How to Find Cheap Cruises: The Complete Guide

Table Of Content

• Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)
• How to save money on your cruise booking
• How to Get Cheap Cruises: An Insider Guide
• Is Cruising Good Value?
• Booking a cruise recapped
• $769 pp — 7-Nt. Bahamas w/Exclusive $25-$1,500 bonus, free drinks, up to $400 to spend & more
• How to Get a Cheap Cruise for as Little as $30 Per Day
• Marriott Cruises

The cheapest cruise destination for you will usually be not too far from home. If you can drive to the cruise port rather than flying, you’ll save hundreds straight away as you won’t need to pay for a flight or pre-cruise hotel. Royal Caribbean charges around $1 more per drink on the newest ships, which doesn’t sound a lot but it can add up. Royal Caribbean drinks packages cost more on the newer ships too.

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

If you already book your flights, hotel rooms, and car rentals on Travelocity, it’s worth checking out their cruise deals. Many travelers enjoy, for example, taking repositioning cruises. These happen typically as the seasons change and cruise lines move their ships from one region to another (between the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, for example). Sometimes, these cruises visit islands that are rarely frequented making them more expensive.

How to save money on your cruise booking

If you’re traveling with a group and want to book cabins that are next door to each other, you’ll also want to book ahead of time. However, if you’re super flexible and don’t care what type of cabin you’re in, where it’s located, or even what cruise you’re on, you can often find some good deals at the last minute. Whilst there may be some differences in the level of service on-board or the quality of the food and entertainment, there are no bad cruise ships in the way that there are bad hotels and resorts. Often times, the lowest prices for any given itinerary will be a guaranteed stateroom. This room category ensures you will have a cabin on the ship.

How to Get Cheap Cruises: An Insider Guide

Like Cruise Critic, TripAdvisor is a great place to go to find reviews and cruising information, but did you know that you can also book cruises via this website? You can find cruise deals from a wide array of sources, for cruises all over the world. However, also like Cruise Critic, TripAdvisor won’t allow you to actively book your cruise on the site.

I tried the cheapest Caribbean cruise I could find - here's what it was really like - Cruise Blog

I tried the cheapest Caribbean cruise I could find - here's what it was really like.

Posted: Wed, 16 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

While you could go to an online travel agency that offers flights, hotels, and cruises, why not try a cruise-specific booking website first? After all, these are the pros that specialize in cruising, so they know what you’re looking for and how to give it. Think that the only place to go for booking a cruise is directly via the cruise line’s website? You can also find cheap cruises through a bevy of affordable travel booking websites. Here are 20 of our favorites, as well as the pros and cons of each option, so you can book your next cruise for the best price possible. Unfortunately, there’s no one site that always offers the best cruise deals.

I have almost always scored cheaper rates by purchasing after final payment is due for those who booked earlier. If you live within driving distance to a cruise port or have some flexibility, you can find some great deals on last minute bookings (within a few months of the sail date). Learn my specific tips about last minute cruising and read about the time I booked a cruise at 3pm the day before it was scheduled to sail here. These websites do a detailed job of scouring the web for cheap cruise deals. Vacations to Go is more of a travel agent/operator and thus often has better deals since they can negotiate with the cruise lines directly, but keep in mind that they add a lot of fees. Cruise Sheet is simply a website aggregator that crawls the web and then displays cheap last-minute fares.

Cruise Critic is a great little corner of the internet for those who love all things cruising. Here, you can find tons of information about your favorite cruise lines, cruise ships, routes, and more. But, beyond providing all of this extra info, Cruise Critic also allows you to book cruises. Unfortunately, it’s not Cruise Critic offering those cruises for sale. Cruise Critic just aggregates all of the pricing info and then presents it to you.

13 expert-approved tips for saving money when booking a cruise - CNN Underscored

13 expert-approved tips for saving money when booking a cruise.

Posted: Fri, 07 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

How to Get a Cheap Cruise for as Little as $30 Per Day

But you might not even need to pay out-of-pocket for trip insurance because many credit cards offer travel insurance as a built-in benefit to customers who pay for travel expenses on that card. Plus, Marriott cardholders can earn an extra 2x points when they use that card for their purchase. While most cruises max out at 25,000 Bonvoy points earned, some luxury cruise lines offer up to 250,000 Marriott points. Delta Air Lines is another airline that allows members to earn airline miles when booking cruises through its portal. Booking through SkyMilesCruises.com helps you earn Delta SkyMiles on your purchase. Travelers can filter search results by destination, cruise line or departure port on various ships.

If you’re paying $200 for a cabin, but dropping $1,000 in the casino, that’s not much different than paying $1,200 for the vacation. This includes access to exclusive fares, benefits on the ship, and more. Often you’ll find that longer cruises are actually cheaper on a per-day basis, offering a better value for what you are spending. On this basis, a $500 per person 7-day cruise is “cheaper” than a $300 3-day cruise. Costco is a retailer that offers exclusive products and pricing to its members. Through its Costco Travel website, members receive exclusive prices and benefits when booking hotels, rental cars, cruises and travel packages.

Book Your AccommodationYou can book your hostel with Hostelworld. If you want to stay somewhere other than a hostel, use Booking.com as it consistently returns the cheapest rates for guesthouses and hotels. Don’t book your flight with the cruise — book it separately.

Several big-ship cruise lines have entered the luxury travel space with suite enclaves that come with extra amenities, and the options can be affordable by luxury standards. In 2025, a September Alaska cruise on Silversea starts at $4,500 per person on Silver Moon. The same cruise in July starts at $5,900, making the shoulder-season cruise $1,400 less expensive. Even better, May is less rainy than July, so you could experience sunnier days on the more affordable sailing.

You can often barter over the price of crafts, food or souvenirs in open-air markets, or negotiate rates for taxi tours or rides. Always be friendly and polite when haggling, and be prepared to walk if the vendor does not accept your offer. You're getting familiar with the ship's layout, signing up for all the things and likely going to the main dining room for dinner to meet your waiters. You might not even realize that the spa and specialty restaurants are open that evening.

These are generally the shorter sailings from Miami or Port Canaveral, for instance, using the larger brands like Carnival, Princess Cruises, or Royal Caribbean, according to Sloan. The best deals are generally in the fall (the low season for Florida departures). Cruises to the Bahamas or the Caribbean tend to be more affordable than those to places like Europe or Alaska.

So a 7-day cruise might go for $559, but the total cost is much higher — often three times as high — by the time you actually buy the trip. Like airfare (although not as drastic), cruise fares do fluctuate. There’s always a possibility that you may book a trip and then the price falls. In that case, don’t hesitate to call the cruise line or your travel agent. Well cruise lines aren’t offering you casino rates because they just want to be nice.

As you might expect, filling a ship that starts in one port and ends in another — especially on a lengthy trip like across the Atlantic — can be tougher. Where they differ sometimes is that some places will offer things like onboard credit or rewards for booking through them. In our hunts, Costco seems to be the king in this department. If you’re a member, then you can book through Costco Travel. There, the fare will be what you see elsewhere, but they offer Costco Shop Cards as an incentive. These days many of us have credit cards with reward points.

It will save you money on your next cruise if you do some pre-cruise planning instead of being spontaneous once on board. Cruise lines run sales so often that you're wasting money if you book when there isn't a deal on. Some promotions are all about lower fares, while others save you money with included perks, like free Wi-Fi or a complimentary beverage package.