abhicoolmax

Hi All,

I want to give my Wife a 7+ night cruise package for my 1st Anniversary this Nov (and around). I live in US and would like to go to Caribbean this winter on a Cruise, though open to options if a great deal available.

Where can I get the best deal?

Royal Caribbean site has free upgrade until tonight. Is going to the Cruise site the best way to get the best deal?

Please help! Thanks!

sonofzeus

"Free upgrade" = within the category.

You'll have to do much more work than calling the cruise line to "get the best deal".

BTW Don't expect any concessions because you're celebrating a "special" event.

Call Victoria @ CruCon. Tell her your criteria. If she offers free gratuities and 10% on- board credit, book it.

clacko

try vacationstogo.com pick a port & you can see all for your date range.....

DanJ

If you want a good deal, look at the 2 or 3 weeks right after Thanksgiving. I priced out some cruises today for Nov 30 and Dec 1, 7 day Caribbean on Oasis and Allure of the Seas, the 2 big ships on Royal Caribbean, and I was getting prices of right around $2000 for 4 of us. You can probably get a good balcony cabin for 2 for less than that (I was looking at the family sized oceanview cabins, which are huge, but only have windows).

China Clipper

Yes. The weeks just before Christmas and just after New Year's can offer real discounts. Most people are prepping and/or exhausted those times. Cruise lines' own sites often offer last-minute deals when their ships haven't filled up. A lot of people also swear by cruisecompete, but I haven't used them yet.

Many, if not most, of the cruise lines' special-offer deadlines are bogus.
Next week's deal will be even better if they haven't filled up their ship.

Tenerife

After you've used the search engine at Vacationstogo.com to find your "dream" cruise for the timeframe that you want (as several have mentioned, the first week of December generally offers the best prices), check out cruisecompete.com and let various agencies make their best offers -- OBC, paid gratuities or some other perk. Enjoy!

abhicoolmax

I finally booked using United Cruises. There was a $25 fee. But I got 8 miles/$ spent. My balcony cabin costed me $1380 (+ $120 standard insurance for 2). So that's 12,000 miles, which I value at 2 cents/mile "at-least," so that's like $240 cashback.... + I got $100 to spend on-board + 2 specialty dinner passes (no including beverage).
---> So, $1500 total for 1 Balcony D2 + $100 on-board credit + 2 dinners + 8 miles/$

I called vacationstogo as well. They were pricing the same cruise for $125 less on the total, so it would had been $1230 (note: no booking fee and $125 rebate because of my past-stay with Royal Caribbean) + $140 standard insurance for 2 (note $20 extra). There were NO more offers!
---> So, $1370 for 1 Balcony D2 + 2 points/$ as I would have used Chase Sapphire

I also got quotes from completecruise, none beat either of the above.

Hope this helps somebody. If you value United miles, I think United Cruise could be a could option for you; but that just may be my freakish crush for United Miles ... lol !!

RancherDave

If you took the cruise line insurance be sure you fully understand how it works. Since it appears you bought online nobody may have explained the difference between cruise line offered vs third party travel insurance. I always use third party.

abhicoolmax

I took a third party offered by United Cruises.

See below....

"Trip Protection Insurance

We highly recommend the purchase of Trip Protection. Our company offers insurance coverage through Travel Guard Intl, a third-party provider and a leader in the travel protection plan business. We encourage all passengers to purchase travel insurance, as it provides coverage for a variety of unforeseen circumstances, the complete details of which are outlined in this document: Insurance.pdf. Insurance may be purchased for $59 per person, up until 10 days after you have made your final payment for your trip. If you have purchased your vacation within 10 days of travel, please note that insurance cannot be added within 24 hours of your scheduled departure. To purchase insurance now, you may simply click here.
*Insurance is only refundable within 10 days of plan.
*Please note that travel suppliers may have their own insurance policies."

See https://cruises.united.com/images/EI...lCompanion.pdf

This is good or bad?

RancherDave

I put clients and my own family on trAvel guard all the time.

MisterBill

It might be too late, but if VTG was offering you $125 off because you had sailed with RCCL before, it was likely in the form of a Crown & Anchor Society coupon, which should have been available no matter where you booked. I would recommend logging into the C&A section of the RCCL site and look for their coupons. Sadly, it's possible that the ones available now were not valid when you booked since it's a different quarter, but it will be a lesson learned for future cruises.

VTG has a great price search engine but they're rarely competitive on their OBC offers if you look around.

Didyousleep

:-:........

kaps454

OP said" I live in US and would like to go to Caribbean this winter on a Cruise, though open to options if a great deal available."

Hurricane season runs from Jun 1 to Nov 30.

High season is mid Dec to mid Apr for the Caribbean. Jun, Jul, Aug are the next busiest times.

First two weeks of Jan, late Apr, late May are considered low season. Sep, Oct, early Nov are considered low season.

Hope this helps

747FC

I've never booked with anyone except directly with the cruiseline. I don't pay the entire fare until shortly before the deadline, when I call the cruise company, and ask if there are any further discounts avaialable. On my most recent cruise, I got $1000 in onboard credit. On other cruises, I got similar discounts. YMMV....

China Clipper

April is already hot as blazes in the Caribbean.

I recommend January-February.