Where to find deals on toddler/kid/3rd or 4th person fares?

[GatorTide]

We're planning a cruise for next May when DD will be 2. We'll have a small group with us - my parents and possibly my in-laws, maybe a few others. We live in Florida, would probably sail out of Port Canaveral or possibly Miami or Ft Lauderdale. I get emails from Carnival and RCCL but I don't recall seeing anything about reduced rates for young children - or maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Is this something I could have my Vacations To Go agent look out for, or would it be better to contact the cruise lines directly? Might we have better luck with a different line?

[cb at sea]

RCI doesn't discount for kids--they will pay the full 3/4th person fare. I think Carnival is the same...

[MNmomof4]

MSC often offers kids sail free with an adult

[karen_cpa]

We are paying $199 to take our 2 year old on NCL as the 3rd person in our cabin. I believe it is either $99 or $199, depending on sailing.

[RENMama]

carnival is "full" fare for 3/4/5th person. we are paying $300 each for the week.

[poppan]

I was doing the same research recently and it seemed to me that most of the kids sail free/for reduced rates were special promotions and not permanent fixtures attached to specific cruise lines. (With the exception of MSC as the PP mentioned -- kids seem to be free on all their cruises all the time, at least currently.) Your TA should be able to keep an ear out for you on the promos -- I would definitely ask them to do that.

 

P.S. Try googling "kids cruise free" or "kids cruise free caribbean" -- a lot of deals came up when I did that. Not all of it was still applicable (some offers had expired) -- but you will get some leads at least. I think Disney is doing a kids sail free promotion in the time frame you're looking at, but it's on their Mediterranean cruise.

[Kerry's Girls]

If you care about your child being able to use the kids club, you may want to focus on Carnival and Norwegian since they allow 2 year olds. I think I just saw that MSC does offer kids-sail-free on every sailing.

 

Best,

Mia

[sbhdmh]

Just got off MSC and yes, at least for now MSC is kids sail free. They allowed children under 3 to use kids club with a parent but you would not be able to leave the 2 year old there.

[splat]

Holland America mostly has good 3rd & 4th person rates.

[lucigo]

Holland America mostly has good 3rd & 4th person rates.

 

Our kids are sailing with us for $85 plus tax on Holland America, this will be our first with them.

 

Disney is offering kids free on their 3 and 4 day trips, but of course you pay $$$ for the adults LOL

 

I don't think you really get anything for "free" you just have to look at the overall total cost and find a cruise that fits you :)

[C. Anne]

On our Carnival cruise that we will take this November, the 1st and 2nd person are full price and the 3rd and 4th are $20 (plus tax which is a couple hundred dollars). This is per cabin, so we have 3 per cabin, making 2 of our party $20 a piece!

 

C. Anne

[C. Anne]

Our kids are sailing with us for $85 plus tax on Holland America, this will be our first with them.

 

Disney is offering kids free on their 3 and 4 day trips, but of course you pay $$$ for the adults LOL

 

I don't think you really get anything for "free" you just have to look at the overall total cost and find a cruise that fits you :)

 

I was wondering if the kids cruise free that Disney is offering requires you to pay tax on kids (which can be a couple hundred dollars).

 

C. Anne

[ksmcali]

On our Carnival cruise that we will take this November, the 1st and 2nd person are full price and the 3rd and 4th are $20 (plus tax which is a couple hundred dollars). This is per cabin, so we have 3 per cabin, making 2 of our party $20 a piece!

 

C. Anne

 

WOW, C. Anne! Was that some kind of special sale that I misses? I don't think I've ever seen 3rd and 4th person rates on Carnival at $20 each. We're sailing in November out of Galveston too, and would love to catch that rate for my 2yo.

[twinklen01]

On our Carnival cruise that we will take this November, the 1st and 2nd person are full price and the 3rd and 4th are $20 (plus tax which is a couple hundred dollars). This is per cabin, so we have 3 per cabin, making 2 of our party $20 a piece!

 

C. Anne

 

I'm also sailing in Nov and we are paying $109 for dd10 for a 4 night cruise to baja out of LB . Would love more info? what cruise and ship are you taking?

[CeleBrat]

I was wondering if the kids cruise free that Disney is offering requires you to pay tax on kids (which can be a couple hundred dollars).

 

C. Anne

 

Yes--you will always have to pay taxes on your FREE kids cruise. But hey, that's better than paying the full fare, right?

 

Some cruise lines (Costa) also don't charge you for tips when kids sail free. That is CRAZY!

 

CeleBrat

[cruiseaholic76]

NCL is having $149 for the 3rd pass on. Disney is offered the kids sale free till April sailings but the price of the cruise is so expensive the times of year that they offer it.