Last minute deals this Summer?

[Diane in PA]

We are looking to go on a River Cruise at the end of July/beginning of August. We need to work on this time frame because my husband's vacation is at this time.

 

We are looking for a last minute cruise deal (because of price, the economy, the world situation, and my 99 year old mother's health) - we haven't done any river cruises before but have traveled to Germany a few years ago. I have a few trips in mind and could go with many of the last minute deals.

 

We are thinking that there should be a lot of deals out there this summer with the economy as it is. I know that Grand Circle and Viking does them - do any of the other cruise lines have these deals. Is the summer a time that they have as many last minute deals?

[jacksonnh]

Hi Diane - I've noticed that most travel organizations are running deals now for 2009. There maybe additional discounts as time gets closer to departure dates with some of them. Sometimes the deals don't apply to all of the trips so you may not be able to pick the one you want. Some of the groups have cut back on the number of trips to a particular destination (e.g. where they would do 20 in a year , they are now offering 10 trips with not all guaranteed) The other issue is the airlines are cutting back on the number of flights so you may have to book alternate dates to get to your destination. My wife and I have traveled alot at the spur of the moment and most of the time it worked out but there were times when it was a no-go. We took our first river cruise last Sept and booked the trip three weeks before departure. The cruise was discounted and the extra incentive was an A cabin for the E cabin price. You said you want to go in the high season (July-Aug) and I don't know how that would affect the amount of people wanting to travel during that time. I would say to keep an eye on your itinerary and pricing after the season opens up and that should give you a good indication how things are going. This will give you some extra time to make a decision. Hope it works out.

Dave