Shopping for a Cruise

I've written previously that I'm thinking of taking our family on a Caribbean cruise this winter to get out of the tundra the world calls "Michigan". I thought I'd give you all an update on my recent progress. (By the way, it seems very strange to be planning a cruise to get awy from the cold when it's 90 degrees and muggy outside today.)

I started by talking to a friend who is both a regular cruiser (he and his wife have been on about 20 cruises the past ten years or so) as well as frugal minded (he and I often share money saving tips and I know we both have the same "no debt" philosophy.) He gave me lots if great advice and answered all my questions about the differences in one cruise line and another, what type of cabins to get, how to travel, and many more.

He also shared the name of his local travel agent with me. His deal with her is that he'll identify a cruise and then search for the best price he can get. If she can match that, he books with her. If not, he books elsewhere. I decided to do the same and started out by doing my research.

Once I identified the cruise I wanted (where it went, what cruise line, the date, the cabin we wanted, etc. -- BTW, I'll give the details of the cruise in a later post), I looked at several places online for prices. Sites I considered were Cruises.com, Priceline, Kayak, Travelocity, Expedia, American Express, the cruiseline's own site, and Costco. Here's what I found (by the way, all fees, taxes, etc. were included in all these offers):

• Many of the sites had the exact same prices (to the penny.) These included Priceline, Kayak, Expedia, American Express, and the cruiseline's site. They all had a $100 onboard credit as well (except the cruiseline's own site, which only had $50), so they were all truly equal.


• Cruises.com was $20 cheaper than all the ones above and it appeared that they MIGHT have a $250 onboard credit available. I say "might" because it wasn't clear (many of the sites seem to make it purposefully cloudy what the deal is exactly to, IMO, make it more difficult to compare prices.)


• Travelocity didn't have the date available that I wanted, but the next closest date with the same line was a couple hundred dollars more expensive.


• Costco was almost $300 cheaper than Cruises.com plus had a $100 onboard credit. I think we have a winner. (BTW, I had asked my cruiser friend if he had ever used Costco, and he replied that he hadn't since he wasn't a member there.)

With this information in hand, I called the travel agent. Her prices were the same as the first group noted above. She was surprised, as was I, and said she should be able to get the best price as an agent. She told me she'd call the cruiseline directly and see what their explanation was. She called me back 10 minutes later saying she couldn't touch the Costco deal and the explanation simply was that they had probably done a group deal and/or could accept a lower margin -- thus they had lower prices. So she thanked me for calling her but said I had a better deal.

As a next step, I went to CruiseCompete.com and opened an account. The site is designed to have travel agents compete and bid for your business, so you can get the lowest price. I filled out a request for bids, putting in what I'd already received from Costco and asking anyone if they could beat it. I got five responses. Four were higher prices than Costco (so much for reading my guidelines) and one was just spot on (higher price but higher onboard credit.) They also noted not to book elsewhere until I had called them, indicating that perhaps they could do even better. That was two days ago and as of this time, I'm not sure if I'll call them or not. After all, I know/trust Costco and I don't know this agency at all (though they seem highly rated by the site.) Is it worth the risk for $100 or so in savings?

I also have a bit of legwork left to do. I need to call American Express and see if my TrueEarnings card gets me free travel insurance (I heard Amex has this on all their cards). I also caught wind of an extra bonus when you pay for a cruise with an Amex card, so I need to get to the bottom of this too.

For now I wanted to share my progress as well as ask for your thoughts/comments -- is there anything I'm missing or should consider before I take the plunge and book?

Comments

[Anthony]

I think you're analysis is spot on. For my recent trip to Jamaica, I searched the various travel booking sites. Some of them showed lower upfront prices, but with fees and taxes, most of them came out the EXACT same. Calling Expedia's or Travelocity's customer service gives you the EXACT same result as well.

In the end, an uknown (read: fishy) travel site was about $100-$200 cheaper. But I didn't risk it. I booked through Expedia. I personally wouldn't risk it and trust Costco. Peace of mind is worth something...

[STRONGside]

I actually found the best price for my cruise on cruise.com, but I never thought to check COSTCO. I am not a member, but the savings you describe would easily justify becoming a member. I'm also debating on whether to buy trip insurance (if you don't make the boarding call for some reason and have to cancel). I have until September to decide to buy it through the cruise company (Carnival). I'll need to explore if my credit card (Chase) offers trip insurance as well. Thanks!

[Joe]

My goto site for cruises is vacationstogo.com. Their website is the only one that I've found that 1) always shows the lowest prices, 2) always shows YOUR applicable discounts (military/vet/teacher/prior-customer/etc) and 3) is always up-to-the-minute accurate.

You cannot buy on their website, you have to call. But every great cruise deal I've ever got..I found there first.

Sometimes you can find a discounted deal on vacationstogo, at the same time Travelocity offers a deal with shipboard credit at a higher rate. A short phone call to travelocity, explaining the discounts from vacationstogo and you can get both, more times than not.

[Catherine]

Once you've booked a cruise, join cruisecritic.com and add yourself to the roll call for that particular sailing. Often there are price reductions as the date gets nearer. Your fellow cruisers will know if a reduction has occurred and have the best insight as to how to get that credit. You can get to know others who will be onboard ahead of time and share rides to ports, excursion ideas and more. Also, many lines will host special on-board gatherings for cruisecritic members.

[MC]

Once you're booked the cruise, maybe you should consider it "done" and relax about it? Why go on a vacation at all if you're going agonize and worry about it every day for months?

Seriously, your post made me all exhausted just from reading it. Cruising sounds too difficult--I'll just stick to camping vacations close to home.

:)

[Jenny Shaw]

Check vacationstogo.com. They have "last minute" deals (within about 6 weeks or so) on cruises. I don't know when your dates are, but their prices are usually 30-50% off the advertized prices and there are usually all room classes available. I haven't used them personally, but the next cruise we take I'm planning on trying them.

[Paul]

Wow. What can't you buy at Costco?

[Petunia 100]

Another thumbs up for vacationstogo.com. I had been eyeing a certain Princess cruise for years. The price through Princess was $2600 per person. I snagged it on vacationstogo.com for $999 per person.
We went to Alaska in August, and we had a wonderful time. :)

[FMF]

For those of you interested, I put my January trip into vacationstogo.com and got the same price as the top pack of companies listed above (higher than Costco.) I'm guessing that based on the comments here, vacationstogo.com's best deals are "last minute" ones and I think I'd prefer knowing where I'm going, where I'm staying, etc. in advance on this trip.

[Crystal]

Now I need to check out our Sam's Club rates and vacationstogo.com to see if they can beat the cruise agent we always use. Thanks for the heads up!