book now or onboard in 11 weeks?

[daisyx3]

I am considering a 7 night in mid-March 2017. I know I missed the cheapest fares but I just found out when my spring break is in 2017 (and I won't know 2018 until this time next year).
One option is to pay for one of us with points, but the more I hear about the intricacies, the more I want to rent out my points and use the cash to help pay for the cruise.
I cruise in 11 weeks. I don't know what the price trends are for a period like that...I am trying to balance whether I should book now or wait until that cruise and use the onboard discount. If it goes up 10% in the next 11 weeks it will be a wash.
Thoughts?
Daisyx3

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I am considering a 7 night in mid-March 2017. I know I missed the cheapest fares but I just found out when my spring break is in 2017 (and I won't know 2018 until this time next year).
One option is to pay for one of us with points, but the more I hear about the intricacies, the more I want to rent out my points and use the cash to help pay for the cruise.
I cruise in 11 weeks. I don't know what the price trends are for a period like that...I am trying to balance whether I should book now or wait until that cruise and use the onboard discount. If it goes up 10% in the next 11 weeks it will be a wash.
Thoughts?
Daisyx3

It's a good idea to go ahead and book it now. Then, once onboard, you can "reshop" it. All the discounts are taken on the current price of the cruise (at the time you do the reshopping), so you'd have to do some number crunching to see whether the discount at a later date will save you money over the current booking. If prices rise enough, there may be no savings to cancel and rebook. Or there could be.

Either way, you'll get the lowest price that way.

 

[BelleWannabe4]

I booked online back in October, thinking that I might "reshop" the cruise when I'm onboard this month. The cruise cost has increased by over $600 for a verandah room for an off-season cruise (yikes!!) so I would say definitely book now and keep an eye on the price.

 

[laceltris3]

I would book now. I booked for December 2016 on opening day and then reshopped it in Alaska a few weeks later. The price had not gone up, so they cancelled the one I had and rebooked me for the same room and added my travel agent to the new booking.

I had booked opening day myself, anticipating on reshopping. Had I used the travel agent first, they would have had to do a new booking and the travel agent would have had to cancel the original booking later.

 

[daisyx3]

I think I'm going to pull the trigger this weekend. One more question...I used a TA this time, but want to do this myself so I can shop it without any issues. That won't be a problem will it? Then hopefully I can get the same room when I rebook onboard.

 

[n2mm]

It must be me, because I reshopped a cruise last year and the CM was not too happy about it. He made it clear that this is not something they normally do.....but he did it. I wanted to keep my room as that Cat was now GTY and he said he would try. He got it done and then had to make a call to keep the room. He made it seem like he was doing me a favor. Because of that I probably won't reshop again. I had already booked the room, then a DVC deal came up and I cruised before the already booked cruise. So figured, why not do this. Everyone made it seem easy. The CM made me feel uncomfortable and like I was doing something wrong. Like the OP, I'm cruising in less than 6 weeks and while onboard I want to book a cruise for Fall 2016. I have my eye on a couple of dates and don't want to visit the website to see if the rate goes up too high before booking onboard.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

It must be me, because I reshopped a cruise last year and the CM was not too happy about it. He made it clear that this is not something they normally do.....but he did it. I wanted to keep my room as that Cat was now GTY and he said he would try. He got it done and then had to make a call to keep the room. He made it seem like he was doing me a favor. Because of that I probably won't reshop again. I had already booked the room, then a DVC deal came up and I cruised before the already booked cruise. So figured, why not do this. Everyone made it seem easy. The CM made me feel uncomfortable and like I was doing something wrong. Like the OP, I'm cruising in less than 6 weeks and while onboard I want to book a cruise for Fall 2016. I have my eye on a couple of dates and don't want to visit the website to see if the rate goes up too high before booking onboard.

Sounds like you got a bad CM. What you were asking to do is not at all unusual, and his attitude is clearly not "Disney standard". I'd give them another try. And if you encounter such attitudes from any CMs, I'd suggest you be sure to mention it in your end of cruise survey. How will DCL know who the bad apples are unless guests tell them?