What's the cheapest longer cruise you've taken?

[CJ Hill]

We took 2 B2B cruises from Buenos Aires to LA around South America. They were 14 day and 18 day cruises. For 32 days it cost $1800 each including all the port charges and we visited at least 18 ports.

[amyb1976]

Where did you win this online auction?!? I want to check it out! :-)

[askimdog]

We prefer 7 day cruises, and try to keep the price under 300pp. Last week the legend was at 279, almost jumped but funds aren't there yet. If we can get 40-some per day, it is a deal. BUT.... it always seems the travel to the port is about the same as the cruise :(

 

If our family of 3 can get by at around 2k for the week, we call it successful, expensive, but worth it, atleast expensive to us. We missed our budget for our 2013 and 14 cruises, we WILL make our Jan 2015...come hell or high water!!!

 

We can cruise in Dec or Jan and best is to leave from a port we have friends in to save money on hotel costs.

[jlajr]

Less than two weeks before departure date, I booked for myself an IX guaranteed room on the November 22, 2013, nine-night sailing on the Norwegian Spirit for just $640 including taxes, fees, and prepaid gratuities. I think the base fare was $420. NCL assigned me an IA room on deck 10.

 

I met a couple that also booked at the last minute. I think they said they paid $280 pp base fare for an inside room. I think they chose the room and it was on a low deck.

[AQW]

When the swine flu hit Mexico and the cruiselines re-routed their Mexican sailings up to Canada, people canceled in droves. We were able to book a three-night cruise to Catalina (usually goes to Ensenada) for $79pp, and a 7-night cruise from LA to Astoria, OR; Vancouver, BC; and Victoria, BC for $329pp in a balcony cabin.

 

Every few months I look back on that time and KICK MYSELF for not booking more cruises! Those prices were good for all of May-July if I remember correctly... if that happened again today, I would live on a ship for a month or more!

[notentirelynormal]

The cheapest cruise I ever took was the one my husband earned for being a top employee - along with the entire ship of employees from all over the world. They paid our airfare, hotel, cruise, transfers and a shore excursion. Two weeks after we got back the company basically went out of business and laid most of the worldwide staff off. If I told you the name of the company you'd all go - yup, that makes sense. At the time there were jokes going around the internet that if you turned in 6 years of beer cans you'd have more money than that company's stock.

[Korianto]

Last year, October on the Vision of the Seas. It was a 13 day Transatlantic. We had a oceanview that went for $499pp, a military discount brought it down to $429 pp, andvthen RCI offered a discount certificate for an additional $225 off. Total price per person ended up as $316.50 each.

 

Next week we start two back to back cruises on the Legend of the seas. First cruise is a 16 day transatlantic to northern European capitals in an oceanview. We're using our two Grandeur of the seas fire credit certificates. So that trip is only costing us $1478 total, we're following it with an 8 day Norwegian fjord cruise in an aft balcony. We're paying for that with our refund from RCI for the fire cruise, plus we get gratuities paid for, $300 obc, dinner for 2 in Chops, $100 spa service, and since RCI was running their balcony/choice air special, we get $1000 off our air fare (so air back from europe only cost $80 for both of us). All together, the Norwegian fjord cruise is only costing us around $838 total. So out of pocket for a 24 day cruise is running us about $2300 - and that's for everything, transportation to/from Europe, tips, taxes, etc, that's less than $100 per day for both of us, and we get to see paris, amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Norwegian fjords!

 

we're happy travelers

[iancal]

Cheapest was a seven day Med cruise on Crystal. It was chartered by the company that I worked for as a incentive for the top ten percent performers. Best cruise ever.

 

Next one is coming up in Feb/15. A 14 day Australian cruise on Princess. We were booked on a Feb/14 South America Princess cruise. The called us in late Dec. to say that it was overbooked.

 

The move over offer was a full refund, a free 14 day cruise anywhere, and an upgrade from balcony to mini suite. Plus a refund of the service charges on our reward air tickets. Great deal..it took me about 2 seconds to say YES!

 

On most of our cruises we have a target price of approx. $100. per day per person for a balcony. We have had three Med cruises in the past few years, 12 days each, at this rate. Early Oct. cruises. All booked about 50 days out.

Edited April 10, 2014 by iancal

[Jjislander]

$800. 11 day balcony cruise from San Juan last December. The TA provided OBC's just about covered the gratuities.

 

Wow! Was this including taxes & fees? Which cruise line? Thanks!!

[randalltx]

Every cruise we have taken has been relatively inexpensive, and we have enjoyed them all. We like to do back to backs to stack the days, and we love avoiding airfare. So in 2015 we are going NCL Sun San Diego to Santiago, Then Santiago to Buenos Aires. We spend 4 months in Buenos Aires then reverse the process to come back on the same ship to San Francisco. Sometime a trip is offered on Celebrity to Antarctica during our stay and we hope to be on it. Not counting The Celebrity trip, we will spend $75 per person per day including port/tax/15 day spending/ and all tips. 65 days cruising total. Best part is no flying which would cost us 3,000. Come join us. Repos are way to go cheap like us.

 

Cheapest historical cruise was 44 continuous days on Carnival Sunshine last year repo Barcelona-Venice-Barcelona-New Orleans-Party one day on board in port-Inaugural 6 day. Great deal because of 1050 total OBC. Lots of free drinks and no tips to pay, etc.

[randalltx]

We prefer 7 day cruises, and try to keep the price under 300pp. Last week the legend was at 279, almost jumped but funds aren't there yet. If we can get 40-some per day, it is a deal. BUT.... it always seems the travel to the port is about the same as the cruise :(

 

If our family of 3 can get by at around 2k for the week, we call it successful, expensive, but worth it, atleast expensive to us. We missed our budget for our 2013 and 14 cruises, we WILL make our Jan 2015...come hell or high water!!!

 

We can cruise in Dec or Jan and best is to leave from a port we have friends in to save money on hotel costs.

 

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We use one way auto rental a lot for both ways. Hertz has a couple of clubs with no drop charge, looking into those. Don't know where you are but we are 1 day from Galveston or New Orleans, Two days from anywhere in Florida. The air kills us too.

[Nebr.cruiser]

$729pp for a mini-suite for a 14 day TA on NCL. And we had $400 OBC.

 

We're still kicking ourselves that we didn't take the balcony instead for $429, slightly less OBC. However, the balcony cabins on the Jewel were really small.

[Slonik]

Where do you guys find these prices? Is this through travel agents or directly with the cruise lines? Or is there some website that I should be using for finding cheap cruise deals?

[mnjcruiser]

Love reading about these amazing deals! What is the best way to get such low prices?

[Nebr.cruiser]

Where do you guys find these prices? Is this through travel agents or directly with the cruise lines? Or is there some website that I should be using for finding cheap cruise deals?

 

Although sometimes we book directly through the cruise line, usually I find the best deals by checking out some of the biggest online travel agents. I also use Cruise Compete, a site that lets agents vie for your business.

 

We generally book fairly late-3 months or less out--and often after final payment is due. Others often get good deals by booking far in advance and then watching for price drops, but for various reasons we can't book that far ahead. Airfare can be the biggest problem with booking late, but so far we've always been able to use our FF miles.

 

It helps greatly to be very flexible as to date, ship, itinerary and type of room. We often book guarantees, for instance, but always at least a balcony cabin.

[richstowe]

Our best deal was not the cheapest (which would be Fascination at less then 50 a day PP).

Our RC Mariner cruise was wonderful . A mid-ship balcony 11 day cruise for just over a thousand PP.

What made it an incredible deal is that this was a summer (July) peak season cruise and included gratuities.

Once again the issue was airfares which were about the same $'s as the cruise. :(

Unfortunately that is usually the case for us with air being the same price as the cruise. :mad:

[mommareds]

about $2300 - and that's for everything, transportation to/from Europe, tips, taxes, etc, that's less than $100 per day for both of us, and we get to see paris, amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Norwegian fjords!

 

we're happy travelers

 

Having read this whole thread, I think I must declare you the winner!:D that is an awesome deal!

 

Our 12 day Repo On The Carnival Freedom leaving next month cost $3690 for 7 of us, port fees/taxes included. A pretty good deal, I thought (that's 2 inside cabins) air from PA to ft. Lauderdale cost me $110/pp, galveston back home I paid for with points.

Total with Grats/air/precruise hotel/shuttle to HOU after is $5920, for 7 people that breaks down to $845/pp, about $60/pp/day for a 14 day vacation.

 

Taking our 5 kids to the southern caribbean for 12 days? Priceless.;)

(And about half the price of taking our kids to see the over priced mouse for 7 days)

Edited January 19, 2015 by mommareds

[Korianto]

We just scored another good one, $519 pp Oceanview on Celebrity Constellation- the April 9th Transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale to Rome. It's 13 nights. Sure you have to add in $156 pp in tips and $86 in taxes, but hey, it's great. We're going to do the one after too, a 13 night Anzac turkey, Greece round-trip from Rome. They have guarantee balconies for $1599 pp with their 123 all inclusive! That's classic beverage packs, tips, and $300 OBC. If you book be careful, you don't want exciting deals - that's excluded from 123go.

 

We were going to do the two Fall back to back Transatlantic (and before), but we canceled them - this one is $3000 less total for us. Choice Air from Rome to Baltimore is still $424 pp one way.

 

Love these last minute deals.

 

And I found these by looking on their website then quickly call my agent at Crucon.

[spookyfudge]

$550 per person, including fees for 11 round trip panama cruise 2 weeks before christmas leaving Ft. Lauderdale!!!:)

[FloridaCrazy]

2014 We were watching Denver getting killed in the Super Bowl game and I went online cruise shopping. Booked a guaranteed oceanview room on Brilliance of the Seas to Cozumel for $209 each for a 4 day cruise. Got a call the next morning from RC offering us a 7 day cruise on Allure of the Seas in exchange. We said yep and they converted the fare to make up for the additional fees/tip and brought our actual fare down to $184.00 before the taxes. :)

[4x4bob]

We booked a 7 night round trip out of San Pedro on Princess for $279.00 each for a Obstructed Ocean View. And, received a total of $300.00 OBC. $100.00 OBC each plus another $100.00 vet's OBC for me.

 

Bob

[jsull91]

This April '15 we paid just under $2,000 aud, that's about $1,500 usd, for a 20 n transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale to Rome.

 

It was on the MSC Divina, a truly beautiful ship. This included:

an Aurea Suite cabin with a seperate bedroom and lounge room

unlimited drinks pacage

1 hr Bali massage and a few other things that I can't remember now

taxes and port fees

 

We're doing another transatlantic April '17 with NCL for 13n. For this it is $1,280 aud ($925usd) including ultimate beverage package, gratuities, taxes and port fees.

 

We use our air points for flights so all in all pretty happy :)

[jsull91]

This April '15 we paid just under $2,000 aud, that's about $1,500 usd, for a 20 n transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale to Rome.

 

It was on the MSC Divina, a truly beautiful ship. This included:

an Aurea Suite cabin with a seperate bedroom and lounge room

unlimited drinks pacage

1 hr Bali massage and a few other things that I can't remember now

taxes and port fees

 

We're doing another transatlantic April '17 with NCL for 13n. For this it is $1,280 aud ($925usd) including ultimate beverage package, gratuities, taxes and port fees.

 

We use our air points for flights so all in all pretty happy :)

 

Oops, forgot to say balcony aurea suite on Divina and aft facing balcony on Epic

[cruiseonthebrain]

Cheapest long cruise was on a Navy ship :-) The food was pretty good, but the pull handle showers left a little to be desired in the luxury department.

[KKB]

As I re-read this thread...

A LOT of these good deals are on cruises where airfare is pricey (at least fro US)--transatlantics, overseas, even San Juan.

 

Not as many on Caribbean cruises (not starting in San Juan). Still feeling pretty good about the value of the cruises we have booked over the years.

 

This upcoming 7 night cruise we got free drink package, free gratuities & $400 OBC (could have gotten $500 the week before!)--when these are factored in, we got a balcony for $500/wk. (each).

 

Air was running $700-800pp out of our local airport. An additional hour drive got us air for $320pp. (over spring break)