Lessons learned about last-minute booking
- From: D Ball <dianakball@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:55:02 -0800 (PST)
From time to time, RTC'ers have discussed how to get on a cruise atthe last minute. We've done a lot of late bookings, but never cut it
so close as we did last month--we booked on Friday and sailed on
Sunday!
Here's a recap of our experience and the lessons we learned in case it
helps any of you who are struck by cruise fever and gotta get outta
here NOW!
Our family of five Texans decided Dec. 15 we wanted to cruise
Christmas/Hanukkah week, meaning we'd have to board a ship Dec. 19 or
20. Our wonderful TA put a lot of time and effort into trying to get
us 3 cabins on any mass market ship leaving from a domestic, southern
port (FL, Gulf Coast or CA--this limitation was based on flights best-
suited to us in terms of cost, duration and risk of suffering the
impact of winter storm systems). Almost every ship was sold out--we
passed on the few available cabins offered at a price so high over the
usual holiday premium as to be outrageous. When the lines closed real
time online booking to TAs at roughly 3 days out, we temporarily gave
up, but then went mad and started calling the lines ourselves...in
spurts, day and night, continuing to late Friday afternoon, when we
got on the Conquest's Sunday sailing. (Yeah, we're nuts, but the whole
thing evolved into a game of sorts. We kept playing as much to see how
it would turn out as we did to try to land a holiday getaway.)
It was fascinating to get a peek at the way cruise lines handle
inventory in the final days. Princess alone takes a wait list--very
civilized. The rest sell cabins as they pop up when there's a last-
minute cancellation, and there's no such animal as a hold. So if you
call at 10:00, the agent might say, "there's not a cabin on any ship,"
but if you call back at 10:01, the response could be, "here's a cabin,
do you want it before it disappears from my screen?" All lines shut
down the process roughly 24 hours before a ship sails (and one said
they offer unsold cabins to employees at ? cost).
Our challenges were the need for 3 cabins ideally, 2 in a pinch;
flight availability at a reasonable cost; and avoiding gouging. RCI
led the pack on price, asking $6,000 for a balcony for 2 on a "usual"
Caribbean 7-nighter. Princess and Carnival pricing was more in line
with what a temporarily insane person would pay to cruise a holiday
week! Celebrity, NCL and HAL never really had much open up. (We didn't
check Disney solely because their prices are always higher.) When we
went to bed Thursday night, we assumed we weren't going, as the flight
situation had become untenable from a cost standpoint (fares doubled).
Princess called Friday morning to say we'd cleared a ship, but by
then, even if we'd be willing to pay the piper, flights were flat
unavailable to get all five of us to a port in time. Late Friday, a
Carnival rep called and offered 2 cabins on the Conquest from our
drive-to port. She was the sole cruise line agent out of a jillion to
keep track of our quest and initiate a call when cabins opened up
(which we found breathtakingly incomprehensible from a sales
standpoint). She did give my husband 30 minutes to track me down (I
was Christmas shopping), and we agreed, it was a no-brainer, even
though we'd not been enamored with the Conquest the first time we
sailed her and we'd never sailed with 2 cabins for our party of five.
Lessons for those interested in last-minute bookings: (1) you can book
up to 24 hours before sail time; (2) there's no Homeland Security bar
to getting on a ship at the very last minute; (3) Princess' wait list
is definitely a way to go, and don't be deterred by your standby
number--our "no, thanks" gave number 15 a shot; and (4) if you don't
have to fly, you will almost certainly get on a ship, even during a
peak week like Christmas/Hanukkah. It goes without saying, you cannot
be picky about line, ship, cabin or itinerary.
Happy cruising, whether you book early or late!
Diana Ball
Austin, TX
.
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