EARLY BOOKING CRUISE SPECIALS

It has become an urban legend from the great cruis deflation of 2007 and 2008 that you should stand on the pier on departure day waiting for the best price. Actually as the cruise market rebounds, nothing could be further from the truth as prices have gotten higher as we have gotten close to departure and some clients that tried to wait out the cruise companies ended up getting left behind when we filled the ship two or three weeks prior to departure. In 2007, 2008 and somewhat into 2009 we were termed "upside down" in the cruise business. It has not been true for almost two years that we are able to do day of departure pricing because of Homeland Security rules that require the Lines to shut down manifests usually 24 hours prior to departure. That said, we did get some pretty good deals during the recession for those last minute people that wanted to go next week or in two weeks.

Innovative Ships like the Oasis of the Seas (picture courtesy of Royal Caribbean) never get cheap.
With these types of trips, early booking is always the cheapest way to go.

Recently though the cruise lines have been filling up two to three weeks prior to departure and the best deals seem to have been between 2 months prior to departure up to about 40 days prior to departure. Those prices sometimes are still higher than what the cruise lines call early booking deals a year in advance or even more. The cruise lines have tried very hard to make a market where they are not upside down. To do so, they have deeply discounted rates when they first release them up to about a year in advance of departure. Carnival Cruise Lines, in fact, has an Early Saver rate that guarantees you will get the best rate on the particular category and sailing that you purchased. It works like an airline ticket, that the deposit is nonrefundable (but you can change date for $50) and in exchange for that provision, Carnival will lower your rate if you or your agent finds a lower rate prior to departure. You must book and deposit immediately at least five months in advance on 6 nights or longer and three months in advance on 5 nights or shorter ships. With most other cruise lines and booking programs, you are not into penalty until you pay final payment 70 days prior to departure, so we can always rebook the room if the rate goes down and most lines are agreeable to simply lowering the rate for your travel agent as we have a regular relationship so they want smooth sailing.

This is especially true with long exotic journeys as the wealthy people are still spending money in America so anything longer than 14 nights, especially in a balcony category, tends to hold value. All of those trips of a lifetime like around the horne in South America, Asian trips or trans-Pacific including Hawaii and Fiji only happen a few times a year so they are best to buy 18 months in advance when the ship is first released. In addition to the best rate, some companies offer early booking bonuses on World Cruises or World Cruise Segments including shore excursions, prepaid gratuities and even FREE laundry or a couple of bottles of booze in the room with certain minimum category purchases. Finally, a lot of companies work with upgrades at the least expensive rate so even if they have to lower the rate later, you already have an upgraded room for purchasing early.

Not that we don't offer some last minute specials from time to time but they will be more usual in the fall and off-season and you could have probably purchased your cabin months ago and gotten the same rate. Right now we are getting some last minute specials in Europe, but that's paired with expensive air tickets, thus the reason for the last minute specials. We are seeing some July and August specials here in May on Alaska and some fall specials on Canada and Northeast foilage. Right now the summer cruises are cookin' with high prices driven by the family market that wants to depart from a home port since the cruises are such a good value for families when you stuff the kids into the bunk beds. Speaking of upper berths, we are having space availability problems on some sailings because so many people are booking a cruise and taking the kids so call soon if you plan to put the kids in the bunk beds before we run out of space on the summer Caribbean cruises from Florida. Even the Oasis of the Seas and her sister ship the Allure of the Seas are filling up quickly for summer dates so get onboard before you get left behind.

One last thought about early booking. We have more people than ever paying payments on 2012 and 2013 cruises at this time. If you are setting up a family reunion, let us do the booking and we can offer up to six payments on a cruise package. We have more people paying "on time" than we have since the eighties as people are budgeting vacation by depositing early and paying off the package. That way you have a time to save up some spending money so you don't end up with a lot on the credit cards when you get back. Contact us now for any ship or sailing through 2012 and 2013.