Rules of thumb on best time to book?

[Vagabond Knight]

I realize that we cannot always anticipate sales and extra perks, but are there any rules of thumb for the best time to book with Celebrity for the best deals (cruise price + perks)? When the cruise is first posted? When onboard another Celebrity cruise, even if the upcoming cruise has been available for a while (yes, I realize the stateroom/suite selection would be more limited at that point)? Does the departure port, itinerary or length of the cruise affect the best time to book? How about the stateroom/suite type?

Edited May 22, 2016 by SunsetPoint

[WestLakeGirl]

Bbook on board if you can for extra OBC

 

Book early if you wanT a particular stateroom or want to use frequent flyer points for air

 

Book after final payment if you want a lower price and are willing to gamble that rooms you like will be available and if transport to the ship isn't by air

[Caribbean Chris]

My experience currently is it paid to book a signature suite early (almost two years out) because the price later jumped by $1000 and has never come back down. I suspect this was the Luminae/Michael's Club effect.

 

If you really want/need a certain room or location, book early, ideally on board.

 

If you are on a very limited-capacity itinerary, book early. We saw the price go up on a 2-week Hawaii cruise a few years ago, never went any lower.

 

Before final payment, monitor your cruise just in case there are price drops, and often you can keep your perks (not always.)

 

If you have unlimited free time (retired) and don't need flights, you can hold off until way after final payment for 7 day cruises where there are numerous competing lines.

 

However, the really low prices don't always include perks.

Edited May 22, 2016 by Caribbean Chris

[GUT2407]

I don't think that there is any hard and fast rule.

[Lastdance]

I don't think that there is any hard and fast rule.

 

 

I totally agree! However, if location is important, really important, book EARLY!

The trend I am noticing with Celebrity is that suites, on quite a few venues, sell very well due to all the perks, along with Luminae/Michaels. TA's sell out fast for suites too.

Every cruise itinerary has its own agenda and formula for price raising AND dropping.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Lastdance

[pcur]

I book almost all our cruises 12 - 18 months in advance during a promo of some kind. I find the prices are usually very good, even with the promo. Then, I watch my price like crazy.

 

Just today I upgraded us from and inside to a balcony. It cost $800 more, BUT we got prepaid gratuities, and Costco gave us another $260 obc. So, that's a $571 savings out of our pocket by the end of the cruise, which wipes out all but $229 of the increase.

 

This is for a cruise in October of 2017.

[Hlitner]

There is no general rule! The cruise lines use sophisticated "yield management" programs, combined with very experienced hunches, to set their prices. Supply and demand rule! So if a particular cruise is nearly booked well in advance, prices will often increase and the benefit goes to the early bookers. On the other hand, if a particular cruise does not book well (like many of the Med cruises this summer) there will be some amazing deals for the last minute booking. In the Caribbean, the week of the cruise can have a great impact. If you want to take a cruise in the 2nd week of December or right after New Years...waiting to the last minute may well reap amazing benefits. On the other hand, if you going to cruise in mid-February or March, you will likely benefit from booking early.

 

But Celebrity now has a new issue which is a CEO who seems determined to cut quality, increase prices, and hold firm on the pricing. While that sounds good (in terms of profits) the reality is that no cruise line wants to sail with empty berths (that equals opportunity lost revenue which can never be recouped). Despite Madam CEO's claims, we now see some huge discounts (over 50%) on Med cruises in the next couple of months. So, the bargains are there for the last minute booker....despite Celebrity claims that this would not happen. As an example, the 6/18 Equinox cruise (from Istanbul) has amazing deals with balconies about $100 per passenger/day with all kinds of amenities tossed in.... Go figure.

 

As to the Caribbean and Mexico for next winter....the Zika Virus scare is likely to put a lot of downward pressure on prices (just our hunch).

 

Hank

Edited May 23, 2016 by Hlitner

[jelayne]

There is no general rule! The cruise lines use sophisticated "yield management" programs, combined with very experienced hunches, to set their prices. Supply and demand rule! So if a particular cruise is nearly booked well in advance, prices will often increase and the benefit goes to the early bookers. On the other hand, if a particular cruise does not book well (like many of the Med cruises this summer) there will be some amazing deals for the last minute booking. In the Caribbean, the week of the cruise can have a great impact. If you want to take a cruise in the 2nd week of December or right after New Years...waiting to the last minute may well reap amazing benefits. On the other hand, if you going to cruise in mid-February or March, you will likely benefit from booking early.

 

But Celebrity now has a new issue which is a CEO who seems determined to cut quality, increase prices, and hold firm on the pricing. While that sounds good (in terms of profits) the reality is that no cruise line wants to sail with empty berths (that equals opportunity lost revenue which can never be recouped). Despite Madam CEO's claims, we now see some huge discounts (over 50%) on Med cruises in the next couple of months. So, the bargains are there for the last minute booker....despite Celebrity claims that this would not happen. As an example, the 6/18 Equinox cruise (from Istanbul) has amazing deals with balconies about $100 per passenger/day with all kinds of amenities tossed in.... Go figure.

 

As to the Caribbean and Mexico for next winter....the Zika Virus scare is likely to put a lot of downward pressure on prices (just our hunch).

 

Hank

 

I think the travel advisory for Turkey and the actual terrorist attacks and threat of more terrorist activity has impacted all travel to Europe, not just cruises. Other cruise lines are also cutting prices to fill ships in Europe.

 

If I hadn't already book air using miles for our TA in October I would be looking to book the cruise before the TA as prices keep dropping.

Edited May 23, 2016 by jelayne

[bigbenboys]

I think the travel advisory for Turkey and the actual terrorist attacks and threat of more terrorist activity has impacted all travel to Europe, not just cruises. Other cruise lines are also cutting prices to fill ships in Europe.

 

If I hadn't already book air using miles for our TA in October I would be looking to book the cruise before the TA as prices keep dropping.

 

Just checked out our Sept 3, 2016 cruise Amsterdam to Rome. We booked under 123Go get all 3, plus we booked onboard 200.00 OBC. Checked booking today. Cost is $1327 more with only 2 perks and no 200.00 for booking onboard.

 

I still say book early.

[Vagabond Knight]

Hmm... didn't even think of air travel figuring into it. For most cruise itineraries we would book, we would be driving. We're within driving distance of the ports of Tampa, Port Canaveral, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale. Thinking of doing a TransAtlantic at some point though, or a Panama Canal cruise that ends up in southern California (San Diego or LA) since we go out there a few times a year anyhow to visit the kids/grandkids. Alas, not retired yet... a few more years. However, I could conceivably take off pretty much at the last minute if we're not working a time-dependent project at the time.

[pcur]

Hmm... didn't even think of air travel figuring into it. For most cruise itineraries we would book, we would be driving. We're within driving distance of the ports of Tampa, Port Canaveral, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale. Thinking of doing a TransAtlantic at some point though, or a Panama Canal cruise that ends up in southern California (San Diego or LA) since we go out there a few times a year anyhow to visit the kids/grandkids. Alas, not retired yet... a few more years. However, I could conceivably take off pretty much at the last minute if we're not working a time-dependent project at the time.

 

I don't figure airfare into the decision process when booking a cruise. Since I book 12 - 18 months in advance I have a lot of time to build up Chase Sapphire points, or get an airline credit card that flies to my departure port. I haven't paid full price for airfare in 10 years at least.

[ReneeFLL]

Unfortunately, there are so many variables. I think booking early is good since you can get a good price and a good location if that is your thing. You can always look for price drops or perks later on.

[Woobstr112G]

I totally agree! However, if location is important, really important, book EARLY!

The trend I am noticing with Celebrity is that suites, on quite a few venues, sell very well due to all the perks, along with Luminae/Michaels. TA's sell out fast for suites too.

Every cruise itinerary has its own agenda and formula for price raising AND dropping.

 

So very very true. I was looking for a new/different itinerary to celebrate my retirement in 2018. I came across the Tahitian Treasures (SYD to Honolulu about three months after it opened for booking. Sadly all of the two different suites (Celebrity and Penthouse) were already booked. I'm in a Sky suite and on a waitlist for one the aforementioned to possibly open up.....:):):)

 

Bob

[villauk]

Just checked out our Sept 3, 2016 cruise Amsterdam to Rome. We booked under 123Go get all 3, plus we booked onboard 200.00 OBC. Checked booking today. Cost is $1327 more with only 2 perks and no 200.00 for booking onboard.

 

I still say book early.

 

And those that have booked that exact same cruise and itinerary for next year have been stung by booking early as X have cancelled the sailing due to a charter. This has obviously impacted greatly those pax that were planning a B2B. So there's no rhyme or reasoning to early or late booking - anything can happen and often does ;).

 

Luckily we had booked in the US for our Connie cruise otherwise I would have been devastated to watch how low our pricing went for a Med cruise this year. If you'd booked a top suite, the pricing fell by up to 75% :eek:. Great if you got the price drops, but if I'd have booked early over here (no drops without losing my deposits), you'd have felt my pain from that side of the pond :D.

 

The one-off itineraries are usually the ones to book early as their pricing normally only goes one way: UP ;).

[jbuch02]

"Yield Management" programs, in use by the airline industry for decades took hold in the leisure travel industry (Hotels, resorts, cruise lines) maybe 5-8 years ago and has had a major impact on the buyer's side while producing sizeable profits for the sellers. It is what it is and makes price shopping/trying to hit the sweet spot hard.

 

Having said that, most of the "rules of thumb" for finding the best deal (not necessarily the lowest cabin price) for a cruise have already been mentioned. Most cruise lines have added some type of incentive program and this makes it difficult to compare apples to apples ..... but it can be done, takes some patience and requires you to calculate the price per day per person, perks included.

 

There are a lot of variables involved in finding the "best" deal and I'd agree the most important two are your availability to cruise (how flexible are you) and the ships' itinerary (place and time of the year). For example, Constellation was scheduled to do a Transatlantic crossing in April, was under-booked and cabin pricing dropped dramatically, right about 60+ days out. That's a typical time to start eyeballing cabin prices across the industry. An OV cabin was priced at under $80pp/d. Unfortunately previous commitments prevented me from booking this huge deal. See my sad face.

 

Some points about Celebrity repositioning cruises in general: My experience is that these itineraries often produce the best value on a price per day basis. You can easily find cabins for under $100/day. There are no perks on these itineraries. Demand, which affects pricing, is spotty and unpredictable. Use ChoiceAir to book your return flight from Europe back to the states if doing a TA on that itinerary and in that direction; booking direct with the airline for one way flights is ridiculously expensive. When I checked airfare with Delta for the Constellation TA Fort Lauderdale to Civitavecchia, from FCO to ATL the one way fare was over $1200. With ChoiceAir it was $450.

 

There are web sites that do cabin price tracking. They can't be named here. None of them are real time. The airline and travel industry hate them but it will give you an idea of price movement if not actual pricing. Most on line booking web sites will show some type of cabin availability. It's not real time but it's close. It can be worth checking this out as lots of availability in the cabin class you are interested in means lower pricing.

 

Finally, all of this cruise price shopping can be time consuming and frustrating. For some, its an interesting past time. For others it boarders on an obsession. Once booked, enjoy the excitement building as your cruise departure date approaches, keep a watchful but not obsessive eye out for price drops but don't go nutz if the price for the cabin you booked drops a few bucks.

[chemmo]

I guess the best time to book is when you are comfortable with the price/deal offered...

 

For a special destination, occasion or with time restrictions or if you want a specific room well in advance would be the time...

 

If you have limited time but some flexibility with itinerary and rooms then looking for an offer seems good.

 

If you are happy with any itinerary, any time any room you will be the one with the real bargain!

 

For us a real bonus this year has been X introducing a 'price promise' for our Autumn 2017 and Spring 2018 cruises. We booked as itineraries were released as the first cruise is to celebrate a significant birthday and the second is to meet up with friends. We also knew exactly what room we wanted on these cruises. The price match takes us into the year of cruise...So there could be price cuts later that here in the UK we would loose deposit to get but we feel comfortable with the prices we have paid and a reduction would simply be a bonus!

 

Happy bargain hunting!

[Bruin Steve]

First, notice that Celebrity, of late, has constantly changed how it markets...offering various promos packaged into the pricing...So, always keep in mind that not all prices include the same perks...

 

That said, pricing--on most mass market cruise lines--is a variable system. Cruises and categories are often shifted over the course of time depending on how well that specific cruise and category are selling...Prices can go up or down... Generally, if the cruise sells well, the prices only go up...If the sales are not matching expectations, they will often decrease prices or have a sale or promotion--until the bookings catch up...

 

What a lot of people who claim to always book at the last moment are hoping for is a "fire sale"...Happens when a cruise hasn't sold well at all and, heading towards the sail date, there are still lots of unsold cabins...and, maybe compounding it, lots of bookings may have fallen out at the final payment date...That happens and, yes, there will be bargains to be found...

 

However, don't expect that to happen on very popular cruises/itineraries/ships/sail dates...Brand new ships, holidays or school vacation times, one-of-a-kind or special event sailings...

 

For example, my upcoming Iberia cruise this July on Constellation--it it a one-of-a-kind itinerary during summer vacation months. The cruise virtually completely sold out with about six weeks to go (they are still selling a few "guarantee" rates--possibly know something about the likelihood of a last minute cancellation or two--but the rates, adding in the freebies we got--drinks, tips included--are not any better than we paid booking early...and, if you take the guarantee rate, you could be anywhere on the ship, whereas, when we booked early, we got to chose our location). Not the sort of cruise where you expect to see last minute deals...

 

We have found great last minute deals--often the Caribbean during hurricane season or short cruises on weekdays during non-vacation months. If you don't care when and where you go, wait around and keep scouring the internet for those fire sales.

 

OTOH, from my experience, the best time to book is as early as possible. When we can, we tend to book as soon as the itineraries are announced. Since my wife works for the schools and we pretty much know when we can cruise, we watch the late June to end of July schedules when they come out and book right away. For 2017, we have already booked three cruises--back to backs on RCCL Jewel of the Seas and a week in Canada/New England on HAL. The HAL cruise has already gone up about $150 pp for our category last I checked. We got an incredible rate on the RCCL cruises on a "hump" balcony mid-ship. RCCL now is having a "Sale"--50% off second person, etc.--I looked up our cruise and category with the sale in place and laughed...The sale price is several hundred dollars more for the cabin than we are paying and the hump balconies are all gone...

 

So, basically, I book early thereby hedging my bets with a great price...then I continually monitor the prices. If the rates drop below my booking price, I call my TA. Since (at least in the US) bookings are cancellable without penalty through the final payment day, I can always get that price drop applied. So, if prices go down, I get the better price, but, if prices go up, I am grandfathered into my original great price.

 

The issues come up when there is that price drop AFTER final payment day. Celebrity (and other cruise lines) are reluctant to give you anything if that occurs (I don't blame them, otherwise they might be giving rebates to the entire sailing). But, on a few occasions, I have been able to negotiate something for that. More than once, I have used late price drops on Concierge class to upgrade my booking to Concierge. It seems that, usually, Concierge is the hardest category for them to sell since the extras don't usually appear to be worth the price jump...So, often, it's Concierge that shows a late price decrease. That happens and, again, I call my TA...

 

Worst case is that there are a few people on the ship who may have gotten a better deal than you did...

 

OTOH, by booking early, you also got the advantage of choosing your cabin...and, on Celebrity, there are lots of reasons to book certain cabins--oversized balconies, specific locations, etc.

 

And, most of the time--at least on those high demand cruises--you can sit back and smile as prices go up. Heck, on one recent cruise, I had a great early booking price, then watched as prices just went up--until after final payment day. They dropped the prices with about a month to go in fire sale fashion...but I just laughed--those fire sale prices were still higher than what I had booked for!

[iancal]

It depends on where you live and where you want to cruise.

 

We live within easy driving distance of Vancouver. When we actually lived in Vancouver we booked a cruise on Wednesday and sailed on Saturday. No issue. We bided our time and snagged a very attractive offer thanks to an attentive TA.

 

For other cruises we tend to book inside the final payment window. We have taken advantage of several of Celebrity's Tuesday specials plus we are on the Princess last minute bookings mailing. We also check pricing in other countries. Two winters ago we booked an RCI Australia/NZ cruise with RCI Australia. The cruise was 30 percent less than the same cruise on the RCI North American site. I suspect it was a pricing fluke that we lucked out on.

 

We are retired. We often plan a tentative land vacation and then incorporate a late booking cruise into the plan. For the past three years we have found that overseas air can be just as well priced 30-60 days out as it can be 6 months out. We sometimes do one way air and hope to get something well priced coming home. Cruise air coming home has worked for us in the past. This fall we plan to be in Greece, Turkey, possibly Croatia. We expect to be able to snag a Med cruise offer in late July/August for mid Sept/early Oct. We will shop for air prior to that but will not book until that time. We do this twice a year-late summer and winter for SE Asia. So far so good.

 

We are not fussy about the cabin. We want a balcony and a gty is just fine. We have been assigned some wonderful balcony gtys in the past though we always assume that the location will be less than perfect.

 

We set a target price for the cruise. When our price 'hits' we book immediately. Don't care if the price subsequently goes up or down since we are committed and just fine with the price we paid. Good luck to you.

Edited May 23, 2016 by iancal

[pcur]

What you describe here, Bruin Steve, is what I've been doing for over 10 years. It's more complicated now, because all the cruise lines reprice when you find a price drop. You have to take into consideration the promos and the price. I book all my cruises with Costco now, and when I find a price drop my obc from them drops, too. Their obc is based on how much you spend.

 

I find Princess more stubborn about upgrades after final payment, but most cruise lines will be OK with it if you pay something extra.

 

I upgraded yesterday on our Solstice cabin for 2017. I figured out a way to save on our airfare, so I decided to use that money from the budget to go from an inside to a balcony (paying for a lower category and getting the next higher because of our Captain's Club status). Plus, Celebrity paid our tips.

 

I then found out our new cabin and surrounding ones have a noise issue. So, I called again this morning. I had to pay an extra $80 total to get an upgraded balcony, plus my obc from Costco went up since we were paying more for the cabin.

 

My point is you have to look at all factors involved in the pricing. In our case it was extra $$, but a bigger obc, an upgraded cabin, and paid gratuities.

Edited May 23, 2016 by pcur

[DrKoob]

My experience currently is it paid to book a signature suite early (almost two years out) because the price later jumped by $1000 and has never come back down. I suspect this was the Luminae/Michael's Club effect.

 

If you really want/need a certain room or location, book early, ideally on board.

 

If you are on a very limited-capacity itinerary, book early. We saw the price go up on a 2-week Hawaii cruise a few years ago, never went any lower.

 

Before final payment, monitor your cruise just in case there are price drops, and often you can keep your perks (not always.)

 

If you have unlimited free time (retired) and don't need flights, you can hold off until way after final payment for 7 day cruises where there are numerous competing lines.

 

However, the really low prices don't always include perks.

 

I agree with Chris! But here's a trick we have tried that works much of the time. We will do it again on Silhouette this August. We like to book onboard (to get the OBC and to book really early to get the cabin we want and a great price. SO...when onboard Silhouette we will book a cruise we know that X does pretty much every year (Alaska, a particular Caribbean, New England, etc.) for the upcoming year. For instance, we want to do X to New England in fall of 2018. We can't book that yet. But we want to take advantage of the great OBC offers onboard. We also want an aft cabin on an M-Class ship. So we will book the 2017 New England sailing while we are onboard Silhouette, take the OBC on that cruise and then watch for the announcement of the 2018 sailings and as soon as they open up, we move our reservation to that sailing in the cabin we want.

 

Try this, it works.

 

Jim

Edited May 24, 2016 by DrKoob