Noob questions about prices and last minute deals

[robr]

Hi all, I've done a ton of research and price comparison and I just wanted to find out if I've come up with a good deal for a last minute cruise or if it's possible to do a lot better if I put this off a year or possibly even wait until a week before the cruise to book.

 

I have children ages 8 and 9. We've looked at cruising in the past but once you add in the airfare from Boston to Miami, well, the cost is pretty staggering.

 

I am located near Boston and noticed that the last week of August, the NCL Dawn out of Boston has "kids sail free". Even this seems really expensive, so I guess I'd like to know if these costs below are about as cheap as it gets, or close to it, or if there are other options that could save me several hundred $$.

 

I've looked at pricing on perhaps 12-15 different online cruise sites. They are all pretty much the same. I've also called a couple of agents at these sites to see if they could do any better. TBH, the pricing on inside cabins wasn't much better so I didn't include that.

 

ocean stateroom with portal - (upgrade deal)

Pax 1 $679.75 $156.00 $0.00 $835.75

Pax 2 $679.75 $156.00 $0.00 $835.75

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $1,359.50 $596.00 $0.00 $1,955.50

 

Mid Ship Oceanview Stateroom with Picture Window (OB)

Pax 1 $767.25 $156.00 $0.00 $923.25

Pax 2 $767.25 $156.00 $0.00 $923.25

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $1,534.50 $596.00 $0.00 $2,130.50

 

Family Oceanview Picture Window Stateroom (O1)

Pax 1 $881.00 $156.00 $0.00 $1,037.00

Pax 2 $881.00 $156.00 $0.00 $1,037.00

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $1,762.00 $596.00 $0.00 $2,358.00

(far as I can tell, "family" is no different than above room other than location)

 

 

Mini Suite with Balcony (MB)

Pax 1 $1,099.75 $156.00 $0.00 $1,255.75

Pax 2 $1,099.75 $156.00 $0.00 $1,255.75

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $2,199.50 $596.00 $0.00 $2,795.50

 

On top of this is also the $12/day/pp service fee, so that's another $336, though one of the sites listed that there was a $350 onboard credit which would negate this.

 

I wanted to see if I could do this for less than $2K so even the cheap room is over budget. Happy to wait a year, or wait until a few days before if it will help get costs down, but if this is within about 10-15% of "as cheap as it gets", I'll suck it up and jump on it.

 

Thanks for any advice.

Edited July 21, 2014 by robr

[nets33]

DH and I are on the Dawn sailing out of Boston on August 29. I check the rates at least 1x a week, DH checks almost daily to see if rates would drop enough for us to look at upgrading to a balcony.

 

The rates have dropped by a few $ in the last month, nothing significant. The price is actually $100 higher than what we originally paid for our cabin when we booked in November of last year. DH and I often talk about trying to get a last minute deal but you never know if rates will drop. IMO, Seven day cruises don't seem to have the large rate drops that I've seen on longer cruises. Others on CC have said that rates to Bermuda don't drop all that much as it is a seasonal destination and cabins sell without the large price drops you may see on a Caribbean cruise.

 

** Adding - We also have been looking at the weeks before our cruise and haven't seen these rates drop much either.

Edited July 21, 2014 by nets33

[robr]

Much thanks, I think we're going to go for it, just checking in with their teachers first.

[robr]

BTW is there a particular cruise site you're using to check rates? Seems like most of them were the same, but I did find one that was slightly cheaper. Wondering how the one you're using compares.

[JasonV1]

Generally speaking the prices should be the same once all taxes have been added, unless the agent has a block of rooms.

 

Now some agents will provide additional perks like onboard credit for booking with them; you might want to Google "bid cruise" use a specific site that comes up to try this process out. Just be aware that some people don't like having their booking tied up with an agent as that means you must go through them to make changes (FTR, I use an agent for all my cruises to get these perks).

 

As to historical pricing, Google "cruise price tracking" and you'll find sites that maintain historical pricing. I use one that updates several times a day and e-mails me when prices change. I pay a small amount of money per cruise to track prices like this, but since you can sometimes get a price reduction if the price drops (prior to final payment) the service can pay for itself quickly. I've invested $20 in the site, enough to track nearly 7 years of cruises, and been notified of over $2000 in drops that were many times only valid for a very brief window. CC has a similar service, which is free (thanks CC!), but it only updates once a week. This is not enough to catch all of the drops that occur, particularly if you want to book last minute.

 

Hi all, I've done a ton of research and price comparison and I just wanted to find out if I've come up with a good deal for a last minute cruise or if it's possible to do a lot better if I put this off a year or possibly even wait until a week before the cruise to book.

 

I have children ages 8 and 9. We've looked at cruising in the past but once you add in the airfare from Boston to Miami, well, the cost is pretty staggering.

 

I am located near Boston and noticed that the last week of August, the NCL Dawn out of Boston has "kids sail free". Even this seems really expensive, so I guess I'd like to know if these costs below are about as cheap as it gets, or close to it, or if there are other options that could save me several hundred $$.

 

I've looked at pricing on perhaps 12-15 different online cruise sites. They are all pretty much the same. I've also called a couple of agents at these sites to see if they could do any better. TBH, the pricing on inside cabins wasn't much better so I didn't include that.

 

ocean stateroom with portal - (upgrade deal)

Pax 1 $679.75 $156.00 $0.00 $835.75

Pax 2 $679.75 $156.00 $0.00 $835.75

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $1,359.50 $596.00 $0.00 $1,955.50

 

Mid Ship Oceanview Stateroom with Picture Window (OB)

Pax 1 $767.25 $156.00 $0.00 $923.25

Pax 2 $767.25 $156.00 $0.00 $923.25

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $1,534.50 $596.00 $0.00 $2,130.50

 

Family Oceanview Picture Window Stateroom (O1)

Pax 1 $881.00 $156.00 $0.00 $1,037.00

Pax 2 $881.00 $156.00 $0.00 $1,037.00

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $1,762.00 $596.00 $0.00 $2,358.00

(far as I can tell, "family" is no different than above room other than location)

 

 

Mini Suite with Balcony (MB)

Pax 1 $1,099.75 $156.00 $0.00 $1,255.75

Pax 2 $1,099.75 $156.00 $0.00 $1,255.75

Pax 3 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Pax 4 $0.00 $142.00 $0.00 $142.00

Subtotal: $2,199.50 $596.00 $0.00 $2,795.50

 

On top of this is also the $12/day/pp service fee, so that's another $336, though one of the sites listed that there was a $350 onboard credit which would negate this.

 

I wanted to see if I could do this for less than $2K so even the cheap room is over budget. Happy to wait a year, or wait until a few days before if it will help get costs down, but if this is within about 10-15% of "as cheap as it gets", I'll suck it up and jump on it.

 

Thanks for any advice.

[robr]

That's awesome info. So I think what you're suggesting is

 

Find an agent with perks that I like

make sure the agent will adjust price if the cruise cost drops (do most do this? any agent recommendation?)

subscribe to a cruse price monitoring site (google found me **********, is that what you're using?)

i'd think i'd want to watch more than just my cabin class in case something higher gets cheaper and i want to upgrade class?

 

sit back and hope i get alerts about price drops?

pay the balance as late as possible in order to take advantage of any drops (though with the cruise in only 5-6 weeks, not sure when i'd have to pay the balance, probably pretty soon)

 

appreciate you helping my noobishness :)

[robr]

looks like NCL final payment policy is around 75 days prior to cruise. so i suspect when i book i'll have to pay in full at that time given i'm only about 40 days out.

[calex]

On top of this is also the $12/day/pp service fee, so that's another $336, though one of the sites listed that there was a $350 onboard credit which would negate this.

 

Don't count on the onboard credit to pay for the daily service charge, if it is from NCL, they do not allow it to be used to pay the DSC or casino cash.

 

See this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2068330

Edited July 21, 2014 by calex

[Demonyte]

looks like NCL final payment policy is around 75 days prior to cruise. so i suspect when i book i'll have to pay in full at that time given i'm only about 40 days out.

 

Yep, you have probably 48 hrs or so to pay the whole amount.

[robr]

Don't count on the onboard credit to pay for the daily service charge, if it is from NCL, they do not allow it to be used to pay the DSC or casino cash.

 

See this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2068330

 

DAMN! Thanks. I keep finding more and more gotchas.

[AweighToSea]

In which case paying a price monitoring service might not be worth it. Even if in the short period before sailing if the price were to drop enough to warrant the phone call from what I have read here you might not get your price reduced after Final Payment or possibly get a bit of OBC. Id pay the price I am happy with and then start the planning

[brikee]

I have been using the app cruise puppy on my iphone. It saved my group 150$ the other week.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[robr]

Thanks all, we really tried to make this work but in the end, my wife and I agreed we couldn't justify the costs. We were close to $3K (pre-excursion and drinks cost) and we don't even need airfare. That's just more than is comfortable for us. But I learned a lot and will continue to keep my eyes open for something more affordable down the road.