Why I book on opening day....

[Karin1984]

Fun game
I've checked my cruise. About 150 days have passed since opening day and only category V got about $150 more expensive. All other categories remained the same. So, I guess I'm not on a popular cruise.

 

[braysmommy]

Only once has it not paid to book opening day for us. Our Panama Canal cruise never went up in price and cabins were still available nearing PIF date. I almost cancelled it knowing *GT rates would be released soon after PIF. I didn't but when VGT rates came out I cancelled our reservation, paying the penalty, and rebooked saving us $1,000's.

 

[Bonnie1222]

A cruise we just booked for next year has is costing us $400 more for category 9C than if we had booked it opening day. Yet our cruise earlier this year had only gone up a very small amount from opening day.

 

[ahain]

This is a neat tool. I'm assuming that the "opening day" price is the price that is in effect on the date that bookings open to the general public - not the day booking open to platinum's. So technically (i.e. on highly desirable cruises) pricing could have jumped several times before it even show up on this graph.

Here's what it shows for my Hawaii itinerary, which sold out before "public" day:

 

[daisyx3]

I did not book on opening day, because I didn't know school got out earlier in 2020 and May 30 was an option (that date had already opened--I thought I would have to go in June). But when I did figure out that was when we wanted to go, and only one or two 5E cabins were still open, I booked it in late April of this year. It was the same price in June when I rebooked it on my Dream cruise to get the OBB benefits. It's hard to judge what it would be now because there are no 5E cabins left on that cruise but the 5D one is pretty similar so I think it would still be the same. I'm sure it will go up closer to the date--38 weeks tomorrow!
AND...is there a way to check without subscribing to touring plans? I am not going to WDW until 6/21 and have no need for their information right now.

 

[fredandkell]

This happened to us on our last DCL cruise (2018 July 5-day Med). I wasn't surprised because it was the Med and it was the only itinerary like it that year, but it literally doubled in price. I am surprised at the increases you're seeing on a Western, which is a fairly common itinerary. I can only guess there are spring break demand factors in play for you.

 

[fredandkell]

Or look at this one (next year's Greek Isles), which went up over $1,000 in ONE DAY!!!! As silvers we didn't have a chance, haha!!

 

[braysmommy]

This is a neat tool. I'm assuming that the "opening day" price is the price that is in effect on the date that bookings open to the general public - not the day booking open to platinum's. So technically (i.e. on highly desirable cruises) pricing could have jumped several times before it even show up on this graph.

Here's what it shows for my Hawaii itinerary, which sold out before "public" day:
View attachment 433261

I looked for this cruise too wonder if around PIF date data will show since typically a lot of people will cancel around that time. Can't wait for this cruise and our 9 nights in Hawaii prior!

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Or look at this one (next year's Greek Isles), which went up over $1,000 in ONE DAY!!!! As silvers we didn't have a chance, haha!!

View attachment 433275

Certainly glad we booked this cruise on platinum opening day! Price for our 5B has increased about $8K for 2 adults, no children.

 

[lilsonicfan]

Meanwhile my 11 night Greek Isles cruise on NCL for 5 of us in an oceanview room is less than half the price of DCL's 12 night starting price

 

[DCLDVC1]

Meanwhile my 11 night Greek Isles cruise on NCL for 5 of us in an oceanview room is less than half the price of DCL's 12 night starting price

But do you get free soda?

 

[Lesley Wake]

I decided to check my 2 upcoming cruises just to be curious:

SWDAS, guess it's not that popular! I assume then it will flip to a *GT rate, but I don't know if it will happen before PIF day and if that will be less than the 10% OBB I received! (I'm still a cruise newbie so am not too picky with room location.)


And Alaska, more popular!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Meanwhile my 11 night Greek Isles cruise on NCL for 5 of us in an oceanview room is less than half the price of DCL's 12 night starting price

The trade-off for that much lower price is that your cruise is not on DCL, which is the preferred line of most cruisers on this forum. So trying to taunt people here with another line's lower prices is both irrelevant and ineffective.

 

[Dug720]

The trade-off for that much lower price is that your cruise is not on DCL, which is the preferred line of most cruisers on this forum. So trying to taunt people here with another line's lower prices is both irrelevant and ineffective.

Plus when I would not choose to pay for Nasti Cola products (the rival to Coke products...starts with a P), it is a non-issue anyway.

 

[lilsonicfan]

The trade-off for that much lower price is that your cruise is not on DCL, which is the preferred line of most cruisers on this forum. So trying to taunt people here with another line's lower prices is both irrelevant and ineffective.

Lol. Don’t take it so personally. I’m not taunting anyone, it’s not like me saying this would cause anyone to doubt their own choice. I’m the first to say I’d love to sail on DCL to Greece. But at 4X the price? Literally $20,000-$22,000 for the five of us vs $5,000 - I’ll take the trade off. It’s all about the ports for me. I’m sure I can buy a Coke in port.

To be more to the point of this topic, I suspect OP’s cruise is during spring break and thus quite likely to rise in price. My first DCL, a November Fantasy cruise, hardly went up in price at all. My next, the EBTA, also hardly went up in price and in fact went to a FL resident discount. Not all cruises will rise in price, timing and of course choice itinerary will affect that.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Lol. Don’t take it so personally. I’m not taunting anyone, it’s not like me saying this would cause anyone to doubt their own choice. I’m the first to say I’d love to sail on DCL to Greece. But at 4X the price? Literally $20,000-$22,000 for the five of us vs $5,000 - I’ll take the trade off. It’s all about the ports for me. I’m sure I can buy a Coke in port.

To be more to the point of this topic, I suspect OP’s cruise is during spring break and thus quite likely to rise in price. My first DCL, a November Fantasy cruise, hardly went up in price at all. My next, the EBTA, also hardly went up in price and in fact went to a FL resident discount. Not all cruises will rise in price, timing and of course choice itinerary will affect that.

Yes, it's during spring break. You're correct, not all cruises go up in price and given the opening day for this cruise was almost a year ago, one could argue that there's plenty of time before it rises in price. My point to the post was simply my shock at how much it's risen. I see this on many cruises, but, yes, only a few go up within days of being offered.

@lilsonicfan - If I were doing Europe, I'd be all about the ports, too. That said, the ports on the DCL Greek cruise were very enticing.

 

[AZMermaid]

What a cool tool! We are doing the 4th of July double dip in 2020 and booked it about a year out. I didn’t even want to know “what could have been.” But it only went up $60 total, so I can live with that!