Best Way to Shop for a Cruise?

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett Once you decide on the cruise...ship, itinerary, date, cabin etc. you can put your business out for bid to: https://www.cruisecompete.com/ Fill in the details and let multiple travel agencies bid for your business. Just watch out for low ballers, get everything in writing and cover the basics. -credit card to be invoice by the cruise line -no charges for reprices or cabin changes -no TA charge for cancellations. We sometimes use this to check that our on line TA is still providing us with good prices. They do not have to be the lowest, just in the ballpark. We have had good success with this method. 20 plus cruises.

Good tip, didn’t know about this website. Thanks!

[Aerides]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister Same here. Our first ever cruise was on a ship with about 1,400 capacity and we said never again. Since then all our cruises have been on little ships, with the max so far of about 250 pax, the smallest 48. That's the range we'll stay in. I can certainly understand how many folks enjoy all the amenities on the big ships. I have a good friend who does at least a dozen cruises every year, and loves it. Just not for us.

I think the same way about hotels. I don't want to be one of 1500 people looking for a poolside chaise each morning, or standing in line for 20 minutes for breakfast. I like smaller, boutique style places, so a small cruise would also be my choice.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides I think the same way about hotels. I don't want to be one of 1500 people looking for a poolside chaise each morning, or standing in line for 20 minutes for breakfast. I like smaller, boutique style places, so a small cruise would also be my choice.

We've been on 4,000 passenger Carnival ships to Viking 900 passenger ships, to 180 passenger river cruise.

We thought like most folks the bigger the ship the longer the wait in lines, but it's not really true. Larger ships have more lines, more space for passengers. In our experience bigger just means more choices, and less personal interaction.
For example on the Carnival Horizon, the 4K passenger ship, we had zero line up for the roller coaster on top of the ship. I had expected a huge line.

It's largely the personal interaction we noticed on a smaller ship, like a river cruise, they truly know you by name and even your preferences.

[Badger]

We have been on a dozen+ cruises and have found "vacations to go" and "cruise critic" to be very helpful. Ships have been both large (2800) and small (64). We have found the larger the ship doesn't necessarily mean proportionately more amenities but it does mean they made more room for cabins. Ships are getting larger and great for those who like parties and mixing with lots of people. We prefer using more of a midsize ship as a means for accessing ports and having a convenient place for meals (when not sampling the local favorites) and for sleeping or a smaller ship to access ports not always possible with larger ships.
At the moment we are not sure when in the future we will cruise again. Eventually we may try another bike and barge cruise or river cruise but an ocean cruise will be limited to a trip to Norway.



Cheers!

[CincyDave]

We actually talk to our AAA travel agent. I like sitting down face to face and being able to discuss and add questions. And she does all the bookings etc. Maybe I'm old school. I'll have to check out some of the sites mentioned here.

[MichealKnight]

To each his own. And apologies - I'm sure some of this might have been mentioned already.

1.)CruiseCritic - the reviews, especially the ones written in the forum by real people are informative. You find common things - both positive and negative to forum an opinion. You'll get tons of detail right down to real pictures of the food, to tips on which suite or cabin is better.

2.)CruiseCompete - I used them once - - found the price to be most competitive and it was simple to use.

BUT.....for 9 other cruises I just use a Travel Agent and its helpful if your agent knows cruising *and* specializes in the specific line you want.

Basically, my agent gives me whatever the website price is (on the Cruiseline's website)... plus OnBoard Credits - OBC. I get anywhere from 7-8% OBC. So if I paid $10,000 for the cruise - @8% he gives me $800 onboard spending credit. I do see online outfits offering - 10%.

But for the 2% difference - I like having ONE guy - to email, text, or call when I need. I'm a buddy duddy - I like relationships and service. Chat-box, self-serve, do-it-at-home, open up a chat link, scan the app for the QR code of the whatever .....not my thing.

[Chuckanut]

I just saw a commercial for a Big Name cruise company yesterday. Lots of happy people having fun and not a mask in sight. Where do I sign up?

[YVRRocketSurgery]

There's a difference between researching a cruise and shopping for a cruise.

Cruise Critic is a great resource for those that want to do their own research as they have articles to give you the basics and forums where you can ask questions.
Using a travel agent can be a good resource that can speed up and narrow down the things that are more important to you for a cruise vacation. But you have to find a good travel agent that specializes in cruises. Generally speaking, travel agents don't make a lot of money so your TA may or may not have first hand experience with the cruise line or ship class you are interested in. They do get discounted fam (familiarization) cruises.

When booking a cruise, it's generally NOT advantageous booking directly with the cruise line because they essentially keep the commission they normally give to the Travel Agency. Where one can get added value is booking though a travel agency which means a local corner travel agency, Costco Travel, Expedia, etc.
The travel agency can cut their own commission and give it back to you in the form of perk like an Onboard credit, a departure gift like a bottle of wine, etc. Some/Many large cruise lines generally forbid TA's from discounting the cabin price, hence the perks instead.
It's more advantageous to book with a travel agent and travel agency that sells a lot of cruises because they typically will get a higher tier percentage of commission, the more they sell, which means they have more wiggle room to give you a perk. If you're going to cruise a lot, it's generally advantageous building up a rapport with a particular travel agent or agency. I've had mixed success.

Larger travel agencies also pre-book blocks of rooms on some sailings which gets them cheaper group/block rates from the cruise line. Again, they can then pass those savings onto you as part of that group rate.

Personally, I like the larger mainstream lines. I like being anonymous on the ship instead of seeing the same pax 10x a day. And I like the wider range of amenities that a larger ship can offer.

[FindingForward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YVRRocketSurgery There's a difference between researching a cruise and shopping for a cruise. Cruise Critic is a great resource for those that want to do their own research as they have articles to give you the basics and forums where you can ask questions. Using a travel agent can be a good resource that can speed up and narrow down the things that are more important to you for a cruise vacation. But you have to find a good travel agent that specializes in cruises. Generally speaking, travel agents don't make a lot of money so your TA may or may not have first hand experience with the cruise line or ship class you are interested in. They do get discounted fam (familiarization) cruises. When booking a cruise, it's generally NOT advantageous booking directly with the cruise line because they essentially keep the commission they normally give to the Travel Agency. Where one can get added value is booking though a travel agency which means a local corner travel agency, Costco Travel, Expedia, etc. The travel agency can cut their own commission and give it back to you in the form of perk like an Onboard credit, a departure gift like a bottle of wine, etc. Some/Many large cruise lines generally forbid TA's from discounting the cabin price, hence the perks instead. It's more advantageous to book with a travel agent and travel agency that sells a lot of cruises because they typically will get a higher tier percentage of commission, the more they sell, which means they have more wiggle room to give you a perk. If you're going to cruise a lot, it's generally advantageous building up a rapport with a particular travel agent or agency. I've had mixed success. Larger travel agencies also pre-book blocks of rooms on some sailings which gets them cheaper group/block rates from the cruise line. Again, they can then pass those savings onto you as part of that group rate. Personally, I like the larger mainstream lines. I like being anonymous on the ship instead of seeing the same pax 10x a day. And I like the wider range of amenities that a larger ship can offer.

This is a great primer - I've dug deep into Cruise Critic for years - a great resource - just don't be too thin skinned lol...it sometimes gets snarky on there. I've also used cruise compete and several large cruise-specific online agencies with good success. A couple of things I'll add, just from my own experience:

-- Cruises are like airline fares - few passengers likely paid the same price - they fluctuate by the hour sometimes, as well as by your TA (travel agent) or whatever promo is running at the time, which changes every few weeks.

Like earlier posters said, sometimes you get your best deal booking way in advance. Sometimes you do better last minute (not always...plenty of times I've seen last min pricing that was only slightly lower but "bare bones": didn't feature the original perks- free drinks, internet, OBC, etc)

So I do the best shopping research I can, then go for the price I feel is reasonable for the voyage. You will ALWAYS find someone who paid less or got a better deal - and annoyingly, some passengers love to brag about that.

--Scrutinize all the fine print for any travel agency - especially online ones. I've noticed the more generous the perks, the bigger a risk you sometimes have take if cancelling, moving or repricing a booking. Not always, but ask lots of questions. I can think of one large agency most cruisers know that used to offer the best perks, but charged a $100 cancellation fee/passenger.
(This was back in 2019 pre-covid)

I LOVE cruising and miss it so much.
Hope to embark again one day soon...

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FindingForward ..... So I do the best shopping research I can, then go for the price I feel is reasonable for the voyage. You will ALWAYS find someone who paid less or got a better deal - and annoyingly, some passengers love to brag about that. ......

We had a funny bragger event, we were on a Viking Ocean cruise attending some talk. This fellow next to us bragged he got a great deal on this cruise without mentioning the price.

I don't feel any need to keep a secret about what we paid as maybe I'll learn his good tricks/tips for a deal, so I told him how we had decided 2 months previous to go on this trip and paid $xxxx (I forget the number).

Suddenly he was PEEVED as it turned out, he paid a couple of thousand more and had been told his price was the lowest it ever was going to be...

Sort of ruined his day.

[Bamaman]

My wife's hobby is staying up late nights finding travel bargains, and she's receiving a bunch of emails from cruise lines and travel consolidators.

Our problem is that we've received deals that were just about impossible to turn down. We're going on vacation somewhere, and we may as well go when the deal gets too low.

Our current pending cruise is the Baltic Cruise the end of May--for $440 when we bought it. (We sprang for a 10th floor balcony, however.) I just hope politics doesn't keep us out of St. Petersburg. If the cruise is cancelled or changed too much, we can always go to the Eastern Med out of Venice. Or, we can cancel all together and take in London and another city--like Budapest where a friend has an apartment.

[Happyras]

We always book with Costco. We hate Princess and Holland America (Prison DAM), but have high status with Celebrity and book often on board for the best deal, which automatically gets transferred to Costco. We then get the Costco rebate and servicing of the reservation. Last June we did the inaugural to Alaska, and then a Caribbean trip on the Edge in Oct. We did a cruise by train in Europe in Sept when our Greek Cruise was being re-routed we gave up and went by Rail Czech/Austria/Germany.

Years ago we would use Carnival to take the kids on trips, but we are really spoiled by Celebrity. We are stuck needing the Suite level and perks. I am sorry, if we don't the kids will. The latest upgrades now with the new Edge ships and the Retreat are too good. I swear they use facial recognition everywhere on ship, because they all seem to know our name and favorite cocktail. The only trip we have booked now is for Aug in the Baltic on Apex, full one bedroom suite.

I agree cruise critic is a great tool and vacationstogo.com is a nice summary with overstated discounts you can do better with Costco. However, another tip is travelwithAlan.com . He puts together some awesome trips for cheap. Typically more extensive with land and sea/air packages, but they sell out same day.

[GTFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman Our current pending cruise is the Baltic Cruise the end of May--for $440 when we bought it. (We sprang for a 10th floor balcony, however.) I just hope politics doesn't keep us out of St. Petersburg. If the cruise is cancelled or changed too much, we can always go to the Eastern Med out of Venice. Or, we can cancel all together and take in London and another city--like Budapest where a friend has an apartment.

Better hope that Putin pulls back, because if he goes into Ukraine there might not be any European vacations this summer.

[brett]

We use vacationstogo to identify last minute cruises. We have never booked through them yet but there is always a first time.

We have picked up last minute cruises whilst in the middle of land travels that had a daily balcony rate that was equal to what we would be paying for accommodation only, let alone meals and transport.

Same for last minute AI's. When travelling we always check four and five start business hotels for weekend specials. Many are simply not listed on booking sites.

[FIYes]

I agree with the Vacations to Go and Cruise Critic suggestions. Once I identify a cruise that I find interesting I compare prices. I have found Costco and Vacations to Go generally have the best pricing. I haven’t tried cruise compete but will put it on my list.

I look forward to feeling like travel and cruising is safe again.

[brett]

One thing that we have found through experience is that once you know what you want you need to understand pricing. What is a good price, what is just OK, and what is a really good price.

And when you see a really good price on the itinerary, ship, and date be prepared to buy immediately. Prices can disappear in hours, desirable cabins can be sold. There have been a few times when delay has caused us to miss an opportunity.

[FIYes]

We are looking at a cruise for 2023. Thanks to a tip in this thread, I tried cruise compete. I got a couple of offers…one was only about $50 less than the prices that I had found. The other was about $40 less but the price included gratuities. However, the agency that included gratuities had less than stellar reviews. I’m still shopping. Hey, the planning and anticipation is part of the fun!

[Bamaman]

Well, our Baltic cruise itinerary was changed, and visiting St. Petersburg is out of the question. So we got a full refund.

We still have the tickets to London, and I assume we'll be spending most of a week there and then go to Plan B. May fly to Milan and get a rental car to drive through the Alps of Switzerland and Austria. We wanted to go to Budapest, but they don't need any tourists with untold thousands of refugees needing somewhere to go.