DCL Discounts - Last Minute or Other

[RebelScum]

Hello - We took a DCL Bermuda cruise this fall and a couple we met on the cruise said that they had booked it via a last min discount, and indicated that it was quite a substantial dicount. We have taken several DCL cruises, but have always booked direct with DCL and the only discount we have ever found and used is the reservation placeholder while on ship. Curious if anyone knows where last min DCL discounts can be found?

 

[WanderlustinFP]

Hi! It is in the Special Offers section on the DCL website. I also took advantage of the sale, which was a guaranteed rate and it comes with many rules. Just for comparison, my friend booked a year in advance and paid $6500 for an oceanview, and I paid around $5200 for a veranda. Both parties are families of 4.

 

[Kerr84]

We just saved around $1000 for our cruise coming up in Jan on the Wish doing this. They are usually last minute when the ship isn't full.

 

[sadiecatie]

Attaching a screenshot to show where you can find it - after you go in to your search (I did this with open parameters, showing all dates and ports, but you can narrow your search as you need), you click "Show Special Offer Filters" and select what applies to you (if you are not a FL or Canada resident, or qualify for the Military discount, this would just be the general "Save up to 30% on Select Sailings").

 

[lanejudy]

The "last-minute" discounts are often referred to around here as *GT (IGT, OGT, VGT) -- the "guaranteed rates with restrictions." You are guaranteed a stateroom in a broad category (interior, oceanview or verandah) but you cannot choose a specific stateroom/deck/category, PIF at time of booking with no refund, etc.

 

[cvjw]

They also show up on third party websites like Costco travel. They show up as guarantee rates -IGT, OGT and VGT. We have booked these rates several times. We usually end up booking a few months out.

There are downsides to these rates. You pay in full, no refunds. You do not get to pick your cabin. You get a cabin that others have not booked - and there may be a reason they are still available. Also, booking so late means everyone has already booked their choices of excursions and adult dining.

We love these rates. We have only ever been assigned one bad cabin over the adult area bars. It is a gamble, but one we enjoy for the huge discount in fares.

 

[lscrivan18]

They're referring to guaranteed rates. I booked the same thing for our Bermuda cruise in October. I noticed almost every DCL Bermuda cruise offered guaranteed rates. For 3 of us in a verandah room, it went from $5400 to $4100, it was great! The guaranteed rate popped up before our PIF date so we cancelled the original reservation and changed to guaranteed. We were fine with the rules as a poster listed above.

 

[Cheburashka]

They're GT rates and they aren't only available at the last minute. They can start showing up within the last few months before the cruise, sometimes even before the paid in full due date. They do not show up for every cruise, though. No way to know in advance if a cruise will get them as they show up or don't show up for different types of cruises: high season, low season, peak holiday, etc. It's all about DCL's calculation of how well they are selling and how well they are projected to sell without the discount. GT rates can disappear at any time, too, so if you see one that you know you want, be sure to get it asap. You have to pay in full when booking these, and there are no refunds no matter when you book them.

 

[FastPasser.]

We have only ever been assigned one bad cabin over the adult area bars. It is a gamble, but one we enjoy for the huge discount in fares.

Ditto, we’re Platinum and have gotten a bad cabin only once but we always get the GTY classification. I don’t know if GT and GTY are the same or if it’s because it’s a CM rez. The rates are very different.

 

[kiford]

We booked a VGT cabin for the end of January (booked it in mid November). It was about $550 less expensive than picking our own cabin (7 night) at the lowest verandah category. It was cheaper than using our placeholder to get the 10% discount. Not exactly last minute but not too far in advance. We were still able to get reservations at Palo and Remy. No brunch spots but I wasn't really wedded to that idea anyway.

We always used to pick our own cabin but we did a VGT on our Wish cruise last January ($500 less than picking a cabin) and a GTY 7A on the Wish in August ($300 less than picking). I was perfectly happy with where we ended up. We were also moved two different times on earlier cruises from a cabin we had booked and ended up liking where we moved once (and didn't completely hate the other one but we'd never book that particular upgraded cabin). So we stress a lot less now about where we're placed as long as we have a verandah. Given that we've been pretty happy with our location when not picking it explicitly, it's just no longer worth it to me to pay and $300-600 just to select a cabin.

 

[DisneyConvert]

This is interesting as it's the exception that proves the rule, "Cheapest DCL rates are available when they are first issued."

Familiar with the FL and military promotions (which we don't qualify for), and sometimes shipboard credit. But we tend to book early and have rarely felt we overpaid as we love DCL and knowing we're going.

Have done VGT once <4 months out, and yeah, similar, modestly-beneficial circumstances. Personally sad, that the NYC<=>Bermuda business isn't more profitable for DCL. We love that route and have gone twice (and once on NCL) and 2022's repo to SanJuan was <50%.

Guessing thes discounts may increase as Treasure joins the fleet, until, unless they establish substantial market presence (and possibly tries to become more price competitive!?) in additional home port locations. Good for us I guess.