Booking a Royal Caribbean Cruise.....Help Please

reliable65

Decided to go on a Royal Caribbean Cruise next July 2010 as a special holiday seeing as its my wifes 40th and probably my sons last holiday with us

I WANT TO GO ON THE MED CRUISE FOR 14 NIGHTS LEAVING SOUTHAMPTON ON THE 31ST JULY 2010

I need a cabin for 2 adults and 2 boys (14 and 17)

I have never booked a cruise and to be honest I wouldnt know where to start. Ive looked on the Royal Caribbean site and it seems a lot of money so im trying to get this as cheap as possible

If you can help please do so

Thanks for looking !!!!!

poet123

We are doing a similar cruise this year, and tbh if I had it to do again I would only book late next year after the final payment date for this cruise has gone. We booked 14 months ago and paid in May. 2 weeks later I received a blanket email from the travel agent and the cabin had gone down by £1000:mad:

Now, this is clearly because of the credit crunch and the fact that when it came time to pay many people couldnt do so. They are still selling cabins now for our sailing, and they are heavily discounted. it is a gamble but we were told if we didnt book when we did, we wouldnt get a 4 berth cabin.....that was obviously wrong, although to be fair it is a gamble, and it may have worked out differently.

Another point is that if you book via a US travel agent, you are better treated as if you have to cancel you do not forfeit your deposit (up to a certain date) and if the price goes down you get the price drops. That said, we booked via Cruisekings (and I would reccommend their service aside from this email issue)and when we booked we were satisfied with the price, and wouldn't have checked again had they not sent us a blanket email and rubbed our noses in it. I would really rather not have known. That said, buying the cruise direct from RCI was still much much dearer, so do use an agent.

I am about to book another cruise for next March and the US TA was £600 cheaper than any UK agent, with the added bonus of the price drops and no cancellation penalities.

Worth thinking about.:D

Try www.cruisecompete.com where US agents compete for your business with the lowest quote.

reliable65

poet

cheers thats brilliant advice

i wouldnt have known about the bit where if prices come down you also get the benefit !!!!!

niceday999

check all the cruise websites by searching on google for the name of the ship and date.. and also e bookers cruise are very good.

luci

Poet

You can get price drops in the UK with some of the operators, but if you booked through a travel agent you have to apply through them.

If you booked with CruiseKings give them a call if you haven't already taken the cruise.

poet123

I have already given them a call! (believe me)!the price drop is for new customers only, and the cruise is still actually dearer than we paid via RCI direct, so it appears that RCI have allowed the agent to discount its alllocation, but for new customers only.

luci

I see. A seasoned cruiser on Holiday Truths has posted about getting price drops in the UK, but I think that only applies if you booked direct with RCI and the RCI website price is now lower, not if a travel agent is doing it for less.

flight1

We have cruised with RCI and although we enjoyed it found the demand for sunbeds ofputting. You were only allowed to leave bed for 15mins and if not back your towels and belongings were removed.
Since this we have cruised twice with P&O and although perhaps not as much activities for kids still plenty for them. We have another 2 booked with them Depending on cruise dates can often get really good child prices. My son will be 16 next year and we still got him free for a sailing in Scottish school hols.

cclarke12

As others have said there have been some really great last minute cruise deals this year BUT mainly if you only been need a cabin for for 2. If you need a 4 berth cabin in the summer holidays these sell well in advance and an early booking may well be best (e.g. look at availability of 4 berth cabins sailing out of Southampton for this summer and there isn't much left). Have you considered sailing out of Barcelona with Royal Caribbean as we found this cheaper, and at least you get a full week of sun! Flights to Barcelona are cheap too and it is a nice place to spend a few days pre-cruise. In terms of agents I can recommend Cruise Kings, and their website should be easy to find.

MrSmartprice

gill_murray wrote: »

We have cruised with RCI and although we enjoyed it found the demand for sunbeds ofputting. You were only allowed to leave bed for 15mins and if not back your towels and belongings were removed.
Since this we have cruised twice with P&O and although perhaps not as much activities for kids still plenty for them. We have another 2 booked with them Depending on cruise dates can often get really good child prices. My son will be 16 next year and we still got him free for a sailing in Scottish school hols.

We have just booked a P&O cruise for November. We have done a couple of Thomson cruises but fancied going upmarket a bit. The reason we chose P&O (and Thomson previously) is that I hate the idea of someone adding a daily 'tip' onto my onboard account, which most of the American cruise lines seem to do. They also add a service charge onto every drink! I want to reward good service as I see fit, not have a 'tax' added to make up for poverty wages.

Needless to say, we also got ourselves an excellent deal!;)

Froggitt

try vacationstogo.com