Cost of Cruise - PLEASE HELP!!!

[Cruiselovers1967]

Hi, wondering if I could get some help please. I guess what I am experiencing now is , quite simply, enormous sticker shock.

We looked in the Air Canada vacations brochure, and the early booking rates looked in our price range......then we got "the Quote" from a local travel agent....WOW!! It was 33% more than expected from the brochure!

We are a family of 5...I know this adds to the price....we are in Eastern Canada....another issue. But the price was STEEP!! A trip breaker for sure!

I am trying to find out...are there specials/ deals closer to when we were thinking of going?(July/03)

The travel agent said the price could go down later...they hadn't even added the airfare prices in the computer yet!! Can I look forward to a better rate later in the year?

The price we were quoted for a one week cruise could send us back to Disney for two weeks!!!

Any advice would be appreciated!

Sincerely,



Trevor

 

[PoohBWV]

Did you ask your TA why such a huge difference from AC's brochure rate. I would also suggest trying a Cruise Only agency if there is one in your area and also get a quote from Dreams Unlimited right here on the DIS. http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/

 

[Lezah]

Be careful when reading the brochure prices. Sometimes the port charges and departure taxes are not added. They can add up. We are going on a cruise in April and the port charges and departure taxes for our family of 3 have added almost $1100 to the price of our cruise. Sometimes the early booking bonuses are only applicable to certain sailings and dates as well. The brochures are just to be used as a guide, but unfortunately not always accurate and up to date. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Scratch42]

There are a lot of factors involved here.

First, check which season it is.
If you are planning on going this summer, the early booking will be very minimal.
Also, which catagory are you looking at? Also, because it's a family of 5 you are limited. Try looking into the cost of two of the Secret Porthole Rooms. It's at a inside cabin rate but there is an obstructed view. Or try the obstructed verandah ones.

You can check all this out at Barb's site, www.castawayclub.com

I had to book in April 2002 for this January 2003 for the early booking to even break even since it's just DD10 and I, all of which I have to pay adult price for her!

I went thru Holiday House, see if they are available in your area. AC seems to overprice everything!

Hope some of this information helped.

Scratch

 

[Sandyrella]

We booked our 4-day Wonder cruise through Dreams Unlimited since they offered the cheapest rate. Actually the rate was the same that CAA offered except that I will be getting a USD$75.00 Dreams Unlimited Instant Rebate PLUS a $25.00 shipboard credit also offered by DU. They will also check the rates periodically and if they go down, so will yours. I doesn't hurt to get a quote.

You could also try www.travelocity.ca, just to get an idea and even get a quote from DCL themselves to see what they are offering for that time of year.

We are also a family of five and by the time we travel, my oldest DS will be 13 and considered an adult. We booked connecting secret porthole rooms, which was considerably cheaper than booking the Family suite (about CAD 1000.00). We are very pleased to have the additional space and two bathrooms.

I personally feel that it is always cheaper to book everything separately rather than packages through an agent. We are also doing 3 days at WDW after the cruise so I am still shopping for discount rates.


Good luck!

Sandy