blue tulip
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,004 
|
Post by blue tulip on Apr 21, 2016 12:09:12 GMT
for spring break 2017, we're going on our first cruise, taking our (then) 12 and 9 yr old boys. booked in Feb, it was to be a carnival western caribbean cruise leaving from new orleans, we'd drive down from MI. booked a hotel in NO for the night before, and a night in TN for a pit stop on the way back.
our travel agent called yesterday, and someone had chartered the entire ship for that cruise, so we suddenly didn't have a vacation anymore.  after looking at driving 4 hours further to galveston for a replacement cruise that we had initially looked at and decided against, we were able to book essentially the same cruise (same destinations, same ship) but leaving the week before. it gets in the day the now-chartered one leaves. boys would've missed 2 days of school, now they will miss 4.
what are the odds that this gets chartered out again? DH is now thinking of selling some stocks so we can fly, tho I'd rather road trip and it would be about half the price of flying (yes, I know our time is valuable too..) but if we buy plane tickets, when should we do that? we have a lot of time to stalk the best rate, but I don't want to buy them and then the cruise gets cancelled again, and then we're stuck with tix to nowhere. |
|
Loydene
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,639
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
|
Post by Loydene on Apr 21, 2016 12:34:00 GMT
I think it is fairly rare to have a cruise completely chartered out. And frankly, you are probably better off with the change than going on a charter. It might be a group with whom you wouldn't "get along" and then be running into those "charter people" all the time or venues being taken over by the charter people.
I understand why you'd like to road trip. And, look at the excursions that will be available to you from either the ship or through private providers. If you are going to sell stock, I'd suggest you consider buying excursions rather than plane tickets (especially if you don't mind a road trip!)
If you are terribly concerned, then buy some travel insurance with the plane tickets ...
But sorry - I don't have a clue when to buy the plane tickets! Travel insurance "covers that bet"!
|
|
|
|
Post by shescrafty on Apr 21, 2016 12:36:53 GMT
I would not sell stock to go on a trip. You are almost a year out-I bet you will be able to find something else during the same dates.
Would you be comfortable just waiting it out for a bit and seeing what your travel agent can come up with?
I am sorry your cruise got cancelled. I didn't know that was ever an option!
|
|
|
|
Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Apr 21, 2016 12:40:24 GMT
If you do decide to fly, I wouldn't purchase those tickets until much closer to time. It's highly unlikely your next cruise would change to a charter, but it's definitely not going to within mere months of departing. I generally purchase flights for domestic pleasure trips/vacations about a month out.
|
|
keithurbanlovinpea
Pearl Clutcher
Flowing with the go...
Posts: 4,301
|
Post by keithurbanlovinpea on Apr 21, 2016 12:55:07 GMT
I think that the chance of another charter is really slim. Those are for huge groups. And I agree.. It's too early to be looking for flights
|
|
peppermintpatty
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1345
Posts: 3,946
|
Post by peppermintpatty on Apr 21, 2016 13:10:12 GMT
I think that is pretty rare. When we went on one, Ford had a huge number of people on board as a group. It must have been half the ship. It was a bit annoying because everything was geared toward that group but whatever. The cruise was on Carnival and the ship sucked anyway!
You should be fine.
|
|
|
|
Post by BoilerUp! on Apr 21, 2016 13:18:29 GMT
I think those chances would be extremely rare. We have flown to our cruise vacations, because you can't board until later in the afternoon anyhow, so that provided us with decent travel options. We love cruising!!! We also love the Caribbean.  |
|
valleyview
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,816
Jun 27, 2014 18:41:26 GMT
|
Post by valleyview on Apr 21, 2016 13:20:56 GMT
It's way too early to buy airline tickets. If you can fly Southwest, then they sometimes have good sales including to NOLA. I think they only ticket about six months out. In most circumstances, 1-3 months is plenty of time for tickets.
|
|
blue tulip
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,004
|
Post by blue tulip on Apr 21, 2016 13:36:55 GMT
thanks for the help! I *say* sell stocks, but he probably wouldn't. they are jokingly burning a hole in his pocket, he threatens to sell them for everything but we have never sold any. more likely he would just work some overtime and we would save it up. but if something happened that prevented that, he says he's serious enough about not driving that he would do it. 
I'm wary of travel insurance, because we had it for another vacation 2 years ago and it was a HUGE struggle to get them to pay for what should've been a covered expense. so I'm not all that confident that whatever problem arises, they wouldn't be able to pull our some fine print that says it's not covered. they did eventually cover our claim, which basically refunded the cost of the insurance, but it took over a year and a LOT of work.
it is much too early right now to buy plane tickets, I don't even think it's possible yet.
I'm feeling somewhat justified in a gallows humor way that this happens rarely. I didn't know it was possible! but of course it would happen to us lol.
|
|
paigepea
Drama Llama
Enter your message here...
Posts: 5,609
Location: BC, Canada
Jun 26, 2014 4:28:55 GMT
|
Post by paigepea on Apr 21, 2016 16:37:08 GMT
We once were two weeks before our cruise and it was cancelled. A different ship went into dry dock and our ship went to take others on their cruise so we were without a ship. They told us we could rebook - but I was teaching and couldn't go a different week. They ended up sending us on a different itinerary (we booked south Caribbean and they sent us on a western itinerary) for free. Thankfully it all worked out, but when you book the fine print says they can cancel at any time for any reason. We were on royal Caribbean.
I'm sure yours will work out! I prefer to fly but road trips are fun too.
P.
|
|
melissa
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,912
|
Post by melissa on Apr 21, 2016 16:41:02 GMT
We've been over 10 cruises in 10 years. Have never had a cruise cancelled because of a charter. Once missed a port because of weather and they took us somewhere else instead. That's it. It's pretty unusual for this to happen.
|
|
|
|
Post by mlynn on Apr 21, 2016 16:48:41 GMT
I would book the plane through the cruise line. That would probably protect you if something happens again. Plus you get more perks...like free extra luggage
|
|
likescarrots
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,879
|
Post by likescarrots on Apr 21, 2016 17:30:53 GMT
It's probably rare, but i wouldn't ever plan a trip that far in advance. It might be a more likely scenerio during spring break.
|
|
|
|
Post by lucyg on Apr 21, 2016 17:34:24 GMT
It's way too early to buy airline tickets. If you can fly Southwest, then they sometimes have good sales including to NOLA. I think they only ticket about six months out. In most circumstances, 1-3 months is plenty of time for tickets. I was going to suggest Southwest, because you can cancel your flights at any time (for airline credit, not a refund). It is my go-to airline for that reason. But yeah, it's too early to book flights yet. |
|
|
|
Post by ktdoesntscrap on Apr 21, 2016 17:50:11 GMT
Usually you can't purchase an airline ticket until it is less than a year out....most airlines it is 360 or 350 days. But you will pay a premium booking that far.
Start looking at 6 months.. and sometime between 6-2 months you will find a deal that works for you.
|
|
|
|
Post by BeckyTech on Apr 21, 2016 18:03:15 GMT
Are there lots of different vacation insurance companies? Maybe check into a different one.
Also, try this savings plan suggested on another thread: the $5 savings plan |
|
after looking at driving 4 hours further to galveston for a replacement cruise that we had initially looked at and decided against, we were able to book essentially the same cruise (same destinations, same ship) but leaving the week before. it gets in the day the now-chartered one leaves. boys would've missed 2 days of school, now they will miss 4. 
