Bargain hunting - - Renaissance Greek Isles
 

We would like to take the Renaissance Greek Isles cruise in October. The quote price now is $4,690 for a D class cabin (balcony). Most cruise lines offer promotions. Has anyone got good deals on Renaissance for fall cruises? I'll appreciate any suggestions or advice. <BR>Joe

Renaissance always discounts there cruices, so I would wait. There are many travel consolidators that sell there cruises; www.moments-notice.com is on of them;additionally, www.onsale.com is an Internet auction site that ALWAYS lists there cruises. The one problem with either of those choices is that they generally don't have cruises for THAT far in advance for heavy discounts; so if you MUST book that far in advance, your choices are limited. I must say though, onsale.com has reniassance cruises every day, and the final sale price was much lower than you could have gotten from renaissance directly. By the way, that same cruise departing in march costs $800 for an outside cabin on Moments notice.

Your price seems standard to me. I went on the Greece/Turkey cruise last May. Our price was $2250 per person for a C cabin. That didn't include air add-on from L.A. or port fees. But it did include 10,000 frequent flyer miles and a rug credit. <BR> <BR>I guess I would try to do better. I think there's a discount for booking over the internet and I've heard they auction off cabins over the internet but I don't know how it works. <BR> <BR>One thing we did was to get our agent to agree that if Renaissance lowered their prices or made any other special offers applicable to our trip, we would get the benefit. I was doubtful this would work but when it happened, I called my agent and he cheerfully lowered our price (to the $2250 number). <BR> <BR>Since we cruised last May, their prices may have increased so your price may be a good one. I just don't know. <BR> <BR>But, it's an outstanding value and you won't go wrong. You really get your money's worth.

We paid $1199 per person for an August 99 cruise for an inside cabin. We had booked the cruise in May. In June Renaissance offered an upgrade to a C cabin in exchange for changing to an October sailing date. We jumped at the chance, since August is a very hot (and crowded) time of year for that area. So, for $1199 we got a balcony cabin, three (instead of two) nights at 5 star (instead of four) hotels and a $100 ship's credit. On top of all that, if we had gone in August as planned, we would have been in Istanbul during the big earthquake! We had a great time and it was the best travel bargain we have ever gotten. In my opinion, a D cabin isn't worth the extra cost. Renaissance is always offering unbelievable deals. Patience and flexibility is the key. You have a lot of time until October. I would wait and keep my eyes open. If you want to get a copy of my trip report, e-mail me and I will send it to you.

Flexibility on dates is definitely key. Frommer's bargain newsletter today has a notice about deep discounts on this Ren. cruise for dates in March -- around $700 (not for balcony rooms though). The website is www.frommers.com

Many thanks to all of you. I've checked the Web sites that you've mentioned, and it's clear that good deals seem fairly easy to find. With appreciation, Joe

I have a Diners' Club Card and they are often making wonderful offers for Renaissance cruises at reduced prices. Sometimes it is actually worth reading the junk-er-extra information credit card companies stick in with our bills!

Use there web page to contact an agent through "Live chat" You get there after putiing in several pages of info. I just booked a Aug/Sep cruise in H class for $999 each. I used Steve Guerra as my live chatter. <BR> <BR>Good luck