Best place to find deals on a December cruise to the Caribbean?

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MrsBugi

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2005
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Departure dates: Anytime between December 22, 2006 and January 7, 2007
Departure point: Galveston, TX
Destination: Caribbean or Mexico
Length of cruise: 4-5 days

It would be great if it was refundable, so far I have found cruises averaging $320-350 for 4-5 nights per person on Orbitz.com, but the ships have only been rated 3/5 stars.

Any recommendations on where to look?

Does Costco sell cruise packages?
 
M

MrsBugi

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2005
2,483
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Originally posted by: Jeeebus
cruisequick.com


usually cheaper than anywhere else.
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Thanks for the tip, I'll take a look - any recommendations re: destinations/ships?
 
T

TheCrackedJack

Senior member
Jul 13, 2002
309
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Check out the names of cruise lines you found on orbitz and then go to their official site. They might have lower prices if you book with them directly.
 
iamwiz82

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
4-5 night cruises are most likely going to be lower end ships, unless they are repositioning. Cruises are normally refundable up until 90 days, which you will be hitting shortly. We use bestpricecruises.com for our purchases, they have been the cheapest for the past two. We call the same agent and she gets us lower prices than published.

EDIT: Make sure to pick the correct line for yourself. Personally, we'd never go on a Carnival ship because we don't want to party, active people will prefer RCCL or NCL, etc.
 
iamwiz82

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
Originally posted by: TheCrackedJack
Check out the names of cruise lines you found on orbitz and then go to their official site. They might have lower prices if you book with them directly.
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I have NEVER seen that, but I've never seen Expedia/Orbitz/Travelocity to be all that great when it comes to cruises, either.
 
M

MrsBugi

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2005
2,483
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Originally posted by: iamwiz82
4-5 night cruises are most likely going to be lower end ships, unless they are repositioning. Cruises are normally refundable up until 90 days, which you will be hitting shortly. We use bestpricecruises.com for our purchases, they have been the cheapest for the past two. We call the same agent and she gets us lower prices than published.

EDIT: Make sure to pick the correct line for yourself. Personally, we'd never go on a Carnival ship because we don't want to party, active people will prefer RCCL or NCL, etc.
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Lower end ships for 4-5 night cruises? Interesting, I've never heard that before. How many day cruises are necessary to be bumped up to the nicer ships?

Where did you find your travel agent? I think it's great that the one you use can get a lower price than the one purchased... do you have to pay her anything, or does she take a cut of the price that you pay?
 
AgaBoogaBoo

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,107
4
81
Have you ever been on a cruise ship before? If not, a company like Carnival will be great for you. The first time you will be amazed at just about everything and so it doesn't matter as much, which company you go with. You'll want to go with one higher end later on, however your first cruise you may not notice as much.

What rating does Carnival have?
 
M

MrsBugi

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2005
2,483
5
0
Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Have you ever been on a cruise ship before? If not, a company like Carnival will be great for you. The first time you will be amazed at just about everything and so it doesn't matter as much, which company you go with. You'll want to go with one higher end later on, however your first cruise you may not notice as much.

What rating does Carnival have?
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My family and I have never been on a cruise before, and we are hoping it will be a fun and memorable experience. :)

The trip will include my parents and my siblings, who are 23, 20, and 17 years old, respectively.

The Carnival ships I've found that depart from Galveston, TX only score 3/5 stars. I think one is called the "Ecstacy." Will the lower quality really not be that noticable since we have nothing to compare it to?

Thanks for the info!
 
M

MrsBugi

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2005
2,483
5
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Originally posted by: swimscubasteve
i find vacationstogo.com or cruisequick.com to be the best out there
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Thanks for the suggestions, I'll check those out too.

RIght now, it looks like we'll be limited to 5-10 choices since we have restrictions on what port we can depart from, our dates, and our desired trip length. :(
 
AgaBoogaBoo

AgaBoogaBoo

Lifer
Feb 16, 2003
26,107
4
81
Originally posted by: MrsBugi
Originally posted by: AgaBoogaBoo
Have you ever been on a cruise ship before? If not, a company like Carnival will be great for you. The first time you will be amazed at just about everything and so it doesn't matter as much, which company you go with. You'll want to go with one higher end later on, however your first cruise you may not notice as much.

What rating does Carnival have?
Click to expand...

My family and I have never been on a cruise before, and we are hoping it will be a fun and memorable experience. :)

The trip will include my parents and my siblings, who are 23, 20, and 17 years old, respectively.

The Carnival ships I've found that depart from Galveston, TX only score 3/5 stars. I think one is called the "Ecstacy." Will the lower quality really not be that noticable since we have nothing to compare it to?

Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...

I don't remember exactly which Carnival ships I've been on, but if the rest of their's are also 3/5 stars then you should have no issue with it. We've gone on their cruises twice and loved both. The second time we were able to tell a little more about what we'd maybe like to have differently in a future cruise, but I highly doubt you'll have any major issues with Carnival. They serve a lot of customers and do a good job.
 
L

Lola

Ideally the newest ships are going to be sailing on the 7+ day cruises and at the time you are looking at going in the caribbean. Most of their ships will be sailing from FLA.

A lot of times,you can find some amazing deals for 7 day cruises for just a few dollars more than a 4 or 5 night cruise.

If you are going on this cruise for the first time, you would be ok going on a ship that was not the newest of vessels. All the mega ships now are doing the 7 day iteneraries.

Look at Costa, NCL, RCCL and CCL. DO NOT book them through the cruise lines website. It is always more expensive. also, the major vacation websites usually do not have that great of a price either.

Do a google search for "deep discount cruise vacation" or any variation there of and you will find a lot of great sites.

Also, the time you are chosing will be cheaper anyways since it is durring hurricane season (but don't let that worry you at all, ships just go around any incliment weather).

Please let me know if you need any help finding cruises or any questions to eb answered. :)

We are going on our 2nd cruise this year in december. :)
 
M

MrsBugi

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2005
2,483
5
0
Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
I live two minutes from the port. I'll park your car for you and pick you up for 20 bucks :p
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I appreciate the offer, thank you. I may send you a PM closer to the date if necessary. :)
 
Kadarin

Kadarin

Lifer
Nov 23, 2001
44,303
15
81
Originally posted by: MrsBugi
Originally posted by: Astaroth33
You should try a Windjammer cruise... I went last December, and had a blast.
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Those look amazing, but none of them depart from Galveston. :(

Which one did you go on? :)
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I did a singles' cruise on the Polynesian Princess, out of St. Maarten. We went to St. Barths, Nevis, St. Kitts, and Anguilla. LOTS of fun! :thumbsup:
 
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