Best Site to Find Cruise Deals

[Maritime Q-Scout]

So the school board my wife works with gave the teachers an option at their last union meeting.

Where Easter Weekend falls the weekend after the March (Spring) Break, they don't want all the teachers to take time off the 4 day week to create a super long break.

Recognizing the issue they were proactive and gave the option to:

1) Run the school year as per usual, however teachers cannot take personal days the week after the March Break; or

2) Go back a day early in the fall, stay a day late in the spring, and they'd just give them the week off.

Naturally, they voted to have 2 weeks off in March.

Let's not get into the craziness and flawed logic and just celebrate the extended vacation.

So I'm looking at this as a chance to knock two things off my bucket list:

A) A cruise
B) Saint Maarten

Now as an AvGeek I'm familiar with lots of websites to find flight deals, but alas not so much on cruises.

Is there a site that's better than others to find cruise deals, or to search for cruises? Ideally so that I could search for a port of call and not necessarily the departure port?

I've also found that Saint Maarten can fall on either a Southern Caribbean cruise or an Eastern one.

Also when's the best time to book a cruise? We've never gone cruising before.

Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks folks

[EldrickOnIce]

With a cruise, there can be significant advantages to booking early, in terms of upgraded cabins as the ship begins to fill.
TBH, a cruise might be about the only thing I would consider seeing a travel agent about.

[Barnes]

Easter sailings are filled with kids and it's high season so not many deals to be found. You should be looking at Eastern or Southern cruise and you should try and find an itinerary that also goes to Tortola which is my favourite island.

If you can get decent airfare, look at cruises that leave from San Juan. They get you to less traveled islands like Dominica, Grenada, Barbados, etc that are out of reach of the 7 day cruises from florida.

[bizaro86]

I've had pretty good luck booking through cruconoutlet getting "extras" (usually onboard credit) added, and sometimes exclusive/better pricing on the cruise itself. Their interface is borderline the worst thing on the internet, but they do pass the savings on...

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

With a cruise, there can be significant advantages to booking early, in terms of upgraded cabins as the ship begins to fill.
TBH, a cruise might be about the only thing I would consider seeing a travel agent about.

There can also be a considerable cost savings by booking late. I would recommend visiting an Expedia cruise ship center. Many if there agents are semi retired folks who have been on many cruises and can have lots to offer. It has worked it well for us.

[Tyler]

Anyone ever been on a singles cruise?

[nik-]

a girl I work with used to work on cruise ships and recommended this site to me.

http://www.cruisecompete.com/

you put in your desired dates and such and then people "bid" for it. I didn't end up using it as the package for my friends wedding ended up being better, but it might help.

[billybob123]

It's rare these days to get different prices - often the mass-market cruise lines (e.g. Royal Caribbean) have set prices and unless you're getting a group booking, the actual fare is the same. Often, though, as nik above indicated, that there are cruise agents who will credit part of their commission back to you as on board credit, or something similar, as they aren't allowed to discount.

Some lines still allow agents to discount, though!

I personally use cruise.com and cruisecompete to book cruises. Cruise.com is one of the biggest sales agents out there so I've gotten ok benefits from them (on-board credit, free meals, gratuities included -- don't forget these are additional!) but I have little to no loyalty, I'm truly a terrible customer. Last cruise I booked directly with Royal Caribbean since the "benefits" were nearly worthless ($50 cabin credit I think was the best offer).

If you do St Maarten, definitely take a cab (if you have kids) or the van buses (found on the second street in Philipsburg) to Maho. Plan the trip properly so you see the jets arriving, and don't miss the ship!!

[billybob123]

Also to add - as long as you are before the final payment date, you can refund any difference between the fare you paid and the current fare for most mass-market cruiselines (as long as it's not a specifically stated no-discount, new bookings only fare). So there is not necessarily the "best time to book" but there is value in checking the fare periodically. I use cruisefish (paid, but worth it) to alert me to drops in fare.

[csnarpy]

I cruise once or twice a year (since 04) and have always used priceline. Never heard of cruise compete. After signing up, I will prob use them. I love the competition!

Also, I've gotten great deals booking far in advance and as close as 45 days out. What I like to do now is book in advance, around a year or so, in a cabin im pretty sure I want. Pay the deposit and watch for deals. I've literally gone from an ocean view to a jr. Suite without paying anymore and receive bonuses on top ( ie OBC, free gratuities, etc...)

I am a RCCL rider by far, but lately I've been sailing NCL as well. As for ships, nothing has come close to the Allure of the Seas.

[me_dennis]

I just came back from a Eastern Caribbean cruise (Miami, St. Thomas, Tortola, Nassau) with NCL Getaway.

Here are a few tips:
I booked with Expedia.ca about 1.5-2 months before the sail date. When you book through Expedia, someone from the Expedia Cruiseship Center calls you and help you out with any questions you may have.The Expedia Cruiseship centre agents are extremely helpful. They print everything off for you in a little package, including the itineraries, all customs forms, premarked luggage tags (which makes embarkation super easy), and even the liquids ziplock bags for customs.
Unfortunately, when I booked my cruise, there weren't much for promotions. Usually you can get some promotions where you can get a few hundred dollars in room credits to use towards anything on the ship (including the $12-15/person/day gratuity fee, drinks, restaurants, excursions, etc).

From our limited experience, we liked Royal Caribbean the best in terms of overall satisfaction. The service was fantastic, the food was good, and the ship was overall pretty nice. With Norwegian, the ship we sailed on was a newer ship (Getaway, built in 2014), so the ship itself was very nice, but in terms of service, we found that the staff were not as friendly or helpful as RCI. Also, we found that NCL really nickle and dimes guests with a lot of hidden extra charges and fees. For example, you cannot refill water bottles on the ship for health reasons, and so you have option to buy bottled water. What they don't tell you is that everything you buy on the ship (including water, drinks, items from the gift shop, snacks) have a hidden 18% "gratuity and service fee". I didn't like this very much as I felt like there were a lot of added extra costs. It may be the time of year that I cruised on, but I found NCL to be very family friendly. There is a huge waterpark for young kids, and a really fun waterslide for both adults and kids.

Carnival has older ships, and is generally a younger, party crowd. I've heard that Carnival's main dining room usually serves lobster, where the other 2 I mention do not.
Carnival is also generally cheaper too, and they have their own private island in the Caribbean which is usually one of the stops.

I've also used vacationstogo.com in the past. They are pretty good for last minute deals, and you can sort by departure port, or destination (ports of call), as well as month, length, cruise line, etc.

As for times of year, you want to avoid the hurricane season (July-September), which should be fine if you're looking at March. As someone mentioned, Easter would be pretty busy with kids being on spring break, but if you don't mind the children and crowds, it should be fine.

My next cruise will be with Disney Cruise Lines. I have heard nothing but good things about it, and everything Disney does is top quality. Plus their private island, Castaway Cay, looks fantastic.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by me_dennis

I just came back from a Eastern Mediterranean cruise (Miami, St. Thomas, Tortola, Nassau) with NCL Getaway.

.....

My next cruise will be with Disney Cruise Lines. I have heard nothing but good things about it, and everything Disney does is top quality. Plus their private island, Castaway Cay, looks fantastic.

I laughed at the bolded part.

The family and I did a Disney cruise in March and it's another level. It's set the bar pretty high for my 5 year old for future vacations.

Castaway Cay is fantastic. I would have been happy to stay there for 7 days.

[Hessen]

Neighbors have used vacationstogo.com a few times and had no issues.

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by Barnes

I laughed at the bolded part.

The family and I did a Disney cruise in March and it's another level. It's set the bar pretty high for my 5 year old for future vacations.

Castaway Cay is fantastic. I would have been happy to stay there for 7 days.

We have done 3 DCL's in the last 5 years.
Agree its another level (Food/Service/Entertainment). The kids love it, and as a parent it feels like a real vacation. Castaway Cay is amazing.

Looking to do a Panama Canal DCL next summer.

[Machiavelli]

Originally Posted by csnarpy

I cruise once or twice a year (since 04) and have always used priceline. Never heard of cruise compete. After signing up, I will prob use them. I love the competition!

Also, I've gotten great deals booking far in advance and as close as 45 days out. What I like to do now is book in advance, around a year or so, in a cabin im pretty sure I want. Pay the deposit and watch for deals. I've literally gone from an ocean view to a jr. Suite without paying anymore and receive bonuses on top ( ie OBC, free gratuities, etc...)

I am a RCCL rider by far, but lately I've been sailing NCL as well. As for ships, nothing has come close to the Allure of the Seas.

How do you get deals after you've already booked through priceline?

[Huntingwhale]

[troutman]

For $100 I will sail you through Weaselhead and up the mysterious Elbow River in search of Colonel Kurtz.

[me_dennis]

Originally Posted by Barnes

I laughed at the bolded part.

The family and I did a Disney cruise in March and it's another level. It's set the bar pretty high for my 5 year old for future vacations.

Castaway Cay is fantastic. I would have been happy to stay there for 7 days.

oops haha. I meant Eastern Caribbean. Clearly I'm still in vacation mode.

[csnarpy]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

How do you get deals after you've already booked through priceline?

When you book in advance, all you do is lay down a deposit. There are no penalties if you cancel up until 75 days out from the trip. So, if the price drops and perks emerge, you can rebook with that price. Sometimes you can also keep the perks that you had in place and just receive the new lower price.

We do this all the time. I book the cabin that I want, usually with a good price and perks. Cruise lines always have standard drops in fares or sales but it's the perks that will usually change. Last year, I did a boys trip on the NCL Epic at a pretty good price point and with a $100 OBC, about 2 months later they dropped the price of the room and added the incentive of an unlimited alcohol drink package.

We jumped at that and they also let us keep the OBC and bumped us up to a mini suite. That was a good trip!

(We've already booked out boys trip for March and the wife and I have booked the Anthem of the Seas for November. I currently check every two weeks for a better deal than I have. Sounds like work but it isn't, I'm always surfing the net in the evenings! Lol)

Also, for kids, I do recommend RCL by far, they are sponsored by Dreamworks and have all the characters on board. My kids (4 & 6) have already been on 3 trips and are always asking when the next one is. And I recommend going after U.S. Thanksgiving but before Xmas, that way you get a holiday dressed up ship. It's pretty cool. But that's me.

[Machiavelli]

^ hey, thanks!