Cabin availability on riverboat s

[E316]

Is there a way online to check cabin availability without contacting the cruise line or a travel agent? I do not know if it is better to wait for price reduction? Cruise lines are always try to fill the boat. But by waiting do you loose desirable cabin? And I would not take a cabin on the lowest level without elevator access.

 

 

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[acwmom]

You can always do dummy bookings on both Uniworld and Avalon's websites. They show available cabins without having to involve a human. There are a few online sites where you can do this for other cruise lines.

 

Robin

[E316]

Thank you for your response.

I am looking at AMA.

Also what is a dummy booking?

One reason I didn’t want to call a travel agent yet is because our experience has been once you call they put a hold on the cabin and that takes it out of availability if you call a different agent.

Elyce

 

 

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[senior lady]

Most river cruises sell out well before sailing date.

[Mark_T]

And I would not take a cabin on the lowest level without elevator access.

 

If elevator access is important to you, keep in mind that access to the top decks on many ships is also by stairs only with no elevators...

[senior lady]

most river cruise ships are only 3 or 4 decks. Elevator won't take you to top deck.

I just got off Avalon and was on bottom deck.

one deck up to restaurant

2 decks up to lounge and entrance, then you had to go outside and up stairs to top deck

[gnome12]

Sometimes you have to go up to the sun deck to cross over to a ship you are rafted with.

 

 

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[Hoyaheel]

A dummy booking is starting to book online, going through cabin selection but abandoning when it comes to payment ;-)

[Shebely]

River cruise companies are not like ocean cruises. They would rarely, if ever, reduce prices.

[acwmom]

AMA, Uniworld, and Avalon DO reduce prices. We have never paid "full" price, and have done five river cruises now. AMA tends to discount cruises shortly after dates are released, Uniworld tends to start discounting their next-year cruises around October or November. Right now, they have some great deals on 2018 dates. Avalon runs discounts off and on, and are less predictable.

 

Robin

[senior lady]

AMA, Uniworld, and Avalon DO reduce prices. We have never paid "full" price, and have done five river cruises now. AMA tends to discount cruises shortly after dates are released, Uniworld tends to start discounting their next-year cruises around October or November. Right now, they have some great deals on 2018 dates. Avalon runs discounts off and on, and are less predictable.

 

Robin

 

Depends if the ship is sold out. October, November aren't high season.

I booked my cruise 14 mths out and the price never changed. In fact friends wanted to join us and everything was gone except a couple of suites. Just got back on Monday night from a awesome cruise. Saying that we got a great deal with air, 2 days in Budapest, 7 day cruise and 3 days in Prague for under $4000 Cad pp

[Hoyaheel]

There are absolutely last minute specials on river cruises - great if you are flexible about cabins & itineraries. Last minute specials can mean expensive airfare though, so you know, trade-offs ;-) Though it's possible the cruise line might have decent airfare deals - my in-laws have taken advantage - I prefer to do my own air.

[acwmom]

Depends if the ship is sold out. October, November aren't high season.

I booked my cruise 14 mths out and the price never changed. In fact friends wanted to join us and everything was gone except a couple of suites. Just got back on Monday night from a awesome cruise. Saying that we got a great deal with air, 2 days in Budapest, 7 day cruise and 3 days in Prague for under $4000 Cad pp

I didn't say the discounts were for October and November cruises, I said that's when they start offering the discounts. We usually cruise in April, preferring to avoid the heat, crowds, and potential for low water.

 

Robin

 

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[suspaul]

Only my opinion, if you’ve found a river cruise you’re interested in, you need to book early to get the exact dates and cabin you want. If you’re flexible then wait a bit if you want but just know, with the small size of river cruise ships and itineraries they book quickly and you may have to settle or not go at all. Happy travels.

 

 

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[sharkster77]

On the Viking website, when you click on a cruise date, the availability of each cabin type is listed as "available", "limited availability", or "waitlist".

 

Of course, this assumes that the information is current.

[GrammaRama]

Depends if the ship is sold out. October, November aren't high season.

I booked my cruise 14 mths out and the price never changed. In fact friends wanted to join us and everything was gone except a couple of suites. Just got back on Monday night from a awesome cruise. Saying that we got a great deal with air, 2 days in Budapest, 7 day cruise and 3 days in Prague for under $4000 Cad pp

 

 

Which cruise line did you go on?

Were you impacted by the problems with low water levels and ships not able to get through?

[senior lady]

Which cruise line did you go on?

Were you impacted by the problems with low water levels and ships not able to get through?

so ha

Just got home from Avalon .... Budapest - Prague We weren't able to get to Nuremberg, so had to be bused to Prague from Passau.

Also the first night we were on the Panorama then moved the next day to the Expression.

I have to say Avalon took very good care of us and seemed to be pro-active about the low water levels.

They gave everyone a 'Goodwell gesture" refund of $261 pp Canadian for us. It differed in what currency you booked the cruise in, and if we couldn't make it back to ship for lunch they gave us cash money a couple of times.

There were 10 of us and we all agreed that there wasn't anything to complain about and thought we were very well taken care of. We heard that other companies hadn't done such a good job.

A good example of being pro- active is ........... instead of us going to Passau, where 50 ships were docked because they couldn't get up the river, we went to Linz, Austria and was the only ship there. They also gave us free excursions to either Salzburg or Cesky Krumlov. These were expensive tours and if you had re-booked they gave a refund.

[E316]

Cruises for 2019 seem to be filling up.

We just booked Viking- Romantic Danube and Passage to Eastern Europe starting on May 26th .

 

 

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