Cheapest Times to Book Your Next Cruise

The Cheapest Times to Book Your Next Cruise-
By Jen Campbell of Escape Destinations Travel

• Recent studies have suggested that booking roughly 10 weeks out for your next cruise (with Carnival Cruise Lines) could result in rock-bottom pricing.
• For Holland American, you should wait until one week in advance.
• Disney tickled your fancy? Their ideal time is about a week before the cruise as well. This is all according to the website: CruiseWatch.com.

The downside to booking last minute: you’re more than likely at the cruise line’s discretion about where your stateroom will be. If you’re like our family, we don’t spend much time in the room anyways, so this isn’t necessarily a deal breaker for us. If your staterooms location is super important to you and your family- then a last-minute booking may not be for you. Sure enough, if you can wait for the last-minute deals sometimes available, you could possibly stretch your vacation dollars further by booking these last minute specials. So much so that instead of one luxurious vacation a year, you may be able to get another one into your budget!
 
So, if you need to book say 6 months out or more (like Most Americans) the best times would be the first 2 weeks in December (in between Major Holidays), or during Hurricane Season (but this is taking a large gamble on the weather)!

All the experts agree though, it pays to be patient and flexible. You can download cruise apps that will show you when the prices go down (as a very good travel consultant is already doing for you)! And this will help you track the prices. But beware, once your payment has been made in full, many times the cruise lines will NOT honor that lower price for you. Some may give onboard credits, but this is tending to be more seldom these days.