Newbie panicking about booking early 2018! Help!

[Angeliki19]

Hi! Total DCL newbie here!

DH and I just started talking about doing a cruise spring of 2018.... like yesterday. I did not realize until I peeked over on this board that they might be releasing the itineraries any day now!!!

Our main priority is saving money. We are 2 adults, 2 kids, looking for a verandah room. Flexible on dates (March-May would be ideal), itineraries (although we prefer something that leaves from Port Canaveral, visits Castaway Cay and is in the 4-5 night range.)

We read on another site about VGT fares and looked over the upcoming deals and they seemed INCREDIBLE! We would be open to a last minute booking, but then I read that opening day fares are just as good.

Questions:

1) Are opening prices and VGT fares comparable, after adding in all the taxes and fees?
2) When itineraries are released, does that mean booking begins? Or is it at a later time?

Any other advice for booking would be most welcome!! Thank you!!!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi! Total DCL newbie here!

DH and I just started talking about doing a cruise spring of 2018.... like yesterday. I did not realize until I peeked over on this board that they might be releasing the itineraries any day now!!!

Our main priority is saving money. We are 2 adults, 2 kids, looking for a verandah room. Flexible on dates (March-May would be ideal), itineraries (although we prefer something that leaves from Port Canaveral, visits Castaway Cay and is in the 4-5 night range.)

We read on another site about VGT fares and looked over the upcoming deals and they seemed INCREDIBLE! We would be open to a last minute booking, but then I read that opening day fares are just as good.

Questions:

1) Are opening prices and VGT fares comparable, after adding in all the taxes and fees?
2) When itineraries are released, does that mean booking begins? Or is it at a later time?

Any other advice for booking would be most welcome!! Thank you!!!

1) Last minute restricted fares, while lower than the prevailing price at the time they are released, are usually still higher than opening day rates. Not always, but usually.

2) For example, if the itineraries are released on a Thursday, that's when the general public can book them. Platinum and Gold Castaway Club members can book a day ahead (so, on Wednesday). There may be some talk/information available about the itineraries earlier, but the cruises themselves are not bookable until the release day.

 

[FigmentSpark]

So, this may be an unusual example, as the cruise became a Star Wars cruise about 4 months after it started selling, but here's an example anyway.



The red line is the March 12, 2016 cruise pricing history, while the blue line is the March 11, 2017 history. As you can see, both started out at around the $5000 mark for a cat 4A - 7 day cruise. Now, if you can find a Cat 4A on that cruise, it's up to $7300+. Because of that, the Guarantee rates are almost as high.

(as of today)


My guess is that in most cases, it's better to buy right away. Remember you don't pay in full right away, just put down a deposit. And unless you go concierge, it's fully refundable up until a few months from your sail date, so you have a lot of time to back out, if it's not for you. Not trying to scare you off, but don't wait if you want to do a DCL cruise.

 

[Cheerio]

We book for early Feb cruises, we booked opening day which was Dec 2010 for Jan 2012, Dec 2012 for Feb 2014 and Oct 2014 for Feb 2016. So if that's any indication you'll have a few weeks to a few months before we know anything. We are waiting to book too

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Guarantee rates are almost as high.

Yes, but the "regular" guarantee rooms (GTY) are still the same price as if you can select a specific room. They typically aren't lower.

OP was asking about the last minute *GT rates.

 

[Dug720]

Any plans they might have had to release this week or next have been supplanted by figuring out what they are doing with their ships, crew, and guests in light of Matthew. I'd expect it will take a little longer for them to be ready to release future dates.

 

[Flossbolna]

If you want to see historic pricing and how it changed, I really like the touringplans fare tracker: https://touringplans.com/disney-cruise-line/tools/fare-tracker

If you play around with it, you can see different categories on different sailings and what the prices were. I think they also track IGT, OGT and VGT rates if they become available.

Also, I don't think we will see new itineraries released next week as they will still be busy with the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. So, this will give you a bit more time to do some research.

If you want to sail from Port Canaveral, you will most likely have a choice between 7-night Fantasy or 3- or 4-night Dream cruises. All of those would go to Castaway Cay. The last few years one of the classic ships (Magic/Wonder) has been doing 4 and 5-night cruises from Miami that usually were more affordable than the Dream cruises. I personally love the 5-night itinerary that goes from Miami to Cozumel (or Grand Cayman) and Castaway Cay. That was my first cruise and I thought it was perfect length for a first cruise (after my second cruise, which was 15-night through the Panama Canal I think 7-night is too short!).

 

[Angeliki19]

Thanks all! Some really helpful info. DH isn't too keen on the idea of booking anything now. We leave for WDW in a few weeks and have several other vacations planned in the next 9 months so seems like we may just be doing a last minute type of thing. But I am definitely going to check out all this info and start learning about DCL!

I feel sorry for everyone affected by Matthew.. I have family members who are CM's and I am praying for them and everyone to be safe!

 

[Flossbolna]

Remember that you can always cancel and get your deposit back up until the pay in full date (I think usually 90 days before the cruise). So, booking something now does in no way commit you to a cruise.

 

[coloradocutie]

We were able to get some amazing rates for the first week of May- we chose a 7 night Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy the first week in May,2015 due to the fact it was between spring break and school getting out- so it made the price much more attractive . We had actually looked at doing an on board booking for that same week for this year and at that time could have gotten the royal for less than $1000 difference than what we had paid for a cat T the week we sailed.. where a few weeks later the prices literally shot up through the roof. The week prior (last week in April) over half of concierge was available at the time of sailing and we were told only filled with port upgrades. If you can go when school is in session, it can really help in regards to pricing.

Enjoy your cruise!