Do 1/2 price fares for kids exist?

[mostofus]

My husband and I love cruising and we are considering taking two of our younger children (ages 8 & 11) on a cruise with us next January. It seems like I used to see that you could put 4 people in an inside cabin, with the two children paying 1/2 fare each. Does anyone know if these fares still exist? We would cruise just about anywhere except to the western Mexican coast and we always book an inside cabin to save money. Thank you for helping!

[arlodog]

I haven't seen 1/2 price for kids specifically, but some lines do discount 3rd and 4th passengers. We always sailed with 4 in an inside when our kids were younger and it is crowded but doable. You can go to any of the web sites and start the booking process to see the price for the 3rd and 4th passengers. Costa and MSC do offer kids sail free programs--you may want to check them out. We went on Costa last year and while not our favorite line, the ports were great and the price was terrific. We sailed in 2 cabins one was a balcony and an inside for our kids across the hall for less than we did insides on RCCL the year before. I understand that MSC is comparable to Costa.

[Travel Angel]

My husband and I love cruising and we are considering taking two of our younger children (ages 8 & 11) on a cruise with us next January. It seems like I used to see that you could put 4 people in an inside cabin, with the two children paying 1/2 fare each. Does anyone know if these fares still exist? We would cruise just about anywhere except to the western Mexican coast and we always book an inside cabin to save money. Thank you for helping!

 

Not necessarily 1/2 price for kids, but the 3d and 4th rates will just about always be lower.... as the other poster stated, there are occassions where the kids sail free (excluding port charges/taxes and fuel supplements) on Costa, but as they also pointed out, great itinerary, but not a favorite cruiseline for us either being mainly italian oriented onboard.

 

Many times there are GREAT DEALS to be had after the first of the year in January......on Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean.

 

I hope you are able to find the purrrrrrrrfect cruise that fits your families needs and expectations !

[mike91911]

I had a kids sail free special on NCL. Paid taxes and port charges.

[iancal]

Yes. In the past we have got great bargains for our children. I seem to recall paying $199. each on an RCI cruise to Alaska and about $299. for a Celebrity Carib. cruise out of FLL. They often run these cruises when they need to bump up capacity. Our Alaska was a last minute-booked 4 days in advance (we lived in Vancouver at the time) in the late July timeframe. The Carib. was booked about 60 days in advance and it was an early december cruise I have no doubt that you will find something. Try some of those on line agencies...it won't take long to get pricing. We always had an outside (i am claustophobic and require a view of the outside). The configuration was essentially twin beds with a table in between and bunks that pulled down from the ceiling at night (the steward put them up during the day.

[curlywurly]

We sailed MSC last year with our 2 sons then 13 & 16. They were both free and we paid only port duties for them (80 sterling each). We sailed out of the UK so no flying involved. If we had flown then there would have been air fare for them both on top of this.

[firefly333]

MSC usually offers kids sail free only in the summers. Disney often offers $99 childrens fare on many of their cruises, 3/4 fare. Disney needs to be booked well in advance as prices only go up and the last minute fares are only for florida residents (not fair)

[mousey]

HI Mostofus, we sailed with our then 9 yr. old DS on Costa Atlantica to the Caribbean, and he absolutely loved it. He had a really great time! The DH and I almost didn't book the cruise because of some of the negative reviews we saw on this board.:eek: That would have been a bummer, because we had a wonderful time.:D We would cruise Costa again in a heartbeat!:D That's just my experience. Our DS didn't cruise for free (I don't know if the fact that we were sailing at spring break made a difference or not), but the price for him was way reduced because he was the 3rd passenger in our inside cabin. We too book inside cabins to keep the price down, and to save money for other vacations we take every year to visit family. The key is to keep things organized. To that end I take a Dollar Store pop up-type hamper, and a sweater-shelf thing that hangs in the closet. I put all the DS's clothes on the shelves and he easily finds everything he needs on his own. We have never, ever felt crowded in our inside cabins. Cozy, yes, crowded, no.:)

[CeleBrat]

I just got an email from Costa advertising $159 fares for kids on 2009 Spring Caribbean cruises on the Costa Fortuna. Great ship--we sailed her this past spring break.

 

MSC is still also advertising Kids Sail Free on all their cruises. Check their website. We booked MSC for Spring Break 2009 due to the Kids Free promotion.

 

CeleBrat

[Jacky4]

For our 2009 6 day cruise we are paying $455.00 for my husband and myself and $299.00 each for our 11 and 13 year old. Not exactly 1/2 but a good savings. We have paid as low as $199.00 for each kid on previous cruises. My kids enjoy cruising more than I do so we always take them.

[cruiselover57]

My husband and I love cruising and we are considering taking two of our younger children (ages 8 & 11) on a cruise with us next January. It seems like I used to see that you could put 4 people in an inside cabin, with the two children paying 1/2 fare each. Does anyone know if these fares still exist? We would cruise just about anywhere except to the western Mexican coast and we always book an inside cabin to save money. Thank you for helping!

 

I believe Celebrity still offers special pricing for kids 11 and under. Otherwise, 12 and over is considered the 3rd person rate based on the sailing you're going on. Sometimes there are special deals if they're non-holiday. Back in 1998, I got an unbelievable $99 fare for my son on a 10-day Xmas cruise which was unheard of - it was printed by mistake in their brochure and they had to honor it! Those days are gone!

 

Laurie