When to book a cruise and when to take a cruise

When to book

Cruise sales happen throughout the year but in general, if you book far out you’ll pay more money. Much like booking airfare, there are no hard and fast rules, just rules of thumb. I’ve found nice sales a year out and I’ve seen other cruises where the price just keeps going up. However, you’ll find the best rates closer to sail date. If a cruise takes off with empty cabins, the cruise line is losing money. They need to fill these rooms so if not enough people book them as the sale date gets closer, they prices will get lower and lower. Of course, not everyone can wait until the last minute to book because there’s so much else to arrange. You don’t have to wait until the week before a cruise but even if it’s 30 to 60 days out, you may find a great deal.

Wave Season

The first three months of the year are called Wave Season in the cruise industry because of the “wave” of deals. This is the busiest time of the year for cruise lines. The theory is that with the holidays over and the coldest weather settling in for people in the northeast, everyone is going to start dreaming of warmer climates. Just because the cruise lines, the news media and everyone else says that this is when the best deals are doesn’t mean that its true. While I’m sure you’ll find some great deals, I don’t think you can assume that every single cruise is going to be on sale. For example, the best deals between January 2022 and June 2023 were found during the Fall months of 2022. For Alaska summer cruises in 2023, the best deals were found in May and June of 2023. So don’t fall for the hype.

Speaking of hype. Don’t fall for all of these other “sales”. Most cruise lines always seem to be having one sale or another. It’s marketing hype. Some of the best sales are not even advertised. You’ll just randomly see that a cruise line has put a certain set of cruises on sale but you won’t find anything about this mentioned anywhere.

When to take a cruise

For a lot of people, they can’t really choose when to go away but its important to make sure you go to the right place, at the right time. You can go on a cruise all year round to somewhere but a lot of places have seasons. However, you should not assume that the weather is going to be great just because there is a cruise scheduled for that time. Now some places like Alaska don’t even have a cruise in the winter months so you don’t really have to worry about that. But there are plenty of cruises in the Caribbean during hurricane season. You might not mind but if this is your one chance for a great vacation all year, it might not be the smartest move. Even if you don’t have to deal with a hurricane, the ports you are stopping in may have less available. Some islands really roll up the sidewalks in September so you may have less crowds but the best restaurants may be closed and some tour operators may be unavailable.

Bermuda and the Bahamas are not hot all year round. They have a climate similar to Florida which is very unpredictable. Winters in Florida are great (I live in Florida) but in January the high temp could be 80 or it could be 50. You don’t want to leave 40 degree weather to go to 50 degree weather. Regardless, the ocean water is probably not warm enough for swimming so that beach time may not be what you were looking for. Despite this, you’ll find plenty of sailings to the Bahamas in January.

July is the peak travel month as it is the only month where just about everyone can go on vacation. So wherever your cruise goes, you’ll likely encounter big crowds. You might want to stay away from that. Instead, it might be better for you to cruise during the shoulder season. We went on an Alaskan cruise in September which was really nice because the crowds had really cleared out. We were usually the only ship in port and most of the tourists were the ones on our ship. The weather was still nice as well.

If you are going to go south of the equator, you have to remember that the seasons are switched. When it’s winter here, its summer there and vice versa.

Each location has different seasons, off seasons and shoulder seasons. The best time to go will vary from location to location and person to person. Doing some research and asking questions will help you determine what’s best for you.