Cruises - Guide to Booking/Finding Best Deal on Cruises?

Hi All,

My parents recently booked a cruise, and I realized that I wasn't sure how to help them find a lot of great quotes. That is to say, I don't have the fundamentals as to how to find deals on cruises in general, let alone a specific set of dates.

I've perused a lot of FT threads and found that vacationstogo.com is amazing for getting a sense of what's out there, but as to the major other sites for similarly identifying cruises to start with or otherwise getting a lot of quotes on a particular cruise, are there 5 or so that you all would recommend? Here's where I am right now:

I've found the following to be helpful for identifying where to begin because they let you list more than 10 or so cruises at once in a search category. Vacationstogo is particularly customizable and lets you list up to 500 cruises at once:
1) Vacationstogo
2) Kayak

Are there other sites that are also good for figuring out where to begin?

For quotes on particular cruises that I've identified:
1) Cruisecompete (comparing quotes)
2) Kayak/Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity (aggregating many agencies)
3) Cruisesonly/Cruise.com (agencies themselves)

Any additions? Alternatively, did I miss another FT post on the same subject?

I like cruisecompete as a starter. I'm not familiar with any other sites other than those you quoted.

im no cruise expert but i cruised the last 9 yrs , im from canada and if ur not to fussy on where u want to go , say south in winter time , i find i wait it out and u can get some good buys on cruises ,went on 7 , 10, and 14 days with some great buys ,again if ur flexable .

Rado is right. If they don't care about the itinerary or ship too much, waiting until the last minute and then booking with a travel agency (say, cruisecompete) will get them the best price. Tell them it's an adventure...

We learned this the hard way -- sitting at a table for 10 for lunch and being the butt of the joke as the only people who paid the full price. If you cruise Princess a lot, their discounts for frequent cruisers can be ridiculously low near the cruise date. Celebrity doesn't seem to drop theirs much. RCCL will *sometimes*, if they're not full. Carnival pretty much always sails with a full ship (and you can tell. lol).

For looking, I like Expedia's options (price, size, length, etc). Find what you like and then go to cc.

Crucon.com often has some excellent deals -- often with "guaranty" cabins in the various cabin categories (inside, oceanview, balcony, suite). They are definitely not a "search machine", just get on their mailing list to see what they are offering.

Once you've decided on a cruise, seascanner.com seems to be the only agency that lists EVERY available cabin for that cruise. (IIRC Travelocity will list quite a few cabin numbers, but definitely not ALL the possibilities.)

You may want to get on the email list for Online Vacation. They sometimes have very good deals, especially packages including hotels, flights, and transfers. My problem is sometimes the agents don't want to be bothered when calling back for more info after cruise is booked. Maybe it's just me.
I use their site a lot to check on prices of cruises that I am interested in to get an idea and then have my local agent to match the prices.