Last minute pricing

[GoofyFamily3]

Does pricing ever drop as the sailing date approaches. We are considering the 4/3/10 sailing on the Magic but have not committed yet and was wondering if the prices will be dropping. Also does anyone know if the military discounts are off the original list price or are they based the general public rate at time of booking? We just enjoyed our 1st cruise on the Wonder over Christmas and are now hooked.

 

[MPwifey]

For us the military rates were off the general public price because I would check out different cruises/rooms and it changed daily.

I will say that we have been looking at cruises since December to take in march and the price only went up for us. I don't know how it would be in April though, I am not sure if it is still considered spring break time or not.

 

[KSandbergFL]

For us the military rates were off the general public price because I would check out different cruises/rooms and it changed daily.

I will say that we have been looking at cruises since December to take in march and the price only went up for us. I don't know how it would be in April though, I am not sure if it is still considered spring break time or not.

The pricing doesn't drop, per se. What happens is, for example -- the closer to the cruise date, Disney will start upgrading people from say, a Cat 11 to a Cat 9 (in effect, freeing up the cheaper rooms)... and you will start seeing Cat 11's on the web site again. They don't lower the prices, they just make more cheap rooms available, based on how fast the rooms are selling and how booked that cruise is. DCL has computer algorithms that help them decide when/how to make rooms available, to maximize the profit from every cruise. They strive to make every cruise 100% booked.

As you have noticed, it can change daily... and often does, in the 30-60 day window before a cruise. If you are "flexible" and can cruise with only 30 days notice, I would suggest waiting... 30-45 days before the cruise you want, you'll start seeing the availability changing almost daily. I have heard that you can also have a Travel Agent do this for you.... If you can ONLY sail for a certain date, then you might have to "bite the bullet" and book a cruise at the cheapest rate currently available, to get a room before the cruise is sold out.

 

[kcashner]

Actually, the price does drop (sometimes) as the cruise date nears. In the past, DCL was willing to match a lower price, but it seems they have a new policy that they won't do this any more after the PIF date.

As above, they sometimes open up lower categories by upgrading people, but they also sometimes lower the price of the cruise. For instance, the lowest available rate on the April TA crossing was reduced from $799+ tax per person to $699 + tax. These were both cat 12s, same dates.

Yes, prices and availability can change daily as a cruise nears and DCL tries to fill the ship. They offer CM and Travel Agent rates, etc. in order to fill, and change availability, do upgrades, etc. to maximize the revenue from the sailing.

 

[MPwifey]

Thanks for clearing that up, I guess we were trying to get on a popular cruise because our prices only went up. We also booked our cruise 39 days out.

 

[kcashner]

Until 2009, DCL had no problem filling ships (even after 9/11, DCL was the one Disney vacation product that continued to generate a profit!). During the times when the ships filled easily, the prices did continue to go up and the common wisdom was to book early. This is still the case on some popular dates--holidays, spring breaks, etc.

However...during 2009 and 2010, they are working hard to fill the ships. Thus, prices vary as needed based on the computer programming in order to entice bookings.

 

[M2DD's]

Does pricing ever drop as the sailing date approaches. We are considering the 4/3/10 sailing on the Magic but have not committed yet and was wondering if the prices will be dropping. Also does anyone know if the military discounts are off the original list price or are they based the general public rate at time of booking? We just enjoyed our 1st cruise on the Wonder over Christmas and are now hooked.

I just booked the april 8th sailing on the magic and this was my expierence with pricing changing from day to day.
HTH

We were going to be in WDW over our Easter break for 10 days and I had considered just taking a cheap 3 day cruise at the end of our vacation on either RCCL or CCL. So I thought I would just check DCL to see what there prices were and they were twice as much as RCCL/CCL were for a 2 adults and 2 kids so I was a little disappointed that night. The next day we had an Ice storm and our power was off almost the entire day and the kids were home from school. So I couldn't book the RCCL/CCL that day. Later in the day our power came back on and I decided that I would just check DCL website before I booked RCCL. and low and behold a cat 12 was listed and it was 1k cheaper than the night beforeSo I booked it as fast as I could. Well not even an hour after I booked it our power went out again for almost 24 hrs by the time I went to look back at DCL website the price had gone back up the 1k that it dropped.
So within 24 hrs the price changed by 1000$ So i would just keep checking on a daily bases maybe even a few times a day if you can you never know what your going to get
BTW- the cruise that your looking at is sailing over Easter weekend so the price may not drop since it is a holiday. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

 

[Balt ravens fan]

We did get a price drop in our cruise this year because of the Kids Sail Free Offer. It included the Easter break which is when we are sailing - March 28th. But Disney did not release that until I want to say September. And then we switched our reservation quick and we saved about 1350.00 for a family of four, we had to give up first seating and we were put on GTY room, but it was worth it. This was Cat 11.

So yes the price can drop if Disney offers a promotion like Kids Sail Free.

 

[jilljill]

I just booked the april 8th sailing on the magic and this was my expierence with pricing changing from day to day.
HTH

We were going to be in WDW over our Easter break for 10 days and I had considered just taking a cheap 3 day cruise at the end of our vacation on either RCCL or CCL. So I thought I would just check DCL to see what there prices were and they were twice as much as RCCL/CCL were for a 2 adults and 2 kids so I was a little disappointed that night. The next day we had an Ice storm and our power was off almost the entire day and the kids were home from school. So I couldn't book the RCCL/CCL that day. Later in the day our power came back on and I decided that I would just check DCL website before I booked RCCL. and low and behold a cat 12 was listed and it was 1k cheaper than the night beforeSo I booked it as fast as I could. Well not even an hour after I booked it our power went out again for almost 24 hrs by the time I went to look back at DCL website the price had gone back up the 1k that it dropped.
So within 24 hrs the price changed by 1000$ So i would just keep checking on a daily bases maybe even a few times a day if you can you never know what your going to get
BTW- the cruise that your looking at is sailing over Easter weekend so the price may not drop since it is a holiday. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

Just want to clarify that you will be sailing on the Wonder and not the Magic since you are taking a 3 day cruise.

 

[GoofyFamily3]

Thanks for all the info. Guess we will play the waiting game to see what happens since there currently is availability in cats 4 through 11.