Anniversary trip

[kaymak]

I want to take a 7 night cruise in 2007 so bad I can not stand it! It will be for our 10 year anniversary. Our girls will be 5 and 8. I just do not know if it will be possible with the price increases that I think will be coming. Another possibility would be to do a 4 night cruise and add a resort stay somewhere. I just really have my heart set on the 7 night and I just do not know if the 4 night would be as great? What do you think?

 

[StuartMI]

I think you should make a realistic budget and stick to it. Then you'll know what you can have. The key to saving, though, is booking EARLY and then in 99% of the cases, transferring to a travel agent (like Dana) to save even more.

 

[Tink]

We wanted to do the cruise for a while, and we just kept saving. We are going this August for our 10th annivesary! If you want it bad enough you can do it.

We booked over a year in advance with Dreams Unlimited. They have been very helpful. We normally do the booking ourselves, but this is the first time we are cruising. We tried to save a certain amount for it and use tax refund money.

Good luck!

 

[Buddy Bear]

The rates for 2007 should come out in late Sept/early Oct. If you book right away you will get the best rate possible. You can book just you and your husband to start and add the children later.

I do this to reduce the intial outlay of cash. Each person requires a deposit so I book my wife and I first and then add the children later, but no too much later since the ship can reach capacity and then you are out of luck.

By booking early you would have at the very least 12 months to pay off the cruise. In many cases the final payment is due 90 days before cruising so even if you book Jan '07 you would have 12 months from Oct 2005.

If I were you I would get a rough idea from DCL or a TA what it would cost to book for the time of year you want to sail and start saving now. Even though you can't book for 4 months doesn't mean you can't start saving now.

Good luck and hopefully you can go on your 7 day cruise.

 

[CM_Mom]

Buddy Bear is right that you just have to come up with a budget and figure out how much you have to save each month to meet your goal. I think the trick is to start saving NOW and if you don't have enough for 2007, then there's always 2008. I would go ahead and start saving the deposit money now so when the new schedule is announced, you'll be ready to pounce and get the BEST rate. I saw someone post a while back that the rates for their May 2006 cruise have already gone up over $1000 since they booked and it's still a year away.

I also think several people have posted that the per day cost of the cruise isn't much different than the per day cost in the parks by the time you include park passes, food, hotel, etc but I haven't done the math.