When is "low season" and when is "high season"?

[hypnotoad]

I've been trying to piece together this information across different threads but not having luck. I know school holidays are popular, but my kids are too young to be in school so I don't have a good idea of when school breaks are. For cheaper times, there is hurricane season (September?), school starts (also September), parts of November (but which part of November?!?!), and I'm still unclear whether December is high or low. School is out (right?) but I've also read the Merry Christmas times cruises are cheaper. So which is it?

Can someone who knows, please give me an approximate timeline of what part of the year I should aim for for the cheapest cruising time?

Thanks!

 

[wilkeliza]

If kids are in school it is low season. Also colder months tend to be low season. High is spring and early summer. I'd say High runs from March to August and then low goes September to February. December and November are usually only high on the week before and after Christmas and Thanksgiving. Shorter cruises are often always high unless the fall in the week.

 

[GoofyLovingFamily]

Early December is low. We love to go then. Ships are decorated for Christmas without the holiday prices.

 

[PAGA2003]

The weeks surrounding Easter are more expensive due to spring break and then the entire summer. We've booked both our cruises during low season for the better pricing. The first was over Labor day and this last one was early March. Both times I looked at the entire year and picked when the lowest prices were. If you are looking at the Bahamas be careful with Dec/Jan/Feb because more than likely the water will be too cold for swimming (if that is a concern for you).

 

[apathetic]

Summer is probably Memorial Day to Labor Day, give or take a week. Between those holidays is peak season and everything is going to be expensive. Thanksgiving week is expensive as is Christmas and New Years weeks. Spring break is another peak time, usually 2nd or 3rd week in March. All of those times are going to be above average to super expensive. Outside of those dates you can find reasonable to downright cheap fares. Just a little playing with the search tool on Disney Cruise site will give you the range. If you sail to the Caribbean and even the Bahamas, the weather is great year round. Of course, you have hurricane season in the fall, so avoid that if you fear bad luck. But cruises normally still sail during hurricanes, you just might not have the same itinerary.

 

[Anchors Away 2016]

I have an easy way for you to tell. Go to the DCL website, pick some itinerary, for example Western Carribean. Pick a fixed number of passengers, and a certain cabin type (inside, veranda, etc.) then just advance through the dates one week at a time. You can watch the prices rise and fall (by huge amounts) week to week. There will be some variation for certain room sizes, different itineraries, cabin type, etc, but for the most part they all vary together. This will quickly allow you to find the weeks that work for you and that are cheaper. We used this method to quickly determine that the last full week of August was MUCH cheaper than any of the earlier weeks of the summer, and yet we still got back two days before school started. Not ideal, but worth it to save thousands. The next week would have been even cheaper if our kids hadn't been in school yet.