When will prices drop on Thanksgiving Cruises or Christmas Cruises?
September 11, 2012 
3 Comments
Each week, I get notified by the cruise lines about upcoming one day cruise price drops with savings from $200 – $2000.
I share my favorite price drops in a weekly email. Click here to subscribe to Price Drop email:
When I shared this week’s price drops on Twitter on Sunday, @bonobochick asked the following:
http://twitter.com/bonobochick/status/244918518687088640
When will prices drop on Thanksgiving and Christmas Cruises?
Thanksgiving and Christmas cruises are peak season cruises. The fact that the kids are out of school during the holiday weeks mean there are more people in the market to take a cruise. Plus, many people get a day or two off for Christmas and Thanksgiving so if they take a week-long cruise they only have to use up 4 vacation days.
In years past, prices for Thanksgiving and Christmas cruises would steadily go up as we got closer to the sail date. So the best way to get a Thanksgiving and Christmas cruise deal was to book early.
We are tracking Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years cruise pricing and have seen some fluctuations up and down. In general the trend is up, but the prices are lower than they have been in year’s past. Click here to see the BEST Thanksgiving and Christmas Cruise Deals.
Will any of the Thanksgiving or Christmas Cruise Prices on our best deals list drop lower?
I’d bet money that there will not be a better 2012 holiday cruise deal than the 8-night Carnival Miracle departing NYC on Thanksgiving Day. Balcony Cabins start at $529 per person [inside cabins starting at $429 per person].
While I doubt that there will be much downward movement on the holiday cruise pricing, we were surprised a couple of weeks ago when 4 night Labor Day Bahamas cruise prices dropped down to $129 per person. We alerted our Twitter, Facebook, and Email subscribers of the Labor Price Cruise price drops and had 20+ people take advantage of the price drops.
Tips to getting the best Holiday Cruise Deals:
1. If you have to fly to the cruise port, then you need to book now because any savings you may get in cruise price drops you’ll lose in the airfare going up.
2. If you need a cabin that holds 3 or 4 passengers then I recommend booking now. If there are significant price drops, they are much more likely to be for double or single occupancy cabins.
3. ‘Last-minute’ in the cruise industry is typically 5 – 8 weeks out from the cruise. If the cruise lines are going to make a move in price to sell excess inventory, it is usually 5 – 8 weeks out from the cruise. [Just note, with holiday cruises there is a big risk price goes up instead of down]
4. Most likely, the deals on our best Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Cruise Deals page will not get better. But, we will keep the pricing on the page updated til the end of the year. So if you want to keep an eye on prices, bookmark that page and check it a couple of times a week.
5. Follow @CruiseDeals on Twitter. We will alert our Followers of Holiday Cruise price drops. [@CruiseDeals recommended by Money Magazine, Travel & Leisure, and NY Times for getting the best Cruise Deals]
6. Not on Twitter? Subscribe to CruiseDeals.com weekly SeaMail alerts. If holiday cruise prices drop, we will alert our email subscribers.
7. When you see the alert that the price dropped, act quickly. If the cruise line drops the price, it is to sell the space fast so they can increase the price again. After the final payment date, price drops are for new bookings only. The cruise lines do not want to upset already booked passengers with rate drops, so they will increase the rates quickly after selling a set amount of inventory.
If you have questions about a specific 2012 Holiday Cruise, please add it to the comments and I’ll look to see what the best deal is and let you know if I think it will go up or down from here.
Author Note: Rich Tucker, cruise industry’s leading price expert, quoted in NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc. Rich manages the @CruiseDeals Twitter account and the Cruise Deals Facebook page. .
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You mention the Nov. 17th HAL Eurodam cruise to the Caribbean having a price drop. I've been booked since July on that cruise…think I'll get a price drop? Sure hope so!
Nancy, I checked to see if you were booked with CruiseDeals.com – but it doesn’t appear that you are. I wanted to see exactly what cabin you were booked in. This rate appears to be a flash promotion that is only available to new bookings. If you were booked through us, I’d be able to double check for you…. If you are booked through CruiseDeals, please call 800.668.6414 and your cruise consultant can attempt to get you the lower rate. If you are booked through another agency, contact your agent see if the can get rate adjusted or an upgrade. Most likely though, the cruise line will say the lower rate is for new bookings only.
You mention the Nov. 17th HAL Eurodam cruise to the Caribbean having a price drop. I've been booked since July on that cruise…think I'll get a price drop? Sure hope so!