Early booking discount versus rebooking discount?

[26555]

Some people seem ready to book 2007 in 2005 which I can see if you aren't cruising for 2 years but what if you have a 2006 sailing? Do you do better locking in a price in 2005 for 2007 than getting the 10% off and $200 stateroom credit if booked during your 2006 sailing? Is the 200 credit on the current cruise you are on or the future cruise you are booking? Thanks.

 

[Hollyster2]

This is a good question! I would like to hear comments on this as well!

 

[TiggerKing]

I know that the $200 credit is on the cruise you are booking. Otherwise, people would book the first day onboard, get the credit on the current cruise, and cancel after the cruise is over.

I would be interested as well to hear from other DISers about the pros and cons of both.

 

[Skatermom23]

I would think you have a better shot at reserving a specific room if you book as soon as the rates come out. I would love to know what kind of numbers $$$$ we are talking about though...

 

[26555]

Yep, specific room requests would be a reason to book early. But if the price did NOT go up between 2005 booking and 2006 sailing, you'd be paying 10% more + $200 on the 2007 cruise by booking in 2005.

 

[Skatermom23]

I guess you could always book when 2007 rates come out for the early booking savings and then see what the rates are when you cruise in 2006. You could always cancel the first reservation if it isn't as good as booking on board? Couldn't you?

 

[DrCavin]

We booked our May '06 cruise on Oct 6, 2004, since then it has went up $941... I vote for booking as early as possible.....

The $200 credit is on your future cruise....

HEY DCL hows this marketing idea?????

How about if you do book while on board they credit your account $200 right then.. If you would then cancel, you would lose $200 from your deposit... may be a little more incentive to some people...

 

[lbgraves]

All I know is that this weekend I started looking into prices for the 2006 cruise that we planned to book onboard on our next cruise. I found the prices to be much higher. We want to do the 12/9 double dip. When I mentioned this to someone who works at DU they checked and found that they had a room available for that cruise in their group inventory. That price is saving us $965. Yes, we could have gotten a 10% discount on the cruise, however with the 200 credit included that could have only saved us $560. That extra $405 will almost cover our tips and trip insurance!!! I know that this cruise has been going up in cost since it was released so I expect it to be at an even higher price when we are on the ship 12/05.

 

[kcatoir]

We also want to book Aug 2007 while on this Sept 2005.
I understand you can also book on board then transfer your reservatio to DU (who I personally Love), getting their discount on top.

And perhaps their current rate if lower???? Anyone done this???
Someone on another thread said they had saved $$$ this way.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I booked my Nov 2005 trip in Sept 2004 then transferred my booking to DU. I was looking at prices for Nov 2006 and the price of the same cruise week is $1,300 more.

I called DCL and asked should I book now or wait to the cruise in Nov to get the early booking discount. The representative couldn't say for sure because the discount dissappears as more cabins are booked. I'm sure there is a computer program that ups the price once a certain percentage of cabins are booked, so there is really no way to tell in advance how bookings are going.

That said, she did suggest I wait until my cruise because 10% and the $200 stateroom credit would be hard to beat.

I would like to hear anyone elses suggestion.

 

[Bethipooh4]

I would love to hear everyones suggestions as well...here is our question.

We were on a June 5th Wonder, and of course the 2007 rates aren't out yet. So we didn't rebook onboard.

We are going next July on a 7 day cruise, but want to book for Thanksgiving of 2007. Do we wait until next July to get the credit and discount onboard, then switch to DU when we return, knowing the prices will go up between the release this fall and next July, or do we book now, and know we have a good rate?

 

[crisi]

Book ahead, if the price is better on board, book it and cancel the first reservation.

You can move your DCL reservation to an TA - DCL did it for us with Dreams, we did nothing but tell DCL we'd like DU to have it, they sent DU the information, we got an email from DU about a week after we said - they had applied their additional rebate. (By the way, since I know you guys are reading this, the stateroom gift made the difference in us saying "yep transfer it" rather than "you might as well keep it." Plus you got a subsequent booking from my parents. I know the stateroom gifts are not a given, but it did make the difference in turning us into repeat customers.)

You can also book your cruise for a released date, and move it further out once 2007 (or 2008 or whatever) dates are released, keeping your discounts. You will tie up your deposit for that period of time.

 

[Skatermom23]

Book ahead, if the price is better on board, book it and cancel the first reservation.

.

This is what we plan to do!

 

[KJET54]

Hi, I just got back from vacation but I was on the Magic the week of June 18th. I booked a future cruise while on the ship. I booked a cruise and received 200 dollar credit and 10 percent off. If I change the booking date until 2007 the 10 percent and the credit still stand as long as I keep a similar itinerary. Another words if they have a specialty cruise to somewhere other than the Caribbean I would lose the discount and the credit.
I went to the meeting hoping to get some info on 2007 specialty druises but they would not say anything other than plans are in the works.

 

[CACruisin']

I had previously booked a cat 3 for 2006. While oboard last month I cancelled that booking and rebooked onboard and saved nearly $1k! Now I don't know if the concierge rooms have early booking savings (don't think so), but for us it really worked out to book early and then check the prices once on board.

While onboard we also booked another cruise for 2006 with the intention of moving to 2007 once the dates are released. As a previous poster mentioned, we will be able to keep our 10% disc and $200 stateroom credit for a normal cruise, but will not be able to if we select a "special" cuise. The only downside that we saw was that DCL has our deposit for the duration. It was worth it for us.

 

[Skatermom23]

I had previously booked a cat 3 for 2006. While oboard last month I cancelled that booking and rebooked onboard and saved nearly $1k! Now I don't know if the concierge rooms have early booking savings (don't think so), but for us it really worked out to book early and then check the prices once on board.

While onboard we also booked another cruise for 2006 with the intention of moving to 2007 once the dates are released. As a previous poster mentioned, we will be able to keep our 10% disc and $200 stateroom credit for a normal cruise, but will not be able to if we select a "special" cuise. The only downside that we saw was that DCL has our deposit for the duration. It was worth it for us.

Did you keep the same room?

 

[TammyAlphabet]

I guess you could always book when 2007 rates come out for the early booking savings and then see what the rates are when you cruise in 2006. You could always cancel the first reservation if it isn't as good as booking on board? Couldn't you?

I agree. This eliminates the downside of both options.

 

[pjpoohbear]

I will book my 2007 this year, and then check the pricing while on my 2006 cruise. But as the cruises will be only 10 months apart and I will have booked almost two years in advance for the 2007, I doubt that I will benefit form a cancel and rebook for the stateroom credit.


Penny

 

[AlexandNessa]

Can anyone confirm (or deny) that the Cat. 3 rooms are exempt from the early booking discounts or booking while onboard discounts/stateroom credits?

Thanks!

 

[flexsmom]

Cat 3s also get the onboard booking credit and discount. I can't confirm the early booking discount, however, I can confirm that the price for a Cat 3 on one of the 8/06 cruises was > price for 11/06 at the same time, which I would ascribe to one being more fully booked than the other and the prices had gone up as capacity was filled. That would suggest that there are early booking discounts for suites.