Well here we are again the busiest time of the year in the cruise Industry “school holidays”.
Over the last few weeks it is amazing how many guests I have spoken to that are looking for a late deal on a cruise with 3-4 guests in a cabin. To be quite frank I cannot stress enough that if you do not book early you will really struggle in finding any availability on late deals and to be honest I doubt you would be able to find anything at all. If you do not book early you will miss out.
If you are looking at travelling at one off the busiest times of the year such as school holidays, most cruise liners have so many rules when it comes down to children travelling and they block off certain availability on child ages. Cruise liners have certain regulations to work by such as : insurances/ children’s clubs / life jackets etc.
As a general rule of thumb my advice is that if you are looking in the school holidays and have a particular cruise in mind, do not leave it late or you will be very disappointed in not finding what you are looking for.
Now let’s look at the advantages for booking early BUT also the disadvantages.
Advantages :
- You will get On Board Credit and extra discounts for past passengers.
- Families : Three and Fourth berth cabins are always very had to get hold of and with most ships only a 20% occupancy, so you do have to book early.
- You can actually book your cabin number and know exactly where you need to be on board.
- Confirm dining times rather than being waitlisted.
- If you need cabins next door to each other OR opposite.
- Free parking at port.
Disadvantages :
- Prices being reduced.
- No On Board Credit.
- Cabins being on a guarantee basis, which this means you could be anywhere on board.
- Dining times, not being advised till you are on board.
- No availability for 4 berth cabins and then having to do two cabins on a guarantee basis which could mean that you are all on totally different decks.
- No Free Parking.
Now being honest, if you are travelling as a family or you need a particular cabin I would really suggest you book early to get exactly what you are after.