If you want the best cruise offers available, using a site like socruise can help you compare offers and deals and work out which is best for you. Cruise offers are made available through such sites very easily, while searching them out yourself can take hours of legwork and still not discover them all.
Offers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most common are ‘early bird’ offers for those who book well ahead, last minute offers to entice passengers to fill up a ship that still has spaces close to sailing date, group offers, repositioning offers, offers for seniors and multiple occupancy offers. Here’s more detail on how each offer works:
Early bird offers are given when you book a long way in advance. It has the advantage of allowing you to pick exactly the cabin you want, and the cruise you’ve always desired. It usually consists of a percentage off the price and can often also include an on-board spending credit you can use in some shops and for some services. It’s ideal if you can decide your holiday dates up to a year ahead, but not good if you may have to chop and change your holiday. And there’s always the risk that prices may drop lower than the early bird offer if the ship doesn’t fill up.
Last minute cruise offers happen when somebody drops out of a cruise or if the ship isn’t filling up for some other reason, such as a new itinerary that isn’t proving as popular as the cruise line hoped, or a new ship that has had bad reviews on first sailings. These offers usually include a lower price, and can have some nice freebies attached such as free wine at meals or a free third person berth in a family cabin. This is a great choice for the adventurous type, who isn’t too fussed about where they go or when, but it can mean you have less good cabins, as the least popular are always the last to sell, and it’s not good for those who like to make plans well in advance. It can also be difficult to get visas, insurance, inoculations for shore trips etc at the last minute.
Repositioning cruises are offered cheaply because they have more sea days and less port calls than standard cruises. If you love days at sea, these are ideal cruise offers, but if you like to be in port, they may not be a good choice as you often get three or four sea days in a row and may call into commercial rather than tourist ports so that the ship can take on supplies or crew.
Senior discounts are offered, in particular, by American cruise companies. If you meet their criteria (Age 60 for Costa, Crystal, Holland America and Princess and age 55 for most other American lines) you can get either an individual discount offer or even a cabin discount if just one of you is the right age. Always check for this offer if one of you is over 55.
Group offers – these may be monetary gains, such as a tenth free cabin for each nine booked, or facility and activity offers such as a dedicated help desk for your group to book tours or make reservations, free drinks at a special reception, a special set of welcome aboard goodies for your group or a free group photo session.