My Favorite Pastime: Cruising!
loricunningham
Today I would like to talk about my favorite pastime--cruising! I call it my favorite pastime because cruising for me happened in the past -- BEFORE kids. My husband and I used to love taking cruises. It was fun to pack once, hop on a ship, dine until we dropped, shop the ports, and finish the cruise with a "death by chocolate" extensive buffet. Life couldn't get any better.
Yet, when our kids came along, life did get better-- and more fulfilling. Unfortunately, cruising for four became more expensive and finding a time that would fit with all of our schedules became daunting
One day, we'll get our act together and cruise again. But in the meanwhile, I wanted to share with you a couple of our favorite cruise deal websites. Even though we haven't taken a cruise in years, I am still on a couple of cruise website mailing lists. Hey, I can dream, right?
My Tips
OK, first of all, one trick to being able to afford cruising is to NEVER buy a cruise a year in advance. Cruise lines promise that buying early is one of the best times to buy. The truth is, when they have open capacity within months of sailing, they're going to sell rooms cheaper. It's more profitable to sail with cabins full of partial paying customers, than to sail with empty cabins.
Pick out the cruises you'd most like to take - even if it's a year earlier. Then watch for the price to come down. Tentatively plan for it in your calendar. Then 2-3 mos. before the ship is to sail, begin looking for great deals. We have found that if our timing is right, we could even get cabin upgrades and still pay much less than people who purchased a lessor cabin a year in advance.
Fav Websites
The following websites are our favorite cruise conglomerates who 1) have great deals on cruises and 2) provide easy searches to find good deals.
Cruise411.com- we have used them numerous times. Their tag line is "Every Cruise line, Every Ship, Every Cabin at the Lowest Price...Guaranteed!" When you find a good deal, call in and you can reserve the trip/price for 24-48 hours so you can look into your airfare. Their customer service is excellent.
CruCon.com - this is the first site we began using - many years ago. Their tag line is "Every Cruise on Sale Everyday." Be sure to take the time to talk with a customer service representative. They can often give you good hints as to when the best time to buy is, etc.
I wanted to see how these sites look on my Tilt 2 phone. To my surprise, I could see a lot of information. The images were very clear and the text easy to read. Hey, this is great. Now I can look for my next cruise while waiting in the doctor's office! Hmmm... if only we could all come up with a date that works with everyone's schedules!
April 19, 9:12 am