NJB London Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 Hi All, We are looking to book onto a Barcelona Med cruise in August next year, as some friends of ours are getting married on board. As we don't have children, this is the first time we will be cruising in a school holiday and the pricing is much higher than we normally pay. Also being in the UK we don't have the ability to reprice our deal if the price comes down. Does anyone have any tips as to whether Matt's normal rules apply of the earlier the better for booking in school holidays, or is there likely to be any possible better deals in the coming months ahead given the blogs readers vast experience and the wide range of cabins/availability on an Oasis ship. Balcony cabin currently £3300 - £4000, ($4,100 - $5,000) for 7 days!! Any advice gratefully received. Lastly any tips for quieter places on Oasis apart from the Solarium in the school holidays. This will be our first Oasis class cruise, 9th on RCL. Thanks in advance. Neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose City Cruiser Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 20 minutes ago, NJB London said: Lastly any tips for quieter places on Oasis apart from the Solarium in the school holidays. Central Park is fairly quiet. There is some bench seating near the living wall where you can sit and read a book. If you are looking to lay down and lounge on a chair, I recommend the Solarium. There's also a small buffet and bar nearby. NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiny260 Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 My personal preference is to book early, and my experience has been that I usually get a fairly good price, verses waiting until later. The main reason I book early is so that I have the best choices of rooms available to me, I usually book a suite and since there are less of them choices, they go fast. Booking early allows me to pick the deck and cabin in relation to mid-ship, front, back, etc. Twice now, I have had suites booked and had to change my travel dates, so I had to re-book the cruise, when I did re-book all of the suites were gone. NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 I usually book early as well. And by early, I mean 1.5 - 2 years out. Like @tiny260 has mentioned, I have found that the price is typically the lowest earlier out. However, that being said, my last two bookings (Harmony 2019 and Oasis 2020), I have saved over $500 on each since booking in January of this year because of price drops. However, as of today, they are both sitting higher than when I initially booked it. My Symphony 2019 booking, which I booked in November 2017, has done nothing but gone up since I booked it. So the prices go up and down, it's so hard to predict. @twangster compares it to stocks. RC does sales all the time, and most of the time they mean nothing. However, I have noticed that there are two sales that usually result in a savings sometimes, the Kids Sail Free (which would not apply to you) and the 30% off for all or BOBO 60% off. Not sure what they run in the UK, but maybe look for one of those. Bottom line is, without the ability to re-price, book it when you are comfortable with it and then stop checking and don't look back. NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melski94 Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 I've only cruise during school holidays so we pay a premium for each cruise. I book about 14-15 months in advance as that is when the school calendar comes out for our spring break cruise. I think in general you pay more for Oasis class ships plus on top that you are traveling on the school break so there is a sticker shock for you. I've never been able to take advantage of a huge price drop (maybe $25 savings) but have always seen prices go up. I don't know if there are any UK holidays coming up as they tend to have decent sales around there but I personally wouldn't wait very long. Also, take a look at the inventory of balcony room left. If there aren't many left, you may never see a good sale and actually could see a price increase! NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted May 15, 2018 Report Share Posted May 15, 2018 https://www.cruise118.com/search-results/filters/month/08_2019/destination/11/cruise_line/104/search_panel/1/ Right now you have Cruise 118 offering bookings for med in august 2019 with free drinks pack for £1 pp deposit, i would book your cruise but NOT pay anything towards it, having booked my own cruise early, i have watched the prices for the past 8 months and there have been better deals than i got. If you put your money aside and just wait then all you will loose is the £1 desposit pp if you see a better deal and rebook NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJB London Posted May 17, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2018 Thanks for all the help and advice, all very helpful. Its great to have such informed people to get suggestions from. P.S. we have booked :-) WAAAYTOOO, Lovetocruise2002 and JLMoran 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andydlucas Posted May 17, 2018 Report Share Posted May 17, 2018 BEWARE!! Correct me if I am wrong but I think you are liable for the full deposit if you cancel after paying the initial £1 deposit NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted May 17, 2018 Report Share Posted May 17, 2018 2 hours ago, andydlucas said: BEWARE!! Correct me if I am wrong but I think you are liable for the full deposit if you cancel after paying the initial £1 deposit You could be correct about that, just read that TA uses cruiseline T&C's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor_to_Cruiser Posted May 18, 2018 Report Share Posted May 18, 2018 15 hours ago, andydlucas said: BEWARE!! Correct me if I am wrong but I think you are liable for the full deposit if you cancel after paying the initial £1 deposit From Cruise118's Ts&Cs: "£1 deposit is limited to first 1,000 bookings only. Remaining deposit is required if you do cancel your cruise, the remaining balance will be taken on the 29th June 2018." "Customer must sign up to a Direct Debit payment schedule in order to qualify for £1 deposit." They have your bank details so they can get that £300pp. NJB London 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellcee Posted May 18, 2018 Report Share Posted May 18, 2018 i booked about a year in advance and the price never went down once for me, it has gone up several times, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJB London Posted May 23, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2018 On 5/18/2018 at 7:37 AM, Sailor_to_Cruiser said: From Cruise118's Ts&Cs: "£1 deposit is limited to first 1,000 bookings only. Remaining deposit is required if you do cancel your cruise, the remaining balance will be taken on the 29th June 2018." "Customer must sign up to a Direct Debit payment schedule in order to qualify for £1 deposit." They have your bank details so they can get that £300pp. Hi all, we have booked and I just paid the full deposit straight away as it was going to be due within a couple of weeks anyway. We did end up getting the gratuities included in a competitive price even though they should be extra for next years bookings, so pretty good value overall. Regards N WAAAYTOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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