Late Bookings! Is It Worth Hanging On For A Deal?

I’m wondering if the mixed messages coming from the cruise industry at the moment are there to create a ‘smoke and mirrors’ effect?  Cruise lines are reporting bumper bookings for 2010, generated, no doubt from the early booking incentives and low deposits being offered.  It’s just as well given that they are having to provide value-added incentives, like onboard credits, in addition to reduced prices to generate bookings for this summer. The way that the cruise industry markets itself will need to change.  The Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) reported this week that more and more cruisers are booking late, within three months of departure.  That’s obviously a recession-driven pattern – people hold back from spending until the last minute, hoping they will get a bargain, and hoping they will be in a position to take a holiday.   The thing about trends like that is that they tend not to revert back once the economic situation changes.  So, the cruise lines could find themselves having to re-evaluate their pricing and discounting strategies to address the downward spiral.  Hopefully they will realise what the public has been reliant on … cruise holidays , just like food, have a sell-by date.  And the closer you get to that sell-by date, the lower the price goes

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Late Bookings! Is It Worth Hanging On For A Deal?