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Anyone else decide to only book close to sailing dates for now?


barbeyg

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I’m a planner. Heck, most cruises are booked right after they go on sale, just so I can reprice as time passes. ? 

We have multiple FCCs plopped on our AK cruise next May, enough so that it is just about paid off with FCCs, and most of them are from deposits only!  We have another cruise booked for next December, to belatedly celebrate our 35th anniversary.
 

Other than that, we cancelled our Dec 2021 cruise on Odyssey that we were really looking forward to, because of lots of reasons, not just the testing beforehand. A lot of it had to do with the uncertainty of the ports of call, and the ever-changing Covid rules by each island. 
 

We are now just going to observe for the rest of this year, and when we get about 2 weeks ahead of upcoming vacation dates, see what the current rules are for sailing and the islands.  If it looks good, we will check around for a cruise to hop on. If that happens, great, if not, we will do another land vacation. Figure it will be a great rehearsal for retirement, when we plan to somewhat ‘wing it’ for cruising anyway. ?

Anyone else decide to just book close-in for cruises right now? Anyone do this regularly, and have tips for newbies to this practice? 
 

 

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11 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

Anyone else decide to just book close-in for cruises right now? Anyone do this regularly, and have tips for newbies to this practice? 

The biggest issue right now is because of reduced capacity, it is not uncommon for sailings to be sold out (depending on how close-in you wait).

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9 minutes ago, Matt said:

The biggest issue right now is because of reduced capacity, it is not uncommon for sailings to be sold out (depending on how close-in you wait).

Thanks, Matt. ? We sorta figured that would be the downside to it. We plan to look across the entire east Coast (we are in TN) and Celebrity.  But would be prepared for not finding something, and turn to vrbo for a deal, if we couldn’t sail. ?  

We really, really miss cruising, but our next opportunity is December. Sigh. Shouldn’t have planned that trip to see family next month. ?

 

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14 hours ago, barbeyg said:

I’m a planner. Heck, most cruises are booked right after they go on sale, just so I can reprice as time passes. ? 

We have multiple FCCs plopped on our AK cruise next May, enough so that it is just about paid off with FCCs, and most of them are from deposits only!  We have another cruise booked for next December, to belatedly celebrate our 35th anniversary.
 

Other than that, we cancelled our Dec 2021 cruise on Odyssey that we were really looking forward to, because of lots of reasons, not just the testing beforehand. A lot of it had to do with the uncertainty of the ports of call, and the ever-changing Covid rules by each island. 
 

We are now just going to observe for the rest of this year, and when we get about 2 weeks ahead of upcoming vacation dates, see what the current rules are for sailing and the islands.  If it looks good, we will check around for a cruise to hop on. If that happens, great, if not, we will do another land vacation. Figure it will be a great rehearsal for retirement, when we plan to somewhat ‘wing it’ for cruising anyway. ?

Anyone else decide to just book close-in for cruises right now? Anyone do this regularly, and have tips for newbies to this practice? 
 

 

Yep we're the same, didn't want to wait until next May so found a reasonably priced UK cruise in October, no real interest in the destinations, just wanted to get back on a cruise ship.

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16 hours ago, barbeyg said:

I’m a planner. Heck, most cruises are booked right after they go on sale, just so I can reprice as time passes. ? 

We have multiple FCCs plopped on our AK cruise next May, enough so that it is just about paid off with FCCs, and most of them are from deposits only!  We have another cruise booked for next December, to belatedly celebrate our 35th anniversary.
 

Other than that, we cancelled our Dec 2021 cruise on Odyssey that we were really looking forward to, because of lots of reasons, not just the testing beforehand. A lot of it had to do with the uncertainty of the ports of call, and the ever-changing Covid rules by each island. 
 

We are now just going to observe for the rest of this year, and when we get about 2 weeks ahead of upcoming vacation dates, see what the current rules are for sailing and the islands.  If it looks good, we will check around for a cruise to hop on. If that happens, great, if not, we will do another land vacation. Figure it will be a great rehearsal for retirement, when we plan to somewhat ‘wing it’ for cruising anyway. ?

Anyone else decide to just book close-in for cruises right now? Anyone do this regularly, and have tips for newbies to this practice? 
 

 

My wife and I are planning a land based post Christmas trip.  San Francisco is one of the options.  Because of the possibility of CA being shut down again, we are not booking until we see where Delta goes.

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3 hours ago, Mike.s said:

Yep we're the same, didn't want to wait until next May so found a reasonably priced UK cruise in October, no real interest in the destinations, just wanted to get back on a cruise ship.

Hope you have a great cruise! ? We feel the same way about sailing. 

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4 hours ago, prbeauty777 said:

My boyfriend and I just booked two cruises this week. One 5 day aboard the Freedom on Sep 6 and our first Halloween Cruise aboard the Odyssey. We are hoping for the best and seeing things with covid are probably going to get worse we figured sooner versus later would be best.

Hope you have great great trips! Hope to do a Halloween trip one day. Sounds like fun! ?

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I’m a planner too! I like to have my schedule filled and it’s much easier knowing I can cancel up to 48hrs before. I also love being able to re-price when the sales occur…or upgrade! Being in NJ, I try to cruise as often as I can between Sept and May…love cruising out of New York Harbor in the winter! I know I’ll be on the Anthem so it’s just easier to book in advance.

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Cruise with Confidence eligibility for "cruises booked by" currently ends August 31.  

That looming date is influencing my bookings more than anything else right now.  

If I were to only book close in cruises then come Sept. 1 any bookings made after Aug. 31 would not be eligible for CWC.  

They could extend CWC eligibility dates but at some point they won't extend it anymore and that some point could be now.

That along with the C&A double points eligibility ending Sept. 30.   

Booking close in after September and not only is CWC not applicable but you won't get double points either.  

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No....but we typically book early and as refundable.  I'm a total planner and love the anticipation of a cruise.  Plus since we travel during school holidays, we know the exact days way in advance (excluding last year when they moved March break to April...but no cruises or travel then anyways).

Also to add to my "no", during this covid mess, we even booked multiple cruises on the same date for the flexibility.  This helps with departure port and if our original booking doesn't start up by the sail date.  And for example, what happens in Dec 2021 has a domino effect on what happens in March 2021.

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Not during this period of time.  If this was a pre-shutdown time yes.  Now I'm hold bookings that were  made a long way out, but will see the first in November.  Not pleased with the continued rule set that's in place (it diminishes the vacation experience), but we'll abide by the rules as opposed to cancelling.

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We try to book 9 ~ 12 months out so we can watch the pricing and cruise planner sales. The CWC deadline is approaching later this month and we are trying to decide on a replacement date next year for our September Liberty OTS cruise that was cancelled. Lately we have received our refunds sooner than later and are just waiting for the refunds to hit on the September cruise so we can move the OBC to our January cruise. That will be the third move for that money.

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1 hour ago, twangster said:

Cruise with Confidence eligibility for "cruises booked by" currently ends August 31.  

That looming date is influencing my bookings more than anything else right now.  

If I were to only book close in cruises then come Sept. 1 any bookings made after Aug. 31 would not be eligible for CWC.  

They could extend CWC eligibility dates but at some point they won't extend it anymore and that some point could be now.

That along with the C&A double points eligibility ending Sept. 30.   

Booking close in after September and not only is CWC not applicable but you won't get double points either.  

Oh yes! The Cruise with Confidence program is another reason why I try to book as many as possible prior to the cutoff date at the end of August. The program gives me much flexibility and peace of mind…I have already taken advantage of the price drops several times. And the double points is an added benefit! I book suites and I’m usually solo so I get six points per night!

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It's really hurting me not being able to plan everything in advance. ?

We have our Harmony cruise coming up in six weeks' time and have nothing booked beyond that. What's mainly holding me back is the "sail by" date on CWC because the cruise we particularly have our eye on is in May so it wouldn't be covered; plus, it's from the US and who knows when we Europeans will be allowed back in.

I do have my eye on another two in Europe, but slightly earlier, and which would be covered so those could be booked as place holders I guess but that then starts to be a lot of cash sitting in Royal's bank account instead of in mine. I have actually gone through the full booking process for all of these cruises but have then balked at the last step of actually putting in my credit card details. 

I don't know if I will cave before the end of the month and actually put money on something soon; my fingers and heart are dying to but my head is putting its foot down with a firm hand, so to speak. Or perhaps book something in our first few days on board so that we can at least take advantage of the double points promotion.

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