Sunday, April 21, 2024

What’s The Cheapest Cruise Line

Don't Miss

What Is The Highest Stock Price For Norwegian Cruise Line

Spot the difference between a cruise ship and an Ocean Liner!

The highest price for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd stock. NCLH’s highest price was 63.76. The lowest price was 6.38 and it was achieved on December 31, 2017.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd is a cruise line company. It operates passenger vessels that provide sightseeing tours and cruises in Europe and North America. The company also provides ship-related services including crew training, marine engineering, food service, entertainment, and spa facilities.

It was founded in 1967 in Tampa, Florida by Olaf Lundstens as a small fishing boat operation. It started with one vessel: the Norseman. Today, Norwegian Cruise Line has more than 80 ships operating under several brands including Norwegian, Silversea, Cosmos, and Azamara. The company reports its operations in over 100 cities in 20 countries around the world.

Its headquarters are in Miami, Florida.

The stock currently trades at $36.50 per share and it had sales of $1.159 billion last year. The market value is about $2.5 billion.

Norwegian Cruise Line had an annual revenue of $3.153 billion in 2018. Its net income was $145 million that same year.

About Article Author

How Do I Afford To Cruise So Often

Ill be honest with you. I dont spend a lot of money on cruises. My holiday spend is pretty average, I just make the most of the money I do have available.

In fact, the total I spend on multiple cruises for our family of four each year is less than most people spend on leasing a car.

You could also raise the money for up to five family cruises per year by quitting smoking, making a packed lunch each day for work or getting a better deal on your household bills. As long as you know how to find good value cruises, that is!

So, read on to find out how to go on a cruise for cheap

Find Out When Is The Cheapest Time Of The Year To Cruise And Book With Cruiseexpertscom For The Best Deals

Have you been planning this years vacation but want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck? If so, you are probably wondering when is the cheapest time of the year to cruise. You will be happy to learn that there are multiple times of the year when cruising offers rock bottom prices to those looking to sail away on vacation. On the flip side, there are also peak season prices that could cause sticker shock for those who are trying to find hot deals, or who want to spread their vacation savings across multiple cruises.

Today we are going to take a look at when is the cheapest time of year to book a cruise. Some of the time frames may actually surprise you! In general, cheap cruise prices typically occur for cruises sailing in the late winter and the early fall. It makes sense as kids are still in school or just going back to school, so most families are not traveling during this time. Also, winter holidays have just passed so most people are staying put and not spending money. Going against the grain and sailing during these times still offers you all of the perks of the cruise ship and onshore excursions without the hurried crowds and long wait time in line.

Victor and Pat C.

Now, the key to finding cheap cruise deals is knowing particular low price weeks in the seasons we mentioned above. Here is a quick cheat sheet:

Read Also: Cruises Out Of Alabama

How To Get Last Minute Cheap Cruise Deals

Doug advises that you start with a travel agent, as they have relationships with the cruise companies and can often get better rates and last-minute deals. And my experience has me agreeing. While there are many do it yourself options, travel agents often can find much lower prices and can act as liaison to cruise companies when something goes wrong.

If you want to go with the do it yourself angle, you only need to go to these three best websites for finding a cheap cruise:

These websites do a detailed job of scouring the web for cheap cruise deals. Vacations to Go is more of a travel agent/operator and thus often has better deals since they can negotiate with the cruise lines directly, but keep in mind that they add a lot of fees. Cruise Sheet is simply a website aggregator that crawls the web and then displays cheap last-minute fares. This is my favorite cruise site, as it seems to find all the deals and makes finding a cheap cruise easy.

In terms of timing, dont book early. As Doug states, the only benefit to booking early is to secure the room you want. If you want a specific cabin, book early. Otherwise, wait until the last minute. As I said in the beginning, cruise companies dont want to sail empty ships and so do heavy last-minute discounting be sure to sign up for cruise company newsletters to stay informed!

Read Also: Cruises From Cape Liberty Nj

Book A Guaranteed Stateroom

Whats the Big Red Thing on a cruise ship for and what does ...

Often times, the lowest prices for any given itinerary will be a guaranteed stateroom. This room category ensures you will have a cabin on the ship. If you book this rate, you will not know the location or exact cabin number until a few weeks out from your cruise. Though, if you are looking for cheap cruises, this is a great option.

Remember, you are getting these rooms at a steep discount. So, dont be surprised if the room location is not ideal. These rooms tend to be located either all the way forward or aft, and on less desirable decks.

If you want to ensure that you get a particular type of room, say a balcony or oceanview stateroom, many cruise lines offer guaranteed rates for certain categories as well.

Recommended Reading: Are Regent Cruises Worth The Money

You May Like: Carnival Cruises From Norfolk Va

The Biggest Factors To Finding A Cheap Cruise

While starting with an overall inexpensive cruise line can help you save money, it shouldnt be the only way that you save. Keeping the following in mind can help you find more affordable cruises, even on pricier lines.

Sail During the School Year If we have just one tip to save you the most money, it is to sail when school is in session. For the major cruise lines, families are a major part of their business. When school is in session, it means fewer families can sail. With less demand, the cruise lines cut prices to fill up the ship.

For instance, we found a 7-night Caribbean cruise aboard Carnival that runs regularly from Galveston. Leave in September and the prices start at $489 per person. The same cruise leaving in July costs $924 per person!

Look for Cruises on Older Ships Cruise lines continue to build bigger and better cruise ships. Well be honest, the difference between new ships and their older counterparts can be drastic. All things equal, we prefer to stick to newer ships. To us, there is more to do on them.

But all things are not equal. To keep older ships full when there is strong demand for newer vessels the cruise lines often cut the prices. As a rule of thumb, its cheaper to sail older ships.

It makes sense that the less time you spend on the ship, the less you would have to pay.

What Cruise Deals Are Offered

The important thing to know about wave season sales is that you arent just looking for reduced cruise fares, though those are a great place to begin. The real incentive is the bevy of bonuses cruise lines add to their promotions, making it tough to pass up booking a cruise .

Here are the types of value-adds you should look for:

  • Discounted cruise fares.
  • Third and/or fourth passenger in a cabin sail free.
  • Kids sail free.
  • Free airfare from select U.S. gateways.
  • Pre-cruise overnight hotel stay.
  • Onboard credit you can use to pay for specialty dining, shore excursions and more.
  • Beverage packages.

Related: The best credit cards for booking cruises

Also Check: Disney Cruise Ship Length

Where Should You Stay On A Ship To Avoid Seasickness

The date range of your cruise will have more impact on seasickness than the placement of your cabin. Mid ship lower decks experiences less rolling but in calm seas this is practically irrelevant. Some itineraries traverse open seas more than others, and certain times of year are more likely to have better weather. If you get motion sickness in a car or airplane, you will probably feel sea-sick, and that does not stop people from enjoying cruises you are better to speak to your doctor or pharmacist about motion sickness if you routinely get car sick.

Rule #: Dont Think Booking Far Ahead Will Save Much

Disney Cruise Line – All That’s Included

If last-minute booking doesnt offer much of a discount, then surely youll be rewarded by booking well in advance, right?

Not so much.

Rates vary the most by time of year not by how far in advance the departure is. For example, youll see similar fares for a cruise in September, whether thats three months from now or a year and three months from now.

Now, thats not to say that the fare for a cruise well in the future wont drop at some point. If the cruise line has trouble filling rooms, they will certainly drop the rate. But many times, there is no huge advantage to booking a year or more in advance.

Don’t Miss: Reviews For Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line

Night Repositioning Cruise Frombarcelona To Tampa

$59 Per Day

$821 TOTAL Trip

Chase the Autumn Blues away by hopping on Caribbeans Rhapsody of the Seas. Its setting sail November 7th, 2020, and tickets are super affordable.

This repositioning cruise deal landed in our number 4 spot and is sure to impress. Enjoy 14 days of gorgeous cruising all the way from Tarragona to Tampa.

The itinerary has port stops in: the Canary Islands and the Bahamas. This ship holds up to 2400 guests and was recently renovated in 2016. Definitely a bucket list cruise at a truly affordable price.

Rule #: Dont Think Youll Save A Ton By Booking Last Minute

It would make sense that you would find the cheapest fares right before the ship sails. After all, if a room sails empty, the cruise line earns nothing from that cabin. They should want to get you on board for as badly as possible and hope to earn more on excursions, drinks, and shopping.

If that were how things actually worked, however, the cruise lines would go insane trying to plan. If rates were lowest right before the trip sailed, then every passenger would wait until the last minute. The cruise lines wouldnt be able to plan their needs for the trip ahead of time or predict revenue, costs, or profits.

Thats why Royal Caribbean, for example, eliminated last-minute discounts.

In fact, if you look at our chart of prices for the cruise below, you can see that the price you pay for a cruise about to depart is inline with the same time a year later.

Where you can really get burned by waiting until the last minute is in your room selection.

When you book late, many of the prime rooms have been taken already. In fact, with balcony rooms usually selling out the fastest, you may find that there are no balcony rooms available.

For more on buying last-minute cruises, read 9 Smart Last-Minute Cruise Buying Tips.

Recommended Reading: Cruises From Cape Liberty Nj

Three Things To Remember When Booking A Cheap Cruise

1. Smaller is cheaper Smaller boats tend to be less expensive since they offer fewer amenities and attractions.

2. Cruise in the off season Traveling off season will get you markedly cheaper fares.

3. Take a repositioning cruise Repositioning cruises are when cruise lines move ships from one part of the world to the next in anticipation of the upcoming season. These cruises are a great way to cross an ocean or sail down a continents coast on the cheap and can be found on any cruise booking website.

What about your flight? Dont book your flight with the cruise book it separately. Check out this guide to finding a cheap flight to lower that cost.

Does It Pay To Plan Ahead Or Should I Wait Until The Last Minute

What happens aboard a cruise ship?

Its an age-old question does the early bird really get the worm, or are there perks to taking a wait-and-see approach? If youre booking a cruise vacation, youll find there are benefits to both strategies. Planning ahead is a great way to score big savings, as Royal Caribbean often runs early saver deals to guests booking well in advance. Its also pretty safe to assume prices usually go up as availability goes down the closer you get to your sail date, so booking ahead is a surefire way to lock in a great rate. That said, booking a cruise at the last minute can also yield some unexpected savings but only if the itinerary youre interested in hasnt sold out yet.

Also Check: Ports In Jamaica For Cruise Ships

How To Book A Cheap Cruise

Booking a cheap cruise is actually quite easy and requires only one thing: flexibility. See, cruise pricing is similar to tour pricing. The closer you get to the departure date, the cheaper the cruise becomes.

Why?

Because cruise ships dont want to depart with half-empty boats, so they drop prices steadily until that boat is leaving port, since for them empty cabins mean less money.

Cruises make the majority of their money from what people purchase on board, so they want bodies on those ships.

You can also book early, but I find last-minute bookings to be the best. And since you are booking close to departure, you need to be flexible with where you are willing to go or OK with not booking the actual cruise even if you booked your flights.

Another tip comes Doug Parker of Cruise Radio, When the kids are in school, the rates are the best. This holds true in all travel but especially cruising, because it is such a family activity. Dont travel when everyone else is traveling! If you do that or travel during the shoulder season, you can find the best rates. Chris from Chris Cruises also reiterates my recommendation: Book far in advance or last minute for the best fares.

Do Cruise Prices Go Down At The Last Minute

As you can see, cruise prices are comparable to tour prices. The closer you get to the departure date, the lower the price of the cruise. Why? Because cruise lines don’t want to leave with half-empty boats, they gradually lower costs until the ship leaves port, because empty rooms imply less money for them.

So, generally speaking, cruise prices are pretty much set in stone unless you get a really good deal through another company or some kind of promotion. However, if you find a better deal on the same trip after it has been sold out for a while, it’s probably worth checking out.

That being said, don’t expect to save big bucks by waiting until the last minute to book a cruise. Cruise lines will be just as willing to offer low prices early on to attract customers, and there may even be special offers available for people who book within a certain time frame. But once they reach their capacity for that sailing, there’s no need for them to discount their rates further.

The one exception to this rule might be if you’re planning to travel during very busy times like Christmas or Thanksgiving. At those times, you may be able to find slightly discounted rates because more people are looking to cruise than usual. But other than that, we recommend getting your quote as soon as you know you’ll need one.

Cruise lines use a variety of methods to determine how much to charge per person.

Read Also: Cruises In Jamaica

What About Last Minute Deals

Disney has mostly done away with last minute deals across almost all of its itineraries.

While waiting to a few weeks before a cruise is set to go likely will not net a deal, if you are very flexible , you might spot such a deal now and then.

When Disney does offer last minute deals, they typically show up 30-45 days before departure. So about two months before a cruise would sail, keep an eye out for any potential deals.

Rule #: Do Monitor Price Dropsand Call The Cruise Line

Why would anyone what to go on a cruise ship right now?

So what if after all this you book your cruise, and then the price drops?

First, you should be monitoring the price of your cruise after you book if you want to save money. Were not saying to check it every day, but once or twice a week is sufficient.

If you run across a price drop, then you should contact the cruise line immediately. This is where having put down only a deposit and not paying in full buys you some leverage.

Many times the cruise lines will work with you to compensate for the lower fare, even though they often arent obligated to do so. They can refund the difference or offer onboard credit to make you happy.

Some lines have price protection policies in place. Carnival, for example, has its Early Saver Program:

1. When you book a 3-5 day cruise three months in advance, or 6 day or longer cruise five months in advance, you are assured the lowest rate.
2. In the unlikely event that you do find a lower Carnival-advertised rate after booking your cruise, we will honor it and adjust your cruise rate accordingly. Simply fill out the Price Protection Claim form and well take care of the rest.

If you only have a deposit down, and they wont work with you on the price difference, determine the refund policy to see if it is worth it to cancel your original trip and re-book the cruise at the lower rate.

Recommended Reading: Which Cruise Ships Sail Out Of Galveston

You May Like: Best Cruise Lines For Foodies

More articles

Popular Articles