I've been trying to book a cruise for my parents' anniversary on May 1, 2005. Some of the stipulations:

I don't know anything about cruises, and so far my searches so far have proved fruitless. Can anyone help?

I was with you until you listed the $ requirement. You say $650 doesn't include taxes, but are you including tips in there? That will add a bit of money to the cost. I think you can find some shorter cruises that might make it close to your $ requirement, but it'll be a little tough. Have you checked out www.icruise.com ? You can try searching for a cruise that will meet your requirements, and just might luck out. Good luck!

Those really cheap cruises like $299 for 5 days or a "trip to nowhere" for even less tend to pop up closer to the date they usually happen--maybe a month out or less. VacationsToGo has a "90 day ticker" that shows a lot of severe reductions in pice once it gets within 90 days, and sometimes you can find the same cruise for even less elsewhere. VacationsToGo is a nice format to look at, though, so it's a good place to start.

Can you promise your parents an unspecified cruise and then fill in the details later?

Well, I was kind of hoping to surprise them with, "Guess where you're headed for your next anniversary!" To be sure, they're flexible with dates, but the earlier I can nail something down, the easier it will be for them to make plans. Admittedly, I'm starting my search pretty early.

As far as tips, I've never taken a cruise (I can't imagine them being that fun for me, but my parents have always dreamed of taking one) so I hadn't realized they were an expense to consider beforehand. I'm sure my parents can handle any gratuities.

And as far as the money goes...the $650 isn't a hard-and-fast cap. I could stretch a bit more: $700 or so wouldn't break the bank, but $1100 certainly would.

Out of curiosity, I dug around a bit. The closest thing I saw was that in June, Carnival has a 4-day and a 5-day cruise from New York to Halifax, that VacationsToGo is advertising for $379 and $399. You might get a wee bit knocked off of this from one of the other internet cruise sites. These are already steeply discounted, so they are unlikely to go down further closer to the date, though. The Carnival line and Halifax as a destination are both debatable, but for people who are easy-going and just want to be on a ship, they might be fine.

The other destination that is common from the East Coast is Bermuda, but all the cruises I see listed right now are 7 days and starting at $700-$800. I have seen shorter, cheaper cruises to there in the past, but nothing listed at this point in time.

"On a cruise ship that goes nowhere!"

Sorry, I'm just amusing myself thinking if you buy them a "cruise to nowhere" deal. I'll leave it to the more seasoned cruisers to find a deal. Best of luck in your search.

Yes, this is the cruise board, but for that amount of money, you could get them a fun weekend at the Ritz in Philly, with spa treatments and perhaps dinner at Le Bec Fin and show tickets.

Jane in PHL

Does that $379pp - $399pp include taxes and port charges? (Already with the $399pp, the price is out of the $700 range by $100! With tax and port, it will probably go to at least $900/couple.) Let's not even get into mandatory gratutities, drinks, or shore excursions!

Advice: As has been already posted, check out some of the discount cruise sites; also, try checking out some of the cruise discussion boards.

True enough. Frankly, I can't understand the allure of a cruise myself -- it's just basically a floating hotel. Frankly, I'd rather hike around in a National Park or jet off to some international city and spend the time seeing the sights, not getting there. But my parents have always wanted to take a cruise (ever since I was a little kid), and they never seem to be able to do it. So I've decided to get one for them.

(Gee, I hope it wasn't blasphemous of me to write that stuff, particularly on the cruise board! )

Have you ever taken a cruise? (a REAL one, not a one or two day repositioning cruise...)

Kind of along what ScottC is saying. I used to think like you, my fellow Denverite. Some friends my age (late 20's) convinced me to look into a cruise. Now, I can't wait to go again! Sure the rooms are small, and the food is mediocre (at least on Royal Caribbean), and the weather was awful most of the time, but we got to meet great people and had a very fun time.

It also greatly depends on where you're going. I just got back from a 12-night mediterannean cruise for our honeymoon. It was absolutely perfect. Each day we were in a new place, and would spend the entire day exploring. We went to Barcelona, Florence, Naples, Venice, Rome, Dubrovnik, Corfu, and a couple other places. Now yes, we could have rented a car, gone by train, and taken flights to get to all those places. But for our honeymoon it was an incredible way to get to each of those places. We loved it, and can't wait to go on another adventure.

Two years ago we went on a cruise to Alaska, which was our first cruise. It was a great way to see Alaska, since the ship would stay near land most of the time and we could see all the beauty. Each day we went to a different port and were able to explore different areas of Alaska. Again, a great way to get around and see a bunch of places.

Although I think that cruises aren't for everyone, I think that people should reserve judgment until they've actually done one. You'll never know if you like it or not until you go on one. Prior to the Alaska cruise I didn't really think I'd enjoy a cruise. But now I'm a convert

Ditto, we had a great time on our first cruise to Alaska and now we're hooked. But it's definitely not for everyone, my sister didn't enjoy her cruise to Alaska that much.

About finding a good deal, you might want to just wait until it gets a lot closer to the date. Prices usually drop about 90 days before the sailing date, because usually you can't get a refund on your deposit if you cancel after then. So a lot of folks make a booking and then if they decide they can't go, they just cancel and get their deposit back, so that's when cruise lines usually drop their prices, to sell off the rooms that got dumped back on them. If you wanted a particular sailing that was very popular, I wouldn't recommend waiting because it could easily sell out, but since you don't seem to care which itinerary or cruise line they go on, there's probably no harm in waiting and seeing what's out there closer to the date.

I recently saw a deal on a sailing this fall round-trip out of Norfolk for 10 days on Holland-America for like $650 per person including port fees, probably because it's nowhere near sold out and the sailing is coming up quickly.

Try http://www.acheapcruise.net - you should find something in your price bracket there.

Aaron

The best deals are going to be found much closer to the depature date. I'd try to wait and book this untill at least March or April.

Once in the 90 day window, I've always had the best luck with vacationstogo.com