Anyone ever gotten a deal?? Whenever I have called the prices are crazy. Celebrity quoted me the Istanbul Hilton for a mere $450.00 per noc whereas the same property per hotels.com was $305.00 It seem to me their prices are way overboard. What is your experience?

My experience is that it is always much less expensive to book hotels on your own than through the cruise line.

I agree with that. When you book with the cruise line they have to take their referral cut, so the prices are usually higher to cover that.

The people who post on Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor deem Priceline and Hotwire as the place to go to book a hotel. I have never had luck with either. I have never been able to win a bid with Priceline and Hotwire always shows higher prices then the actual hotel's web-site.

We did use Hotwire for our last cruise going out of Ft. Lauderdale and we got a Holiday Inn right across the street from the beach. We thought Yeah, until we got there and the area was quite iffy.

For our cruise this September, I just scoured the hotel's web-sites until I found a price and area I could live with. We are staying 4 nights, so wasn't going to pay a huge nightly price.

You GET what you pay for. I would NOT book any hotel through a cruise line (yes I have done it and yes I won't do it again).

As to "iffy" neighborhoods..who the hell knows what that means?

"As to "iffy" neighborhoods..who the hell knows what that means?"

Actually, I do and if you want additional clarification read my review. You can find it on Trip Advisor and Cruise Critic.

I didn't call for hotel, only for airline - the agent was honest, she told me, as I know how to use the Internet, I'll be better off doing my own research

Dukey please. Knock it off.

Once you have your itinerary organized, you can pretty much book the hotels on your own and not have to go through the cruise lines. The only advantage that I know about is that the cruise lines will include transfers if you book your air and hotels through them. However, we just did a cruise to Hawaii from San Diego and transfers were not included.

I did a lot of research on the hotels and areas and got a fabulous rate booking the hotel on my own. I had booked my air through SW air and they were offering specials on hotels so booked the hotel through them. Got a confirmation right away and just brought that to the hotel. I have booked my own hotels also. We stayed at the Sheraton marina hotel in San Diego and I happened to notice the the cruise line was using the same hotel for there pre-or post-cruises. The price was significantly higher than what we paid through the airline or own or own. Do your homework and you will save yourself some $$$$.

Good luck.

May

We have always found that booking our own hotels was far less expensive than booking with the cruise line (and I always take account of the cost of transfers in my calculations). However, for our upcoming transatlantic cruise with Holland America, both a pre-cruise hotel in Fort Lauderdale and three nights after the cruise in Rome were less expensive booking through Holland America than if I booked the same hotels on my own, once again taking account of the cost of transfers. We have been wondering if HAL has revamped its pricing for these add ons. In my view, it always pays to run the numbers on this for any given cruise. Enjoy your trip.

So sometimes it pays to use the cruise line services it seems. Good point. I wonder what the cruise line actually pays for the hotel. I would think they get some sort of discounted rate. However what they charge seems to be the rack rate plus their "fee" Hmmm.

Hi Jacket watch.. since you asked on another thread about cab fares to Sultanhamet you didn't mention your other query about a cruise line hotel.. WAY OVERPRICED... Get in touch with Hilton yourself if that is where you want to stay..The Hilton is not very near Topkapi etc, however...Also an overnight is not enough to scratch the surface of IST. 3 nights is minimum We were there last spriing 3 nights before an Oceania cruise, stayed in a family run hotel, used the guide mentioned in the other thread and could not praise them more highly. We usually try to "go local" when in exotic places....It is a better experience as far as many are concerned.

We actually will have 3 nights as we will spend two nocs at the hotel and can get on the ship one day B4 embarkation. I completely agree about going "local' We are looking at several smaller hotels and I will check out your reply on the other thread. Thanks! larry

Larry, it is always cheaper to book your own air and hotel independently from the cruise line. Samer witgh pre and post crusie tours.

The only thing is that the cruise line with guarantee to get you on baord if there is any type of delay.