Timing For Booking Your Outdoor Vacation
When to book your cruise can be a puzzle to some. You want a good deal on the cruise, but you also want to get your preferred accommodations for your floating vacation rental.
So, how do you get the perfect outdoor vacation cruise experience and still get a good price? It depends on your destination. Some destination holidays are more popular than others at certain times of the year.
For example, if you are thinking of a cruise to Alaska, the May – September cruises are always full. This is the time to go to these regions, and everyone is clamoring for the best rooms. If you were hoping for a cabin with a balcony, you are going to have to sacrifice getting a good price deal and book your vacation rental room at least 6 months in advance (possibly more).
If you want a Vancouver to Anchorage Gulf cruise route, expect to pay even more as this is a very popular travel path.
The best chances you have to get a great deal on your Alaska cruise is to book either at the beginning or the end of the busy season (May or September). There are often more openings at this time, and you may still be able to pay a little more for the nicer outer cabins.
Another very popular destination for holidays are a number of outdoor vacation stops in the Bahamas and across the Caribbean. Why fly to just one island and stay in a vacation rental, when you can take a cruise ship to a number of them?
If you are thinking of using one of your holiday weeks as a time for your vacation, you must make sure to book that early. Holidays such as Thanksgiving week, Spring Break, and the week between Christmas and New Year always sell out quickly. There are rarely discounts for the prices on these trips either. It is the simple rules of supply and demand where everyone wants these cruises so they can charge top dollar for them. You may need to book these cruise times up to a year in advance.
If you have some flexibility in your travel schedule you can use that to your advantage. If you were able to book in early spring or late winter instead of the extremely busy summer months, you will be able to find better deals. Even February – April are a bit busy, so if you are looking at those times, you may still need to book at least six month early.
A lot of these trips are actually booked during the winter, no doubt by people looking to escape the cold winters where they live. Maybe they think knowing there are warm waters to look forward to will help the cold days go by more quickly.
Another time you can look for a good cruise deal is from September to the beginning of December. The only important thing to keep in mind about these cruise times, is this part of the hurricane season in the Caribbean.
