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While there’s certainly more travel time required to get to Europe as opposed to Florida, searching a wider range of departure ports means opening up the possibility for more cheap deals. The more flexible you are when planning a cruise, the better chance you have at snagging an amazing deal for your vacation. Of course, there are still occasionally last minute cruise deals to be had, but you have to dig for them. Royal Caribbean cruises are as popular as ever, so last minute deals are not nearly as prevalent as they once were. More often than not, sailings sell out in the weeks and months before a cruise is set to begin, leaving little to no opportunity to book a cruise closer into the sail date.
Royal Caribbean website
One-way Alaska itineraries tend to offer fantastic cruise deals, often as low as just $550 per person including taxes and fees. While add-ons like beverage packages and internet will always be available, others, like shore excursions and dining packages, can sell out. While it’s unlikely all shore excursions will sell out, popular tours are more likely to fill up quickly. This is especially true for ports that tend to be further away from the main attractions, such as excursions to cities like Rome or Paris.
Night Transatlantic
Just because you find a cheap cruise deal on a particular website, though, does not mean you have to book the cruise from that website. If you find a cheap cruise deal on Vacations To Go, for example, you are not obligated to book the cruise from them. Cruise Critic's website has a Find a Cruise page where you can easily compare prices from multiple websites. This is another great way to find cheap last-minute cruises, as you can filter the results by destination, departure port, departure month, cruise line, ship, cruise length, and more. Therefore, if choosing your stateroom is extremely important to you, you will want to make sure the last-minute cruise deal is still available when choosing your own cabin location.
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How to book a cheap cruise
Our world-famous 90-Day Ticker is a complete listing of last-minute cruises on the world's best cruise lines. Average availability is less than seven days and many cruises sell out within hours of listing. Summer, holiday weekends, and school breaks for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break tend to see the most demand for cruises. Additionally, I almost always receive extra onboard credit through my travel agent. Having onboard credit means I can enjoy my cruise even more, whether I use it to book a specialty restaurant dinner or order an extra cocktail on the pool deck. Alaska cruises have a reputation for being more expensive than other itineraries.
Keeping an eye on when Royal Caribbean releases new cruise itineraries is a good idea for those hoping to book a cruise at a lower price. Now that I live in Florida, it is a lot easier to get to many of the ports, and I’ve found that my cruising options have grown. I can easily take a weekend cruise, without the hassle of multiple travel days, taking up my PTO. If you prefer to sail midship or want an aft-facing balcony, there’s no guarantee these categories will be available when booking at the last minute. You may find that the only cabins available are located under the pool deck, far forward, etc. If you’re planning to book a last-minute cruise, consider the following factors when booking to ensure you don’t end up disappointed with your options and cruise fare cost.
These last-minute deals tend to be found during shoulder season and on older, smaller cruise ships, but can offer nice savings for those with more flexibility. Vacations To Go has what they call a 90 Day Ticker on their website, and this is one of the easiest places to find all last-minute cruise deals in one place. All cruises on the 90 Day Ticker set sail within the next 90 days, allowing you to make the most of any cheap cruise deals available. Royal Caribbean markets their newest and biggest cruise ships more than the fleet’s older vessels, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid smaller cruise ships.
Spontaneous vacation
Even if you don’t find the cheapest cruise deal available, you’ll still save significant money with Crown & Anchor benefits like free drinks and complimentary laundry. The higher your loyalty status with a particular cruise line, the better chance you have of finding cheap cruise deals. If you cruise often with Royal Caribbean, we recommend sticking to the cruise line in order to grow your loyalty status in the Crown & Anchor Society.
If you book a guarantee balcony cabin, for example, you will be assigned (at least) a balcony room, but it could be located anywhere on the ship, from deck 7 forward to deck 12 aft. The more flexible you are in itinerary choice, the better chance you’ll have at scoring a great deal. If your schedule is flexible, you should book a cruise during the shoulder or off season instead of the peak season. The ship rating is based on a 6-star system, and you can view the ratings key here. There are many Facebook groups dedicated to a particular ship or cruise line, and often deals are shared among the members.
Repricing non last-minute cruise deals
Booking a cruise at the last minute can sometimes lead to great deals and added flexibility, but keep an eye on airline prices before booking. If you have to fly to your cruise, airfare prices could sink any deal you find for a sailing. However, a last minute cruise deal is not unheard of, because there can be cancellations, itinerary changes, or simply weak demand for a sailing. When booking a cruise at the last minute (i.e. after final payment date), you’ll have to pay the entire cruise fare upfront instead of paying over the course of a longer period of time. While this may not make a difference for some cruisers, others would prefer having the vacation paid for further in advance.
Booking a cruise at the last minute, or even just a few months in advance, can lead to a feeling of increased excitement and spontaneity! Having a last-minute vacation planned can offer a fantastic getaway with little waiting required. Those who booked cruises to northern Europe far in advance with the hope of visiting St. Petersburg, for example, faced itinerary changes in light of current political events. While being able to snag the greatest deals is more likely when booking a cruise far in advance, this isn’t always possible for all guests.
To find a last-minute cruise deal on Royal Caribbean, search the website for cruises and filter the results to see the lowest price first. You can also use a website such as VacationsToGo.com, which has a 90-day ticker showing the best, cheapest cruise deals departing within the next three months. Royal Caribbean will sometimes lower a cruise fare closer to the sail date if demand is low, leading to low prices for those who can sail at the last minute.
Therefore, it’s recommended to check the flyer on late Monday night or early Tuesday morning in order to help ensure all deals listed are still available. As cruises book up during the week, the deals listed on the PDF may no longer be valid. Some of the longest itineraries—such as repositioning cruises and transatlantic itineraries—see the lowest price per day of any cruise itinerary. Being open to more unique, longer itineraries can be a good way to stretch your vacation budget further and have more time onboard. The second caveat is that you still have to pay taxes, fees, and gratuities for all kids—the “free” deal is for the base cruise fare only.
If you prefer to book further in advance, or if you have a specific cruise in mind, use Find a Bargain or Custom Search. You'll find a treasure trove of early bird discounts, two-for-ones and other cut-rate promotions on the world's best lines. We recommend checking Royal Caribbean’s detailed list here to check if you qualify for any discounts.
Peak season is also found during holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break). If Royal Caribbean sees low demand in the months leading up to the sailing, the prices for these sailings will drop drastically. Keeping an eye on one-way Alaska cruise deals 3-6 months before the cruise begins is a sure-fire way to find a deal on cruising to the Last Frontier. Ultimately, the difficulty in getting a last minute cruise deal boils down to luck with the right offer, at the right time, from the right embarkation port. When I search for last minute deals, it's not as difficult to find a good price as it is to find a good price on a sailing that you want to go on.
While the prospect of booking a last-minute, cheap cruise fare may seem tempting, it's not necessarily the best way to find a cheap cruise. The major downside to booking a guarantee cabin, though, is that you have no control over your stateroom location. If you prefer being midship and close to the action onboard, you may end up in a cabin located very far forward or aft. Not only will this lead to longer walking times, but you may feel more of the ship’s movement in your cabin. It can be difficult to sort through cruise itineraries, ships, and cruise lines to find the cheapest deal, so Vacations To Go comes in handy when looking for a last-minute cruise. The oldest Royal Caribbean ships—Vision, Radiance, and Voyager Class ships—often see some of the lowest prices.
Likewise, if you’re hoping to splurge on a Star Class suite, these rooms are not always available at the last minute. Booking a cruise early will give you the most options for shore excursions and cruise add-ons, which you can book on Royal Caribbean’s Cruise Planner website. While most room categories will not sell out very far in advance, certain cabins are more likely to fill up than others. Suite categories in particular are known to sell out, so if you know you want to book a certain suite it’s important to do so far in advance. While there is no “best time to book a cruise,” it’s helpful to know what to expect if booking a cruise years in advance or just a few weeks before your cruise departs.
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