Everything sold out!?

[jsglow]

31 minutes ago, tap_out said:

I found the pool decks way to crowded. Lucky the Havana solves that issue but not with a kid. 

They certainly can be.  All the new modern ships that I'm aware of face that issue. Good luck with your planning.

[TravelBluebird]

We faced this earlier this year when we wanted to plan a last minute cruise on Celebration or Mardi Gras in February or early March.  

 

Was impossible, unless we wanted to spend a huge amount of money. We ended up finding availability in later March.  

 

We were being stubborn about an Excel class ship because our friends were new to Carnival and we were all cancelled on the Jubilee TA, and we wanted to introduce them to one of these ships.  Keep checking, as others have said. We actually had to wait for a cancellation to get the 2 rooms we wanted.

[kctwinmommy]

I think a lot of people are just wanting to travel more than ever before. With the past few years of cancelled and delayed plans, people aren't waiting anymore. We pulled the trigger on a big one for us next year, Med. cruise on Viking! And as expensive as this one is, there are plenty of those cruises already sold out as well. We booked it a few months ago, so 16 months before we sail, and several cabin options were sold out. I know it doesn't help your situation, just what I'm noticing. Hope you can find something that works for you guys!

[rj59]

It's the first summer without vax/testing restrictions, and there's huge pent-up demand, and Carnival has prices reflecting it. It's all about the kids--look at the astronomical prices on Disney, and even on a Celebrity Apex cruise in March, with no youth amenities, it was full of families on school break. Even a NCL Joy 5-night sailing on a 3-day weekend had hundreds of kids skipping school for the rest of the week. Last summer I went on Spirit to Alaska for around $500, now they're all $1500 or more for a solo. You need to expand your options to find deals and availability. For instance, north-south Alaska cruises on smaller ships of other lines have plenty of availability and super-low prices, and Carnival has some good deal in northern Europe, with $50/nt to Norway fjords and British Isles. I also snapped up a cheap fare on Firenzia going to Cabo in 2024. I'm cruise-line agnostic and am retired so can often travel last-minute, which is a good thing to be right now, since with high prices, it's more difficult to find deals. What could change that after this summer might be a recession or other economic weakness causing a drop in travel demand, but you still have millions of seniors and baby boomers eager to return to travel, as well as families, so it's simple supply and demand. It sure makes me long for the year after re-start, sailing nice ships at 30% capacity and low prices, even with the annoyances of testing and masking and getting covid on a Princess ship last summer.  

[bguppies]

16 hours ago, tap_out said:

If we decide to pull the trigger on this 6 day it will be $1k more then we have ever spent on a cruise. I just keep telling myself that even at that price point cruises are still our best bang for our buck. 

If the product was as good as it used to be. the price hike might be justifiable to some, due to simple inflation.

But as the current Carnival product is NOT as good as it was before the stoppage, with more amenities and perks being taken away each month.

Even at the old prices, I wouldn't consider it the best bang for your buck anymore.(still decent for now)

[bguppies]

7 hours ago, rj59 said:

What could change that after this summer might be a recession or other economic weakness causing a drop in travel demand, 

People need to remember that before the 1950's, most Americans other than the ultra rich had any disposable income for vacations.

With the way  things in the country are going, we will probably be back to those days again fairly soon, Alot of stay-cations coming up for families.

[Auralia]

Find the cruise you want at this time even if sold out and go look exactly when ever final payment is due for that cruise…. Some rooms will open on that date almost guaranteed.

[Thenagers]

16 hours ago, MississippiMom said:

Great recommendation!

 

Final payment on those weeks the OP is looking at still have a bit to go.  There will be some cabin cancellations coming.  

Final payments are due now? I am assuming the cancellations should start popping up? 

[Thenagers]

I am seeing ocean views available on Mardis Gras on August 5 and cove balcony on Celebration on August 6 for 3? Suites are also available but probably out of your price point? I definitely would snatch up the cove balcony on celebration! Only 1 left? It is actually cheaper than the Mardis gras oceanveiw?  I’m assuming final payment for the next week is today and tomorrow? Things will probably pop up? 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Thenagers

[kelkel2]

Honestly, I’m not surprised. We need a room for 4 because our twins are coming with us and too young for their own room. We’re booked on the Jubilee for 6/2024 and it’s already slim pickings. Suites look to be primarily gone and balconies aren’t far off. I feel your pain. I would really like carnival to release summer 2025 so we can throw a deposit down on one of those too. 

[EllieinNJ]

I had been looking at a cruise for April 2024 and waited to see if prices would come down.  Then the cruise was completely sold out.  Now there are some cabins available but the prices are $300 pp more than when I originally looked.  You can't win.

[pcvtmom]

When we're not cruising, we generally rent a beach house for a week with our extended family.  Prices for them literally doubled from last year to this year (Outer Banks, NC). Vacationing is not cheap, but I still find cruises to be the best bang for your buck! Most Carnival ships are sailing at capacity, which is great for shareholders trying to hang on for dear life!! 😁

[mz-s]

4 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

I had been looking at a cruise for April 2024 and waited to see if prices would come down.  Then the cruise was completely sold out.  Now there are some cabins available but the prices are $300 pp more than when I originally looked.  You can't win.

 

You can win by booking as early as you can. The days of prices going down were over before COVID. Prices went down during the initial restart. We are beyond that now. Prices are only going up. The cheapest that cruise you're looking at will be is NOW.

[staceyglow]

Put me in the corner of being happy that Carnival is able to raise its fares and sell out its cruises.  I like a bargain as much as the next person, and I took advantage of some incredible deals immediately post-Covid, but Carnival Corp would not be able to stay in business for long at those prices.  And if they went under, all of the other cruise lines would jack up their fares (and sell out quickly) because of the significantly reduced competition.

 

I want Carnival to be a healthy company so I can sail on them for many years to come.

[Gregoryfo]

The wife and I are school employees from Maryland also.  Luckily she works at a county that goes back after labor day and my role I do not need to do pre-service, so we can get the somewhat cheaper third week of August cruises.  Hopefully you guys will find one for this summer, but you might also want to look at the August 2024 cruises, the prices are still reasonable.  Best of luck!   

[mz-s]

6 minutes ago, Gregoryfo said:

The wife and I are school employees from Maryland also.  Luckily she works at a county that goes back after labor day and my role I do not need to do pre-service, so we can get the somewhat cheaper third week of August cruises.  Hopefully you guys will find one for this summer, but you might also want to look at the August 2024 cruises, the prices are still reasonable.  Best of luck!   

 

Book early and book often. If you know you're going to cruise, and you know when you're going to cruise, why not go ahead and put down a deposit? Lock in your rate today. Prices are not going to be any lower between now and then I am sure of that.

[Earthworm Jim]

4 hours ago, pcvtmom said:

Most Carnival ships are sailing at capacity, which is great for shareholders trying to hang on for dear life!! 😁

 

I'm not sure if this is true during peak summer season, but Carnival has been giving a lot of free cruises to casino players. Which reduces the availability for those who don't get casino offers. But I guess that still would be good news for shareholders. If it wasn't more profitable to let casino players cruise free, they wouldn't be doing it.

[tap_out]

Have had an ocean suite on hold for Madi Gras. Going to pay the deposit today. More then we're used to spending compared to other cruise I don't feel to bad.  $3500 for 3 of us. 

[hard_eight]

2 hours ago, tap_out said:

Have had an ocean suite on hold for Madi Gras. Going to pay the deposit today. More then we're used to spending compared to other cruise I don't feel to bad.  $3500 for 3 of us. 

7/8 days worth of hotels, food, and entertainment would easily surpass that. 7 days is $166 per. Still a bargain to me.

[mjkacmom]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:35 PM, pcvtmom said:

When we're not cruising, we generally rent a beach house for a week with our extended family.  Prices for them literally doubled from last year to this year (Outer Banks, NC). Vacationing is not cheap, but I still find cruises to be the best bang for your buck! Most Carnival ships are sailing at capacity, which is great for shareholders trying to hang on for dear life!! 😁

We rent a beach house every year for around 12+ of us - Jersey shore! The prices since Covid have skyrocketed! 

[Saint Greg]

I locked in a Jubilee cruise for next summer before prices get way out of hand. But this summer the Carnival value isn't there for me. I'm going to be booking with either Royal, Princess, or NCL. I keep going back and forth between the three. Last night it was Princess. This morning Royal. Now I think it's going to be NCL after a few details get worked out.

[dallasdan]

1 hour ago, Saint Greg said:

I locked in a Jubilee cruise for next summer before prices get way out of hand. But this summer the Carnival value isn't there for me. I'm going to be booking with either Royal, Princess, or NCL. I keep going back and forth between the three. Last night it was Princess. This morning Royal. Now I think it's going to be NCL after a few details get worked out.

I will be interested in your review of NCL.  I am not sure if I would cruise with them because of all the reservations you have to make pre cruise.  I don't like to preplan every day of the cruise.  I don't think I could do Virgin either for the same reason.  

[Lee Cruiser]

Demand has definitely picked up.  My wife and I were looking at a November cruise to replace one we had to cancel for next week.  We needed one out of N.O. on Valor, but the cabins that we prefer have been sold out for a while (about two months).  The only ones that were available were in higher noise areas.  This was not around Thanksgiving, so we were kind of surprised.  However, we looked today and there was a cabin that had opened up in our favorite area, so we put it on hold.  This was after a couple of months of checking.  We still have to decide whether we will complete the booking or not because it is a couple of hundred higher than we normally pay.

 

We have two cruises booked for next year and have been looking at one for our September cruise.  We also noticed that Mardi Gras is very pricey, so we are looking at other options.  Not sure these prices will subside anytime soon.

[Lee Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

I locked in a Jubilee cruise for next summer before prices get way out of hand. But this summer the Carnival value isn't there for me

All three of our cruises for this year were booked with the 50% off offer from last year.  However, we had to cancel our Mardi Gras cruise for next week due to the timing of our grandchild being born.  It was kind of hard to do since it was such a great price.  Since we cancelled, we've been looking at a November cruise on Valor and it's costs more than the Mardi Gras cruise we cancelled and our Jubilee cruise in September 😒.  Right now we have the fewest cruises booked than we have in several years.

[Saint Greg]

5 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

All three of our cruises for this year were booked with the 50% off offer from last year.  However, we had to cancel our Mardi Gras cruise for next week due to the timing of our grandchild being born.  It was kind of hard to do since it was such a great price.  Since we cancelled, we've been looking at a November cruise on Valor and it's costs more than the Mardi Gras cruise we cancelled and our Jubilee cruise in September 😒.  Right now we have the fewest cruises booked than we have in several years.

 

I booked three cruises under that deal. One was my Magic cruise out of NYC last year. The other two are for next year. Horizon ABC and Spirit 8 days out of Mobile. I now have two Jubilee cruises booked for next year.

 

So next year is almost covered. But this summer there's nothing I can do with Carnival. Of course Panorama is a decent price but I'm not really feeling like flying out there for that same route again. I've done it twice and that may be enough.

 

I'm hoping the Venezia prices stay reasonable for the winter and I can fit that into the NFL schedule once it's released. If not I'm probably going to be opening up my fall/winter to other cruise lines.