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best time to book

we are planning another boat ride. 12 days in nov for 3 persons. we plan to book a 2 bedroom cabin on royal caribbean. the prices are all over the place, however, about 5 or 6 booking agents are offering the same rock bottom price. question is, does the price go down some time frame before the boat goes to sea? we just came back from a 12 night cruise, and about a third of the cabins were vacant.

Wow, what cruise were you on with that kind of vacancy? I suggest booking now and then keeping an eye on prices. If you're cruising with Royal Caribbean (and all other main lines I know about), you can cancel up until a certain point and, until your final payment is due, if you notice a price drop, you can call the cruise line and have the cost of your cruise adjusted, either by getting money back or getting on-board credit as the case may be.

[QUOTE=YZF_Elite;29277342]Wow, what cruise were you on with that kind of vacancy?

RC 12 day out of balt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by slawecki (Post 29276246)

November is one of the shoulder or off-season months so prices can fluctuate quite a bit. It is frequently true that cruise lines will hold off major reductions or incentives until after the final payment date for already booked passengers. At that point the passenger may be stuck and may not be able to take advantage of the lower price or incentive. Of course the other side is that even though it’s an off-season cruise it might be very popular and fill up quickly. That can mean early prices are lower and the line will raise fares based on the increased demand. The third consideration is regardless of cruise popularity your preferred cabin category might get all booked up. Personally we decided years ago to book early and take our chances. That really has more to do with having to plan work schedules, going on more popular itineraries during high season, and wanting a pretty specific cabin category.

Many years ago I used cruise compete to find a cruise agency. I have stuck with them.

If you use a credit card to pay for the deposit/final make sure the cruise line, not the agency actually charges your card. What are the perks the agency includes...free gratuities, on board credit, specialty dining, lower fare? Does your loyalty status with a cruise line offer any discounts? Does the cruise line offer to upgrade cabins within a specific category? Is the cruise line having a "sale" with perks included? Take everything into consideration. The ship and time of year has a lot to do with the cruise price,

I now book over a year out. I usually want specific cabins that sell quickly. If I hear that the fare goes down, I contact my cruise TA. Last week I received a new confirmation on my Feb 2019 cruise. Apparently the rate went down ( I had no clue) and TA took care of it and sent a new confirmation. Once the final payment is made, you can not get a lower price on your fare.

I also find it hard to believe a was only 2/3 full, unless weather made it very hard for some of the PAX to fly into the port.

If you have not already done so, cruise on over to Cruise Critic. You will find a wealth of information on the site.

I was on cruise only once but I used this site. Great information source.

We book a year or more out and have been using cruise complete. I like agencies that have an electronic payment system so I can easily make payments once a month. Not all of them have that. I have tried 2 agencies so far. I need to remember not to make the final payment too soon.

Does anyone know the commission break down for agencies? Do they get 15-20% and give us 10% as a credit?

Do most of you use the credit for insurance or do you buy it separate? I bought Geoblue to go along with my family insurance plan and I have the Amex Plat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travelz (Post 29624171)

Hard to say about commissions. A travel agent friend told me the average commission runs around 12% for mainstream cruise lines. She couldn’t say for sure whether or not large agencies, like Cruise.com that books literally thousands of cruises a week, gets a better commission or if they were able to reserve/block cabins at a discount and resell for a savings. She was with a brick and mortar agency that was severely hurt by the Internet and the ability to either deal directly with cruise lines or book through a discount agency. I think the bottom line for discounting agents/agencies really comes down to volume and they can afford to take 2% over hundreds if not thousands bookings a month versus a small agent/agency only booking 50-100 a month.

Personally I buy AIG travel insurance on a trip by trip basis from an Internet based agent. I cancelled my AMEX Platinum years ago when I semi-retired and cut back on my travel. Couldn’t justify the annual fee and could no longer write it off as a business expense.

Of course, the total cost of a cruise is airfare plus the cruise ship. The airfare varies depending on the location of the departure and arrival ports and what class you want to fly. If airfare is a significant part of the cost, you will get your best deals and most convenient times by booking far in advance if you are paying cash. There are special cruise fares that the cruise line or any travel agent can get for you once a cruise is verified, but, again, the cost will increase the closer you get to the cruise.

Conversely award travel miles required might go down as you get close to the cruise dates. For example, United may release more Saver awards close to travel time.