December Holiday Cruises

[CruisingNole]

Hi everyone, I'm fairly new to cruising (only have been on one, Allure several years ago) and new to this message board.

 

 

I've got some time off work around Christmas and am eyeing holiday cruises on Oasis, Allure and Harmony for 2 adults.

 

 

Does anyone have experience with booking a holiday cruise this late in the game? I'm wondering if I should pull the trigger now, or wait and see if the prices drop. Obviously they are through the roof right now.

 

 

I live in Florida and am able to drive to the ports, so air travel cost is not a factor for me and I have the ability to book at the last minute if needed.

 

Additionally, if anyone has been on holiday cruises, I'd be curious to hear about your experience. It was an August when I went on Allure.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

[Bruin Steve]

I'm booked on the Navigator over Christmas...

I cruise this time of year often as my wife works for a school district and this is her Winter Break...and one of few windows in which we can cruise...

First, know that holiday cruises are almost always more expensive...much higher demand as several factors kick in: Kids are off school...Teachers/School employees are off work...Many companies shut down during holidays...It's cold up north and people from up that way like to get away to avoid the cold and snow...

 

Cruise prices are a matter of supply and demand...and the demand for cruises over Christmas/New Years is HIGH...

 

With that, it is also true that these cruises almost always sell out...and the cruise lines rarely have to resort to fire sales to do that.

 

I always watch how my cruises are selling...and, for example, last week, when I checked my cruise, they had only 46 cabins left unsold/unassigned...which, since they may be holding some unassigned "guarantee" bookings, means there are even fewer cabins than that left...Insides are sold out, suites are sold out. On a ship that holds up to 3,800 passengers, 46 cabins or fewer is not much.

 

Book now. If you were cruising during a low demand season and were not picky as to which itinerary, which ship and which cabin category you wanted, holding out for a last minute fire sale might make sense...BUT, for a high demand holiday cruise, it is NOT going to get better...and cabins WILL be sold out.

[RFerrington]

Prices are unlikely to go down but rather, will probably remain high as this is a high demand time and itinerary. If it were me and I wanted to go, I would book ASAP.

[CruisingNole]

Thanks to all of you for the advice.

 

Bruin Steve - aside from convenience, do you enjoy the experience of the holiday cruise vs a cruise during any other time of the year? I imagine there will be a lot of children, do you and your wife go as a pair or do you have kids that join?

[jr8934]

My family has been on 5 holiday cruises on RCCL. We enjoy the decorations and the friendliness of other passengers. Yes there will be A LOT of children but they usually have enough events to keep them happy. My adult daughter is a teacher with two boys. We are leaving the menfolk home for a "girls vacation." I'd say go for it.

[Bruin Steve]

Thanks to all of you for the advice.

 

Bruin Steve - aside from convenience, do you enjoy the experience of the holiday cruise vs a cruise during any other time of the year? I imagine there will be a lot of children, do you and your wife go as a pair or do you have kids that join?

 

We’ve taken our kids with us...but now they are older and we go alone, just the two of us. Since our other cruising windows are also school holidays—Summer vacation, Spring Break, Thanksgiving, I guess we are sort of accustomed to the “more kids” thing. I keep kidding my wife that one day we’ll look across the table in the MDR and find that we’re seated with some of her kids!

 

Anyway...first, know that we are not Christians...we don’t celebrate Christmas, so it being that holiday means little to us. They do decorate the ship with a large Christmas Tree and a lot of decorations...and they play a lot of holiday music. They also have an appearance by Santa on Christmas Day. They do typically have a special holiday menu in the MDR-like turkey and fixings on the menu...and they’ve started jacking up the prices in Chops and Giovanni’s (now $79 pp on Christmas and Christmas Eve rather than the usual $35 and $21)...and they’ll usually make Christmas Day an “at sea” day. If the cruise is over New Year’s Eve, they’ll have special NYE parties that night in various venues. Other than those items, it is just like every other cruise...and, yes, we enjoy them like every other cruise...

[tennislvr8]

We got a great deal on the Dec. 16th sailing of the of the Harmony of the seas for a Jr suite.

 

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[Bruin Steve]

We got a great deal on the Dec. 16th sailing of the of the Harmony of the seas for a Jr suite.

Yeah...that’s a 7-nighter...returns on December 23...those cruises that end in the week before Christmas or leave during the week after New Years are often significantly lower priced since school is either not yet out for Winter Break or the cruise will last until after school is back in session. Hence, the demand goes way down...

[wilmingtech]

We are on the Anthem for the 14th - 22nd of December because it was super cheap. it is now sold out. My gut feeling is at this point the prices on the Holiday Cruises are just going to keep going up and up as we get closer to the season. Im sure there are a bunch of "last minute Christmas shoppers" out there that will splurge for the Christmas Cruise present for the family.

 

If you are willing to gamble on a cheap price the only chance may be following the prices for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. This is truly a gamble though. Even if they have a great sale it may not pertain to Holiday Bookings.

 

-Sean

[tennislvr8]

Yeah...that’s a 7-nighter...returns on December 23...those cruises that end in the week before Christmas or leave during the week after New Years are often significantly lower priced since school is either not yet out for Winter Break or the cruise will last until after school is back in session. Hence, the demand goes way down...

Yep and fewer kids.

 

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[MikeBTN]

If you want to gamble, I’ve found the best deals are usually found 45-60 days before sailing. That being said, it’s a holiday when virtually everyone has some time off, it’s cold in many places, and kids are out of school for an extended time. The prices will likely not get any cheaper than they are now.

[CruisingNole]

Thanks again for the advice everyone. Yesterday I decided to pull the trigger for Oasis 12/17 sailing due do it being considerably cheaper than 12/24. I was able to get an ocean view balcony for two at around $750 per person, which surprisingly was only $150 or so more than an interior (on other dates I checked, the price difference between interior and ocean view balcony was significantly higher, so they must have a lot of inventory for 12/17). So around $1,700 total with taxes etc. After several weeks of watching prices fluctuate, it seemed like things weren't going to get much cheaper, plus I was ready to finalize vacation time with my employer. Now it's time to plan excursions...

[CruisingNole]

The $1,250 Oasis 12/24 sailing is now $700. Oh, the irony...