Cruising for Deals

Fall is a great time to snag deals on cruise vacations.

As a mom, gone are the days of downing fruity margaritas in Cancun, while intermittently dozing off in a lounge chair. Now, I hobble onto the beach weighed down by a rhino (tube), a pile of buckets and shovels, an assortment of towels, lotions, beverages, snacks, diapers, changes of clothing and a magazine I won’t read.

As we trudge along the beach, my toddler screams, “Want shoes OFF!” in a repetitive and mind-numbing manner. We hit the beach, enjoy the day, create new laundry and haul home enough sand in our suits to recreate the beach in our bathtub as soon as we get inside. 

When I’ve had enough of this at Lake Parsippany or the Jersey Shore, I schedule a cruise vacation.  It’s another way I like to challenge my organizational skills and patience, because really, why pack for a day when you can pack for a week?

But, seriously, think of the cruise ship as your mom.  She will feed you, make your beds and offer a daily itinerary at no charge (except that big bill up front).

Things to Do

Activities abound on cruises with activities, pools, spas, casino, shopping, restaurants, dancing, lectures (I’ve learned about acupuncture and personal finance while cruising), a usually well stocked library and more.  

Snag a Deal For Smooth Sailing

Most cruiselines rarely discount kids' fares.  

As a mom, you think, “Who wants to pay full price for someone who eats seven french fries and calls it a meal?”

Norwegian Cruise Llines is the exception. NCL discounts kids on every cruise and regularly runs promotions where kids sail free.

NCL's destinations include the Bahamas, Bermuda, Eastern Caribbean and Canada/New England.  You can sail out of NYC, which is very convenient.

I just booked a family cruise for the four of us with a mini-suite room (separate bedroom, bathtub, large balcony) that costs less than an inside room would cost at the brochure rate.  I “Liked” NCL on Facebook to follow its promotions.  

Local travel agents are a great way to go. I have used Liberty Travel (747 US Highway 46, 866-674-5082) in the past and would definitely recommend them. Conduct price research online before booking with an agent. If you walk in with a price, the agent often can match or even beat it.

When NCL announced the sale, I immediately went to cruisecompete.com and put in the date.  Various travel agents bid on my trip.  As an experienced cruiser I was confident about using an online service, so I picked the lowest bidder, called her to confirm the details and two weeks later a cool beach ball from NCL arrived in the mail, along with our trip details.

An excellent resource for cruise prices is the Vacations To Go ticker.  It provides an updated list of cruises' original prices and shows the prices as they go down.  You can sort by departure port.  We have cruised out of New York, Bayonne (Cape Liberty) and Baltimore, all of which are very accessible.  

Having sailed with Royal Caribbean, Carnival and NCL, we enjoyed them all. We stick with NCL because it offers deals.

This year, we cruise on NCL’s Jewel, which features “Nickelodeon at Sea.” Our resident Dora fan is going to love Dora’s Music Party, Breakfast with Nickelodeon and interactive games at the pool.