Is it likely that a Carnival cruise during the first week of August will be cheaper near the sail date?

Question

I am currently planning a mini family reunion and some family members were unable to afford the $1111.00 per person fee for a 7 day Caribbean cruise. It was too expensive as they have children and would have to pay for them as well, not to mention the air fare. I was wondering if it would be possible for them to "find" better rates closer to the sail date?

_ Do you think it would be possible? - Where can they look for deals?

-- See we really missed out because all of the "group" discounts were sold out on this ship, ( @$ 780. per person) and being so close to summer I was unable to find another ship with group rates for a 7 day Caribbean cruise.

Answer 1

If possible, try booking in late Aug.  The prices start dropping in Mid / Late Aug as kids are back in school in many areas.

Answer 2

No.  The best deals are usually on trips booked well in advance.  Some deals can be found after the 60-day final-payment deadline [i.e. 60 days before the cruise].  However, August is prime cruising time, even though it is hurricane season, because that's when the kids are out of school.

You might check VacationsToGo.com or Travelocity or Expedia, etc. for prices, although prices don't really vary that much among agencies because the cruiselines discourage or don't allow big discounts.

Answer 3

you can check  out a local travel agent...they sometimes have group space pre-held.  My agency is part of Carlson and we have group space on many ships and salings that we buy into.

So just because Carnival has no group space, check around and you might find a group that you can buy into.

Good Luck.

Answer 4

Ill try and answer your question without an ad for a travel agency.  The pricing for the cruise ships is a crazy and very miss understood system.  everyone i have talked to has no idea how it works.  generally speaking cruises are more expensive when the boat is almost sold out, anytime the kids are out of school, or weekend cruises.  Best deal times are if there are alot of cabins and the boat is nearing its sale date or hurricane season.  with peoples budgets being an issue why not find a 4 or 5 day cruise?  They will run you more around 300-500 total pp.  also keep in mind after the first 2 people in the room are paid for the next ones staying in the same room are alot cheeper.

Answer 5

that is a tough one. cruises are expensive. lemme look something up for you. ok, this is going to sound to good to be true. at trussvilletravel.com just click on cruises along the top of the homepage, and put in all the neccesary info. i did that with what info you had in your questions, and i found 7 day bahaman/carribean cruises for UNDER $700. UNDER the group discount, because of trussvilletravel.com 's low price guarantee. along all of the listed cruises, it had a 68% off brochure price icon. pretty cool. trussvilletravel.com also has cheap airfare you might wanna look at. i hope this help!