7 tips for the best cruise deal !!!

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7 tips for the best cruise deal
Get the best possible cruise for your money!

By Anita Dunham-Potter
Tripso.com
Updated: 2:06 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2006


Winter cruises are no longer the indulgence of the rich and privileged
few. In fact, cruises are the fastest-growing sector of the travel
industry. According to Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA),
which represents 19 major cruise lines, more than 10 million people
worldwide took a cruise in 2005, and that number is expected to more
than double in the next five years.

Purchasing a cruise was once as simple as going to your local travel
agent and leafing through a couple of brochures. But with the growth of
the industry has come an almost overwhelming array of itineraries,
packages, purchasing options and prices. How do you navigate through
all the information to find the best deals? The tips that follow will
help you clinch the best possible cruise for your money.

1. Catch the wave
The January-through-March “wave period” is traditionally the cruise
industry’s busiest booking period. During this time, cruise lines make
about 35 percent of their annual sales. This is the time when they pull
out all the stops, offering consumers many hot deals.

This year the deals may be a little cooler. Unlike the past five years,
when a dozen or more new cruise ships were launched each year, only six
new vessels are being launched in 2006. With the slowdown in growth,
supply is a little tighter. Still, some cruise lines are making special
offers to entice travelers. For example, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line
was recently offering BlackBerries and RAZR phones as booking
incentives on selected cruises.

2. Call the cruise line first
Talk with a cruise line representative about the particular cruises and
stateroom categories that interest you. Ask for any specials and be
sure to mention your age and state of residence, as well as whether you
are traveling in a group or have sailed with the cruise line before;
all of these circumstances could qualify you for additional discounts.
Use the quote given by the cruise line as your starting price point.


3. Check the Sunday papers
Sunday newspapers often carry ads for big cruise bargains in their
travel sections. Larger metropolitan-area papers and papers in or near
cruise embarkation cities are especially good for finding deals. For
example, to find discounts for Miami, Fort Lauderdale or Port Canaveral
embarkations, you should check the newspapers in those cities. You can
purchase a short-term subscription to these papers or research them at
your local library. If you’re looking to cruise out of Galveston, check
the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News, whose travel ads are
online.

4. Check cruise booking Web sites
Large online cruise discount agencies like cruise.com, icruise.com, 1-
800-cruises.com and cruise411.com offer some of the lowest cruise rates
anywhere. Travel megasites like Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity often
have excellent deals as well, particularly on last-minute cruises.
Recent comparison-shopping found that prices with the large dedicated
cruise sites tended to fall within a few dollars of each other.
Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity all offered similar prices that were
slightly higher.

While the abovementioned sites may be selling cruises cheaper, be sure
to inquire about additional and hidden fees, particularly cancellation
penalties, which can range anywhere from $35 to $75.


5. Call a travel agent
Many consumers feel more comfortable working with a travel agent face
to face. Try both local independent agents and large national agencies
like AAA and American Express. If the cruise line you’re researching
has an agent-finder function on its Web site, use it to find agents
near you. The CLIA Web site, for example, has a “Cruise Expert
Locator.”

When you meet with a travel agent, try not to waste your time or the
agent’s. Be direct: Tell him exactly what you’re looking for and that
you are comparison-shopping.

One thing to know before you meet with a local travel agent is that
many charge consulting fees for their time with you. Like many
independent travel agents, luxury cruise specialist Lucy Hirleman,
president of Berkshire Travel in Newfoundland, N.J., charges new
clients a $50 nonrefundable trip deposit fee.

“We charge this fee to discourage the shopping around,” Hirleman
says. “But if you book the trip with us, the fee is then applied toward
the total cost of the cruise. If you cancel the trip we keep the fee;
however, we allow customers one year to use the fee toward another
cruise or vacation package.”

Local agents are especially useful for consumers who have special
requests or needs and for cruise itineraries that require visas and
other special documentation.

6. Place a “Cruise Wanted” ad online
Check out CruiseCompete.com. After you complete a quick registration,
you can post an anonymous ad to which travel agents can respond with
their best offers. The key is to be specific about what you are looking
for. An agent or agents will often get back to you with price quotes
the first day.

7. Negotiate
Once you’ve received several quotes, try to negotiate a lower price or
some additional onboard extras. Online, use icruise.com’s “Beat Your
Quote” feature to see if it will bring your cost down a bit further
(this only works when icruise has agents online; the function will
appear in the “Click to speak with a live agent” section). Cruise411
also offers a lowest-price guarantee: Should you ever book a cruise
with Cruise411 and later find a lower advertised rate for which you
qualify from a competitor, Crusie411 will beat it.

In today’s ultracompetitive travel market, many independent agents will
do their best to beat the lowest quote you’ve found. So if a travel
agent quotes you the same rate as the cruise line, you should keep
shopping around.

There is a cruise deal out there that will fit your budget and
lifestyle. All it takes is a little detective work to ward off that big
winter chill.

Anita Dunham-Potter is a Pittsburgh-based travel journalist
specializing in cruise travel. Anita's columns have appeared in major
newspapers and many Internet outlets, and she is a contributor to
Fodor's "Complete Guide to Caribbean

"steinbrenner" wrote in message
news:MTEzNzExNjcyMy5wb25kZXJ0ZQ.1137116723@nulluse r.com...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10776498/from/RSS/
One thing to know before you meet with a local travel agent is that
many charge consulting fees for their time with you. Like many
independent travel agents, luxury cruise specialist Lucy Hirleman,
president of Berkshire Travel in Newfoundland, N.J., charges new
clients a $50 nonrefundable trip deposit fee.

"We charge this fee to discourage the shopping around," Hirleman
says. "But if you book the trip with us, the fee is then applied toward
the total cost of the cruise. If you cancel the trip we keep the fee;
however, we allow customers one year to use the fee toward another
cruise or vacation package."


I don't quite understand how charging a booking fee encourages new business
when their prices aren't any better that any one else's. It seems as thought
they have so much business they can't be bothered to give out prices.

"I don't quite understand how charging a booking fee encourages new
business
when their prices aren't any better that any one else's. It seems as
thought
they have so much business they can't be bothered to give out prices. "

Many booking fees are applied to the cost of the travel, so the
traveler isn't paying any more .

Charging a fee is meant to discourage someone from wasting an agents
time, ie. having them spend hours researching cruises, flights, shore
excursions, etc, and then the consumer, armed with all of the research
that the agent did, goes and books the trip themself.

"RichC" posted the exciting
message news


I don't quite understand how charging a booking fee encourages new
business when their prices aren't any better that any one else's.

It's sort of like Sony claiming their CD copy protection BS is there for
improved music quality.

I can understand not wanting to waste time and therefore money
researching something for someone who isn't going to buy anyway. You
can do lots of FREE research yourself on the Internet and get an idea
of what the price range for a cruise, flight, etc should be. I know
many people are far to lazy to do that so they shop around TA's. I do
this a lot myself before calling my TA and having her book the trip (I
basically plan the trip - I think it's fun!). I could do it myself
but if she can get the commission from the booking (even if it costs
me a small fee - which it usually doesn't), I'm happy to do that for
her. In return, she knows me, I know her, and she looks out for my
interests concerning traveling. I only strayed from my TA once over
the many years we've known each other with another local agent and got
screwed. Never again! If I can't afford a booking fee, they I can't
afford to go on the trip at all - it's part of the cost of the trip.




On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 22:54:02 -0600, Prime
wrote:

"RichC" posted the exciting
message news


I don't quite understand how charging a booking fee encourages new
business when their prices aren't any better that any one else's.

It's sort of like Sony claiming their CD copy protection BS is there for
improved music quality.

When we book a cruise,we have everything done ,all the travel agent has
to do is book it,and sometimes find out the airfare for us.
She usually can get it lower than we can.

(.a cruise lover.)

It's not a "booking fee"--it's a cancellation fee. Big difference
there...