Question for Retirees...

[kuddles14]

My DH retired this past January and I will be retiring the end of this school year. We would like to cruise more and was wondering, since now we will be on a fixed income, how do you do it? Is there a certain time of year that is priced better? Do you book earlier and pay on it as you go (we have done this before) or do you get better pricing closer to a cruise? Do you do inside or ocean view as opposed to balcony or suite? Do you do it less since retired? Just trying to figure things out since my last pay will be this August.

 

DH has picked up a PT job to keep him busy and I will subbing in the new school year. So I was thinking to using that moneys. We are 60 so there is another 2 years until SS kicks in.

 

Thank you for your suggestions and insight. I greatly appreciate everyone's input as we enter a new chapter in our lives.

[Clarea]

Least expensive times of the year to cruise for us has been January, after New Year's, first part of September, and between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[Pitzel]

Cruises are generally less expensive if you can avoid Spring Break (Feb through early April) and Christmas. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas will often be less than the same ship/itinerary in March.

 

Longer sailings tend to be a better value on a per day basis. Transatlantic and repositioning cruises also tend to be better values, especially if you are cruising to enjoy the ship.

 

Look for sales and book during Wave Season (Jan through March). Find a good travel agent who will match (or beat) the cruise line prices, but can sweeten the deal with on board credit or other perks.

 

Also, where you live matters. Are you within driving distance of a port? If not, look for times of the year when flights to common ports (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, New York/New Jersey, etc.) are discounted. If flights tend to be expensive, try booking longer cruises when you do travel or back to back cruises leaving out of the same port or nearby ports, so that you get more sailing value per flight.

 

As for room types, only you will know what is right for the two of you. Some people chose inside cabins so that they can cruise more often or splurge on excursions or onboard activities. Others would rather splurge when cruising and would rather go less often or cruise off season to make sure that they have a balcony or better.

 

My husband and I are not yet retired, but we daydream about when we will be able to travel more often and at any time of the year. Enjoy!

[jamesr3939]

One word, flexibility. Good thing about being retired is you can go on short notice when the prices drop. In 30+ years of cruising we find prices drop when final payment is due; along with cabin selection raising. It doesn't usually last very long so be prepared to jump on something that looks good.

 

Again, being flexible in dates, lines, ships, ports, cabin, and itinerary is how to save money.

 

Find a good cruise www search site and use a good TA, who can work the best OBC deal for you.

[franl24fan]

I retired at 60, been traveling for 9 wonderful years. My challenge has been paying the single surcharge, many cruises cost me double the per person rate. When they finally started giving me the extra points I finally reached diamond plus, and by the end of this year I will have 340 points where the surcharge drops to 150%.

 

I've found that booking as soon as an itinerary opens up is usually the lowest price. That may be 18 months out. Almost all of my cruises have been inside cabins, I find lots of places on ship to sit outside or by a window. I can't stress enough that it is essential to check prices for a ship or itinerary you are considering often before booking. RCI plays lots of pricing games aimed at newbies. You'll see lots of discussion on here about this. Know what is a normal price, don't be suckered. I also convert price to a per day and use that as a guideline for what I will pay. Be flexible on dates, avoid peak times.

 

Once you know what a going rate is for the cruise you want, then be ready to jump on a real bargain. Don't hesitate, put down a deposit, assuming it is before final payment, you can change later. Sometimes when I add air fare or hotels the total price is not a good value so I switch to another cruise.

 

Be prepared with a cruise pot of funds. When the cruise market is down several cruise deals may be great, take advantage. I did a lot of cruises in 2009.

 

Only you can know your financial status. I would add that doing as much travelling as soon as you retire is worth sacrificing on other expenses. I'm so glad I did that since this year health issues are keeping me home. You never know when either of you will face a health crisis. I cringe when I hear someone say they'll travel in a few years. Even without a major health issue travel becomes harder each year.

 

Hope that helps. After retirement you can financially do whatever is a priority.

[Tee & Chilli]

Take advantage of deals offered by the big box retailer that requires an annual membership. On an upcoming cruise the price was the same as Royal however the retailer added 1 spa treatment, $75 OBC, soda package, 1 specialty restaurant dinner, 1 Johnny rockets and 1 bottle of wine.

[kuddles14]

I retired at 60, been traveling for 9 wonderful years. My challenge has been paying the single surcharge, many cruises cost me double the per person rate. When they finally started giving me the extra points I finally reached diamond plus, and by the end of this year I will have 340 points where the surcharge drops to 150%.

 

 

 

I've found that booking as soon as an itinerary opens up is usually the lowest price. That may be 18 months out. Almost all of my cruises have been inside cabins, I find lots of places on ship to sit outside or by a window. I can't stress enough that it is essential to check prices for a ship or itinerary you are considering often before booking. RCI plays lots of pricing games aimed at newbies. You'll see lots of discussion on here about this. Know what is a normal price, don't be suckered. I also convert price to a per day and use that as a guideline for what I will pay. Be flexible on dates, avoid peak times.

 

 

 

Once you know what a going rate is for the cruise you want, then be ready to jump on a real bargain. Don't hesitate, put down a deposit, assuming it is before final payment, you can change later. Sometimes when I add air fare or hotels the total price is not a good value so I switch to another cruise.

 

 

 

Be prepared with a cruise pot of funds. When the cruise market is down several cruise deals may be great, take advantage. I did a lot of cruises in 2009.

 

 

 

Only you can know your financial status. I would add that doing as much travelling as soon as you retire is worth sacrificing on other expenses. I'm so glad I did that since this year health issues are keeping me home. You never know when either of you will face a health crisis. I cringe when I hear someone say they'll travel in a few years. Even without a major health issue travel becomes harder each year.

 

 

 

Hope that helps. After retirement you can financially do whatever is a priority.

 

 

Thank you . I agree with you and want to do as much traveling as possible well we still have our health. Unfortunately we had two couples as friends husbands always said that ..buried one at 51 and the other was waiting for his SS just buried him two weeks ago.. only got two months of SS.

 

 

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[crzndeb]

I started cruising in 1980, retired in 2010 and cruise solo, so I tend to focus on longer cruises, which usually means a B2B or B2B2B. I also tend to focus on destinations that I have never visited. I have cruised to Australia twice, Hawaii, Europe and next year to the Baltics, Iceland and Greenland. I usually use airmiles from my credit card for international flights, and pay off the card monthly.

 

I don't really look at single supplement, I look at a daily amount, which most of the time I can find under $200 per night. Most of the time it's less.

 

I normally book an interior, because I really don't mind it. On Carnival they have interior cabins that have windows and French doors, so those are a great deal.

 

As others have mentioned, focus on cruises when school is in session. I always seem to go in the Fall and book when the bookings first open up, and then watch for price drops. My Pacific Coast cruise in Sept. just dropped $160 for my interior cabin.

 

I am pretty frugal in everyday life, so that helps with vacation funds. Look at what you can cut out at home and put that in a cruise fund. It can be done, you just have to look around.

[luvscruising2007]

We book when the itineraries first come out. Often the price never goes down but you can get the lower price before final payment is due. The other thing we do is to make payments on a regular basis. Money comes from the monthly budget. We did have to change from 1 or 2 cruises per year to 1 cruise every 2 years.

[molly361]

DH and I are both retired and on fixed incomes. We book early and usually get a balcony. We cruise 3 or 4 times a year and usually during the less busy times, never during the summer. We do pay as we go on the cruises as it seems to work better for us.

 

We live within 4 hours of most of the Florida ports but I still prefer to plan ahead, that's just me. Also we have pets that need to be taken care of and our friend is our pet sitter so we like to give her advance notice.

[Markanddonna]

I'm in agreement with crzindeb. We most enjoy off season travel, esp transatlantics and will do our first transpacific in the fall. If you want the Caribbean, look for the week right after Thanksgiving for the best prices.

 

If you are okay with insides, you can wait until after the final payment date and discover some great prices. That is the best time when airline fares are also still within the affordable range.

 

Study the history of the prices to get an idea of when the sweet spot for pulling the trigger should be.

[DaKa2002]

Been retired a numbered of years, but we started cruising when I was still working.

 

We usually cruise the 'shoulder seasons' - in Europe, the Med, the Caribbean, and Alaska, to name a few places. Saves a little money that way, but the weather may be a bit more unpredictable (doesn't bother us). We have tried nine cruise lines so far, selected two of them for most of our cruising as they seem to fit us best.

 

We have cruised insides, and balcony (or verandah) cabins; haven't tried the suite (sweet) life yet due to expense.

 

We usually get our favorite room booked as soon as the cruise is announced, and often along with a few perks. Our shore excursions are booked over several months so that spreads out the cost.

 

There are several types of ocean cruises in our book: repositioning cruises, usually with a lot of sea days; port intensive cruises with few or no sea days; and those scattered in-between those extremes. We like all three types, but you may need another vacation after a port intensive cruise!

 

Also, try river cruising, as well as ocean cruising. Different, but very enjoyable.

 

We wish you many wonderful cruises!

[Capt_BJ]

move to Florida to reduce travel costs

 

move close to a cruise port to nearly eliminate travel costs

 

if you don't want to cruise from 'your port' living close to a GOOD airport helps in the same way, cutting transportation costs

[terrys1234]

I just retired in December and similar to Molly361 above. Two dogs at home so have to get a sitter. We live 45 minutes from Port Canaveral and about 4 hours from Port Everglades. We have cruised 2 RC and 1 Carnaval in last 3 years with Allure coming up in May. I book balconies usually 90-120 days in advance and usually target no more than 135-140 per night. I shop hard and so far I have paid no more than 135 per night for ocean view balcony cabins. I use a TA and usually get OBC with other Perks also. You just have to scour the Internet to find deals that fit your budget. We like cruising in April or May just in advance of Hurricane season. But since I am now retired, we are flexible to go anytime.

 

I too am a couple of years from full SS eligibility. And as mentioned above, we want to do as much as we can while we are healthy enough to go and enjoy. Since we are flexible, I would love to find out how to get on a last minute cruise list for cruises with a lot of unsold cabins within driving distance and at a great price of course. It depends on dog sitter availability, but we are good to go for the right deal within a week or 2 notice.

[cruiselvr04]

Thank you . I agree with you and want to do as much traveling as possible well we still have our health. Unfortunately we had two couples as friends husbands always said that ..buried one at 51 and the other was waiting for his SS just buried him two weeks ago.. only got two months of SS.

 

 

We are working till 65 so have a few more years to go. However we started traveling/ cruising more once the last kid graduated from college. Life is short and we too have seen some who hoped to travel later in life lose their lives or their health. We make it priority to get away about three weeks a year. Usually two cruises and one land trip. We are active cruisers, snorkeling, hiking etc so we didn't want to wait too long to do that. We are really looking forward to some repositioning cruises after retirement as right now it's hard to get away for more then a week at a time.

We travel off season and while we usually book balconys have started to book more outsides to save money. And we book when the cruises open for the best price. When we retire we plan to continue budgeting each month for travel until we can't go anymore due to health. Hoping that's a long time...

[MrsPete]

My husband and I are not yet retired, but we daydream about when we will be able to travel more often and at any time of the year. Enjoy!

Yeah, traveling more often is a frequent retirement goal, and it's definitely on our list. We'll retire at 56, and our hope is to cruise 1-2Xs per year ... mixed in with other travel.

 

 

Our plan to afford more travel:

 

- We've been saving aggressively since our 20s, so we have a healthy nest egg. Our plan is to live off the interest + my pension and never touch the principle.

 

- We live in a modest house, which has been paid off more than a decade. And we're already in a low cost of living area.

 

- We expect that our typical living expenses will go down in retirement. We have two more years of college and one wedding to pay for, and then our expenses will go down. And with more time on our hands, frugal living will be easier: Less take-out food, more homemade bread, eating out at lunch instead of dinner ... that list could go on.

 

- We anticipate downsizing to one car in retirement. If you're typical, a HUGE bite of your budget goes to supporting your cars. Right now we work different schedules and in different directions, but we anticipate that giving up a car will be only a small sacrifice, yet it will free up a great deal of money.

 

- As others have said, we'll be free to travel in low-cost seasons once we're retired. And we are close enough to a port to drive.

 

 

Thank you . I agree with you and want to do as much traveling as possible well we still have our health. Unfortunately we had two couples as friends husbands always said that ..buried one at 51 and the other was waiting for his SS just buried him two weeks ago.. only got two months of SS.

That is a horrible story, yet we've all known examples in the other direction too: People who are really too old (or infirm) to keep working full-time, yet who can't make it without a paycheck.

 

 

The right answer is BALANCE. Save while you're young and working, but travel ... especially while your children are young. AND set goals to travel more once you're retired. Most people can do this ... if they spend purposefully and skip the little things that don't really matter in the long run.

[Cruisegirl6]

Best prices are January through usually first week of march but this is the time when the seas can be more choppy, higher winds and chances of missing ports.

Our favorite is in May because kids are still in school and its after spring recess and September if your not afraid of hurricanes, remember they go around hurricanes and our second favorite month is October, both of these months are the next best prices, avoid holiday time, November-december and spring and summer recess, those are the highest prices.