Any tricks to save money getting to cruise ports from Canada?

[Sandie5]

We sure love cruising but getting to the cruise eats up a big chunk of our travel dollars because we need to fly in the day before and book a hotel room. The flight can be cheaper depending on when you fly but then the hotels are expensive. We're only going there to sleep and then dashing off to our cruise. 

 

Have any of you figured out a cost savings method for this part of the trip? Maybe ports with cheaper hotels or loyalty deals?

[lx200gps]

51 minutes ago, Sandie5 said:

We sure love cruising but getting to the cruise eats up a big chunk of our travel dollars because we need to fly in the day before and book a hotel room. The flight can be cheaper depending on when you fly but then the hotels are expensive. We're only going there to sleep and then dashing off to our cruise. 

 

Have any of you figured out a cost savings method for this part of the trip? Maybe ports with cheaper hotels or loyalty deals?

We have become big fans of sailing from the US northeast. Haven't done trips from Canada yet, Quebec City would be a no-brainer for us as it's only a few hours away. We've done Manhattan on NCL, Brooklyn on Princess, have a Boston trip on Princess this July and are contemplating a February (!) trip out of Manhattan. All ports are an easy 6-7 hours drive the day before, so no airline hell to worry about, we park at a hotel a bit farther away to save tons of money over hotels near the port. Sailings from the northeast are a bit more limited in scope than from LA or Florida, but getting there is FAR more relaxing.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Do a cruise in Europe, hotels are cheaper and you don’t mind spending extra time in a port before a cruise 😁

[d9704011]

Judging from the OP's preamble leading up to the question of how to reduce costs, a flight to the departure port and an overnight stay are necessary conditions.  Short of taking flights that arrive the day of departure (meaning no overnight stay and maybe some uncomfortable or risky timing) I don't see many 'tricks' that are going to save much on travel.  Of course, loyalty deals such as Aeroplan flights and free nights at a hotel are helpful but they all require a considerable investment before there are paybacks.

[Milhouse]

Here are a few strategies that we use which are dependent on a variety of factors:

 

Stay at a hotel near the airport.  They are generally cheaper than hotels in the downtown core/tourist areas.  But it's dependent on relatively inexpensive and convenient transportation options into the downtown core/tourist areas (to allow us to do some sightseeing pre-departure) and also to the port of course.  

 

Utilize an annual free night certificate from a credit card.  One of the credit cards we have is an AMEX Marriott Bonvoy card.  It has an annual fee of $120CDN but provides an annual free night certificate in year 2 onwards.  (In year 1, you can earn (based on a spend requirement) a welcome bonus of Bonvoy points that you can also use for a free night or to help top up reward stays.)  As long as we utilize the free night every year for a hotel worth at least $120CDN, we break even.  Note the free night is only valid for a room worth 35000 Bonvoy points (and can be topped up with some additional Bonvoy points for a more expensive room if needed).  The type of room you can get with 35000 points depends on a variety of factors such as hotel brand, location, season/how busy the hotel is.  It's unlikely you can get a room in downtown Vancouver or Toronto during high season for 35000 points.  But you might be able to get a room at a Courtyard, Four Points, Fairfield, etc near the airport.  We've also been able to book midtier brands like Marriotts and Westins for various trips to the States.  Eg. IIRC, we stayed at the Renaissance in Long Beach before our Mexican Riviera cruise in 2022 that would have cost us over $200USD +taxes.  Note we did top up to 40000 points but there were no taxes to be paid and we could have instead stayed at the Westin without a top-up.  In 2023, we used a free night cert at an AC Hotel in Europe post cruise.  

 

Use a corporate rate.  If you work for government or a megacorp, check to see if they allow you to use their corporate rate for personal trips.  My megacorp does and we've booked rooms a few times with it.  

You may have to book using your internal booking tool or have to call into the hotel directly to make a reservation.  And then at the hotel, you may have to show your employee card.  

 

Friends and Family rate.  If you have a friend or relative that works for a hotel/hotel brand, they might be able to provide you with a friends and family rate.  My friend's wife works for a Marriott brand hotel and she was able to give her husband a code to book a discounted room for us, for a boys trip.  Upon check-in, we also needed to present an authorization printout from her for the discounted rate.  If it's a busy night for the hotel there likely won't be a discounted rate available.  

 

Gift card and credit card promos.  You kind of have to keep your ear to ground for some of these like regularly reading deal websites/forums.  Some examples:

Fairmont used to have an annual Black Friday deal where you got a 20% bonus gift card when buying a giftcard.  

One of my AMEX cards has a regular hotel promos/rebates such as spend $500 and get a $100 statement credit.  

Edited February 2 by Milhouse
typo

[CDNPolar]

The options from Milhouse are good....!

 

I get your concern about the cost.  We have had good and bad experiences arriving the day of the cruise, and depending on the cruise line, and if you booked the air through them, you may or may not have a safety net to get to your cruise at the next port or if you are just out of luck.

 

My brother recently did a Panama Canal cruise, and there were 46 people on his flight to Panama City for that cruise departure.  They were to land at 3:30pm in Panama City and the cruise did not leave port - to start the partial crossing of the canal - until 3:30am local time.  There flight was significantly delayed do to mechanical and then waiting for a replacement aircraft, and they finally only landed in Panama City about 3:30am.  The ship did not wait, so they missed the partial crossing, but the cruise line put them up in a 5 star hotel and created a behind the scenes tour of both the original and new canal from the ground.  They then got on the ship on the return out of the canal and completed the cruise.  

 

The point to this story is my brother and wife will now never plan to arrive the day of and always at least a day before.

 

We also now as a basic rule do day before, but we hedge our bets based on time of the year, especially considering if our outbound flight could be delayed because of winter weather.  That is not just where you live but from where the inbound flight of your outbound flight is coming from.

 

In general, and again I get your concern for the cost, but we include the extra day in a hotel as part of out budgeting.  

[paulajj]

Airbnb can sometimes be cheaper. We’ve  saved a ton of money this way. Tip: make sure it’s a private space. 

Driving across the boarder for flights can be cheaper if you can. For example Buffalo Niagara airport. 

 

Connecting flights can also be cheaper (although can be stressful)

 

I’ve learned  my lesson about flying in the day of. Definitely worth the extra cost if you can manage it. 

I agree that staying at the airport rather then downtown in places like Fort Lauderdale can save quite a bit. 
 

This won’t be a popular suggestion but getting an inside or ocean view cabin can save a ton of money on certain cruises. I’ve done this a few times. 

[Victoria_BC_Mom]

The Westjet credit card offers an annual companion fare when you use their airline.  We flew to England last year.  The cost of my PREMIUM economy ticket was $2113 plus $1129 tax.  My husband's companion fare (also premium economy) was $399 plus $806 tax - a HUGE saving.  There are probably other credit cards with similar offers.  If you travel annually they are worth having.

[Bearsthatsail]

We have taken several cruises out of Baltimore and it is 8-10 hours driving from southern Ontario through Niagara or Buffalo.  Mostly on Carnival (prefer their 14 night Journeys cruises) but last one was on Norwegian.  Royal Caribbean is also  regular there.  We stay at a Best Western that has a shuttle to the ship.  Works for us.

[gold1953]

we usually stay a bit further from the port for a lot less money. Even with paying uber  we do better and have a nice location

[starvenger]

22 hours ago, paulajj said:

Airbnb can sometimes be cheaper. We’ve  saved a ton of money this way. Tip: make sure it’s a private space. 

I think it really depends on where and how many people. If you only need one room, then it may not make sense because of "cleaning" and "service" charges. For example, I'm planning a trip to BC, and if it's just the wife, the kids and myself we could handle just a single hotel room. But my mother in law is thinking of going, meaning that vacation rentals (which tbh I prefer) are now in play because the cost of two 3* hotel rooms could end up being roughly the same as a 2-3 bedroom.

 

For FLL, as long as that dodgy Valuetrips site is active, that's my go to. And in general, Hyatt Place rooms say they can sleep 4 people, but they have a pull out sofa to accommodate at least two more people. Not saying you should. Just saying you could.

 

One pseudo hack I've seen is to "play the long game". If a room is a bit pricier, but can get you enough rewards points to get you a free night later on, then it may be beneficial to book that room.

[PG_traveller]

I have a cruise coming up out of Galveston, Texas on Princess and cruises seem to be cheaper out of there. Hotels were a bit pricey, but I found a condo on Booking.com that is reasonable. Or you could stay near Houston airport and get a shuttle to the port. 

 

As far as the flights, you can set notifications on Google Flights for when prices go down. 

[rnr4thatsme]

I guess it depends where you are living exactly - but @PG_traveller has a good point I often use.  Galveston and LAX, for me, are always cheaper flights.  I tend to do LAX as I can sometimes get direct to there from Manitoba.  I stay close to LAX, which tends to put me halfway between the things in LA I want to see the day before the cruise (Santa Monica etc) and the cruise ports a bit further south.  Even taking into account uber costs, it is always cheaper.

[canadiangal40]

We have the RBC Avion Visa which we use for all of our purchases, this card has an annual fee but the flights are nearly free for us to get to the port.  The points you accumulate using the Avion card can also be used for renting cars, booking hotels, or flights.  Seems to work for us.

[eltigre]

We also use the RBC Avion Visa (we have a no fee American & Canadian Visa) for every purchase all year and then have enough points to fly for the both of us from the west coast to anywhere in the USA. Then we don't mind spending a few hundred on upgrading the seats! Don't forget to re check hotels, flights, even the cruise for lower pricing.

In one hour this past week I saved $150 on the cruise, and another $150 on hotel by doing price checks! We pay in Canadian Funds on the Visa for the cruise & purchase everything else on the USA Visa while away. (get points there as well)

Purchase US $'s when the exchange is better & pay the US credit card with those monies rather than at an exchange rate that may be worse.

[SoloAlaska]

Hotels in some areas have gotten ridiculously expensive. Anchorage Alaska a decent hotel is over $400 a night and upwards of $600. I booked it with credit card points since I could beat spending that much on 3star hotel. 
 

Luggage fees are getting so expensive I’m looking at getting an Amex that includes free first piece of luggage plus lounge access. Saving on an overpriced airport meal and drinks plus a piece of luggage will pay the annual fee very quickly with how much I travel.

 

i search for flights and hotels on Kayak and love the price tracker tools. Try finding hotels with free shuttles which atleast save you one Uber/taxi ride.

 

Totally agree go to Europe it’s cheaper hotels and sometimes even cheaper flights plus the train is cheap and easy to get around.

 

Pick a cheaper airport to flight out of if you can. It’s cheaper for me to drive to Montreal and fly from there sometimes than flying from Ottawa so I always look at both options.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

2 hours ago, SoloAlaska said:

Hotels in some areas have gotten ridiculously expensive. Anchorage Alaska a decent hotel is over $400 a night and upwards of $600. I booked it with credit card points since I could beat spending that much on 3star hotel. 
 

Luggage fees are getting so expensive I’m looking at getting an Amex that includes free first piece of luggage plus lounge access. Saving on an overpriced airport meal and drinks plus a piece of luggage will pay the annual fee very quickly with how much I travel.

 

i search for flights and hotels on Kayak and love the price tracker tools. Try finding hotels with free shuttles which atleast save you one Uber/taxi ride.

 

Totally agree go to Europe it’s cheaper hotels and sometimes even cheaper flights plus the train is cheap and easy to get around.

 

Pick a cheaper airport to flight out of if you can. It’s cheaper for me to drive to Montreal and fly from there sometimes than flying from Ottawa so I always look at both options.

Cheaper to book a b2b cruise 😱

[SoloAlaska]

24 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Cheaper to book a b2b cruise 😱

Or a westbound transatlantic 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, SoloAlaska said:

Or a westbound transatlantic 

We mostly do transatlantic cruises , probably 11 of our 15 cruises have been TAs 😁

[gold1953]

Booked a return Europe flight so I could do a fall and spring trans atlantic! So much better . Did a lot of research to find the cheapest deal as travel within Europe is cheap and now we have a great adventure coming up!

[Panama111]

On 2/1/2024 at 12:02 PM, Sandie5 said:

We sure love cruising but getting to the cruise eats up a big chunk of our travel dollars because we need to fly in the day before and book a hotel room. The flight can be cheaper depending on when you fly but then the hotels are expensive. We're only going there to sleep and then dashing off to our cruise. 

 

Have any of you figured out a cost savings method for this part of the trip? Maybe ports with cheaper hotels or loyalty deals?

We always fly in the day before. We are seniors and do not like the stress of late flights.  We like to be downtown so we can walk around and eat a local restaurant, not a chain. We  have saved quite a bit on hotels by booking our room the day we book the cruise.  We always book a room that can be cancelled. E.g. the room we booked in Capetown 18 months ago  for $160. Is now (3 months before cruise departure) $300.

 

[starvenger]

Day before (or more) is a must for overseas. I don't even risk day of for North American departures, but that's a different story. Besides which, you may not get a chance to tour the departure city unless you're there a day or two early.

[SoloAlaska]

I just got an Air Canada Amex. Typically I fly with them and the card gives lounge access in NA and first piece of luggage free up to 9 people on the same reservation. Plus the travel insurance is perfectly adequate for me so the savings will be quite high.