A hundred years ago, when I opened The Joy of Travel, you could travel to Mexico and the Caribbean with just a valid drivers license and your birth certificate. Remember those days?

We had charter flights from both TUL and OKC and when those weren’t full, boy oh boy, the last-minute deals really were a steal. Almost every trip I booked from 2005-2008 was traveling in 60 days or less.

Then came the Western Hemisphere Act, and the requirement to have a valid passport for Caribbean and Mexican air travel. It was a game changer.

Now customers had to allow enough time to get a valid passport prior to their departure date.

Then, the charter services from OKC and TUL were no more. If you wanted a charter deal you had to drive to DFW. Another big game changer.

Next, the major airlines began cancelling flights that weren’t full rather than offering last-minute deeply discounted fares.

Even the cruise lines took a hard look at their sales patterns and realized it was better business to offer early booking discounts (and therefore be able to predict capacity and cash flow) than risk last-minute fire sales. They decided to reward their customers for booking early rather than for filling last-minute vacancies.

Last-minute deals were officially a thing of the past, and it took my customer base forever to adjust to that new reality.

Within a 5-year span my entire book of business completely changed. I was now booking air directly from the big carriers, primarily from TUL and OKC, and well in advance so customers received the best purchase price as well as having time to apply for, and receive, valid passports.

The best part of booking early was the ability to pay off the trip rather than taking the hit immediately upon purchase. Better pricing, pay it out. Win/win. Right?

It’s the same today. Especially with those big-ticket items such as escorted tours and river cruises. The earlier you book the more you save. And with our private groups we can extend groups discounts as well, so the savings are generally in the hundreds of dollars per person. And again, the ability to pay it out rather than taking a multi-thousand dollar hit all at once.

Having said all of that, this year, 2023, there is a glut of availability on European rivers. The rush post COVID is about over, demand is down, supply is up. That is bad for the companies, but great for you.

Travel is a supply and demand business. If you can travel from summer 2023 into fall 2023 (and there are even a couple of Christmas Market cruises for whom this is applicable) you can save thousands of dollars. Quite literally, thousands.

Discounted cabins, discounted or free air, I can go on and on. If you are still holding on to that travel money you saved during covid, we can get you some amazing river cruise experiences this year.

I know you are all enticed by river cruising. It remains the fastest growing segment in the travel industry, and for great reasons. And now, for 2023, it’s more affordable than it has ever been.

Please call one of my river cruise specialists today. Let them tell you about the special offers out there on every European river. And then, save the money, and take the trip.

The Joy of River Cruising, it’s time to cruise.

Your Globetrotting Friend,
Joy

Should You Book Early or Late?