Cruise: last minute price- 4 nights from Auckland to Melbourne 1 Feb 2016
 

Hi there

Can anyone tell me if they booked this cruise on a last minute deal? At the moment it is advertised from $699 NZ on cruisabout Nz. I reckon this is the price for a IF inside cabin.

What is the best price did you get?

When did you book? Eg one month before depature??

I am intereted in inside share twin or 3rd person cabin. Which cabin did you have?

I intend to visit my relatives in Melbourne after the cruise. I believe I can use the money I save from the cruise as my spending money post cruise in Melbourne.

I'd be most grateful for your feedback and your recommendation.
I really look forward to hear from you.

Thanks so much

Vacationstogo has that cruise listed for $549.00. I have used them before for several cruise bookings. They may give a guarantee of a particular class of cabin or better, but not a specific one. That has worked fine for us. Vacationstogo seems to have a lot better price than your company, but check with both companies to see the final price, including taxes, port charges and gratuities.

Also check with Princess to see what the cruise line itself is offering. I have booked with the cruise lines a couple of times and got good service and good price, with cabin credit for spending on the ship.

Yes, those cheap prices are for inside, shared cabins. I assume you have a partner to share with. Otherwise, you pay a lot more.

vacationstogo is great for looking for cruises. cruisecritic is great for reading reviews of cruises, ships, itineraries and hooking up with other cruisers to do excursions.

Hi Sassafrass

It's great to hear from you. Thank you for your tips and suggestions. I will have a look at Princess website and see if it can beat $549

just to let you know that we are going on a Auckland roundtrip 9 nights to Vanuatu and New Caledonia on 29 April. I just wanted to have a relaxing holiday with no international flights. So this one was fine.

But, I am a little bit annoyed now because if we booked 2 weeks before departure we could have saved $500 each person. We could have risked it as it is AkL to AKL. There are still inside cabins available now.

So now, I feel brave enough to book last minute. But I realise with the Golden Princess AKL to Melbourne cruise, we have to think about the flight cost coming back from Melbourne to Auckland. Grabbing a bargain cruise is great, but we might have to pay expensive airfare getting home :-(

anyway, it is 10 months away. I reckon I will wait till December this year and chance it. On the other hand, I guess I have to watch out for February as it's school holidays in New Zealand.

Thank you again for your help. You are most kind and wonderful.

Look at my response to "Anyone have problems with affordable tours?" to see how pricing on cruise cabins works.

If I knew for certain I wanted to take a particular cruise, and the price was good, I would book it earlier. However, we don't plan trips very far ahead, so we often book only three or four weeks before the cruise and have booked cruises as close as only a week out. Of course, you run the risk of not getting the cabin you want or the cruise selling out, or prices going up.

Just a BTW, Golden Princess was supposed to have another refurbishing last year, but from reviews, it may still look worn. However, the layout of that class of Princess ships is wonderful. I have not been on Golden, but have been on Crown Princess, Caribbean Princess and Star Princess. The layout of Golden is the same as those, identical to Caribbean Princess and it is my favorite ship, mostly because the Promenade deck goes the length of the ship on each side and has several places where you can walk directly across the ship on that deck. Many newer ships no longer have a real promenade deck. The atrium is nice too, and not noisy like it is on some ships.

Well, I used to have the "planner" syndrome. Our second cruise was to the Caribbean in Nov 2013 on Emerald Princess. We loved the Emerald Princess. BUT we booked in Jan 2013!!!!! Looking back I think I was just too worried about " missing out " and it was too extreme.

I reckon I want to " live more dangerously" now and I am willing to risk it. Cruising has become much more popular now and I believe we have many choices more than ever.

So I am changing my attitude and will go the way you do ... Book A month before the cruise.

BTW I am learning to have Faith, and trust life will look after me = look at all the fantastic advice you have given me and it's absolutely Free.

Thank you so very much.

Just read your post " anyone have problems with affordable tours?"

That was an excellent read. Again, I learned a valuable lesson.
Thank you

Our first cruise, I knew nothing and did not worry about much because I did not know enough to even ask many questions. Now, the more I know, the more questions I have. I spend a lot more time worrying about my decisions. It is always fun, don't know why I make it harder. People here have helped me a lot and I read cruisecritic like crazy. Two other sites I like are cruise.com and travelzoo.

You already have cruise experience, so I wonder what websites you have used. Have you used cruisecritc and joined the roll calls for your cruises? I did not even know about that until someone here mentioned it.

Most people I know do book ahead, probably much better for the cruise lines. If I did not agonize over the decision so much, I would book earlier, but so far, I have not been too particular about the cabin and it has worked out. I hope you keep us posted with your progress.

Our first cruise was a 3 nights Auckland to Auckland Food and Wine cruise. It was a short break- a long weekend away. My sister and I loved it- it was so much fun!!! We certainly drank very little but ate too much:-) :-) :-)

Geography has never been my forte, so when I was told that it's a long long way from Auckland to Fort Lauderdale, my response was "okay" ... I will book it anyway. Nor did I ask any questions at all.

But good heavens, it was Hard Work. With all the connecting flights, it took us 2 days to arrive at FL. That's Probably why I want to cruise the South Pacific and Australia at the moment as it is close to home.

With our upcoming cruise, I do not expect anything too exciting in Vanuatu as cyclone Pam has done so much damage to the island. People are still re building their home. But I welcome the opportunity to see it however it may be because it would remind me how lucky I am and to appreciate what I have.

It is one thing to see pictures on TV. But when you are actually there, it feels very different... When I visited friends in Christchurch in February this year I could hardly hold back tears when we drove around the central city. The devastation after the earthquake is still so evident I was so shocked and sad.

Sorry, we are supposed to be talking about cruises.

However, I am quite excited about Numea New Caledonia as our friends say we would love the French cuisine and shopping. Bit dangerous for me, as I adore shopping.

Like I said before, I definitely will go for last minute cruises now- any money I save will help tremendously- especially towards shopping :) :) :)

Anyway, we would off next Wednesday, can't wait.

Will keep you posted about what we think of the cruise :-)

Just realised i have not answered your questions.

I have not used any website to read up much, as I am usually exhausted after work. You know, the "busyness syndrome ".

Nor have I used the rollcalls yet. I'd be glad that I packed the right clothes, have passports ready and board the ship on time.

Sometimes even getting enough sleep is a challenge- I am not complaining, just saying :-) ....

Cruisecritic.com is fantastic for all kinds of info, plus hooking up with other people on your cruise for excursions. It is great for reviews of ships and itineraries.

Vacationstogo.com is great for last minute deals and looking up all cruises all around the world, not just their 90 day sticker. Plug in any dates, itineraries, etc. To find everything available for the next year or so. It is also great for photos of the ships, deck plans, etc.

Travelzoo.com looks for the best bargains coming up, so you can see something there and be directed to the source.

Cruise.com is also a good source for finding cruises.

The individual cruise line is also good.