Best deal you've ever had

[tweetypie_67]

Right after 911 I booked a Christmas cruise on Norweigns Norway and payed $77.00 for each child! I can't remember the name of the room, but it was very spacious even with 4 people in it! The ship was amazing..... My kids were in elem. school at the time and we're thrilled to go swimming on Christmas!

[cbr663]

Ten years ago we won a cruise package on an auction site. We flew first class from Vancouver to San Diego. Three nights hotel in San Diego and 4-day cruise on HAL from San Diego to Vancouver. Paid $650 pp total and this included all transfers, taxes and port charges.

[Hlitner]

We have been cruising for over forty years and have snagged some amazing deals. But the best was probably the most recent...which was a 10 day Regal Princess (Princess's newest ship) from NYC (Redhook) to Ft Lauderdale. This was a repo cruise (they were moving from the New England/Canada market to the Caribbean) with port stops in Aruba, St Thomas and Antigua. About 10 days before that cruise I received an e-mail with an offer for a balcony cabin for a total price (including all taxes and fees) of $1700. This was the total cost for 2 persons! I called that particular cruise agency (one we have used many times) and the agent told me to "hang on" while she read a fax they had just received from Princess. A minute later she came back on the line and now quoted me $1300! This was the latest total price (including everything) for 2! We were also able to get $200 OBC (because we had a previous future booking) another $100 for my Vet credit and another $100 from my agent. So our total cost, for 2 persons was only $900 (balcony guarantee) or $45 per person/day. And the icing on the cake was Princess upgraded us to one of the highest category balcony cabins (high deck amid ships). Since we are also Elite with Princess we also got our usual hundreds of free internet minutes and some other perks. And the final great news was that AMTRAK had a sale fare from our town to NYC (only $50) and Southwest had a $69 one way fare from FLL back to BWI (from where we could easily get home).

 

Hank

[coldcdn]

My wife and I's first cruise was aboard the Renaissance R7 in 2001, which we won on an on-line auction (when that concept was still extremely new). I bid $474 for an inside cabin on the 12 night British Isles Cruise departing from Dover, England and concluding in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was more of a "lark" bid, but low and behold, we won the auction and went.

 

It was a fantastic cruise, and we were by far the youngest on board. We heard a lot of people talking about what they paid, but we paid a fraction of what they did, so we kept quiet.

 

By the way, that $474 was total, all taxes, port charges and fees included.......FOR BOTH OF US! [$19.75 each per day]

 

No wonder Renaissance declared bankruptcy shortly after that. :)

[John&LaLa]

My wife and I's first cruise was aboard the Renaissance R7 in 2001,

No wonder Renaissance declared bankruptcy shortly after that. :)

 

Huh, I always thought the downturn from 9/11 did them in.

[Cruise Junky]

Huh, I always thought the downturn from 9/11 did them in.

 

They folded in September 2001. 9/11 was the nail in the coffin, they'd been losing money for a while before that.

[jamscckmc]

Westerdam 2008 Alaska RT Seatle. $899pp 1st 2, 3rd free for aft suite with the biggest wrap around balcony I've ever seen. Great for Alaska! Free hotel the night before with free transfer. Upgraded to suite at hotel.

 

Princess 2012, 14 day Alaska cruise/tour in a minisuite for$1999. A few days before found out we were upgraded to a vista suite. Free laundry, minibar!

 

Last two times after I cruised on Carnival I was offered free cruises through

the casino.

[Velvetwater]

We never get amazing deals as we have to sail in peak summer time.

 

 

Our first cruise was £800 ($1200) per person for 13 days round the Baltics on the Carnival Legend in an oceanview cabin in August 2013...thats cheaper than a hotel! We think it was due to CCL being less popular in Europe and the Triumph and Costa incidents.

 

We also saw a 9 day flights/cruise/stay deal at the end of July on the Carnival Glory I think it was. 1 night stay in Miami either side of a 7 day cruise and it was £749 pp if you were a family of 4.

 

 

We never sail for more than £100 ($150) pp per night and most of our 12/13 day cruises have been around or below the £1000 ($1500) mark.

[SadieN]

Before port fees and taxes

 

Couldn't get Carnival's $25pp with $25 OBC for a two day sailing because DH wanted OV. We had to pay $20more for that.

 

Took advantage of Princess's offer of having the cruise fare from certain cruises roll over to longer cruises. Many people were booking b2b2b2b to run up the Captain's Circle levels.

[ontheweb]

Despite also sailing in prime time because DW is a teacher plus our wedding anniversary is in the summer, we have snagged some good deals.

 

Ten day Greek Isles cruise on the HAL Noordam for under $1000 plus an upgrade. Also a Carnival Freedom Western Caribbean. I don't remember the cost but it started out reasonable and then had 3 price drops plus an upgrade.

 

But our best deal was probably our roundtrip airfare between Newark and Copenhagen for a cruise for our 30th anniversary for $702 including all taxes. We had found what we considered the perfect cruise for that special anniversary, and so we booked it way in advance well before there were any posted airfare for the dates. On the advice of our TA, we booked Princess airfare knowing we at least would have airfare, but with the idea of looking for a lower price. I found a somewhat lower price, but we were going to have to stay a day after in Copenhagen. The airline let me reserve the price for 48 hours so I could discuss it with DW. And then I saw a great discounted price online on the airline's site. I called the airline, and they said grab it since it may not be there for long, but they could not do it; it had to be booked online. I went to book it, and up came a popup that said technical difficulties, try again or gave an 800 number to call. I tried again with the same results. I called the number, and when I gave my name, the rep knew my wife's name even though I had not given it to them. It turned out that it was the same flight that Princess had us booked on which is why the technical difficulty popup came up. She asked if we could cancel and rebook or had we already paid for it. I explained it was through a cruise line and we had several months to cancel. She wanted me to cancel and then rebook, but I convinced her that we never wanted to be without airfare, and she did it for us when I promised to call our TA to cancel the airline reservation with Princess. We could have flown three people at that rate for less than Princess wanted for 2 people on what turned out to be the same flight. (I'm not sure if it would have been the same flight back the next morning.)