I often see articles in the news with a focus on the best day to purchase an airline ticket. That led me to ponder, when is the best day to purchase a cruise? Cruise pricing is dynamic, and can change from day to day just like airlines. On the other hand, most people need to plan their vacations in advance which leads to a bit less flexibility when making decisions about purchasing a cruise vacation.
In general, I’ve had good luck following some rules of thumb. If I have visibility for my vacation plans far into the future, you can often find some reasonable pricing the moment an itinerary becomes available for sale. A good example of this would be my upcoming cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s newest ship, Quantum of the Seas. As a Diamond Plus member of Royal’s loyalty program, I had the ability to book the cruise I wanted before the itinerary became available to the general public. I forwarded a short list of desirable staterooms to my travel agent, booked that day, and got the exact room I wanted. New ships are usually in demand, and Quantum is not an exception. The price I confirmed our stateroom at has only gone up since we booked.
At the other end of the spectrum is having some flexibility and living within driving distance of a port. While I don’t consider 7.5 hours a short drive, it is doable, and that’s how far I live from Port Canaveral, an embarkation port for Carnival, Disney, NCL, and Royal Caribbean. Often, if a cruise is not filling at a rate that the line desires, attractive pricing will become available after the final payment window – the date in which those who booked early have to make their last payment, and those who book closer-in must pay in full immediately. This is generally 60 to 75 days from departure. Travel agents who have been holding group bookings begin to release staterooms back into inventory that they haven’t sold during this timeframe as well. As you move even closer to sail date, within 30 days to 1 week out, really attractive pricing may appear. While I think the theory that cruise lines would rather give away the cabin and have a body on board to buy booze and gamble is overblown, there is a modicum of truth to it. The lines desire to sail full, and with that in mind, if there is unsold inventory in the days before a cruise, it will be priced to move. Here is where flexibility and living near a port can be key to saving a lot of money.
As to when is the best day of the week to buy a cruise, I’m not sure there is one. A lot of lines tend to email sale prices early to mid week, so there could be something there. I’ve personally seen prices rise on Mondays after being lower throughout a weekend, but that may have more to do with people thinking about vacation time over a weekend and closing the deal than anything else. In the end, the best price for a cruise is a state of mind. If you don’t have flexibility in scheduling vacation time, shop for what feels right for your budget, and go for it. Setting up a pricing alert on a service like cruisefish.net, which I’ve covered before, can be useful. As long as you are not beyond the final payment window, most lines will refund the difference in fare if the price of your cabin drops, but be mindful of specific terms and conditions of some fare sale offers which specifically restrict the best price to new bookings.
Enjoy your cruise!
-MJ, September 6, 2014
I have yet to find a travel agent who will closely monitor their cruise books for price changes and notify the client if the price drops and the cruise can be rebooked without a penalty. The cruise lines are partly responsible for this as with agent income being commission based on a percentage of the paid fare, they are not incentivized to rebook at a lower rate. But, the ultimate responsibility is that of the travel agent, with most being just too focused on earning the largest commission from the supplier than serving the interest of their clients (and this is particularly true of the big online agencies that advertise on CruiseCritic or through aggressive use of Google key words. (And as I’ve pointed out before, cruisefish does not monitor single occupancy pricing and only monitors a limited number of cruise lines and itineraries.
Good points, Stu. If I were smart enough to write the code for a site that would search for single occupancy pricing, I might be on to something.
Someone should write an article about booking cruises through a Virtuoso advisor, being that RC is a Virtuoso preferred partner. Stacking benefits doesn’t sound so bad…
Just booked someone on the Oasis at a similar price point, but managed to nab them 2 massages and a free dinner for 2 at a speciality restaurant.
Cruises are one of those areas where it still kinda pays to use a specialty TA, IMO.
@Ben, good point about Virtuoso. The travel agent I use is a Virtuoso advisor, and it’s been a while since I’ve written a piece on travel agents.
I couldn’t agree with your advice anymore. I was able to get a 7-night cruise on the Oasis in July for $700 per person (ocean balcony 2-people), which I think is a fantastic price. I waited until 2-weeks prior, but worth it and everything lined up perfectly. I did have to drive from DC to Ft. Lauderdale (couldn’t get a reasonably priced ticket or award ticket). But, in the end we made a nice long vacation out of it.
That’s a great price for Oasis. Hope you enjoyed your cruise! Oasis and Allure are unique cruising experiences. Maybe not for everyone, but I can’t wait to cruise on Allure again.