Booking Cruise at only 5 weeks Out

[Sheridan]

I'm in need of a little advice. My family is considering booking the 10/02 4-night cruise on the dream. At only 5 weeks out I'm concerned we are way to late to for any sort of reservations. For instance I have a 1 year old and the later 8:30 dinners would be problematic. Do you think it's too late for us to book and still have an experience worth the cost?

 

[vacationer1954]

This close to the cruise, they should be cutting the price to offer last-minute deals, and so that's what would make up for the fewer choices for things like dining times. It doesn't look like that's happening with the 10/2 cruise. All the remaining categories appear to be at their highest rates. Personally, I would pass if getting first preference for things like dining times and stateroom location were a big concern.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

My very first cruise was a 3 night on the Dream right at the beginning of October 2014 that I booked about 45 days out. By the time we sailed, the ship was considered to be "sold out" but was well below capacity. DCL offered really good employee discounts on that sailing (but didn't offer any *GT discounts) and there were a lot of staterooms with just 2 adults and no kids. Only late dining was available, but I was solo so the late dinner time was what I wanted. You can ask to be wait listed for early dining and if you don't get it before your cruise, go to the location noted in the Navigator you receive in the terminal and request to be changed. There's no guarantee you can get the earlier dining, but I think you'd have a good chance.

There were still plenty of excursions available at CC. I stayed on the boat in Nassau. You might have trouble pre-booking the Princess Gathering and Frozen Meet and Greet, but you can request tickets for those once you board.

I'd say you can have a wonderful experience, even with booking this late. Go for it.

 

[lorimay]

Go for it!!!

Have fun!

 

[mmouse37]

I just booked last week for the 10/14 cruise out of NYC. I prefer late dining so that is fine but all the meet and greets and character breakfasts were sold out. We will still have a great time.

MJ

 

[Shanti]

I'm in need of a little advice. My family is considering booking the 10/02 4-night cruise on the dream. At only 5 weeks out I'm concerned we are way to late to for any sort of reservations. For instance I have a 1 year old and the later 8:30 dinners would be problematic. Do you think it's too late for us to book and still have an experience worth the cost?

We've had two wonderful Disney cruises, each booked less than two months in advance. If you want it, book it. Dining times can possibly be changed at Dining Changes when you board the ship, btw.

The same cruise will likely be more expensive next year.

 

[ToyStory3]

We are thinking of booking the 9/16 cruise on the Fantasy. It's less than a month out from now. We are going to decide this weekend. That's what I love about cruising...no fast passes or reservations that you absolutely have to have. It's hard to go to WDW without any ADRs, but on a cruise you know you're guaranteed all of your meals even without reservations. I say go for it!

 

[dad of 3 addicted to DCL]

We recently jumped in on the 10/2 cruise on Magic out of NY. Got in a good time at Palo, tastings and spa times too! Go for it!

 

[Trera]

2 weeks ago we booked the 9/8/17 cruise and cant wait to go. Some of our best cruises have been last minute deals.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

Best part about booking a cruise on short notice is:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT LONG UNTIL IT IS TIME TO GO!

Have a great time to all of you who are taking the plunge!

 

[kiford]

This close to the cruise, they should be cutting the price to offer last-minute deals,

They don't usually cut prices or offer last-minute deals if they think that their sold capacity is sufficiently high even if they're not full. If the price hasn't already been cut at 35 days out, it's not likely to go lower. Usually they know by PIF date if it's not selling well and would have started offering lower prices by at least 45 or so days out.

Do you think it's too late for us to book and still have an experience worth the cost?

Even without deals being posted doesn't mean that the ship is sold out or that nothing will be available or even that excursions won't open up right up until sail date if that's an issue. I've made changes to excursions that were originally sold out as little as 3 weeks before sailing and had friends who were able to get into a previously sold out excursion on the ship the day prior to the excursion half-way through the cruise. No guarantees, but not impossible. Early dining possibilities are less certain this close and you may not know whether it's possible until on the ship but there's other options like dine and play at the later time slot, just going to Cabanas at a more convenient time for a sit down dinner (not available all nights), feeding kids earlier at one of the pool deck places or room service and placing them in the club/nursery over the later dinner time and picking them up afterwards.

I guess what you expect from the experience will determine whether there's value in it for you. Sometimes we cruise just for the relaxing experience, getting to sleep in, not having to go to work, and having someone cook and clean for me so not being able to do excursions is irrelevant. Other times it's highly dependent on what we can do and see in the ports so if I couldn't get excursions, I'd not feel it was worth it, but for us that would really only be relevant for port-intensive cruises like the Baltic or Med. On our last cruise, we couldn't find anything interesting to do at Grand Cayman that we hadn't already done so we stayed on board and had a great time. We find there's always something to do or see on the ship. I'm impatiently waiting for my retirement so that I can do last minute cruises (5 weeks to me is last minute - takes that long for me to plan packing). I won't care where it goes or what I'm able to book in advance. I may not even care what staterooms are available even though, to date, we've always picked our category and location. Being on the ship will be value enough to me.

 

[Denise W]

In April we booked an NCL repo cruise from New Orleans to Boston two weeks out. We flew to New Orleans the day before and boarded the next day. We got a good deal on the cruise, and were able to book excursions on line. The flight was a fairly high price because we booked it "last minute". Everything worked out fine.
Denise