I notice so many different prices on sites when looking at booking a cruise. Suggestions please.
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Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruise Booking
6 Answers
Originally posted by:
Tropicalgirl59
I notice so many different prices on sites when looking at booking a cruise. Suggestions please.
Hi Tropicalgirl59! You may want to reach out to an experienced travel agent who specializes in cruises. There are thousands of combinations of lines, ships, itineraries, promotions, and offers that make it terribly confusing. Unless you know exactly what’s the perfect cruise for you, the advice of someone who spends all their time matching folks to their dream vacation could be invaluable. Happy cruising!
Contributor Level:
Captain
It pays to shop around. You can save a few bucks here and there. We have booked directly with the cruise lines, Vacations to go, Costco and a couple more I forget at this time. Some times you pay the same but some will give onboard credit or include a package of some kind. It pays to do your homework.
I usually book direct, but occasionally have gotten great deals through a online TA
Contributor Level:
Cruise Director
Go through a company like "Vacations To Go" or a travel agent. They will work on your behalf to meet all your needs.
Contributor Level:
First Mate
They can be slightly different depending on who is selling it. Here on our site, if you search for a cruise in our Find a Cruise feature here https://cruiseline.com/cruise/best for example, you'll usually get the best price of the partners that we have in the green button, sometimes it's the cruise line itself and other times it's a travel agency. If you click the arrow on that green button, you'll see the prices that the other agencies/line have!
Contributor Level:
First Mate
Originally posted by:
cruisellama
Prices among travel sites really do not differ for the same class of cabin. You need to pick a cruise line, then a cabin class and start comparisons from there. Use sites like this that can track prices across providers. Find the rate you like and dig a little deeper by looking at the cruise line site and seeing what wrapped in their offer vs the agent. You'll see perks or on-board credit (OBC) tossed in. Look for a value for your budget and whats important. You'll soon discover that OBC helps with price changes across providers. Here's a simplified example: Say a cabin has a price of $1000pp with $200 OBC - so look at the room rate as actually $800, but you're paying an additional $200 to have that rolled into the $1000 price. An agent may have that same cabin for $800pp, but no OBC or maybe $50 OBC. That $50 comes out of their booking profit. So the cabin is still $800pp, but you're getting an extra $50 from the agent's margin. This is just a very simple illustration because rates change on season, location on ship, historical passenger load and other incentives the line or agent may have. There are many variables - cruise lines all have their own unique methods to set rates. But best advise is to compare apples to apples. Meaning same class of cabin on a specific ship on a specific line at a particular season for a particular cruise location. If you start comparing med cruises to Caribbean you'll taint your analysis.
Just do the search based on your budget and you'll figure it out.
Right on!!!!
Contributor Level:
Captain
Prices among travel sites really do not differ for the same class of cabin. You need to pick a cruise line, then a cabin class and start comparisons from there. Use sites like this that can track prices across providers. Find the rate you like and dig a little deeper by looking at the cruise line site and seeing what wrapped in their offer vs the agent. You'll see perks or on-board credit (OBC) tossed in. Look for a value for your budget and whats important. You'll soon discover that OBC helps with price changes across providers. Here's a simplified example: Say a cabin has a price of $1000pp with $200 OBC - so look at the room rate as actually $800, but you're paying an additional $200 to have that rolled into the $1000 price. An agent may have that same cabin for $800pp, but no OBC or maybe $50 OBC. That $50 comes out of their booking profit. So the cabin is still $800pp, but you're getting an extra $50 from the agent's margin. This is just a very simple illustration because rates change on season, location on ship, historical passenger load and other incentives the line or agent may have. There are many variables - cruise lines all have their own unique methods to set rates. But best advise is to compare apples to apples. Meaning same class of cabin on a specific ship on a specific line at a particular season for a particular cruise location. If you start comparing med cruises to Caribbean you'll taint your analysis.
Just do the search based on your budget and you'll figure it out.