Let’s Wait For the Cruise Deal…

…or how the early bird gets the worm. Over the years, there’s been a bit of a see-saw in the pricing of cruise lines deals, and many consumers, without a doubt are confused. After all, you read about this sale and that sale month after month. So some figure they’ll just hold onto their money, wait and book at nearly the last minute, and capture the best cruise deal.

A lot has changed. Mostly cruise lines have learned how to manage their inventory quite well. (Not surprisingly a good number of cruise line presidents came from an accounting/finance background.) As a result, many lines are doing a good job offering the best pricing early on, then ratcheting up pricing as it gets closer to sailing date. Sure, in some cases they’ll have cruise deals last minute to fill up empty cabins, but in reality, those last minute deals are becoming fewer.

More to the point, what’s left over is often slimmer pickings. The problem with the wait-and-see mentality is it’s your special vacation — and unless you’re one of the lucky ones that takes a few cruises or more each year and don’t really care, if it’s your annual or semi-annual vacation, you want to be sure it’s terrific. With the most popular staterooms selling out first, by waiting one is often left with the least desirable staterooms — and that assumes you can still get a deal. Likewise, there’s a lot of pent-up demand, and travel agencies like ours are extremely busy taking new bookings.

At the time of writing this article, some lines were already at 70% or more occupancy for 2011! That means, of all their cruise inventory, they had 30% available in 2011 that wasn’t already booked! So it’s our recommendation, if you’re planning a cruise vacation this year, the time to plan and book, if you haven’t already, is now.

Our best cruise specialists can assist you with all the necessary information and arrangements.