TRUE last minute cruises, where? (hotel, sailing, vacations, price)
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we have every once in a while the possibility to take a last minute cruise, and with that I am thinking of 24-48 hours notice. All the sites I have seen marketed as last minute cruises are 3-12 weeks out, which for me is not a last minute cruise.
We live in Tampa, FL so have the opportunity to be at the port in Tampa in 2 hours, or Orlando (Cape Canaveral) in 4 hours notice.
So two questions:
1) Will the cruise lines advertise some really good deals if there is availability on a ship with very short notice (any of you got some good deals, if so what was it)?
2) Where and how would you find these, travel agent, calling the cruise line, or online?
1) If you are expecting a cruise for pennies on the dollar. it is not going to happen on any popular cruise line. You will get the smaller and less popular sailings. Most cruises send out e-mail deals CONSTANTLY. Maybe, you should sign up for them and you will get a half dozen a week. As for 24-48 hours, I think that maybe unrealistic due to all of the processing required.
2) All of the above. I use an online cruise brokerage, Vacations to Go, as they are easy to deal with. I have not had good experiences with local agents.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I usually see the last minute prices at 3-4weeks out and I haven't seen them drop from there (Maybe due to having to match lowest prices for existing frequent clients). I would suspect there is a 'break-even rate' for the line where they would rather leave a cabin empty that lose money on the other services.
$100 / night (for 2) is a decent deal, and kinda what I shop for. I think our last 14 night was advertised for $560 and we ended up negotiating direct with cruise line down to $430 (each passenger, double occupancy) outside cabin. Then there are the other charges + +, so consider it will be about double the base rate by the time you get on board. We ended up near $1600 for (2) for 14 nights all in (including insurance).
Frequent cruisers (loyalty perks for 60+ nights cumulative) can get a promo rate for about 1/2 that. (last minute, but within a few weeks).
Last-minute fares are right out in the open, along with other sales a cruise line might be holding.
Norwegian includes a “last-minute cruise deals” category on its online deals page. Royal Caribbean’s last-minute deals get their own page; scroll to the bottom to sign up for alerts, so you get first dibs on the offers. Carnival lists last-minute fares as Pack & Go, with a pricing button that allows you to filter results by your preferred price range. Sign up for Carnival’s VIFP Club to receive alerts — and maybe additional discounts.
You can also find last-minute offers from a variety of cruise lines in one place at vacationstogo.com. Once you provide your contact information to the online agency, you have access to a large, scroll-down list of last-minute deals over the next 90 days.
Cruiseline.com provides listings and a price alert you can sign up for, and icruise.com offers a last-minute deals page.
OP, I don’t think you’re going to see a whole lot of these types of discounts. Since most cruises require final payment anywhere from 60-120 days a head of time, there is really no reason for them to discount any further right as the trip approaches. It’s not a situation like a hotel room where you can cancel right up until the day of check in and still get a refund.
If a person cancels the week before the cruise, the company already has its money. I don’t know whether things have improved, but cruise ships have also had some fairly major staffing shortages. If you don’t have enough staff to open all the buffet lines or serve everyone in the restaurant/bars in a timely capacity, you don’t want to be offering ultra low cost deals.
Not going to happen, those days are long gone. After 9/11, security measures were enacted that required passengers to be screened, and I believe it's minimum 3 days before departure. You used to be able to show up with luggage on the day of departure, talk to someone about last minute cabins/prices, but 9/11 changed all that.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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If we had a clue as to what OP is looking for in price, duration, distance, perks.... we could have a discussion and examples and experiences from posters or referrals, which would lead OP in a positive direction.
Although we don’t book through them, we price check at “Vacations to Go” and then go to “90 Day Ticker” for last minute deals. You may need to be registered to access the site.
Although we don’t book through them, we price check at “Vacations to Go” and then go to “90 Day Ticker” for last minute deals. You may need to be registered to access the site.
Or you can call their 800 number and they are very good at getting you the information.
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