Best way to get good price on a cruise?

[tinatark]

We booked last year with crucon.com - there is a rate difference with certain cruise lines - we usually cruise Princess, and Princess offers incentive monies to agents - agents can use those monies to offer lower prices, give cruise credit, etc.

The cruise we are currently looking at is $799 for a balcony on princess.com, $724 for the same cabin, + on board credit on crucon.com - so there is a price difference!

We have cruised Princess and Carnival - prefer Princess. Royal Caribbean is close to Princess as far as quality goes (I've heard) but is quite a bit higher priced. Disney is waaayy overpriced. Celebrity is a great line and is in the same price range as Royal Caribbean. I would choose Celebrity over Royal Caribbean...

 

[mtblujeans]

Some of the best deals I have seen have been through Delta's website. Under Planning tools, click on Skymiles cruises. Last time we looked for a cruise, their prices were cheaper than the actual cruise lines in some cases plus they usually have skymiles for frequent flyer members as a bonus.

Also most cruise lines have a specials page on their website. I've seen some phenomenal deals through those. Sometimes you have to be flexible about where you want to go or where you sail from to get the best prices.

And like many websites, cruise line websites frequently have email notifications available. I got one from one cruise line last week about a last minute deal out of Jacksonville (Carnival, I think) for less than $300 per person for 5 nights.

You can sign up to get Delta travel offer newsletters that have links so that you can compare cruises.

 

[mtblujeans]

Family of 6, 4 kids from 9-16. What cruise would be most affordable, is there a cabin that would sleep all of us or is adjoining best?
Thanks,
Terra

We took a Carnival cruise last year and did adjoining rooms. We took our 2 boys and a friend of theirs. The boys are all college age and at least 6' tall. We were concerned about having enough room for all of us. In the evening, we closed the door between our rooms and gave them some quiet time without us.

Our room had one bed and their room had one set of bunk beds and a twin bed. It worked out perfect for us....we ended up being so busy we didn't spend much time in our rooms. And, with each room having a bathroom, that was very handy also.

ETA: I researched for months before we booked this cruise. I found what I felt was the best price and we took our info to a local travel agent as we were hoping to she could help us find cheaper airfare. Somehow, she came up with a much better price for the cruise! I sat there while she called Carnival directly to get a quote. We were confused as to why it was cheaper for her but we were very happy with the $$$ she saved us.

 

[mrsg00fy]

When I look for cruises, I prefer to search on Cruise.com. I have booked with them before as well.

The advanced search feature on cruise.com allows you to be very specific with dates, etc.

I usually do all the homework, and then either book with cruise.com (depending on what incentives they are offering), or directly with the cruiseline (so that I can control my booking), or with Costco. Costco usually gives store credit back on its cruises. However, it is a no frills type of booking experience.

I also highly recommend connecting cabins for parties of 4 or more, or at least side by side cabins. Many times, you can have two connecting inside cabins for the same price as having 4 people in a single cabin. RCCL is great for this. The only time we have gone in a single cabin was on Disney Cruise line and that was a long time ago.

 

[Praise God]

4. You don't say how many people you have in your group? If you can put 4 in a room as opposed to 2 in 2 rooms, that will be cheaper. You usually get a 3rd and 4th person discount. Although it will be a little tight in the room. There are ways to work around that (like have a couple people use the bathrooms/showers in the gym to get ready). But if the price is only a little bit more for 2 rooms, you might want to pay the little bit extra. You can get connecting rooms or adjoining rooms.
Maggie

What's the difference between connecting and adjoining rooms?

W

ETA: I researched for months before we booked this cruise. I found what I felt was the best price and we took our info to a local travel agent as we were hoping to she could help us find cheaper airfare. Somehow, she came up with a much better price for the cruise! I sat there while she called Carnival directly to get a quote. We were confused as to why it was cheaper for her but we were very happy with the $$$ she saved us.

Also in Budget Travel, it said that for cruises using a travel agent is a good idea as they receive their commission directly from the cruise line, so you get the lowest fares.

 

[findmewdw]

I agree with another poster to try cruisecompete. Research and decide on the ship and date you want. Then go to this website and various agencies will compete to give you the best price. I used it for my Oct trip to Hawaii and we were able to get the cheapest price through them. I had done my homework and checked everywhere. I agree that cruisecritic forum is wonderful too!

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

subscribing

 

[maggiew]

What's the difference between connecting and adjoining rooms?

Connecting rooms have a door INSIDE the two rooms that connect to each other. So you can go from room to room without having to go "outside".

Adjoining rooms are just next to each other but with NO DOOR inside the rooms. To go from room to room you need to go out in the hallway then knock on the other room door, then go in that door.

Maggie

 

[tinkmom2]

I have only been on DCL but I am signed up for priceline's email alerts and they send me discount cruise rates. I am also signed up at the ships websites and they send me discount info too like RCI.

 

[Frannie115]

We used Dreams Unlimited for our Disney cruise.

Disney Cruises tend to be more expensive than others, expecially during Spring break. Having said that, it was the best cruise we've been on. Great service and food.

 

[LoveBWVVBR]

Connecting rooms have a door INSIDE the two rooms that connect to each other. So you can go from room to room without having to go "outside".

Adjoining rooms are just next to each other but with NO DOOR inside the rooms. To go from room to room you need to go out in the hallway then knock on the other room door, then go in that door.

Maggie

Is it typically cheaper to get 2 connecting rooms or 1 1-bedroom suite? We only have 4 people, but our kids go to bed very early. I don't mind having very low-level rooms to save money as long as we have 2 separate, but connected, spaces.

 

[MrsPete]

There are two main ways to get a rock-bottom price on a cruise:

1. Book about 18 months out (as soon as the dates become available). Then watch your cruise online to see when they have a price drop; when it happens, call in and ask for a price match. This benefits you in a couple ways: First, all rooms aren't equal, and you can get the best locations. Second, cruise prices tend to start out moderately high, drop a bit, and then skyrocket 6-12 months out from the cruise (because that's when most people think about booking).

2. Book at the last minute, after the early-bookers have made their final payments. The cruise line doesn't want to sail with a single empty cabin -- not only do they not get the ticket price, they won't sell drinks, excursions, photographs, or tee-shirts to empty cabins. They will deeply discount the remaining rooms just to get someone in them. However, this comes with a big risk: In prime season, often NO cabins are left empty. Even in off-season, the cruise line is likely to give early-bookers a "bump up" to a suite or balcony cabin, leaving only poorly-located cabins or inside cabins available. I personally never book this way because our dates are usually quite in-flexible, and I don't want to be disappointed; for someone with different circumstances, it could work out well.


Those major points made, here are a couple ways to decrease your cruise bill:

1. If possible, book a port to which you can drive. Cutting out airfare is a HUGE savings. Pick a night-before hotel that'll allow you to leave your car in their lot for free while you cruise.

2. Consider off-season. Caribbean weather in September-October-November is WONDERFUL, and you'll pay much, much less. Similarly, avoid holidays. Holidays are going to demand a premium price, and instead of most cabins holding the standard two people, many will have kids on the sofa beds and pullman sleepers -- the result is a crowded ship. I personally will never sail on a holiday again.

3. Book a moderate room -- don't get caught up in the "If I can't have a balcony /suite, then it won't be good enough" mentality. I've not sailed in an interior room (I'm a bit claustrophic, and although I know it's not logical, they freak me out a bit), but an oceanview room usually less expensive and you still have the run of the ship.

4. Keep your options open between the cruise lines and weeks you might travel. Many people here are saying that Carnival is cheaper -- last summer we sailed Royal Caribbean, and it was several hundred dollars cheaper Carnival (of course, we were only looking at Royal's nicest, newest ships and Carnival's nicest, newest ships -- if you look at Carnival's older offerings, you'll see those cheaper prices, but you're not going to get all the amenities either). Because of a fantastic sale, we ended up switching from Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas to their Liberty of the Seas; we had TWO connecting oceanviews for 6 people . . . with the sale, we moved to THREE balconies and our bill went DOWN.

So look around. I personally prefer to do that myself (rather than having a travel agent do it for me). Why? Because I know what I'm willing to switch. A travel agent probably wouldn't have called me with the above-mentioned deal. The travel agent wouldn't have thought I'd have been willing to move to a much farther port city AND change room categories.

5. You can save MOST with the above hints -- booking the right room, right time, etc. But you can also save onboard. They'll offer you something at every turn: Drinks, excursions, photographs, gold by the inch, gambling, specialty restaurants, bingo,etc. Keep in mind that these are all just icing on the cake; you can have a great time without buying into any of these extras. Decide ahead of time what you are willing to spend, and stick to it.

The one thing you MUST pay onboard is your tips. Other than that, you can keep your wallet in your safe and still have a great time, eat well, and take advantage of great entertainment.

 

[MrsPete]

Is it typically cheaper to get 2 connecting rooms or 1 1-bedroom suite? We only have 4 people, but our kids go to bed very early. I don't mind having very low-level rooms to save money as long as we have 2 separate, but connected, spaces.

It would be rare-rare-rare to find a suite for less than two connecting rooms. The exception: IF you were fortunate enough to get a $99 rate for the 3rd /4th person in a room, you might do better in a suite, but I haven't seen those in a couple years.

Also, two connecting rooms gives you two bathrooms, whereas the suites typically have only one.

Last summer we had three balcony rooms for six of us, and we had the steward open up the balcony dividers between us; thus, we had one looooong balcony that allowed us to come and go between all three rooms without going out in the hallway -- it was great!

 

[Tanzanite]

We went Oasis of seas last summer our travel agent never told us until we paid my twins were to small to do Zipline wave pool etc we were told on the boat also service bad never even replyed to two letters we wrote Iwill stay with anyone but them.

 

[quagmire0]

+1 for cruisecompete.com for getting the best price and cruisecritic.com for advice. Used both twice in the past to get advice/good discounts on cruises. Worked well and no problems. Used them for both Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

 

[MrsPete]

We did a Disney cruise in 2006. We really enjoyed ourselves, the service was impeccable, fun stuff to do for all ages and we really never saw any big meltdowns with the little kids. Other than running into characters you would never really know it was Disney!

Disney was our first cruise. We loved it, but we've not done it again because the price was so high. Our second cruise (on Royal Caribbean) was approximately the same price, but we did a 4-night in an oceanview on Disney and a 7-night in a balcony on Royal. We just can't justify the Disney price. Also, while we didn't witness any kid-meltdowns on Disney, with more cabins holding families instead of couples, the ship was much more crowded.