Deposit, when to put it down.
When to Put Down that Deposit on Your Next Cruise
The best cruise prices come when you book in advance! This is especially true when you book 12 to 24 months in advance. I recently sat down with a business development manager of a huge cruise line, which I am not going to name, but our agency does sell their cruises. We talked about the newest promotions coming out and I told her that I felt like her company always had promotions going on and I asked if they were finding a decrease in overall cruise sales. She informed me that their sales have been better than ever because of their promotions. She explained that many years ago, the business model for cruise lines was to have “fire sales” close to departure dates to fill cabins. You would be able to get the best deals IF you waited until the last minute.
That was a big risk for cruise lines because if people couldn’t take last minute vacations, those cabins would remain unfilled. About two years ago, a new CEO came into the company and wanted to get rid of the “fire sales.” Instead, they wanted to put into place the “incentive” for people to book early. The earlier they book, the more they save because every so many months, we are going to increase the pricing slightly.
Not only will they increase the pricing slightly, but they will put out promotions that are combinable with each other. For example, if you wanted to take an Alaskan Cruise with a cruise tour, you can take advantage of the buy one get one 50% off on the cruise and the $250 off the cruise tour portion. If there is a flash sale of an onboard credit or beverage package, you can stack promotions on top of each other. The best part is that if you put down a deposit 12 to 18 months prior to the cruise departure date, you are getting the better value for your cruise than the person who booked last minute.
This all sounds good and made sense to me, but I really wanted to see the numbers for myself. I pulled a couple of reservations that our agency made last year and the clients were sailing this year. I looked at the promotions they were under and the current promotions available. When I recreated their bookings, the clients would be paying at least a $100/person more if they booked this month compared to what they booked last year! That is if their cabin category was still available. One group we had booked, that entire cabin category was sold out. It was good that they booked the cabins they wanted when they did!
If you are thinking about taking a cruise next year, especially if it is an Alaskan cruise, I would recommend that you call our agency today. We can help you determine which itinerary will be best for you, and make sure that you get the cabin category you want. Most deposits for cruise lines are fully refundable up until 90 days prior to departure for a 7-night cruise, so put down the deposit just to secure your space.
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People rate airports so I have to give my two cents on the cruise terminal. The second cruise I was on was out of Miami back in 2006. At the time, I wasn’t impressed with their cruise terminal at all. I felt rushed, no direction, people wall to wall, and I felt it was tiny. When we took a cruise out of Barcelona, I was impressed. Spacious, open, very well light, people directing you, everything was clean, and bathrooms were around every corner, which is good if you have to wait to board. I have to say I was equally impressed by Port Canaveral’s newer cruise port terminal. Very much like Barcelona’s cruise terminal and there were personnel everywhere to answer questions and direct you. Total time from when we entered the doors of the terminal to the time we stepped foot on the ship was 15 minutes. Very quick!
atrium area. You see people sitting in chairs with their luggage that they didn’t give to the attendants, and the bar is already full. We decided to start walking around the ship to become more familiar with where things were located. Being a travel consultant I wanted to get some good pictures of the ship without too many people in them. For an almost 20 year old ship, I was surprised how nicely kept it was. I didn’t see too much wear and tear considering they do three night Bahama cruises back to back. The ship had plenty of lounges, bars, elevators, huge main dining room with upper level seating, two cafes for additional dinin
g options, a specialty restaurant, a very spacious casino, large theater, spa, fitness center, rock wall climb, trampoline jumps, and several pools and Jacuzzis including an adult only pool and children’s splash area. There was way more than enough to keep us occupied on a three night cruise.
m, we opted to do another activity, planning our shopping in Nassau. They had a shopping concierge on the ship who gave tips as to what to buy in Nassau and where to buy it. It was a very interesting lecture and we were able to set up our shopping game plan within that timeframe. I highly recommend reading the cruise planner daily. They have some interesting activities from basketball games, to charity events, Bingo, lectures, art auctions, wine and liquor tastings, dancing, and show times.
activities that they offered that we almost forget that we could finally get into our cabin. For a three night cruise I, personally, didn’t think that we needed a balcony. I also didn’t want to be at the bottom of the boat. There are a few select rooms on the upper decks called the Panoramic Ocean view. They cost slightly more than just an ocean view but you get a floor to ceiling window. I had seen these rooms on a ship inspection that I had done a few years ago and have wanted to stay in one since. I do have to say that I was disappointed with how
dirty the cabin was. There were crumbs all over the carpet, the bathroom shower was grimy, the sink clogged, the toilet was not clean but we won’t get descriptive about that, and the window had an oil film on the outside of it. The only thing that was clean was the bed. A phone call to housekeeping and most of the stuff was cleaned up very quickly.
