There are two questions I get asked more than all others combined: “Where do you get your hair done?” and “How can you afford to cruise so often?”
That first one is actually a lie, I’ve never once been asked that, but I’ll answer it anyway, because it’s related to the second question.
I hack it off myself.
I’ve been hacking off my own hair for years, long before it became cool (or necessary) during the pandemic. I hack off my kid’s hair too and I’d hack of my husband’s if he didn’t defend himself with a fireplace poker at the mere suggestion.
And that brings us to the second question: “How can you afford to cruise so often?”
I’m cheap.
Before retiring from my job as a college professor to become a full-time cruiser, I gained a bit of a reputation around campus as a scavenger. I’d show up at any event offering free food, load up a plate higher than someone hanging out under the bleachers with Willie Nelson and Snoop Dog, stick around after the event until everyone cleared out, then pack up enough leftovers to feed my family for the rest of the week. Occasionally I’d have to miss an event and my colleagues or students would leave a “to go” container outside my office door stuffed with cold pasta bake and sauce-soaked garlic bread.
It should come as no surprise that my thrifty ways carried over to my next career as a professional cruiser. And now, after many years of cruising on dozens of ships on nearly every popular line, I’ve mastered how to maximize my cruise experience for the least amount of money. This post is the first of two parts and will focus on saving on your cruise fare. The second part will focus on onboard expenses (stay tuned!).
The following tips to save money on your cruise fare are all ones I use myself, tips the cruise lines would prefer you didn’t know, because their #1 goal, above all else, is to squeeze every possible cent from every passenger from as many different revenue streams as possible. Which brings me to my first tip, a tip that encompasses all the others:
I’d actually take this a step further and suggest you be a skeptical consumer. Use the same basic principles for cruise spending you would for any other significant purchase:
Research
Shop around
Ask questions
Be disciplined
Don’t be susceptible to gimmicks or high-pressure sales tactics
I’ve learned that the easiest way to do this is by using a website run by the online travel agency:
I have no relationship with this company and have never actually booked a cruise through them, but I love their website for price shopping. By way of an example, I’m currently looking to book a cruise from Seattle in July. I entered these search terms into the easy-to-use search boxes and got this:
Their simple format makes it quick and easy to scan for the lowest price. The “fancy” layouts of most other cruise websites make this process very difficult. Once I find the price I like, I’ll book through one of my preferred travel agencies (more on that later). Note that you will have to enter an e-mail address to use Vacations To Go, but I opted out of marketing e-mails from them and have never received any spam.
You probably know people who proudly declare they are “Loyal to Royal” or another cruise line. You yourself might have a preference for a certain line or may feel locked into a certain line because of your status in their loyalty program. I get it, I do. But if you’re going for value, it can pay off to be more flexible with which line you sail. I’m platinum on Norwegian, but I would never pay a significantly higher cruise fare to take advantage of perks that really aren’t worth that much. Plus you might find out there are other lines you really love (I’ve sailed them all and love specific things about all of them).
At anything above that, cruising loses it’s value for me. That doesn’t mean you should never cruise at a price above that, it just means that it may not be a “value” vacation. If you’re looking primarily for value, a land-based vacation may make more sense. This price may seem impossibly low, but I’ve sailed on all the major lines at under $100 per person per day (not including port charges, fees, taxes, or gratuities – we’ll talk about that later): Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Princess, Carnival, Holland America, and Norwegian
The absolute best way to save money on cruising is to sail during the off-season. I’ve found the best deals to warm weather destinations are in early December (before the Christmas break for students) and in January (after the new year) and early February (before spring breaks start). For Alaska, you’ll find the best prices early in the season (April and May) or late in the season (September).
You’ll also have the added bonus of fewer kids onboard if you prefer a more serene experience.
Cruise prices are the same (with very few exceptions) regardless of where you book. You’ll pay the same basic cruise fare whether you book directly though the cruise line or through an online or in-person travel agency. HOWEVER, booking with an online or in-person travel agency will offer perks the cruise lines can’t match, usually onboard credit or other perks (bottles of wine, excursion credit, free cabin upgrade, etc). Shop around for the best incentives!
Do note that if you book though a travel agency (online or in-person), all communication will need to go through them. Meaning if you want to ask about a price drop, you’ll need to call your travel agency and they will contact the cruise line on your behalf. This can be a bit inconvenient at times, but I’ve found it’s worth it.
In terms of where I book, I usually check these for sites and go with the one offering the best incentives (check with any local travel agents you use too):
Even after you find a price you like and book your cruise, continue to watch the price for your specific sailing and cabin category (more on that later). If you notice the price has dropped, immediately get on the phone with the travel agency or cruise line you booked through.
Under certain conditions (for example Carnival’s Early Saver program – more on that later too) a line will honor price drops and either refund you the difference or issue onboard credit. If they don’t, they will often upgrade you to a better cabin or offer a smaller amount of onboard credit. This doesn’t always happen, but I’ve found that it can’t hurt to ask and 9 times out of 10 I’ve received some sort of concession.
In other words, book an inside cabin on a low floor all the way at the front or back of the ship. Or, even better, book a guarantee (meaning the cruise line selects the specific cabin for you) inside cabin (more below). Some people can’t imagine sailing in an inside cabin (meaning it has no window or balcony), but I love them. I never sleep better than in an inside cruise cabin (they get super dark and it’s like curling up in a cozy den as you get rocked to sleep at night – very womb-like I guess) and there are so many lovely public outdoor deck areas to enjoy on this ship.
I’ve sailed in oceanview and balcony cabins plenty of times too, but normally I don’t find the price difference worth it (of course, many do. Your call on that one).
This means the cruise line selects the specific cabin for you (at any point prior to sailing – sometimes pretty far out, but sometimes even the day of sailing). Some may find this too risky, but I’ve always had a positive experience with it. I’ve never ended up with a cabin I’ve hated and several times I’ve ended up with awesome free upgrades (I’ve even booked a guarantee inside and ended up in a balcony). Of course, I offer no guarantees except that you will be assigned a cabin in the category you booked or higher.
I wrote a whole blog post on guarantee cabins here if you want to learn more.
While those aft facing balcony cabins (and other “rare” and in demand cabin types) are awesome, they’re not a good idea from a value perspective. Because of supply and demand, they will be priced high to start with. AND because they are rare and likely to be booked up fast, you won’t be eligible for price drops. The more cabins that exist in your specific cabin category, the more likely it is you will benefit from a price drop. If cruise lines have a bunch of a certain category type left as sailing nears, they will often drop the price significantly. And that’s when you call and ask for a price adjustment or other concession (or just cancel and re-book if it’s within the window where you are able to do that without losing a deposit).
I’m trying not to be too line-specific with these tips (because remember what I said about not being loyal to any particular line), but I’m going to make one exception. Carnival is one cruise line where it pays to book early. If you’re committed to Carnival and are able to plan pretty far in advance, I’d strongly suggest you book the “Early Saver” fare. All the details can be found here, but the lowdown is that this fare offers price protection up to 2 days before sailing as long as you book out a certain number of days in advance of your sailing.
I just snagged one of my best cruise deals ever: A 16-day full-transit Panama Canal cruise for $76 per person per day (that doesn’t include port charges, fees, taxes, or gratuities). This is a repositioning cruise, moving the ship from Florida where it sails from during the winter months to Seattle where it will spend the spring and summer sailing to Alaska.
You can often find great prices on these repositioning cruises or cruises with odd itineraries (for example, those with an unusually large number of sea days – usually transatlantic cruises).
Very short 1-3 day cruises can sometimes also be a great value. I have a whole post on them here if you want to learn more.
Throughout this post you’ll notice that I’ve talked about the base cruise fare and in parentheses I’ve clarified that the fare does not include port charges, fees, taxes, and gratuities. If you’re on a budget, be sure to factor in these extra charges. The best way to do that is to do a mock booking to see exactly how much they will be. On the Panama Canal cruise I mentioned above, the port charges, fees, taxes, and gratuities add up to an additional $1441.20 for two people.
Normally I would advise against purchasing flights, hotels, and transfers through the cruise line. You’ll often pay more or get stuck with something less than ideal (a red-eye flight for example). However, sometimes from a cost saving perspective it actually does pay off to book a package though the cruise line that includes airfare, hotels, transfers, etc. If you’re flying to the departure port, compare the cost of a cruise line package with what you’d pay booking flights and transfers to and from the airport (and maybe a pre or post cruise hotel) on your own.
On our last cruise to Hawaii, it actually ended up costing less for us to book a package through NCL that included a balcony cabin, airfare to and from Honolulu, transfers to and from the ship, and the gratuities on a “free” drink package than it would have to book an inside guarantee cabin (with no “free” beverage package included) plus airfare to and from Hawaii booked separately on our own.
ALWAYS price out several different options.
There is ALWAYS a cruise “sale” or “special promotion” going on. Ignore them and use the other tips I’ve listed to find good prices.
If you live within driving distance to a cruise port and have some flexibility, you can find some great deals on last minute bookings. 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.
If you’re cruising alone (referred to in the cruising community as “solo cruising”) look for sailings with a reduced or even waived solo supplement. You can find a current list of sailings with either a reduced or waived solo supplement here. And you can learn all about solo supplements and solo cruising here.
Even budget cruises are a significant expenditure for most people. I always recommend cruisers buy travel insurance to cover any unexpected illnesses, job loses, or other emergencies. I don’t usually recommend you buy coverage through the cruise lines (although there are some “cancel for any reason” plans available through certain cruise lines right now due to Covid that might be worth exploring). It will usually cost more and may not cover what you need. I always go through a site like TravelInsurance.com* to compare plan prices offered by different companies to get exactly the coverage I want. Read the plans VERY carefully and understand exactly what they do and do not cover.
If cruising is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for you or if you’re Jeff Bezos, feel free to ignore every word of this post and GO BIG! Book a suite, during peak season, booked through the cruise line, and with no insurance. But if you’re looking to cruise more with fixed funds, I hope you’ve found some of these booking tips helpful. I encourage you to post in the comments anything you’ve tried that I missed. I always love learning new tricks from my cruise friends and I’m sure other readers would be appreciative too.
However you choose to cruise, thrifty or otherwise, enjoy every moment!
And with that…
Class Dismissed
Homework (10 points): Go here for my other budget cruising posts. And stay tuned for part II: saving money onboard.
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*I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase insurance through my link. All commissions go to support the work of this site. Thank you!
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