Are you an early planner or late planner?

[disney631]

Do you book your cruise way in advance or do you wait for special offers to come up and book at the spot?
I'm seeing really good deals lately on upcoming departure dates and so wish my husband could take some time off to jump on one.

 

[dizney-cruiser]

As early as possible!! We will book while onboard. We want to cruise in 2015, but if the dates aren't out yet by next month, we will just go with a dummy date.

 

[surlecn]

Super early planner. I booked our upcoming November cruise July 2012!!!!! I was planning before then!

 

[EPCOTatNight]

I guess I'm a late planner. We usually plan our WDW and DCL vacations within 6 months of travel date. Last year at this time, I had NO cruises planned. We will be on our 3rd cruise this year in Nov. We are currently am in the midst of our longest wait (6 months). I just can't imagine waiting a year or 2 for a vacation.

Sent from my IPad using DisBoards.

 

[rowlands57]

I plan early so that I can lock in the rest of the trip around the cruise. Also, if you do have a specific cabin you want then earlier the better. I just like knowing that things are nailed down and I also can use our 11 month DVC window to ensure we get the resort we need for the days before/after the cruise. I also like being able to reserve the spa and Palo/Remy ahead of time and usually try to do that if we're in Nassau for a day. I have done Nassau plenty of times and now staying on the ship is just fine by me for that day.

 

[PrincessTrisha]

Early planner. We need a wheelchair accessible cabin so the last minute rates (IVT, OVT, etc) don't apply to us. I'd love to be able to jump on one of those discounts but they exclude accessible cabins (even if there are still accessible cabins available ).

 

[Boos14]

The earlier you book the cheaper it is. Booked my Dec 2014 in Feb 2013.

 

[cruisecrasher]

I've done both but prefer early.

 

[darkwing818]

Do you book your cruise way in advance or do you wait for special offers to come up and book at the spot?
I'm seeing really good deals lately on upcoming departure dates and so wish my husband could take some time off to jump on one.

Probably early to get the cruise & cabin we want. We booked our 2014 NYE cruise when the 2014 cruise dates were released. On the other hand there are some cruises in October that we don't book so early as we don't always know which exact weeks in October DW will have off (she's a teachers assistance at a year round school).

 

[robhawk]

Definitely early for us! We use DVC Points, so early gives us better cabin selection!
Love hanging out on the boards thinking about our upcoming cruise!

 

[Raymark]

I'm a last minute planner. Just booked our first cruise for this October about two weeks ago! I feel that I plan very thoroughly, almost obsessing over searching for info & making lists. But, I do not start the process 6+ months in advance. Anticipating something for that long could kill me

I do not know yet if we will book our next cruise while onboard. If we did, our intent would be to cruise during the off season of 2015 or later. Our financial priorities are wrapped around IVF & trying to give our twins a sibling (or two). We've had 2 failures in that department this year . And are now taking our first vacation in our almost 14yr marriage before we try again! Not knowing if we should book on board for our family 4, 5, or 6 people also makes early planning difficult.

I'm also a late x-mas planner. If I started buying gifts before November I would give them to my kids early. I can keep bad secrets, but not fun ones. It's hard enough for me to keep gifts a secret just two weeks prior to the holiday lol.

 

[wcw57]

I guess I would fall into the early planner group.....We are looking forward to our August 2017 cruise!!!

 

[crabby5]

We're late planners for DCL! We're about to book our 3rd cruise and it will be in November- so we generally have booked about 2 months in advance for them. We have pretty flexible vacatoin time at work and the grandparents are all retired, so it works for us. We get the VGT rooms and have been in vitrually the same cabin on the last 2 cruises (and they were awesome).