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

[rudeney]

7 minutes ago, George C said:

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. 

 

I just replied about booking suites early as they often sell out.  In my experience, I have not seen much of a price reduction on suites we've booked.  In fact, it's always been the opposite - they go up in price.  The one exception was an OBC offer that came up right before final payment, and other than that, the price was the same, so I was able to get that changed.  But we also don't book "far" in advance -  maybe 10 months at the most.  

[Anton]

The Best Price Guarantee has been changed to 48 hours from the time of booking.  I've read FB posts from several people being denied a price change in the past few days, for cruises that are still months away.  https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

[orville99]

47 minutes ago, Anton said:

The Best Price Guarantee has been changed to 48 hours from the time of booking.  I've read FB posts from several people being denied a price change in the past few days, for cruises that are still months away.  https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

Different animal all together. The BPG relates to a scenario where you book with RCL and then within 48 hours you find the same cruise for sale on another site at a lower price (i.e. Big Box Store).

[George C]

1 hour ago, rudeney said:

 

I just replied about booking suites early as they often sell out.  In my experience, I have not seen much of a price reduction on suites we've booked.  In fact, it's always been the opposite - they go up in price.  The one exception was an OBC offer that came up right before final payment, and other than that, the price was the same, so I was able to get that changed.  But we also don't book "far" in advance -  maybe 10 months at the most.  

Rccl plays games one week there are no suites available next week most suite categories show available.

[rudeney]

27 minutes ago, George C said:

Rccl plays games one week there are no suites available next week most suite categories show available.

 

I haven't seen that.  We only cruise once every few years, but always in a suite, and either Freedom or Voyager class.  I am fairly diligent in checking prices almost daily, and I can readily see the suites getting booked up.  Of course on the larger ships, this might not be the case.

[George C]

20 minutes ago, rudeney said:

 

I haven't seen that.  We only cruise once every few years, but always in a suite, and either Freedom or Voyager class.  I am fairly diligent in checking prices almost daily, and I can readily see the suites getting booked up.  Of course on the larger ships, this might not be the case.

I have seen it on the oasis class including my allure cruise 6 months ago. In the past sometimes travel agents held rooms , most of our suites were freedom and voyager class also . I remember wanting grand suite 1600 on brilliance 6 years ago and I booked really early , but then about 9 months before sailing it opened up  and I switched my other grand suite to 1600 for our Mediterranean cruise.

[rudeney]

Just now, George C said:

I have seen it on the oasis class including my allure cruise 6 months ago. In the past sometimes travel agents held rooms , most of our suites were freedom and voyager class also . I remember wanting grand suite 1600 on brilliance 6 years ago and I booked really early , but then about 9 months before sailing it opened up  and I switched my other grand suite to 1600 for our Mediterranean cruise.

 

On our upcoming CAN/NE cruise in October, I wanted a port-side cabin, but the only ones available when I booked in March were connecting rooms, so I chose a non-connecting starboard suite.  I did see a port side suite open up a few weeks later, and though about changing, but by the time I was ready to do that, it was booked.  Also, when I was first browsing for this cruise, I noticed that if I went as far as selecting a cabin, and then backed out, it seemed to "hold" that cabin as unavailable for some time - maybe a few hours?

[Morecruisesplz]

On 6/20/2022 at 3:32 PM, lilyafloat said:

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.

No. Best  price is right after final payment using a TA for extra OBC.

[AlohaLivin]

4 hours ago, rudeney said:

 

I haven't seen that.  We only cruise once every few years, but always in a suite, and either Freedom or Voyager class.  I am fairly diligent in checking prices almost daily, and I can readily see the suites getting booked up.  Of course on the larger ships, this might not be the case.

 Daily? So check your email, I will be sending you my list for checking seeing how you are already there 😉

[RFerrington]

5 hours ago, rudeney said:

 I noticed that if I went as far as selecting a cabin, and then backed out, it seemed to "hold" that cabin as unavailable for some time - maybe a few hours?

Yes, if you actually select a cabin during a mock booking, that cabin will be taken out of inventory (becomes unavailable for anyone else) for about 15 minutes.  That is so that someone else cannot “snatch” the room while you finish booking.  If the booking is not completed in the allotted time (generally around 15 mins), then the cabin will be released back into inventory.

[woneill63]

We always book as far out as possible, usually at least a year.  We have found that this gives us a good price and room selection.   Then I call a rep at least once or twice a month looking for a price reduction.  Calling repeatedly has really paid off, I got a total of almost sixteen hundred off of our three staterooms on a recent Mariner 8 nighter.   The reps dont mind and are happy to reprice your cruise if possible.

 

Cheers and Happy Sailing.

[The Scurvy Pirate]

I try to book as soon as they come out, usually JS.  That way you have a wider choice of rooms to select, expecially if you like specific types like aft or hump rooms.  I try to monitor the prices a couple of times a week.  I've found at least for JS the prices remained relatively stable between a couple of price points depending on the "sale" taking place, but do trend higher as you get closer to the sail date.  But, if you are dilgent, you can catch a deal every now and then.  A couple of years ago, about  on Oasis they had a GS for less than JS, so I quickly called RCI and changed rooms.  I have found that in looking at interior, window and balcony, there can be more significant price fluctuations.  For example, for a cruise this october, last week the guaranteed balcony was $1,276.  Today it is $745.  There was no change to the JS price....go figure...

[mpk]

On 6/21/2022 at 4:41 AM, lilyafloat said:

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.

 

This.  It amazes me that 40% 50% or 70% off the 2nd passenger still yields the same out the door cost.

 

We started ignoring those email from the cruise line  🙂     A total waste of time.

[Morecruisesplz]

4 hours ago, The Scurvy Pirate said:

I try to book as soon as they come out, usually JS.  That way you have a wider choice of rooms to select, expecially if you like specific types like aft or hump rooms.  I try to monitor the prices a couple of times a week.  I've found at least for JS the prices remained relatively stable between a couple of price points depending on the "sale" taking place, but do trend higher as you get closer to the sail date.  But, if you are dilgent, you can catch a deal every now and then.  A couple of years ago, about  on Oasis they had a GS for less than JS, so I quickly called RCI and changed rooms.  I have found that in looking at interior, window and balcony, there can be more significant price fluctuations.  For example, for a cruise this october, last week the guaranteed balcony was $1,276.  Today it is $745.  There was no change to the JS price....go figure...

Easy to figure... compare the number of JS's to interior, balcony and OV.

 

[cruiseguy1016]

22 minutes ago, mpk said:

 

This.  It amazes me that 40% 50% or 70% off the 2nd passenger still yields the same out the door cost.

 

We started ignoring those email from the cruise line  🙂     A total waste of time.

 

I kept track of the "sales" for our most recent cruise. In the 13 months from the time we booked to the time we sailed, there were 34 DIFFERENT "sales". Many of those different sales repeated over the course of 13 months. With all the different "sales", the cost of the cruise only varied about $400 from most expensive to least expensive.

[hotsauce126]

Our cruise last December dropped to almost half of what we originally paid for it by November. Went from an interior to a balcony and still got money back