Tips on When to Book!
What every airline employee wants……. the best rate on their cruise. So how do you make sure you have the best rate? Do you book early or do you wait until the very last minute? Do you book direct with the cruise line or thru an online travel agency like Vacations To Go or do you book with your local travel agency or with an interline agency? What if you have family or friends going? It can get very confusing so let’s take a look at the options, because the answer to all of these is “It depends!”
First of all let me address the rumor that you can go to the pier and get on a ship if they have empty cabins or no shows. WRONG! That went away after 9/11. Cruise lines have to turn in the passenger list to home land security for clearance. Just like you can’t get to the gate at the airport without a boarding pass, you can’t get past the security folks at the cruise terminal without a cruise boarding pass. So forget the option of waiting till the day of departure and showing up with your bags packed and hoping the cruise line has an empty cabin they want to give you a deal on.
Book direct with the cruise line? Why? A valid interline agency will have the exact same rates and maybe better rates that the interline rate the cruise line has. Plus if you have a good travel agent working for you they will keep an eye out to see if the rate drops and get your rebooked at the lower rate. If you end up having a problem on the cruise, then your interline travel agent will be your proponent to get it resolved. Also the cruise line is only going to sell you their insurance. Often 3rd party travel insurance is a better price and deal. Again a good interline travel agent will give you both options, the pros and cons of each travel insurance offer to help you decide which is best for you.
Now there is a case where calling the cruise line direct will be the better way to go. Is your interline agency or travel agency charging you a book fee? Then cruise lines are not going to charge you a booking fee. HOWEVER in most cases you can call another interline agency and find they do not charge a booking fee. For instance InterlineTravel.com does not charge a booking fee 99.5% of the time. The only time they charge a booking fee on a cruise is when the price is so low there is no commission such as a 7 night cruise for $99 or a 10 Nt cruise for $199. It is likely that in those cases the entire price being quoted is all tax so InterlineTravel.com and others who normally do not charge a fee, will be adding one. In those cases if you want to forgo the benefit of having a knowledgeable interline travel agent then calling the cruise line direct might be the way to go. In all honestly that is the only time I can think it might be better off calling the cruise line direct.
So now let’s look at when is the best time to book your interline cruise. Again it will depend. Why are you going on the cruise and when. If you are going on your honeymoon cruise, an anniversary cruise or you want a specific cabin, then book early. Book even if the interline rate is not out yet. It is not wise to wait until the last minute to book your honeymoon cruise. Your spouse is dead set on an Eastern Caribbean cruise the week of Jun, 8th from Miami and wants one stop to be St. Maarten and it’s your one week of vacation you get in June or it’s your 20th Anniversary. DON’T WAIT!!!! Book it now with an interline travel agency. Get the cabin you want, the location you want on the ship and sailing date you want. Then wait and let your interline travel agent keep their eye out for an interline rate or other lower rate or even a sale were an onboard credit could get applied. If you wait, you may end up spending that anniversary in St. Louis overlooking the river.
Now let’s say you can go anytime in June and don’t care about the destination or cabin or even which cruise line it’s on. Then wait. Something will be available. What? Who knows but as long as I have been in the business I have never seen a week when something did not come open at some point.
Here are some other guidelines.
- Christmas or New Years – Book Early
- Spring Break – Book Early if you have a family and need a cabin that sleeps 4. Wait if it is just 2 of you and you don’t care which cabin or cruise line but don’t wait until it gets 2 close. Maybe one to two months out is as late as I would wait.
- Summer – Caribbean – book early unless you are really flexible then wait.
- Alaska – if you want a balcony cabin on the land side, book early. As for the rest of Alaska here are some guidelines. Roundtrip cruises from Seattle or Vancouver are the most popular and least likely to offer interline rates. One way sailings from Anchorage to Vancouver are next and the one way sailings from Vancouver to Anchorage would be the least popular and thus most likely to offer interline rates later in the season. So you ask why are the Northbound cruises less popular than the Southbound cruises? Mostly because of the return flight. Your flight home from Vancouver is one thing, a red eye from Anchorage is another.
- Also if you are wanting to do a land tour of Alaska with your cruise, then it is more relaxing to do your land package first and then cruise south to Vancouver and relax along the way than to cruise north, then do a land tour of Alaska only to end with a red eye flight back from Anchorage or Fairbanks.
- Europe – Baltic has a short season, say June to August so if you heart is set on a particular itinerary, book it when it comes open.
- Europe – Med – now has cruises year round. The most popular time is Summer. Med rates depend on a few things, economy or more so unrest in the Middle East. If there are riots in Athens, bombs going off in Lebanon, unrest in Egypt and Eastern Med cruises, if they operate at all will probably offer a low rate and be on sale. Med in the spring and fall offer good rates and Europe in general is on sale with smaller crowds.
- Antarctica Cruises – when these come available, book it. Don’t wait for lower rates to come out. They are few and far between.
- Pacific Coastal Cruises – take place in spring and fall. Almost always on sale at the last minute but tend to close out a month of so in advance as these rates will be very attractive so they fill quickly.
- Repositioning Cruises – Particularly to and from Europe, these take place in the Spring heading to Europe and in the Fall heading back. The Trans-Atlantics will offer exceptional prices and you will find these 2 to 3 months in advance at very low rates. The cruise lines are starting to open these up earlier but if you are flexible, it can be to your advantage to wait for the prices to drop closer in.
Other repositioning cruises say to or from Australia/New Zealand, South America or Asia will happen in the spring and fall as ships move to and from Alaska and Europe. These tend to be longer cruises but doing exotic ports. So if you want some unique stamps in your passport these cruises are for you. Note since they are longer cruises, they tend to draw older age passengers. These will go on sale at the interline rate 4 to 6 months out.
Interline rate is the lowest rate! Not always. Depending on the situation it may be. However if you are or the person you are traveling with is, retired military or active military then some cruise lines offer a military rate. Now even if the military rate is not lower, if you are active or retired then you could get a cabin at the military rate and your spouse go on the interline rate. Then bring another couple with you!
Sometimes the cruise lines will offer a resident special. That means if you are resident of the state they are offering the rate, you qualify for the resident rate special. For instance Carnival often offers a Texas resident special on sailings from Galveston. This might be available when the interline is closed out or it might be a lower rate.
Past Passenger Rates – here is can get interesting as if you have sailed with say Carnival, you qualify as a past passenger for Holland America, Princess, Costa and Seabourn which are all owned by Carnival. Same holds for Royal Caribbean past passengers qualify for Celebrity and Azamara or visa versa in any of these cases.
But you say XYZ agency is offering a lower rate than anyone else. It is probably a group rate. What are group rates? Here is where it gets complicated. Let’s use Carnival as an example, Carnival puts out interline rates 11 months out and raise or lower the rates as the ship fills up. Group rates come out about 18 months out and again these go up or down as the ship fills up. So let’s say you have a large family who all want to go on a cruise. The group rate is most likely going to be the best rate and locks in the rates for your group. You call InterlineTravel.com and they book a group of let’s say 18 cabins for your family and you in an interline rate cabin. Now 6 months later the ship is filling up so the Carnival raises the rates. Now the group rate, interline rate and public rate have all gone up. All but for those 18 cabins held in your group. Now you don’t need 18 cabins, you only need 12 cabins. A smart travel agency is then going to market those 6 cabins at a rate lower than anyone else has and sell those other 6 cabins.
In some cases, rates other than interline rates might include onboard credits that would make interline rates more expensive. Onboard credits amount to free money to spend on a cruise as onboard credits can be used in the bar, in the spa, the shops, the casino, specialty restaurants or even to buy shore excursions.
Remember that sometimes the cruise lines come out with interline rates and they are valid on new bookings only so if you are already booked you can’t adjust your rate to the new lower rate. Another thing to keep in mind, once you make final payment (typically 60 days out) the cruise lines will not protect your booking should they offer a lower rate. The only current exception to this is the Carnival NonRefundable Fare which does allow you to get the price difference in the form of an onboard credit for any price reduction up until about 7 days out.
So when to book to get the lowest rate? If you are very flexible then wait and book about 6 weeks or less in advance. If you are set on a sailing date or ship or destination, then book as early as you can with an interline travel agency and then hope an interline rate comes out on your ship and category type before final payment date arrives.
If you have more questions or want to book you or your extended family and friends give one of the agents at InterlineTravel.com a call and they will walk you through the options that are out there for each cruise line, cruise ship and sailing date you are interested in. You can reach InterlineTravel.com at 800 766-2911.