Where do you search for deals?

[tartana]

i am an avid trip deal shopper and only book when the price is right. I have just started cruising ( mostly do all inclusive resort packages), and I can't seem to find a site that has good pricing grids by week/type of cabin/ lowest overall/ports.... It seems to take a lot of clicks to get anywhere, so I'm just wondering what regular cruisers use? The deals I have found I would have missed if I hadn't searched for hours lol.

[tartana]

Or possibly sites can't be named on here? If so, sorry for the post...

[easyboy]

You can signup at cruise lines websites for deals/sales/promo alerts. It takes frequent checks to come across a good deal.

[Kartgv]

Google "Cruise Deals" and you'll find more than you can possibly view. Another resource...click on the "DEALS" tab in the Cruise Critic banner at the top of this page and you'll be able to view what CC is promoting. We also get emails from Cruise Critic promoting various cruise deals. Hopefully that gives you some assurance that the agencies involved are legitimate, but I can't vouch for that. Without naming names, has anyone had either good or bad experiences with the deals that appear on CC?

[cherylandtk]

Tartana, while we cannot name travel agents, if you decide to search their websites, you might find it interesting to know that most cruiseline rules prohibit agents from advertising a price lower than the cruiseline. That is NOT the same as offering a lower price. Which means you cannot just surf for the lowest price, you must email or call about a specific sailing and room category to find your real price. Some cruiselines only allow the agent to offer OBC, or gifts, some allow discounting. Good luck.

[mjphelps]

I always book through an agent. I get the best price and I don't waste my time. Always do a little research first. It's not always about the money. It's about the experience.

 

 

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[Kmangel]

The first cruise I took on by myself to find and book I went directly with the cruise line. It was before I started reading here on Cruise Critic so I was unfamiliar with OBC and all the other ins and outs of cruising. I did at least book a guarentee cabin after final payment was due so I did benefit with getting as economical a fare as was likely to happen late in the game, but I got nothing more.

 

My second cruise I decided to see if I could find a TA. Had no idea how to find one. I asked a friend who went on a cruise who she used and she referred me to a lady in my town, but this lady never followed up with me.

 

I kept reading and researching and finally landed on an online TA for the cruise and I think I did well with the price. It also came in after final payment was due so I think the fare was lower because of the timing. I got my first OBC.

 

My next cruise I went with the same TA and the agency had a block of cabins to sell which I got in on. The rate for this cabin is a lot cheaper than any other rates I have seen listed. So again I think I have lucked out. I am getting OBC for this cruise, too. I also requested a cabin change from stern to midship by watching cabin availability. The day I saw the midship cabin come available, I was on the phone to my TA.

 

All in all, it has been a learning experience, but one I never would have been privy to before this forum!

Edited January 12, 2017 by Kmangel

[MicCanberra]

There are some useful FB sites that advertise deals but generally Online agencies that have last minute deals and such and I just check weekly.:D

[tartana]

I am from Canada, and any of my Canadian sites, don't seem to price any differently than the cruise line prices from what I'm seeing. I actually just booked a Mediterranean cruise using a US company and got a good price and an onboard credit which I was pleased about. Other than our bad exchange right now, lol, the worst thing for us is that the price of flights from Canada across the pond is usually crazy! I will be watching that's for sure. Also, is it usually not a problem to change your cabin as long as it is in the same category/ship/date/etc....? Thanks everyone :)

[iancal]

We live in Canada. We almost always book with an on line TA that offers commission rebates in the form of OBC's. Many of these sites have been mentioned on this forum. Our upcoming cruise was actually booked in Canada because of price. We booked it with a large box store that requires a membership.

 

We also check pricing on foreign sites. If we are doing a Med cruise we check the UK and Europeans sites. There are often higher priced and have more restrictive T's and C's so you need to be aware of this. We did book an Australian cruise in Australia. The final price was 30 percent less than the US or Canadian prices. No doubt it was an anomaly but we took advantage of it.

 

We do the same for airfare. In some countries it is considerably less expensive to book and pay for a flight on a website in that country than it is to do it through a North American web site. We have had this experience in Turkey, and just experienced it last month when booking a flight in Argentina.

[tartana]

thank you :)

[Hlitner]

We book a lot of cruises (over 100 days in 2016) and generally utilize 1 of 4 reputable cruise agencies with whom we have established good relations over the years. We always do a quickly online cost comparison (factoring in the value of any amenities such as OBCs, pre paid gratuities, etc) and then compare it to the cruise line's own website. In more then 100 cruise bookings no cruise line (and we have been on 14 lines) has ever been able to equal the deal we get by shopping around among decent cruise agencies. On some longer cruises our savings (by NOT booking direct with a cruise line) have been in the thousands of dollars (for a single cruise). On shorter cruises we will usually expect to save 7-10% over the cruise line offerings.

 

One important tip. Cruise agencies are often constrained from advertising (online) their best prices/deals. These are only available to those registered with the cruise agency (this is free with nearly all cruise agencies). In some cases we get special offers via e-mail. Several of our favorite agencies will instantly e-mail their best/private deals once we log on to their site (you must register to log on). If you do not want to get all kinds of offers in your regular e-mail box...simply establish a secondary e-mail (you can use Gmail, Hotmail, Google Mail) for just this purpose.

 

All the agencies we use are directly linked to the cruise line computers. So when we book with any of our agencies and get our booking number (this is usually done in seconds or minutes) we can immediately logon our account with the cruise line and verify the booking. All our charges are processed directly by the cruise lines, not the cruise agency. From a practical point of view it is similar to working directly with the cruise lines except the cruise agencies are generally more responsive :). Our advice has remained the same for many years. "Shop around for the best deals among several reputable cruise agencies...compare it to the cruise line's direct offerings....and take the best overall deal."

 

Hank

[MCC retired]

Tartana, while we cannot name travel agents, if you decide to search their websites, you might find it interesting to know that most cruiseline rules prohibit agents from advertising a price lower than the cruiseline. That is NOT the same as offering a lower price. Which means you cannot just surf for the lowest price, you must email or call about a specific sailing and room category to find your real price. Some cruiselines only allow the agent to offer OBC, or gifts, some allow discounting. Good luck.

 

Exactly correct !

You won't find the Travel Agency's best rates & amenities by just surfing the internet. In most cases the cruise lines do not permit them to show their actual deals.

Gotta contact them for their quote. Start with those large agencies that specialize only booking cruises , no fee's, qualified TA's with 24/7 coverage.

Edited January 12, 2017 by MCC retired

[tartana]

thank you :) I just wish there was some kind of site that had a good grid for all the months/cruises/cabins that would make it so much easier to see the deals and differences quickly. I was hoping there was such a thing lol. But I guess if they can't (or don't want) to advertise their best prices online, that wouldn't be accurate anyway. We have one site in Canada that is a great grid for doing this, but the US deals are never there. I'm assuming they price directly what the cruise line would price.

[beachbum53]

tartan, some things to keep in mind. Prices can change, based on certain "givens". All cruise lines have what are called "peak" and "off-peak" periods, just like land based vacation areas. Summer is a peak period, when children are out of school, demand for cruises is higher, so prices are higher. September and October tend to be off-peak, since the kids are back in school, and hurricanes are more active in the Caribbean. Demand for cruises is lower at that time, so prices are lower. However, at that same time, demand may be higher for Alaska cruises. If you have to fly to and from a cruise home port, the law of supply and demand affects airfare just like cruise prices. You almost have to be a cruise specialist to sort it all out. Save yourself a lot of time, and a lot of money buying Tylenol because you're getting a headache from doing all of that research, and go talk to a cruise specialist in your area. Tell him / her what you're interested in, and what your budget will allow, and let the agent do the work for you. ;)

[AEckhardt]

I used a TA for my first cruise, and we got a few nice perks, but I have sincere moved a bit far for driving down to see her and have booked the remainder of my cruises by myself.

 

My question, to go along with this theme, is if a TA is helpful for flights and pre/post cruise hotel? Are there advantages to that like there are for booking your cruise?

 

 

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[iancal]

A good TA, on line or otherwise can really help. Most especially for your first few cruises.

 

BUT, finding a good one can be a challenge. There are many 'cruise bookers' out there but in our experience there are not many good agents who know and specialize in the cruise business.

 

This includes some of the so called cruise consultants employed by the cruise lines. I don't think some of them have ever seen a lake, let alone an ocean or been on a cruise ship.

 

We do not use a TA for air or for hotels. We prefer to make those arrangements ourselves on the net.

[MicCanberra]

Sometimes the Fly/cruise package deals are really good value as they are doing a bulk booking or group booking. You get even more with the fly/cruise/stay packages at the same sort of price as just stay and cruise prices. When they often have transfers and city tours and such included as well.

[lenquixote66]

i am an avid trip deal shopper and only book when the price is right. I have just started cruising ( mostly do all inclusive resort packages), and I can't seem to find a site that has good pricing grids by week/type of cabin/ lowest overall/ports.... It seems to take a lot of clicks to get anywhere, so I'm just wondering what regular cruisers use? The deals I have found I would have missed if I hadn't searched for hours lol.

 

 

The internet:)

[MicCanberra]

The internet:)

 

Just don't stray into the Dark web:p

[Hlitner]

I used a TA for my first cruise, and we got a few nice perks, but I have sincere moved a bit far for driving down to see her and have booked the remainder of my cruises by myself.

 

My question, to go along with this theme, is if a TA is helpful for flights and pre/post cruise hotel? Are there advantages to that like there are for booking your cruise?

 

 

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You ask a good question. Sometimes (but not very often) the cruise lines do have some decent air deals (especially on one-ways). But most of the time we simply do our own air which often beats the best deals from the cruise lines. Cruise lines generally subcontract their air to large agencies...who seldom will deal with Jetblue, Southwest, Virgin (now part of Alaskan). Aer Lingus, SAS, etc. because they cannot often get any commissions or reduced commissions. For international we generally do as well or better on our own. And when you factor in the outrageous cost of cruise line transfers and hotels we seldom see any reason to use cruise air. And then there are some small airlines like La Campagnie, which do not work with any cruise line. That particular airline (to Paris) offers business class-only aircraft..often at lower or comparable prices as Economy on some airlines. Or SAS might offer great deals on Premium Economy (actually quite nice) that are not available if booking through a third party such as cruise air.

 

But, we do understand that some folks really could care less about saving money and just prefer the ease (or what they perceive as ease) of dealing with the cruise lines. Personally, we love those folks and its a reason why we buy stock in the two major cruise lines :)

 

Hank

Edited January 13, 2017 by Hlitner

[iancal]

We never use a TA for hotels or air. We never use cruise line pre or post hotels. We have used cruise air on occasion for some one way flights. We can almost always get better flights/prices on our own-whether it is one way, return, or open jaw. We check on cruise line air...just in case.

Edited January 13, 2017 by iancal

[MicCanberra]

We never use a TA for hotels or air. We never use cruise line pre or post hotels. We have used cruise air on occasion for some one way flights. We can almost always get better flights/prices on our own-whether it is one way, return, or open jaw. We check on cruise line air...just in case.

 

Researching the many sources of what you are after gives you the best prices, so whether you go direct, through a TA or online agency or even sometimes by getting a package deal so that many aspects are included for the one price.

[Hlitner]

We never use a TA for hotels or air. We never use cruise line pre or post hotels. We have used cruise air on occasion for some one way flights. We can almost always get better flights/prices on our own-whether it is one way, return, or open jaw. We check on cruise line air...just in case.

 

We would again point out that two of the most popular (according to most consumer poles) US Airlines....Southwest and JetBlue do not work through travel or cruise agencies. In routes where those airlines fly...they are often the lowest cost and most convenient (with the best on time performance). But book through a TA, Cruise Agency, Cruise Air or the major online agencies (like Orbitz) and you will not even see those airlines listed. Why? They do not pay commissions (which is one way they hold down their costs).

 

Hank

[MicCanberra]

We would again point out that two of the most popular (according to most consumer poles) US Airlines....Southwest and JetBlue do not work through travel or cruise agencies. In routes where those airlines fly...they are often the lowest cost and most convenient (with the best on time performance). But book through a TA, Cruise Agency, Cruise Air or the major online agencies (like Orbitz) and you will not even see those airlines listed. Why? They do not pay commissions (which is one way they hold down their costs).

 

Hank

 

But they do give a reference point for comparison of timings and fares.:D