6 ways to get a deal on a cruise
Getting a great deal on a cruise is getting harder. Strong demand for cruises over the past couple of years has allowed cruise lines to raise fares significantly and cut back on last-minute discounts to fill unsold cabins.
As a result, the fares you'll find for cruises this year are significantly higher — by 20% or more — than they were just a few years ago.
So, how do you get the best cruise deal if you're trying to book a cruise for this year and beyond? To start: Don't panic. Even if fares don't come down soon, you can find ways to save when booking a vacation at sea.
Below, we've assembled six of our top tips for finding a bargain on a cruise. These are travel hacks that can work any time — not just when fares are rising. Combine a few of these strategies, and you are sure to find the best cruise deals available on your next sailing.
Cruise during the offseason
As is the case for resorts on land, floating resorts (i.e., cruise ships) can be significantly less expensive during the "offseason" travel months of September, October and November.
These are months when kids are typically back in school and family travel drops off, resulting in diminished demand for many types of travel, including cruises.
These months also fall during the Caribbean's hurricane season, which keeps some people away from land resorts and cruise ships in the region.
Related: Cruising during hurricane season: What to know — and should you go?
In addition to the fall months, the offseason period for cruising generally includes parts of January and February, but it varies by region.
Traditionally, the summer months of June, July and August have been high season in many cruise destinations like the Caribbean, Europe and Alaska. The periods around major holidays — such as Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day — also are considered the busy season for cruising and bring higher prices.
Book early
It's a growing truism of the cruise world: The earlier you book, the better price you'll get.
Cruise lines often open departures for bookings with the lowest prices at which they want to sell the trips. Then, as the departures start filling up, they slowly raise prices on the remaining inventory.
To get the best price on any particular sailing, your best bet, in many cases, is to book right when the sailing opens for sale. This means planning way in advance. Many cruise lines open their reservations for sailings two or even three years before departure.
Booking far in advance can pay off in more ways than one. One big advantage to booking ahead of time is that you're far more likely to get the exact cabin type you want. On many ships, the least expensive cabins and most expensive suites often sell out first and quickly.
Related: A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
Worried you might miss out on a deal by booking a cruise super far in advance? Here's the good news: If, for some reason, the cost of your cruise drops at a later date, you often can get your fare reduced to match the lower price. This is often the case until the last few months before the sailing begins, when the cruise enters what's known as the final payment window. At that point, the fare you've paid is locked in.
Note that not all fare types allow for changes to the fare you've paid after booking. It's important to read the fine print for the fare category you're booking.
Book late
As noted above, cruise lines typically offer their lowest fare for any given sailing just after it opens for booking — often two or even three years before it's scheduled to begin.
Generally, the fare will only go up as the sailing date approaches, but, in some cases, cruise lines will drop the price of a cruise significantly at the last minute. This can happen when the line finds itself with a lot of unsold cabins for a voyage.
If you're flexible and can travel on short notice, you can sometimes find a last-minute deal for a cruise where the line is scrambling to fill berths just before a departure.
A key thing to know here is that last-minute discounting isn't as common as it used to be. Like airlines, cruise lines have become much more savvy about revenue management over the years, and it's rarer that they find themselves with a lot of unsold inventory on sailings just before departure.
You'll also have to be flexible to take advantage of these deals. If you have a specific cabin type on a specific sailing on a specific ship that you're eyeing for a vacation, you can't count on it being available — especially not at a rock-bottom rate.
Also, don't forget that you may pay a lot more for flights to a cruise and a precruise hotel if you wait until the last minute to book them. Last-minute cruise deals often work best for travelers who live near a departure port that they can reach easily by car, avoiding the cost of last-minute flights and hotels.
Sail on an older ship
At many big lines, you'll find that the newest, most amenity-filled cruise ships sell at a premium price. Older ships come with a discount.
The older ships are, of course, older, and they sometimes don't have quite as much to offer on board as the newer ships. But if you're looking for a deal, they can bring great value.
Use a travel agent
Are you a plan-it-yourself type of traveler? We get it. Many of TPG's staffers are that way, too.
But even if you book all your land trips on your own, you might want to use a travel agent who is a cruise specialist to book your next voyage.
One big reason is that cruise-selling travel agents often have access to lower bulk fares for sailings that aren't available to the general public. Big travel agencies will block out large chunks of cabins on ships soon after they open for booking to lock in such group fares, then sell them over the coming months.
When you book through cruise travel agents, you can sometimes receive lower fares and extra perks like onboard credit or amenities.
Travel agents specializing in cruising will also be able to guide you through the many types of cabin categories on some cruise ships and steer you away from cabins to avoid. Plus, they'll be there for you when things go wrong on a cruise.
Consider a repositioning cruise
Some of the best bargains in the cruise world are the voyages that cruise ships make as they reposition from one part of the world to another.
This is because cruise lines often have trouble selling these trips. They are trips that typically have oddball itineraries with very few port calls and lots of sea days — something that doesn't appeal to many cruisers. They also tend to be considerably longer than standard weekend getaways or weeklong voyages — a turnoff to the many travelers who have limited vacation days.
To sell them, cruise lines often have to reduce their per-day prices sharply, making them a bargain.
Related: Repositioning cruises: Save money with these unusual itineraries
Among the most common repositioning cruises are sailings between the Caribbean and Europe in the spring as lines move ships to Europe for the summer. Similarly, there's always a wave of repositioning cruises between Europe and the Caribbean in the fall.
You'll also find some repositioning cruises every year between the Caribbean and Alaska and between the West Coast and Asia or Australia.
Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:
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