Your Cruise Your Way Cruise Blog

As you have probably seen in all the cruise ads, the newest trend is toward low prices on longer repositioning or off-season cruises. When you click on the ad, or call the agency, the cruise is available, but then you have to get there. Not being in the airline business usually means the cruise lines air rates are extremely high. You can relax though, there is a solution!

When you are interested in this type of cruise, or you have more recreational time to take advantage of off season pricing, your best bet is to contact an agency who offers “package pricing”. I’ll use Destination Oceans in Portland, Maine, who partners with 1-800-FlyEurope, as an example of what kind of savings you can enjoy when purchasing your cruises in this manner.

They recently offered three off-season cruises in Europe at very attractive cruise and air pricing. The cruises were from $1,119 per person, sailing from Rome through the Western Mediterranean for seven nights. I checked online at the cruise line, and they were offering the identical package with air at $1,984 per person. The second cruise was offered from $1,159 per person for a 7 day Eastern Mediterranean cruise from Rome, and the cruise line price with air was $1,884 per person. The third was a 7 night cruise from Venice going through the Greek Isles from $1,535 per person for a veranda. The cruise line’s rate with air was $2,334. As you can quickly see, buying a “package” can save well over 50% off the airfares alone.

I looked at some other re-positioning and off season cruises on Costa, Holland America, NCL, Royal Caribbean Cruises as well. In all cases, the savings amounted to at least 20% of the total price, and some with no airfare being offered from the cruise line at all. In Costa’s case, Europe’s number one cruise line, their cruise only pricing is the lowest of any in Europe for the cruises mentioned, with rates as low as $599.