Everyone loves a bargain vacation. Although sometimes the amount of work that goes into finding that bargain may be more than the savings is worth. Some cruisers are willing to spend hours on the phone and on-line looking for the absolute lowest price.
But, sometimes, if the stars align properly, asking for a better price before making your final cruise payment, may score you a whopping discount.
While most cruise lines have moved in the past few years to stabilize prices, and discourage rebating. (“Rebating” being the practice whereby agents give back some of their commission to their clients.) There are always plenty of deals.
There are often great deals available to past passengers, seniors and residents of certain states. In general, those prices are available to any good travel agent.
In addition, agents may have consortium or group pricing, with slight additional discounts, or onboard credit and, in some cases, the possibility of an upgrade.
But in most cases it’s unlikely that one agent will significantly undercut all others.
The biggest deal may come at the last minute by simply asking, “Do you have any better prices for the same cabin?” Ask before final payment and before cancellation penalties have kicked in, if the fare has gone down.
It’s critical to do this before the penalties kick in, because if a cruise line for any reason does have a last-minute sale, most of them require you pay the penalty for cancellation before rebooking. (Although this varies by the situation and cruise line.)
Most of the time these days, the cruise fare has gone up. Which, as an agent, I cheerfully report to the clients, because booking early generally does get the best rates. On the other hand, if a sailing hasn’t filled up, or isn’t filling up, the rate can change for the better. Even $100 or so is nice extra vacation money, and I found such a per person discount last week for a February Hawaii cruise.
Sometimes you hit the bargain jackpot.
Clients of mine had booked a holiday sailing way in advance for one of the most expensive of times to cruise. But they wanted the itinerary, and were willing to pay it.
The cruise in question was seven days, leaving from San Juan on December 19. Many cruises on the same dates from Florida have just gone up in price. But, in my experience, it’s always worth a shot. In this case, apparently the cruise line isn’t having much luck, because the fare went down by half! Yes, 50 percent!
The only reason I can imagine is that airfares are really sky-high to the Caribbean this winter. There’s also the normal holiday crush and Christmas is on a Saturday, making December 18, 19 and 26 particularly tough travel dates. So travelers looking at this sailing may be discouraged by air prices.
In any case, the clients were beyond thrilled. It just took asking “I don’t suppose by any chance you have any better prices for the same cabin?”
Sometimes, a simple question is all it takes.
Janice Hough is a California-based travel agent a travel blogger and a part-time comedy writer. A frequent flier herself, she’s been doing battle with airlines, hotels, and other travel companies for over three decades. Besides writing for Travelers United, Janice has a humor blog at Leftcoastsportsbabe.com (Warning, the political and sports humor therein does not represent the views of anyone but herself.)
