{"id":1159,"date":"2014-02-09T14:08:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-09T22:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/?p=1159"},"modified":"2014-02-09T14:10:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T22:10:26","slug":"how-to-get-cruise-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hoteldealsrevealed.com\/blog\/how-to-get-cruise-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Cruise Deals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who is into cruising has probably used the website CruiseCritic.com<\/a>. \u00a0With their vast community of members, this is a great site for obtaining knowledge about cruising. \u00a0I, personally, have been a member for about 5 years. \u00a0I’ve noticed that every post I make on the forum about getting deep cruise deals gets deleted, including my most recent post on how to take advantage of cruise prices when there is an outburst of some illness on a particular cruise line that gets a lot of attention. \u00a0If you’re a frugal traveller and want to save big on cruises, here are some tips to help you stretch your travel dollar (that you won’t find on CruiseCritic).<\/p>\n

Illness Outbreaks:<\/strong> \u00a0Illness outbreaks are very unfortunate for the travellers involved. \u00a0But it also represents a buying opportunity. \u00a0Typically when you see a cruise ship outbreak on the front page of CNN.com or making headlines elsewhere, get ready to pounce. \u00a0Cruise lines will hold their prices for a bit, hoping that the mishap will be soon forgotten about. \u00a0Sometimes it is, but other times there are follow on stories (like the Tim and Jody Carlson whose honeymoon was cut short) that continue to hurt the reputation of cruise lines. \u00a0In the following weeks, cruise likes will feel the hurt and reluctantly drop prices. \u00a0Theyt tend to drop from 10 to 20%. \u00a0If you were previously on the fence about a cruise, this is a time to say ‘yes’ while everyone else is saying ‘no’.<\/p>\n

Memories are short, and prices will eventually spring back to normal. \u00a0If you see a price drop, strike while the iron is hot.<\/p>\n

Repositioning Cruises:<\/strong> \u00a0Cruise ships migrate with the seasons. \u00a0For example, Alaska cruise ships end their Alaska run in mid to late September and head south. \u00a0This is an ideal time to buy a cruise: \u00a0either late or early in the season, or during a transition period. \u00a0Cruise ships that leave Alaska have to head south, and along the way, they usually have what are called ‘repositioning cruises’ which go from, say, Vancouver or Seattle to Long Beach California. \u00a0The only drawback with these cruises is that they are one way cruises so you will need to make your way back home from Long Beach, and not your departure city.<\/p>\n

During the repositioning phases, its also possible to get 2 or 3 night cruises, and sometimes 1 night cruises that are short jaunts. \u00a0These cruises are often quite inexpensive.<\/p>\n

\"Cruise<\/a>

Sort by price to reveal cheapest cruises.<\/p><\/div>\n

Search By Price Per Night:<\/strong> \u00a0Travelocity is one of my least favorite websites, except for cruise searches. \u00a0They have a feature that allows you to search cruises and sort them by “Price Per Night”. \u00a0This is awesome. \u00a0It means you easily find the cheapest cruise available (on a nightly basis) anywhere in the world, anytime. \u00a0It’s fairly easy to find cruises for less than the price of a budget hotel. \u00a0I often see cruises for between $30 and $50 per night which is absolutely incredible. \u00a0Its worth pointing out that the prices on Travelocity are no cheaper than elsewhere, just that Travelocity is the site I know that makes it easy to access these prices with their sort by price per night feature.<\/p>\n

Cruise Port Hotel Deals<\/h2>\n

Changes are that after you find your cruise deal, you’re going to need a hotel the evening before or after your cruise. \u00a0A great choice for those who are not picky about the hotel they get is Hotwire or Priceline. \u00a0These sites probably offer the cheapest hotel deals available for cruisers, and are worth checking out. \u00a0Here are some helpful resources for cruise port hotels:<\/p>\n