We book as much as one to two years out. Over the past seven years our cruises have all been on a Silversea ship. Most on the Silver Wind that only has about a 280 passenger capacity so that is a factor. Secondly Silversea cruises are normally not canned repetitive cruises like one might see for destinations like Alaska and the Caribbean where big lines repeat the same itinerary over and over again. It’s not that Silversea or Seabourn never repeat itineraries it’s more they don’t do it often. Thirdly at least Silversea has a fare guarantee program. That means if they lower the fare after you book they will adjust your fare. Because of that Silversea does not have last minute “fire sales” nor do they do discounted up sells or free upgrades to higher category cabins. Fourth is my wife still works and she is the chief of staff of a government agency. She just can’t walk in and say she’s going on previously unapproved leave. An additional requirement for her is any travel outside has to be reviewed and approved. Our last cruise was 18 days Rome to Dubai so we visited Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, and UAE. She had to have what we call country clearance for every country and carried a 16 page memo with specific instructions for each country. So yes there are several reasons why we book so far out. Is our situation unique because of my wife’s job? Yes but even without that we are destination cruisers and we like unique cruises so we’ll always book early.