The Best Time of Year to Cruise to Get a Bargain
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Cruises Editor
Cruise Tips
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When you book your cruise can sometimes influence how much you pay for it, but what about the timing of your cruise holiday itself? Here are five tips on the times of year most likely to provide a bargain-priced cabin.
1. Avoid major holidays
Obviously, school holidays are always the busiest time, especially on family-friendly cruise ships. Fares are seldom discounted, so forget budget cruising in Europe in July and especially August, or from Australia in December-January – though cruising from home does save you on airfares. Avoid Christmas and New Year anywhere. Be aware of regional holidays that affect prices, such as Presidents’ Day in the USA (third Monday of February), when many Americans take a week off work.
2. Consider the shoulder season
There isn’t really a low season in cruising, since ships reposition to take advantage of perennial summers. Shoulder seasons, however, provide lower (though maybe not bargain) prices on both cruises and airfares. You may have more unpredictable weather, but you get fewer crowds in ports of call. In the South Pacific, April and May is shoulder season, in Alaska May and September, in the Caribbean November to February, except over Christmas, of course. In Europe, March-April and October-December are shoulder seasons for ocean cruises. River cruises have a December resurgence thanks to Christmas market itineraries.
3. Think September
September might be the single best month for bargain cruising. In Europe, high-season prices start to drop off as kids both there and in America are back to school after their summer holidays. Yet the weather, especially in the Mediterranean, can still be lovely. And although the Caribbean has an all-year cruise season, demand from European and American travellers also drops off during this period. In Australia, on the other hand, September is slightly in advance of the high season in cruising, which runs October to April.
4. Reposition yourself
No matter which hemisphere you’re in, spring or autumn is the time for repositioning cruises, when ships move from one region to another, such as from Europe to the Caribbean, or Australia to Asia. Take a look in these seasons for repositioning cruises, which often come at bargain prices. The downside for some travellers is that you spend many days at sea and visit few (if any) ports, but passengers on the activity-packed mega-ships may find this a pleasure.
5. Choose a river cruise
Want a cheaper European river cruise? Then March-April and into early May is the time to watch, especially with so many competing new river ships on the scene. Though July-August is the big European holiday season, the months of May, June and September are actually the most in-demand on European rivers: the weather is nice, water levels are more predictable, and few Europeans river cruise anyway. Meanwhile, Vietnam and Myanmar river cruises are in big demand but, if you’re prepared to sweat it out, the May-October hot season has lower prices.
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