Looking for a Bermuda bargain first week of July

[Tacitus651]

Hi, forum. Long time lurker, first post. Here's my situation: my family of 3 is set to go to Yellowstone the first week of July. I'm excited for the trip, my 8 year old son is probably indifferent, my wife is dreading it. She hates long travel and the trip requires flying from CHI to SLC (I only fly Southwest bc I have a lot of points, so flying into WY is not an option) and then driving 6 hrs to Yellowstone.

 

I could easily change the Southwest flights and go to NYC or Boston instead. I can't change my vacation days which are in the beginning of July. Here's my question, how low might the Bermuda cruises out of NY (July 2) or Boston (June 30) go? Based on current available cabins, could a deal be found in the next 2 weeks? We would be ok with an inside cabin. I think this might avoid a potential nightmare going to Yellowstone. My wife does enjoy cruising, we've cruised 3 times already, twice on NCL.

 

 

Any estimates on how low the cruise might go (or when to strike) would be appreciated.

[Marleycruiser]

I think others will comment is it really all a supply and demand game... Prices can go up, prices can go down..... If the current price fits your budget, book it.... Your wife doesn't seem happy about the current trip and your son is indifferent... Sounds like a no brainer to me.

[1025cruise]

At this point, if its available and meets your budget, do it. Also with that being a holiday week, don't count on any discounts.

[RPCVcruiser]

Big question would be what date do you want your vacation to start. Boston leaves on Friday, New York is Sunday. We have done both ports and they are really good cruises to Bermuda. As a former resident of New Hampshire, it was super easy to roll into the pier. From Logan Airport, you have a weird taxi ride into town and back out to the port,,,, or you could swim it if you are feeling it. New York is a harder ride from the airport, a little expensive, but doable. Boston cruises were a lot of fun,,, according to NCL waitstaff, the Boston-Bermuda cruises were some the best tip trips for the staff.

 

 

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[Tacitus651]

I think to make this worth my while, I'd only do it for an inside cabin of under $2,000 before gratuities or a balancony around the 3K price range. The June 16 cruise out of Boston is currently under 2K for 3 people. I guess my logic was that maybe over the next two weeks the June 30 cruise might drop to a similar price. I realize the obstacles to this are that my cruise is in the middle of the peak season and it's a holiday week. I'm slightly hopeful because doing dummy bookings on NCL suggests they have a lot of cabins left.

[RPCVcruiser]

It looks like your balcony price is where the cruise is right now. Boston isn't really known as a "jump on a cruise" port like Miami, so you have a decent shot of it falling some more.

 

 

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[biker@sea]

I have booked more than a dozen last minute deals out of Boston over the years.

 

Only once did we get a July deal.

 

Expand my signature for date's

 

 

And Yellowstone is Spectacular!!

[mking8288]

A few thoughts for OP:

as long as 3 of them are fine with taking an Inside GTY (obviously, nobody could complained about a Balcony GTY) as long as you get on the ship - within your pricing "zone". Dawn, as a smaller ship gets into Dockyard on a Sunday, where there are fewer "stores" open & transportation is somewhat more challenged. BA leaves on a Sunday & get there on Wednesday - mega-ship, big crowds, packed ferries into town, local buses (wow, long lines ... if you can get on)

 

Can you book flights within a week or two on Southwest with points for all 3 of you? Hotels are "expensive" both in Boston & NYC, assumed that you will fly in a day early - ground transportation costs is lower for Boston's port vs. NY with 3 airports.

 

Insides on the Dawn are cozy but not super small, Insides on the Breakaway are cozy, newer & very small. Prices for Dawn sailing typically lower than that of the Breakaway for the Bermuda itinerary - you can see the differences now for the month of June, at a given dollar range, you can go for the slightly bigger oceanview but will be limited to choices for I/S on the Breakaway - at this late/last minute booking window, you would likely be given GTY options, unless you pay the higher sub-categories within and get to choose.

 

With NCL's Upgrade Advantage, if rooms aren't sold out & they are re-assigned and released for resale, I would expect to see some extra (but, still limited) inventories for Insides, maybe some for Oceanviews - if you are watching/tracking closely and can book them on the spot & lock in your reservation, make payment, etc.

 

Even for a late April/early May sailing on NCL, we saw lots of true last minute and solo booking, within 5 to 10 days of sailing for our Gem sailing out of NYC ... it is within a day's worth of driving (some will leave at 3 AM & get to the port in the morning, due to work and/or to save on hotel $$$) ... Boston seemed to, as others said, get less bargain hunters - maybe, maybe not.

 

Nobody except NCL can tell nor predict what's going to happen to prices, we saw & counted about 100 staterooms about a month before sailing but by "tee" minus 3 or 4 days, with discounting - they're all gone & sold out. Sometimes, discount & deals would go to NCL's travel partners, to be filled & used by their TA's for friends & families deal - with schools being out by end of month, some sooner & colleges finishing up graduations & the rest on breaks - if you blink, blink just a little longer - it will all be gone.

 

Bermuda is one of our favorite islands, as others said, if the bundled prices and costs as a whole is good, take it & run with it. The difference in savings might be lowered by another $100 or $200 for the whole deal - if you are lucky to score on your "bet" - if not, you are back on plan A to Yellowstone.

 

Tough decisions & choices. base fares of $399 p/p for insides on the Dawn coming up - if DW & I can wing it (time off from her job) - would be packing & leaving in a heartbeat ... see ya ! But, you aren't going to those prices for end of June/beginning of July ... no way.

[riclop]

Don't hold your breathe looking for a bargain.

[Baby let's cruise away]

Hi, forum. Long time lurker, first post. Here's my situation: my family of 3 is set to go to Yellowstone the first week of July. I'm excited for the trip, my 8 year old son is probably indifferent, my wife is dreading it. She hates long travel and the trip requires flying from CHI to SLC (I only fly Southwest bc I have a lot of points, so flying into WY is not an option) and then driving 6 hrs to Yellowstone.

 

 

 

I could easily change the Southwest flights and go to NYC or Boston instead. I can't change my vacation days which are in the beginning of July. Here's my question, how low might the Bermuda cruises out of NY (July 2) or Boston (June 30) go? Based on current available cabins, could a deal be found in the next 2 weeks? We would be ok with an inside cabin. I think this might avoid a potential nightmare going to Yellowstone. My wife does enjoy cruising, we've cruised 3 times already, twice on NCL.

 

 

 

 

 

Any estimates on how low the cruise might go (or when to strike) would be appreciated.

 

 

I would check out NCL's Breakaway 7.2.2017 7 night sailing to Bermuda; inside cabins currently are around $900.00 per person!

 

 

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[HokiePoq]

I would check out NCL's Breakaway 7.2.2017 7 night sailing to Bermuda; inside cabins currently are around $900.00 per persI

 

 

If that's available, OP might want to jump on it while it lasts.

I'm thinking there won't be tremendous bargains the week of July 4 when a lot of people have vacation days.

We've done Bermuda and Yellowstone and loved both. OP do you have hotel reservations for Yellowstone? If not that could be problem at this late date and holiday period and make the cruise the only viable choice.

We flew into SLC, rented a car and headed north. No rooms at the inn for us as Pocatello where we wanted to stay was almost sold out due to a high school rodeo competition. The nicer hotels directed all of us who were coming in to a not so nice but only place left. We had a great trip anyway....from Pocatello we went to Craters of the Moon National Monument...kind of a ride but great, then on Yellowstone and then to Glacier...about ten days for us. Visited the Great Salt Lake on the way back to SLC.

[Tacitus651]

Thanks, yes I do have a room at Yellowstone. I have 3 nights at the Old Faithful Inn, which I booked nearly a year in advance and I'm sure you know how hard those rooms are to get.

 

I did talk to my wife about all this and her attitude is to continue with Yellowstone as planned, although I'll keep an eye on the cruise prices for Bermuda just in case some crazy deal pops up over the next two weeks. I can switch flights on southwest with no change fees and if I changed everything 2 weeks out the flights to BOS or NYC would still be covered by my points. Anyway, my mindset is that I'm almost definitely going to Yellowstone but l'll still run through this exercise in hopes I learn more about NCL booking. I'll share what I find.

 

I am booked for NCL Bliss in July 2018 to Alaska. Gosh, I'm already counting down the days. We did Alaska on Jewel a few years ago and one of the best weeks of my life.

[garycarla]

I doubt you are going to see prices go down much at this point. Do your searches and see what you can find.

 

Good luck.

[gail-s]

We've done the 4th of July in Bermuda twice on the Dawn. The prices don't drop even the closer you get to sailing. It's a very popular trip and the demand is there. Earlier in June is cheaper because we're still in school in New England until almost the end of June. Prices rise once the kids are out of school.

 

I hope you enjoy the trip to Yellowstone! My parents went there and said it was amazing.

[BirdTravels]

Holiday week cruises are popular because people can get off from work without missing much.

 

The Memorial Day cruise out of NY sold out with 4784 passengers (ship capacity is 3900 double occupancy) about a week before departure. All NY sailings for the past 5 weeks have been at or over Capacity.