Is it always cheaper to book as soon as they are released?

[lilyafloat]

I understand that you can get the best choice of cabins but is the price always lower than say in the 'wave' season? Booking from the UK means the adjustment if the cruise drops closer to sail date is not automatically applicable to us. I will still check and try my luck (if the price drops0 but am trying to work out the best time to book as I am picky about the room location and don't want to risk a last minute bargain. Any tips are most welcome.

[orville99]

We always book as soon as the schedule is released, and have rarely seen the prices drop below what we paid. Maybe a half dozen times over the course of 12 years and ~100 cruises.

[neverbeenhere]

My suggestion is crank up your 97/98 version of Excel and start charting cruise prices. Once a week go in and run 5 to 15 cruise possibilities. 
 

I say: that prices are all over the map, you say you like a particular location, so book early and don’t turn back. 

[RFerrington]

I booked our 12-22-22 Oasis holiday cruise in March 2021.   Since that time, I have had 10 price reductions.  That’s unusual, of course, but even more unusual since it’s a Christmas cruise on an Oasis class ship.  I’ve never had that many price reductions.  I guess it pays to keep checking !

[smokeybandit]

50 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

I booked our 12-22-22 Oasis holiday cruise in March 2021.   Since that time, I have had 10 price reductions.  That’s unusual, of course, but even more unusual since it’s a Christmas cruise on an Oasis class ship.  I’ve never had that many price reductions.  I guess it pays to keep checking !

I was on Serenade 2 weeks ago and that cruise dropped by almost 50% in the year I had the reservation

Edited June 20, 2022 by smokeybandit

[RFerrington]

I forgot an important part of my story !  Our 12-22-22 Oasis is the second half of a B2B (we are also on the 12-18-22 sailing).  Despite that earlier cruise NOT being a holiday cruise, that booking has nearly doubled in price while the following cruise on 12-22 has had 10 price drops.  Real head-scratcher.

[cruiseguy1016]

Booking as soon as they come out might not be the lowest price, but it will guarantee you pay the lowest price. Book when it comes out and if the price goes down, you will get a refund or OBC depending on when (before or after final payment) the lower price shows up.

[barbeyg]

We book most of the time at release. Except for our AK cruise this year, we have found that our release date price doesn’t generally go down. We’ve had a few small decreases in price over the years but not many. The AK cruise I mentioned went down by about 50% over the entire time, in $300 to $500 increments, but I attribute those unusual decreases to Covid, and RCI wanting to fill those ships. 

[sfaaa]

Be careful if you book NRD. One time, my cruse price dropped before final payment but a nasty RCCL agent decided to play hardball and refused to price adjust given it was NRD which means I could not cancel and rebook unless I paid a $200 penalty. I waited for a few days and tried again. Luckily this time I got a very resonable agent and she repriced the cruise for me without giving me any hassle. 

[wallyj]

3 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

Booking as soon as they come out might not be the lowest price, but it will guarantee you pay the lowest price. Book when it comes out and if the price goes down, you will get a refund or OBC depending on when (before or after final payment) the lower price shows up.

This was true with Royal’s ‘best price guarantee’ which has expired.

 

Also note the OP is from the UK, where cruise pricing is regulated differently. I believe some cruise lines only allow 1 change and there is a fee for UK bookings. 
 

We in the US have the luxury of being able to reprice as long as before final payment. When ‘Best Price Guarantee’ was in effect, I believe that was extended to UK bookings too, but no more since that program is expired. 
 

Book what you feel comfortable with, knowing you got the location you desired. Unless you have a crystal ball showing the future, no one knows if your cruise will drop in price.

[FamilyCruiserUK]

So we have been looking at a cruise next aug on symphony from barcelona. Over the last month i have a spread sheet tracking the price for a certain grade of cabin. The price when all so called discounts are added has stayed the same give or take a few £s.

The deals so far have been 

 

WOW sale.

Up to 550 to spend at sea and Family Cruise up to £149 off.

Up to 300 on board spend. 

 

Waiting to see the 4th July "sale" to see if it stays the same. So basically so far the price seems to be the same just different marketing gimmicks that sound like your getting better deals then before. 

 

 

[twangster]

It might depending on the sail date.  Certains times of the year are high season and certain times are low season.  Royal often leads with pricing in the middle.  High season dates often increase, low season dates sometimes drop, like Royal was hoping it wouldn't again but it does. 

 

Then there is the weirdness of the pandemic that has thrown traditional knowledge and trends down the drain.  I don't know if anyone will be able to predict trends for a few years.  Book when it is at a price you are comfortable paying.

[Biker19]

14 hours ago, lilyafloat said:

Booking from the UK means the adjustment if the cruise drops closer to sail date is not automatically applicable to us.

Find a US TA.

[lilyafloat]

4 hours ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

So we have been looking at a cruise next aug on symphony from barcelona. Over the last month i have a spread sheet tracking the price for a certain grade of cabin. The price when all so called discounts are added has stayed the same give or take a few £s.

The deals so far have been 

 

WOW sale.

Up to 550 to spend at sea and Family Cruise up to £149 off.

Up to 300 on board spend. 

 

Waiting to see the 4th July "sale" to see if it stays the same. So basically so far the price seems to be the same just different marketing gimmicks that sound like your getting better deals then before. 

 

 

That's what i've been doing too and noticed the same kind of thing that basically the fare stays the same with gimmicks added to make it look more attractive. I think I shall aim for the release date and then keep an eye out.

[Submariner]

There are a few sites that can monitor price drops for you. Good old Google to the rescue

Edited June 21, 2022 by Submariner

[PCWalton1]

Prices can easily drop. Our 2019 Ovation cruise to Hawaii had many price drops after we booked 

[FamilyCruiserUK]

Price drops are all well and good if your US customes, rest of us dont get that option. 

 

But saying that i go on the us site and preview book the same cruise and its more expensive most of the time.

[happy cruzer]

Last minute may be the best price.  You need to not need airfare (or know how to get it cheap) and be flexible regarding cabins.

 

Otherwise early on sale...

[lilyafloat]

52 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

Last minute may be the best price.  You need to not need airfare (or know how to get it cheap) and be flexible regarding cabins.

 

Otherwise early on sale...

Luckily airfare is not a problem as we are a train travelling family and know the european routes quite well 😀 But as my DH is reluctant to try cruising (son is along for a free holiday) and I want to, the room needs to be ideal for their needs and a last minute room isn't going to tick those boxes 😂

[ONECRUISER]

21 hours ago, RFerrington said:

I booked our 12-22-22 Oasis holiday cruise in March 2021.   Since that time, I have had 10 price reductions.  That’s unusual, of course, but even more unusual since it’s a Christmas cruise on an Oasis class ship.  I’ve never had that many price reductions.  I guess it pays to keep checking !

Yes, it can be hit and miss but have scored reductions on over 50% my Cruises.  About 90 percent time Book day(hour) released, best reason is get my Favorite Cabin each time

[karena1]

I always book as soon as they come out.  The beauty of that is I watch for price breaks, and if the cruise goes down, I get the lower price.  We cruise about 12 times a year, right now I have everything booked through 1/2024.  I would guess out of 137 cruises, maybe 5% of  the time does it go down AFTER final payment.  Of all the cruises I have booked now, every single one of them have gone down since I booked and I have gotten the price break.  I check pretty much every other day to see if anything has gone down.

[ONECRUISER]

34 minutes ago, lilyafloat said:

Luckily airfare is not a problem as we are a train travelling family and know the european routes quite well 😀 But as my DH is reluctant to try cruising (son is along for a free holiday) and I want to, the room needs to be ideal for their needs and a last minute room isn't going to tick those boxes 😂

When was a Family of 5 we'd Drive 1400+ miles each way to a Port, lot Cheaper then Flying 20-35yrs ago. Now travel SOLO and my Flights haven't been too bad last 10yrs, always off season. My next Cruise's inc Panama Canal, Flight is less then 2hrs but with a First Class seat for $150. Only do B4B or longer so one RT Flight to purchase for multiple Cruises.

[PMGS247]

I think the best advice is to pay as early as you're comfortable with the price.  Based on my experience the early days pricing may not be the absolutely lowest that the fare bottoms out at, but it's a safer bet to toward the lower end of the spectrum than holding out on the chance that the cruise ends up with last minute deals.  If I had no repricing options and didn't have a deep familiarity with the cruise lines tendencies to run certain specials at certain times per year I would book on the early side to snag the cabin I wanted and bank on the fact that in most cases the price I'll be getting at that time is going to be towards the lower end of the spectrum, even if it's not necessarily the absolute optimized bottom-out point.  

[George C]

We like booking asap but keeping a eye on the price, we has a oasis grand suite that drastically went cheaper , so we rebooked and got a owners suite for original price of the grand suite. Booking early let’s you pick the cabin/suite of your choice before someone else takes it. 

[rudeney]

One exception may be for suites.   They tend to sell out before other room categories, so you might want to grab one when you can.