So why book early . . . .

Some time ago there was a thread on this newsgroup asking how early to
book a cruise.

We booked a cruise in early January this year for February 2006; 13
months out. At that time we paid $3080 CAN for a balcony staeroom. Today
the price for both of us is $3320.

Book early folks. Looks like the analysts are right for a change.


-mgb

Thus spake not_here :

Some time ago there was a thread on this newsgroup asking how early to
book a cruise.

We booked a cruise in early January this year for February 2006; 13
months out. At that time we paid $3080 CAN for a balcony staeroom. Today
the price for both of us is $3320.

Just out of curiosity, how stable has the exchange rate been over the
last few months? I think everything is priced in US $ and then
converted.


Book early folks. Looks like the analysts are right for a change.


-mgb

--
dillon

"When the French are against it, you know we can't
be far wrong." - Adm. Bobbie Ray Inman

We have booked our 2 recent cruises (TA Sept 2004 & PC Nov 2005) 14
months in advance. $800 savings on TA & $1200 so far on PC. Then
Celebrity with air, both CO non-stop Gatwick for TA & LA/FLL for PC.
$398 for LA/FLL air compared to one way at the amount & the same to get
back, so 50% off air.

I also get my air info 9 months in advance to get best seats & make my
birdsitter very happy knowing when she should be here.
Dillon Pyron wrote:
Thus spake not_here :

Some time ago there was a thread on this newsgroup asking how early
to
book a cruise.

We booked a cruise in early January this year for February 2006; 13
months out. At that time we paid $3080 CAN for a balcony staeroom.
Today
the price for both of us is $3320.

Just out of curiosity, how stable has the exchange rate been over the
last few months? I think everything is priced in US $ and then
converted.


Book early folks. Looks like the analysts are right for a change.


-mgb

--
dillon

"When the French are against it, you know we can't
be far wrong." - Adm. Bobbie Ray Inman

We were looking at the Horizon for August of this year, back in November and
procrastinated for a month. The price went up about $100 pp when we finally
booked in December. Now the price is approximately $200 pp higher than
that.

--
Greg
lid
(Remove the '.invalid' twice to send Email)


"not_here" wrote in message
...
Some time ago there was a thread on this newsgroup asking how early to
book a cruise.

We booked a cruise in early January this year for February 2006; 13
months out. At that time we paid $3080 CAN for a balcony staeroom. Today
the price for both of us is $3320.

Book early folks. Looks like the analysts are right for a change.


-mgb

I guess it also depends upon whether you want connecting cabins and the
number of pairs of connecting cabins on a ship. Last month, I booked
three cabins on the NCL Sun 13 months in advance of embarkation. The
reason is that my son wanted two connecting cabins for himself, his
wife, and three children. Although there are 968 cabins on the NCL Sun,
there are only 9 pairs of connecting cabins on this ship. There are
three pairs of connecting obstructed view outside cabins on the
Promenade deck, four pairs of connecting non-suite balcony cabins on
the Viking deck, and two pairs of combination penthouse and non-suite
balcony cabin on the Viking deck.

Since my son wanted connecting non-suite balcony cabins and there were
only four in total, we decided to book early. Thus, we booked
reservations at the end of February for the NCL Sun sailing on March
19-26 (i.e., Spring Break 2006).

John

not_here wrote:
Some time ago there was a thread on this newsgroup asking how early
to
book a cruise.

We booked a cruise in early January this year for February 2006; 13
months out. At that time we paid $3080 CAN for a balcony staeroom.
Today
the price for both of us is $3320.

Book early folks. Looks like the analysts are right for a change.


-mgb



Nope ... tell me which exact cruise it is ... and I will email you at
least 3 or 4 times over the course of the year when lower prices will
be offered ...
I will almost guarantee you that on Dec. 15, 2005 the price will be
lower ...
I've priced dozens of cruises like this ...
Some cruises do indeed maintain pricing ... and the "early booking
discount" turns out best ... Like a summertime cruise out of NYC to
Bermuda ... but not a February one ...

Nope ... tell me which exact cruise it is ... and I will email you at
least 3 or 4 times over the course of the year when lower prices will
be offered ...
I will almost guarantee you that on Dec. 15, 2005 the price will be
lower ...
I've priced dozens of cruises like this ...
Some cruises do indeed maintain pricing ... and the "early booking
discount" turns out best ... Like a summertime cruise out of NYC to
Bermuda ... but not a February one ...


Usually, but sometimes cruises totally book up. Such is the case on a cruise
that I booked 9 months early on. Surprisingly, it was almost full when I
did, and I had to upgrade to a balcony cabin to just get a room- at least
got it at a good price.

I am finding that you need to book at least 1 year in advance to guarentee a
room type of your choice.

Chip wrote:

Usually, but sometimes cruises totally book up. Such is the case on a
cruise
that I booked 9 months early on. Surprisingly, it was almost full
when I
did, and I had to upgrade to a balcony cabin to just get a room- at
least
got it at a good price.

I am finding that you need to book at least 1 year in advance to
guarentee a
room type of your choice.

Not to extend the debate ... but 1 year from now is March 2006 ... show
me ONE ... Just ONE cruise then that is booked out of a room type ...

I get daily emails about March 2005 cruises ... that are last minute
heavily discounted ...

I can't show you one cruise in March 2006 where all cabins of a given
type have been booked. However, I can tell you about a sailing this
past Dec. 29, 2004. On October 14, 2004, I attempted to book a balcony
cabin on the Diamond Princess for its Mexican Riviera cruise on Dec.
29, 2004 to Jan. 8, 2005. None was available. The best I could do was a
guaranteed outside cabin with obstructed view.

Also, as I mentioned in one of the above postings, if you want a
specific cabin or cabins, such as connecting cabins, and they are few
in number, then you better book far in advance. For example, on the
Norweigan Sun, there are four pairs of connecting balcony cabins. Once
one or both cabins in each of those pairs have been booked, that's it.
NCL is not making any more of those on the Sun. So if you want to book
connecting balcony cabins on the NCL Sun and you wait until one or both
cabins in each pair are booked, then you are SOL.

John

Thus spake "number6" :


charlie funk wrote:
Not to extend the debate ... but 1 year from now is March 2006 ...
show me
ONE ... Just ONE cruise then that is booked out of a room type ...

Freedom of the Seas, inaugural sailing April 2006 is sold out.



Thanx for proving my point ...

Aberration.


--
dillon

"When the French are against it, you know we can't
be far wrong." - Adm. Bobbie Ray Inman