Question - Have you ever booked a last minute holiday cruise?

[Hflors]

Ok so here is where we are at. Kids grown and living up north. We are going up for north for Thanksgiving. Dh and I are thinking about when we come back from our trip up north after thanksgiving if we like the cruise and price booking a last minute holiday cruise. Has anyone done this? Would you suggest we do a cruise for both Christmas and New Years or one or the other? We thought we would just book a guarantee? Any thoughts on that? Lastly we don't mind kids, but we don't want to be over run with them. Will they be many on a HAL ship? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

We are past giving gifts (other than grand kids) and even to them its just money or gift cards so what the heck we thought lets spend our money on something we would enjoy.

 

Let me know your thoughts on this "adventure"

 

Thanks

 

Helen

 

PS We live here in South West Florida so Miami, Ft Lauderdale and Tampa are all with in about two hrs driving distance. NO flights to worry about.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Hflors

[WeLoveCruising]

We've done holiday cruises over both holidays, and enjoyed them tremendously. We're going to be on the Oosterdam for Christmas this year.

 

I would say if you're interested in both Christmas and New Year's, why not do both?

 

Some of the things you can expect for the holiday (and we haven't been in a few years, so this might not be entirely current, but it was consistent on all our holiday cruises).

 

Christmas Eve:

Tree lighting ceremony in the atrium

Christmas caroling, hot chocolate, etc

Ships decorated for the holiday

Special dinner

 

New Year's Eve

The ships go all out, parties in every lounge

Usually food stations set up throughout, One year on the Maasdam they even had stations in the elevator banks, international stations making things like crepes, roasts, pancakes, it was amazing.

Bands, music, champagne, Baby New Year, Father time, a big party!

 

Yes, there are more children but I never felt it was over run. Definitely more festive and busy than a typical cruise. I would think the 7 days, or B2B will have more children than a 10+ day.

 

We really enjoy the holiday cruises.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I say go for it! Not having to fly makes it so easy for you. When you don't live driving distance from a port, the cost of flying really dilutes the savings of a last-minute cruise. I'd say if time and money permit, go for both holidays, if possible on the same cruise. I agree with WeLoveCruising, the longer cruises will have fewer kids.

 

I haven't done a holiday cruise on HAL, but we did it once on QE2. Fantastic! Decorations everywhere, a constantly available supply of cookies, festive atmosphere everywhere. It was our first tropical Christmas. I remember being at the beach in St Thomas on Christmas Eve, out in the water squealing to DH, "Tell me again, it's really Christmas Eve!?!?" Not this year, but I think we'll do a holiday cruise next year.

[barefootguy]

Guess my question on this trip would be... What if you get up north to see kids, then snow/bad weather appears & even though you live easy drive to port from home, can't make it do to seeing kiddos... Ykees, ship is heading out & we can't move due to ice storm! Maybe have the kiddo visit you prior to leaving on the ship!

An option?

As for kids on the trip... We do Thanksgiving week cruise every yr. When they said there were 65 kids on board, not even realistic. Only say a few, 5/6 at a time & all were super behaved!!!

Edited November 6, 2015 by barefootguy

[Hflors]

Guess my question on this trip would be... What if you get up north to see kids, then snow/bad weather appears & even though you live easy drive to port from home, can't make it do to seeing kiddos... Ykees, ship is heading out & we can't move due to ice storm! Maybe have the kiddo visit you prior to leaving on the ship!

An option?

As for kids on the trip... We do Thanksgiving week cruise every yr. When they said there were 65 kids on board, not even realistic. Only say a few, 5/6 at a time & all were super behaved!!!

 

We are going see kiddies for thanksgiving. We will be home about Dec 1. Cruises we are looking at aren't until about Dec 18 - 20th Our son is coming down on Dec 4th he and dh are going to Miami to see the ravens play.

[BumperII]

Our very first HAL cruise was a last minute booking on the beautiful and elegant Maasdam. The stateroom was simply what was left, but it made no difference to us. This was among the most enjoyable and most memorable cruises we have ever taken. The Christmas holiday was fully celebrated including midnight mass arranged to include both the crew and passengers with music performed by the musicians. There was a full holiday dinner with decorations and caroling.

 

This was the cruise that got us hooked on HAL.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have cruised over Thanksgiving on HAL -- Nieuw Amsterdam and Eurodam -- mobbed with children. The 7 day cruises attract more families.

We also did Thanksgiving on the Ryndam -- part of a back-to-back as well -- 10 day portion mobbed with children.

We did several Christmas cruises on Princess -- mobbed with children.

If you can find a cruise that includes both Thanksgiving and Christmas -- Prinsendam has a 14 day cruise -- you will see less children.

Let us know what you decide.

[iancal]

We have booked two Christmas cruises within two weeks of sailing-an NCL and a Celebrity. Booked the NCL just before our Equinox TA left Spain for FLL, booked the Celebrity from home two weeks out after confirming that miraculously we could get reasonable air.

 

No issue on either though we much preferred the Celebrity. Children did not bother us in the least. We have also done a few other last minutes...the closest being six days out from sailing. We were in Florida so it was a no brainer. The cost of a balcony gty was worked out to be quite a bit less expensive than hotels, meals, and rental in Florida for that week.

 

We do exactly the same when we are on land trips in other areas. We have done last minutes while travelling in Australia and in Europe (several times) with great success.

 

If you are in Florida and can drive to port you are perfectly positioned. Just narrow you selection of ships/cruise lines down and then watch for a price that meets your target. We are fortunate to be able to do this for Alaska cruises.

 

Just to add...both of our Christmas cruises were 14 days. How close to departure you book will very much depend on how good the cruise business is that year. If business is brisk, the good 'last minute deals' will be snapped up earlier. If business is not as brisk, availability/discounted price will be extended. It is more of a challenge for us as we want a balcony. If you are happy with an outside or inside you should be able to score a great deal even closer to departure date.

Edited November 6, 2015 by iancal

[StartrainDD]

I have noticed for the seven night cruises this year the Christmas week are much less than New Year's week. Likely as most kiddos are not off until Wednesday or even Thursday, so there will be less (but still plenty) on the Christmas week cruise as opposed to New Year's week.

 

I agree longer cruises will have less children. The Prinsendam I believe is sixteen nights and even if you've done many Caribbean trips chances are she goes to some new places as they go to small islands.

 

Or take a real adventure and join us in the Antarctic (flying required)! We fly through Miami on the way down to Santiago.

Edited November 6, 2015 by StartrainDD

[WeLoveCruising]

As far as the last minute part, I was very fortunate for a number of years. My husband worked for HAL (corporate, not ship based). Last minute sailings were the rule for us! I used to keep a closet in our guest room of just cruise vacation stuff, with a checklist. I could be packed in a matter of an hour (not that we were ever THAT last minute)...but we certainly did many "Hey, want to leave on the Maasdam tomorrow?" type things.

 

As long as you can manage things at home, and have the logistics down of going last minute (taking care of pets, the house, stopping the mail), why not? Yes, you might not have your choice of dining, stateroom, maybe not get a cabana if you want it...there's definitely some flexibility required, but for me the spontaneous fun outweighed the other details.

Edited November 6, 2015 by WeLoveCruising

[3rdGenCunarder]

As far as the last minute part, I was very fortunate for a number of years. My husband worked for HAL (corporate, not ship based). Last minute sailings were the rule for us! I used to keep a closet in our guest room of just cruise vacation stuff, with a checklist. I could be packed in a matter of an hour (not that we were ever THAT last minute)...but we certainly did many "Hey, want to leave on the Maasdam tomorrow?" type things.

 

As long as you can manage things at home, and have the logistics down of going last minute (taking care of pets, the house, stopping the mail), why not? Yes, you might not have your choice of dining, stateroom, maybe not get a cabana if you want it...there's definitely some flexibility required, but for me the spontaneous fun outweighed the other details.

 

I'm impressed. I have a "cruise closet" for the posh frocks, and a storage bin with bits and pieces that always go on a cruise. Plenty of checklists on the computer. But despite all that, I take ages packing.

[casamariposa]

Ok so here is where we are at. Kids grown and living up north. We are going up for north for Thanksgiving. Dh and I are thinking about when we come back from our trip up north after thanksgiving if we like the cruise and price booking a last minute holiday cruise. Has anyone done this? Would you suggest we do a cruise for both Christmas and New Years or one or the other? We thought we would just book a guarantee? Any thoughts on that? Lastly we don't mind kids, but we don't want to be over run with them. Will they be many on a HAL ship? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

We are past giving gifts (other than grand kids) and even to them its just money or gift cards so what the heck we thought lets spend our money on something we would enjoy.

 

Let me know your thoughts on this "adventure"

 

Thanks

 

Helen

 

PS We live here in South West Florida so Miami, Ft Lauderdale and Tampa are all with in about two hrs driving distance. NO flights to worry about.

 

I did the Prinsendam's Holiday Cruise two years ago. It was lovely. Since they don't have a Club HAL, there were not that many children (only 26) and they were very well behaved. The little ones were kept busy in a meeting room by counselors provided by HAL, and the visit from Santa Claus was enjoyed by everyone....big and small! I'll do it again one year.

[iancal]

Our practice is to select one or two itineraries, then select 2-3 ships that we would be happy with. Then we monitor the prices, and air if necessary.

 

For our last price hit, we booked. Don't know what happened to prices afterward and we did not care. Celebrity price hit our target of $100 each or less for a verandah. Grand Princess and Noordam fares were 50 and 33 percent higher respectively at the time we booked. We would have been happy on any of them. Last October it was an 8 day RCI cruise that hit our target price...and it was a perfect cruise in all respects.

 

Doing the same now for SA and Asia. Not certain where we will go. Suspect Asia since we are planning a land trip to Vietnam.

 

The key for us is to be flexible, to know and monitor the prices, to understand what is a good price, to have a good on line TA, and to be willing to book just as soon as your target price hits. It involves a little work but for us the payback has been very good. Prior to retirement I worked in an environment where I often had to travel at very short notice. We can pack and be out the house in well under an hour if we have to.

Edited November 6, 2015 by iancal