Do you spend a lot of time searching the internet for hot deals on discount cruise travel? That’s great, everybody loves a hot deal. Not for nothing, it means more money to spend while you’re away on vacation.

Remember, when you go on a cruise you are traveling care-free from one exotic port to another.

Your sleeping accommodations, your meals, and your entertainment are also all included in the cost.

And the cruise lines put a lot of time into designing their itineraries because they want to offer the best possible value to their customers.

They know that by offering an abundance of amenities on board the ship, most people will feel pampered and well taken care of. And then they'll probably want to take another cruise. So they feel you’re getting a hot deal at list price.

But many people don't know that discount cruise travel is also often available on these floating palaces. This makes them an even better value.

Even if you consider these fun and romantic exhilarating getaways as discount vacations to begin with, it’s also good to know that the cruise companies will often go out of their way to make the pricing even more attractive during certain seasons.

If you do your homework you can save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on cruise travel vacation packages.


There are two things to look for when you want to find a hot deal on discount cruises

• Often, when a cruise line first makes their bookings available for a new season, or when they launch a new ship, they will offer a limited number of discount cruise travel packages in order to stimulate reservations. If you see it happening and it works for you jump on it. Because…

  …when they hit their magic number, they’ll raise the rates back to normal. This is a good case for booking your travel early.

• The other time is found at the other end of the spectrum – last minute travel. When a cruise line thinks that there will be empty staterooms when they leave the port, they’ll want to fill those cabins with paying customers, even at substantially discounted rates.

Because most of the costs of ocean travel are fixed, if they can fill the ship to capacity it will pretty much insure a profitable voyage.

There are two things to do when you want to find a hot deal on discount cruises

Remember, though, if you can travel at the last minute and want to take advantage of these potential discounts:

• You must be on as many notification lists as possible with various travel agencies and cruise lines.

• You also have to be able to set sail at a moment’s notice.

You might only have a couple of days between the time you find out about a hot deal and the time you will need to board

• If you can have your bags packed and ready to go. And if you have the flexibility, this approach can reap tremendous savings.

If you’re an experienced traveler with a cruise line you might also get an insider’s edge on discount cruises.

Most cruise companies will send out notices by email and regular mail to their former passengers offering special discount cruise travel packages that are not available from travel agents or from online booking services.

This helps them cultivate a loyal customer base that hopefully will look forward to taking their next vacation aboard their favorite ship.

For the cruise lines it is a great way to foster customer loyalty and to reward their repeat customers. For you it’s a terrific way to enjoy a fantastic vacation and save quite a bit of money.

The biggest discount of them all

The biggest discount is when you don't have to pay for something at all. With a little bit of effort you can actually cruise for free - if you know how. Read a review of "Speak on Cruise Ships" and get the details.

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