November Trip to California and Booking the Three Day Back to Back

I have already posted how we will be doing a 10 day Mexican cruise on the Grand in November.  But since we have two weeks of holidays at this time we thought we should add on to the trip.  

At first we thought about just staying in California.  We checked out hotels and seeing that there was not much under $200 a night that was half decent, then add on transportation, food and the such we changed our minds.

The Golden Princess is doing three day cruises at this time that go from LA to Ensenada with one sea day put in for good measure.  So why not just book that?  All meals, entertainment, and great accommodations are all thrown in.  So we were looking at the November 20 and 23rd sailing as a back to back.

Prices were quite reasonable at $200 for an inside and a bit more for an oceanview.  

At first I thought I will just wait to see if it will come down and one cruise did come down but the other one didn't. Then the other came down but the first one did not. Today I log in and take a peak at the second cruise and I see all inside cabins are sold out!  Price has not changed but now I don't have the option of even booking an inside (of course I could go on a waitlist if I wanted).  

What to do?  

My options are book an inside on one leg and an outside on the second leg, book both in an outside, or splurge on a balcony, or hey why not go crazy and book a suite. Okay I held back on the last two options. Costs wouldn't justify us doing two in an inside for the price of one cruise in a balcony.  

So in the end I booked the highest oceanview guarantee I could get for a great price.  I made sure to link both sailings and now the waiting game begins. If I get the category I booked, fine, but there is a good chance we should get an upgrade.

In the end with tax we are looking at $100 a day for the cruise per person.  $200 total per day, and that is what we would of paid for a hotel on land including taxes. Plus we still would have to pay for entertainment and food and transportation.  

But you can see that even I, with all my travel experience made a mistake in waiting.  If I would of booked a month ago I would of had more options and in fact would of saved a little bit of money too.  

This voyage is not so much about seeing sights as it will be about relaxing before going back to work. 

Plus while we are gone on this voyage my bathroom at home will be under renovations so there will be no rush to come back and deal with that.

Stay tuned.