sjgw

My husband and daughter and I are planning to fly to Italy in late August. We would like to return to the United States on a cruise at the end of October (this will be a first cruise for me!) I've found a cruise that fits our expected date of departure. However, we will be tending to business in Italy that can influence exactly when we can depart. Does anyone know if there will be any possibility of changing to a different cruise date once I've booked a cruise? Is it like an airline ticket that can be changed with a certain fee? Also, any cautions about my basic plan of buying one-way airline tickets to Rome in August and return cruise tickets to the U.S. in October? We've never purchased one-way air tickets before, but I am seeing some available for less than round-trip. Thank you for any information.

swaymock

You are asking a very difficult question and while I know you are only gathering info here, you really need to phone the cruiseline in question to get a specific answer as the various cruiselines have differing policies.

Generally speaking, I think the answer will be that you cannot do what you are asking. Normally a cruise must be paid in full somewhere around 90 days before sailing. For example here is the link to Princess cancellation policy.

http://www.princess.com/legal/passage.html

You can't just switch from one cruise to another - you would have to cancel the cruise you had booked and rebook another (at the then-prevailing rate). If you cancel within 90 days you will forfeit between the amount of your deposit and the full value of the cruise, depending upon how close to sailing.

Maybe some other lines are more flexible. Call the cruiseline to be certain of the rules.

I would book the cruise before I bought a one way ticket to Italy. You may not even get space on the ship, some cruises do sell out well in advance.

sjgw

Thank you so much for your response and information. I may have further questions, though it is sounding (I also spoke with a travel agent today) like an improbable way to go about what we want to do. I'll post if I learn anything of interest, etc. Thanks also for the suggestion of buying the cruise first. Hopefully, I and our daughter will have our first cruise (my husband's 2nd) by the end of our travels. Hope so!