When is the "Value Season" for cruises?

[corndog]

Let me first apologize for probably asking oft repeated questions:

We are just beginning to look at the cruise options. On the Disney page I see a price range but it doesn't say when which prices are effective.

Also, is it common to get a cruise for less than the published rack rates like it is for WDW Resorts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[corndog]

c'mon, help a brother out!

 

[Cruise]

I believe the cheapest cruise times you're going to find right now are for September, October, and November (excluding Thanksgiving week). This is considered the height of hurricane season for cruising, so they discount them to try to fill up.

Julie

 

[bcburgner]

Well, this is what I know. I looked into a few dates for the 7 day cruise in the Jan - April 2003 time frame. The biggest discount was the early booking discount and varied greatly depending on what dates I selected. The cheapest was Feb 1, 2003 and the most expensive was around the Easter time frame. I got a cat 4 room for 5 people for $4,600, a savings of around $4,000. I would have only saved around $500 to $1,000 if I sailed in April. The weeks right before and after Feb 1 would have cost $500 to $1,500 more for the 5 of us. So Jan - early March is what I found to be value time. I think in the fall there are some value times in there. One way to check various dates and prices is to use the on-line reservation option on the official DCL site. These quotes do include the early booking discount and also any other DCL promotions that are going on.

That is all I know. Good luck and go Buckeyes!!

 

[Parrotheader]

Most of the general trends you should expect:

Winter (Jan - early March) = Fairly cheap
Spring (mid-March - May) = More expensive; esp. for Spring Break
Summer (June - mid August) = Most expensive
Late Summer/Fall (mid-August - early November) = Cheapest time to go and I'd imagine the weather is beautiful too (except for hurricanes.)
Christmas/New Years = Very expensive

Obviously, there are exceptions to that given holidays, etc. But it's generally how it goes with cruises and just about any beach/tourist area in Florida.

Although our anniversary is in late September and it would be an ideal time to go financially, my wife is a teacher and would just be getting back in the groove only to take off and go on a long vacation (burning a lot of vacation days early in the school year in the process.) We really wanted to go in late spring, when it's warm, but not smoldering hot. But the closer you get to summer, the more expensive it GENERALLY gets.

However, there's about a three week span between late April and mid-May where tourist traffic drops off. The main reason revolves around schools. Most schools go on Spring Break somewhere between late March and mid-April. After the Spring Break rush dies down, there's a lull between that time and the rush when the first schools get out again for the summer (generally in mid-May and picking up quickly in June.) This lull is an ideal time to book a vacation as the weather is beautiful, but things aren't nearly as crowded as they were a month before (or will be a month later.) MOST places tend to have cheaper rates at this time too. And when I was looking for our Disney cruise this was no exception. There was a cruise in mid-May that had the cheapest rate available from any cruise from April-August. Unfortunately, my wife can't take off at that time. But we still got an early booking discount for one a couple weeks later. In fact, two days after we booked our vacation the price shot up $300 a ticket. That $600 will be going to some other toys for myself now

 

[corndog]

Thanks for the info!