HOw much cheaper when booked in advance?

[Rpsemont]

It seems most people say the best price is obtained by booking far out of your date. However, just to get an idea, I went to cruisequick.com and priced cruises this april/may and next april/may. This year seemed a bit less expensive just comparing their "From Price" For instance 3 day cruise ending memorial day weekend for 2005 - from 576.00, for 2006 - from 622.63. I realized this is the category 12 room. Is there a different disparity for other categories? I figure our first cruise especially, we won't spend much time in the room, so we'll just do a cheap as possible.

 

[aprilgail2]

WE rebooked onboard 13 months in advance, I paid 2750 plus a 200.00 stateroom credit for our 7 day Cat 11 room. I checked the Disneycruise website and the same cruise now is 4999.00! Thats some difference huh?? Between the 10 percent off and early booking discount I saved a ton! I also look and see which week of the month is the cheapest and go with that one. I have no trouble pulling my daughter out for a week and neither does her teacher so we are pretty flexible. The only thing I look for is a week in the end of April or anytime in May because I hate the cool weather on the cruise in Jan and Feb.

 

[la37]

I am scheduled to cruise in May in a Category 12 on a 3 day cruise. I booked last July at the rate of $440 per person. My sister decided that she would like to go. She called the TA yesterday and the same category 12 is now $776 per person. I think it pays to book in advance.

 

[lbgraves]

We booked our 12/17/05 cruise in 10/04 at 3346. The same cruise if you can get a room now was priced at 45xx last week. It's definantly worth it to book in advance, especially for some weeks.

 

[erikthewise]

It depends a lot on the cruise. Our 12/05/04 4-day cruise was booked 13 months in advance but the price didn't move at all until about 4 months out, and it never did go up all that much. But apparently the ship sailed full or nearly full.

 

[tchoney]

We booked our May 28, 2005 cruise in July 2004, the day it went on sale. I recently inquired about changing dates and was told that it would cost us $1800.00 more as the price has risen that much for the equivalent!

 

[kcashner]

The cost differences depend on how rapidly the ship is filling up. As it fills, the prices go up. On some (off season) cruises, you can get a good deal even a week before sailing, but you certainly can't count on it.

Also, the longer you wait, the less choice you will have as far as category and/or cabin number as the ones you want might be filled.

 

[mudangel77]

How do you find out what days the cruise dates go on sale? We are thinking about rebooking on board but I just wondered.

 

[HappyLawyer]

look at it this way i have a cat 3 for 3 people booked for 12/06. i thought about taking a quick 3 day this march for spring break, it costs me more then my cat 3 and i was looking at cat 12
for 2 people,

 

[CTFamilyCruisers]

I booked my April '05 Magic (Eastern) in December 2003!!! I got Cat 4 for ~$5700. Went surfing today and the same thing would cost ~$8000. Granted, it is a school vacation week. But it sure pays to book early. I'm thinking about February 2007 - waiting to see when it goes on sale. I'm hoping it will by the time we sail in April so we can look into booking on board to take advantage of those extra discounts.

 

[Corryn]

We booked (we have 13 families going) Last May 2004. We have two adults and two children and for a catagory 11 we spent $2800. for an Inside Stateroom.

I just checked the Disney Cruise Line Website and there are quotes for $4300 - $4900 for the same room!!!!

That is a difference between $2100 and that money can go for other things - Heck if I had $2100 to spend on my vacation emenities, I'd be buying whatever I'd want in the gift shops and take every excursion.


We've spent $1100 on airfare and $220 on car rental and another $267 on a condo for three days after the cruise to hang out at Universal. That's a little over $4300 for everything we've booked which is cheaper than if I waited until the last minute to book.

So you know what I'm going to say - Book In Advance!!!!

 

[Gutto]

Other differrence is that when you book in advance specially cat 11 and 12 ( cheapest) you can choose you stateroom....sometimes few months before you will get a GTY. last year we booked in august for december (cat 11) and get GTY, now we booked to November/05 and chose our stateroom.

 

[Corryn]

We chose our stateroom the same day we booked last May.
With so many of us going, and by booking so far in advance, we were able to get a whole row of rooms right next to each other

 

[Rpsemont]

We booked (we have 13 families going) Last May 2004. We have two adults and two children and for a catagory 11 we spent $2800. for an Inside Stateroom

How long of a cruise is this for?

....sometimes few months before you will get a GTY.

What's GTY?

 

[Corryn]

We booked the 3 Night Park / 4 Night Cruise. Unlimited access to the parks during the day and sleeping at the Carribean Beach Resort at night, that's Thursday to Sunday (but we also booked Wednesday night to hang out and take full advantage of Thursday) Sunday morning you leave the hotel and, in our case, Drive over to Port Canaveral to the ship. The ship leaves Sunday evening for a trip to Nassau and Castaway Cay and returns to Port Canaveral on Thursday morning.

I don't know what GTY stands for

 

[DenverVal]

GTY stands for "guarantee". If you book a category 10 GTY, you will be guaranteed at least that category, possibly better, but don't count on it. You don't choose a specific stateroom, DCL will choose it for you.