Late prices and availability - just curious!

[RACHEL_GB]

As a first time cruiser I've been watching the prices like a hawk to see what kind of deal I got booking about 100 days out. Also I've been watching how many verandah rooms are left trying to guess my chances of bagging a reasonable port upgrade. About 20 days out there seemed to be nearly 20 verandah rooms left but now there are 2 showing and the price has doubled.

Should I assume this means they have all sold or is this normal pricing 10 days before a cruise?

As the title says - just curious! Thanks

 

[su_A_ve]

Port upgrades are a thing of the past for the most part. If the ship is not sold out, these are the typical sales:

Soon after PIF, *GT (IGT/OGT/VGT) rates come out briefly
Then MIL (military), and FLR (Florida residents) rates come out
There's also CM discount rates as well
A few people still book last minute.

 

[Ofinn]

We always book within 3 months out either with a GT rate or interline rate. If a sailing has a few rooms left than they will probably offer CM, military or interline rates to dump those rooms. We have gotten some really good GT and interline rates, but by the time we got on the cruise it was sold out...so no upgrades available. The only time I could of upgraded was on our cruise out of San Juan 2 years ago. Cruiselines don't like empty rooms so they will sell them some how.

 

[RACHEL_GB]

Thank you. I will assume not then and just focus on having a good time in the room we already have. 9 days and counting!

 

[BigredNole]

Thanks for the post. We may be in this situation of only being able to book a cruise around PIF date. Hopefully, we get the news that we can book by then or risk missing dates we can cruise.

 

[clten]

If they offer a *GT rate for your sailing, they assign rooms to those people about 10-14 days before departure. So that could be why you are seeing a lot of the rooms "disappear" about that time. That leaves them with actual availability at that time and pricing probably reflects that. So chances are there are only one or two verandah cabins available for your cruise and it may be tough to do a port upgrade.

 

[RACHEL_GB]

Thanks for the post. We may be in this situation of only being able to book a cruise around PIF date. Hopefully, we get the news that we can book by then or risk missing dates we can cruise.

I am sure all the cruises are different, and that the opening prices were better,

If they offer a *GT rate for your sailing, they assign rooms to those people about 10-14 days before departure. So that could be why you are seeing a lot of the rooms "disappear" about that time. That leaves them with actual availability at that time and pricing probably reflects that. So chances are there are only one or two verandah cabins available for your cruise and it may be tough to do a port upgrade.

thank you that does make sense - the VGT was showing as £150 cheaper than I paid for a 9C and was £3k cheaper than standard verandah selection so it was a reasonable deal. Might try that next time (assuming we want to come again, I'm sure we will)

 

[Raya]

Stupid question: What's a GT rate?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Stupid question: What's a GT rate?

There are two different guarantee rates. When a certain percentage of rooms withing a specific category have been sold, the category goes "GTY". You can still book a room in that category, you just can't select a specific one. And the price is the same as if you were able to select a specific room. DCL assigns you a room usually in the 45-60 day window.

If a cruise isn't selling well, last-minute reduced rates are offered. These are "IGT, OGT, VGT" (interior, oceanview, verandah). You select a type of room, but DCL assigns a room within that type at a later date (usually 10-14 days out). These do have lower rates than whatever the prevailing rate is at the time, but they are typically higher than that room would have been on opening day.

 

[Raya]

These do have lower rates than whatever the prevailing rate is at the time, but they are typically higher than that room would have been on opening day.

So basically the cheapest way to take a cruise is to book on opening day?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So basically the cheapest way to take a cruise is to book on opening day?

Usually, yes. There have been rare occasions that the last minute rates were lower, but it doesn't usually happen that way.