Just Cruises Plus

You’re sitting at dinner on your dream cruise.  There are 4 other couples sitting with you.  The price of the cruise comes up (it always does).  You find out that every couple at your table paid a different price.  Why?  The answer is determined by when folks booked their cruise in the  “supply and demand” cycle.

When the cruise lines release their schedules and pricing, they offer early booking rates, which is really the price that they expect most people to pay.  As the ship fills, prices rise.  However, on some sailings, bookings are slow and sparse.  In these cases, the cruise lines offer special promotions — examples are senior promotions and promotions for residents of certain states.  If the ship still doesn’t fill up, last minute deals (some spectacular) are offered to get the ship full.

On many of these cruises, we are paying less than it costs the cruise line to feed and transport us.  They are willing to do this in the hopes that we spend money on the ship.  They also want to keep the service staff busy and receiving gratuities.

Supply and Demand

Let’s think about supply and demand and when each is high and low.

The most demand occurs for East Coast and Caribbean cruises during the summer.  There are 2 reasons.  First, many ships have moved to Europe and Alaska for the summer season.  Therefore the supply of ships for the East Coast and Caribbean is low.  Couple this with the fact that school is out and this is when families take their vacation.  Thus, demand is up.  The result is high prices and low availability.  For example, for cruises from Baltimore or New York you must book early if you want to get a room that accommodates 3 or 4 people.

During the fall, when school is back in session and until the holidays, there is low demand (hurricane season) and all the ships have returned from Europe and Alaska (high supply).  During this period, the cruise lines will practically pay you to cruise and it pays to wait until last minute deals are announced.    An easy way to do this is to check our website each week.  We put the last minute deals there.  These good deals usually extend into January (excluding holiday sailings).

Book early if:

• You are picky about your room location
• You must have a particular time for dining
• You are traveling during summer months or holidays
• You want to cruise on an upscale or small ship cruise line
• You want a land and sea package in Alaska during the peak summer months
• You want a balcony on the land side of an Alaska cruise

Book later if:

• You are traveling in the fall or January
• You are not concerned about room location and dining times.
• Specific dates are not important

Consider….

One of the problems with waiting too long to book a cruise is that airfares are high.  The airlines price airfare the same way the cruise lines do.   Waiting usually results in a high airfare.

Keep in mind that the cruise lines will honor many promotions even if you book early.  For example if you are a senior and have booked a cruise at the early booking rate and a senior promotion is offered, you will be eligible for the lower rate and we will get it for you.