I think you may find an email soon stating "Hey we have one slot that just opened up and it's full retail price... you need to book ASAP". I'm not an expert on OZ, in fact I'm heading out in less than a month for the first time (w/ family).
I may be wrong, but these are not usually cheap trips so I would highly doubt that they are booked that far in advance unless it is some special time (OZ spring break, etc...)
It boils down to this... if you have flex time, wait until you get very close to the date before attempting to book. It you have a tight schedule then you may lean more towards booking ahead. I would hate to goto OZ and not be able to make the liveaboard trip that I wanted. I followed these rules:
1. Understand your schedule (flex or constrained).
2. Research your options (boats, locations and dates of departure / arrival).
3. Season in which you are going (high, med or low).
4. How far in advance can you contact them to get the best deal (2 weeks out = 30%, 1 week out = 50% discount, etc...).
Take those things into consideration before running off to book at the retail rate online. Same thing goes for hotels there as well... be willing to book the hotel a day or two before getting on the flight and you will save some decent money there as well.
I'll be there in June for 2 weeks (first time, so take my comments with a grain of salt). I have done the steps above and am planning on executing my plan as the time gets closer. What is funny is usually I'm the type of person that likes to have EVERYTHING booked / locked in before heading out. This should make for an interesting trip...
