Anyone ever purchased hours before sailing?

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Days - yes, hours - no. Most of the arrangements are made at the home
office, not on the docks. Any travel agent can get you the last minute
cruise deals they get all the time when space is available, but it won't be
for waking up to the ship the morning of sailing.



wrote in message
oups.com...
I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Days - yes, hours - no. Most of the arrangements are made at the home
office, not on the docks. Any travel agent can get you the last minute
cruise deals they get all the time when space is available, but it won't be
for waking up to the ship the morning of sailing.



wrote in message
oups.com...
I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

"Tom K" wrote in message
...

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd
think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

No, post 9-11 they are required to submit passenger lists 72 hours (I
believe) before the sailing. That would be the latest you could buy and
still get on the list. Given the trouble of getting paperwork together, I
suspect most lines cut off sales earlier than that.

Mark T.

"Tom K" wrote in message
...

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd
think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

No, post 9-11 they are required to submit passenger lists 72 hours (I
believe) before the sailing. That would be the latest you could buy and
still get on the list. Given the trouble of getting paperwork together, I
suspect most lines cut off sales earlier than that.

Mark T.

"Tom K" wrote in message
...

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd
think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

No, post 9-11 they are required to submit passenger lists 72 hours (I
believe) before the sailing. That would be the latest you could buy and
still get on the list. Given the trouble of getting paperwork together, I
suspect most lines cut off sales earlier than that.

Mark T.

I have a dumb follow up question. If you missed your ship and another was
going to the same place a few hours later would they sell you an overnight
ride to catch up?

A couple of years ago I was on the dock at Cozumel when a family came
running up waving at their departing ship. I heard the father look at his
new watch and say that it was a brand new watch and he had reset it at the
store so he knew it was right. He didn't know about ship time versus local
time. The following morning when we pulled into Cayman or Jamaica, I forget
which, the ship they had missed was already anchored there. I've often
wondered if they could had managed to hitch a ride on our ship to catch up.

Joe in Florida

"MarkT" wrote in message
news:CtE1e.19381$wL6.10888@trnddc03...
"Tom K" wrote in message
...

"ZombyWoof" wrote in message
...
On 27 Mar 2005 06:29:16 -0800, wrote something
wonderfully witty:

I am interested in taking a spur of the moment cruise on carnival or
royal caribbean. Has anyone ever walked up and bought reservations
hours before sailing? Are there discounts to be had?

Can't be done. Need at least a couple of days, if not a week. There
are specials that pop up al the time shortly before departure, but if
you show up on the day of departure, you'll be left standing on the
docks. This is post 9/11 after all.
--

I understand the post 9/11 issues and all that. But if you're a past
passenger... and they've done the search thing on you before... you'd
think
they could figure out a way to do it... IF (big if, and maybe it's not
the
case now) they need to fill up the ships.

--Tom

No, post 9-11 they are required to submit passenger lists 72 hours (I
believe) before the sailing. That would be the latest you could buy and
still get on the list. Given the trouble of getting paperwork together, I
suspect most lines cut off sales earlier than that.

Mark T.