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Where to Find Romantic & Cheap Cruises Online
But, with some know-how and the right advice, you can sail into a great deal on cheap cruises online! The major internet travel sites are becoming much better at handling all the port, pricing and sailing options involved. And while there are many websites offering cruise deals, that fierce competition is keeping prices lower.
Best Discount Cruise Websites - Our Picks:Here's our review of several of the best websites for cheap cruises:1. CruiseCompete.com - You pick the cruise you want from their easy to use interface, and Cruisecompete submits it to over 300 cruise agencies who in turn bid their lowest price (all done on their site - no e-mail involved). The response time is quick, there's no service charges, and they have a toll-free support line. Quite an exciting new idea, and they've been getting excellent customer feedback too.
2. SkyAuction.com
3. Expedia.com Cruises - A complete cruise section with ship reviews, port info, and telephone support. Good selection of affordable cruises. Well laid-out site, easy to navigate.
4. Travelocity Cruises - Travelocity has recently re-designed their whole website, including the cruise section. It's a very attractive and useable site, where everything seems to be right at your fingertips or only 1 click away. Perhaps not quite the extensive selection as found some of the others.
More About Deals On Cheap Cruises...It’s very difficult to answer that on one web page. What initially can appear to be a great cruise price can turn out not to be if it doesn’t include port charges, all taxes, and shipping and handling fees. It can be daunting just trying to compare apples-to-apples, that is, one base cruise price to another, and so on. Are the cabins comparable in size and location on the ship? Are the itineraries exactly the same length? Do they both leave and return from the same port? If not, how will that affect your flights and airfare?Generally speaking, it's been our experience that you won’t find too many bargains on the cruise lines official websites. The companies themselves seem more interested in running the actual cruises. So they offload a large chunk of their inventory to an umbrella corporation called NLG which in turn offers cabins to many online cruise retailers, including Cruises.com, Vacation Outlet, Priceline, Orbitz and Hotwire (just to name a few).
The big cruiselines also establish relationships with various other online cruise consolidators, who buy up cabins and resell at various specials and discounts.
Before You Shop, Remember:
Don’t ever pay the “sticker price” for a cruise – it’s inflated just like a new car’s asking price. And when you see a cruise that’s “50% off”, it is almost certainly based on that sticker price.
The outrageously low cheapie prices advertised are usually for 3 or 4 day sailings. They’re great if you’ve never cruised before, and a good indicator if you would enjoy a longer cruise vacation.
Should you buy an air/cruise package, or book your air travel to and from the departure port separately? That depends. You may get the flights cheaper by using Priceline or Expedia, but remember: If you buy a cruise package that includes air, it will most likely include transfers between the airport and your ship (or the airport and any hotels you book through them). That way, if your flight is delayed, the cruise line knows where you are and can look after you better when you do arrive. Repositioning Cruises: Watch out for deals on these. Cruiselines usually have to move ships around once or twice a year to cater to different seasonal sailings. Example: Boats come north from Florida or Texas to Vancouver each April and May for the Alaska cruise season, and return south around the end of September. The sailing and ports of call are rather unique, and the price can be special too.
Always check and make sure that any site you deal with has a rating with the Better business bureau (BBB) and CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association.
Tips for Getting the Best Deal
Being departure port and port of call specific will limit the number of specials coming your way. So if you have fixed dates for travel, or if you are intent on seeing a certain geographical area, the deals will not come to you – you’ll have to price hunt for the best rate for your date and ports of choice.
But if you aren’t particularly fussy about exactly where you cruise from and which ports of call you’ll visit, you’ll probably end up paying less!
The trend lately is for the real cheap cruises to be offered either quite far in advance (2 to 6 months) or last-minute. So you should plan well in advance which discount season you can sail in, and then start shopping early. One early booking bonus perk to keep a lookout for: a cabin upgrade (to either a bigger room or one with a outside balcony!) Or, you can enjoy the suspense and thrill of leaving it to the last minute to find out where you’re going! (but you better enjoy spur-of-the-moment travel planning because you may also need to book last-minute air tickets and hotel rooms)
A very effective way of hunting down cheap cruises is to bookmark a number of websites that you can start checking on every week. Keep going back, keep your eyes wide open, and sign up for e-mail alerts and free subscription specials.
Return from Cheap Cruises to Discount Vacations
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Shopping for a romantic cruise can be a perplexing experience, which is why most cruises are still booked through a travel agent. A good, experienced, willing-to-dig agent is still a great way to secure a deal on cheap cruises.