guaranteed to get the same room back.

.

This does NOTapply to all bookings

[jkgourmet]

I can never quite understand this fixation in looking at prices after booking to see if the price falls. If I buy something or book anything, I am happy at the price I am paying. What is the point of keep looking to see if the price has reduced (or risen). Surely, if you were happy to book at the price quoted, you must have been able to afford the cruise. Is this an American idea to keep checking on prices?

 

Because everyone wants to save money if they can. What's wrong with that? Nothing.

 

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[pokerpro5]

This does NOTapply to all bookings

 

Please explain.

 

Which bookings does this not apply, and how does it work on those?