How to Stretch Your Dollars When You Cruise!

During hard economic times, most people do not even think of taking a cruise when it comes to vacation planning. Fewer people are booking cruise holidays these days, while at the same time, bigger and much larger cruise ships are being constructed and launched. These ships are badly in need of passengers, so this means you are in a buyer's market when it comes time to book that cruise vacation. Keep this in mind as you review the following cost saving suggestions.

Pre-Boarding Considerations:
Here's how to find the lowest fare at the best time.
•Checking the bulk buyers
Get a list of cruise consolidators. They buy large blocks of cabins from the cruise lines at a deep discount. Although most of these offers do not include your plane fare, the cost savings are so great, you will still come out ahead. Online, you can find them at such sites as cruisebrothers dot com or cruiseone dot com, all of them showing discounted cruises on a frequent basis.

•Don't forget the 'shoulder season'
The 'shoulder season' is that time in between a destination's high and low seasons. Because of the timing, shoulder season rates are much lower. For example, try sailing to Alaska in mid-May or early September, to the Caribbean in late April or September-October, to Hawaii in late August or late November, or to the Mediterranean in March or November. The advantage does not stop at lower prices. Cruise lines also offer special packages to get you to sign up during these slow time periods.

•Check if school is out
This is straightforward, you avoid those times when the kids are off. Think spring breaks or summer vacations. If the kids are all on vacation, cabin prices are at their peak. Cruises are wildly affordable right after Labor Day and during the week after Thanksgiving, for example.

•All set ? .. Book it!
If you do not have a specific cruise date in mind, try waiting until the last minute to book online. Almost all cruise lines quietly unload any remaining inventory as the departure date draws closer. Note: 'Last minute' doesn't mean what it used to. For example, security regulations now call for cruise lines to finalize their passenger list as early as 4 days before departure.

Post Boarding Considerations:
Since cruise lines almost try to give away the cabins just to get you on board, they try to make it up later during the cruise. That means you have to remember a few simple things to minimize the impact to your wallet.

Plan for Tipping
Some cruise lines automatically add gratuities, while others still rely on passengers to make that decision. To avoid overtipping or undertipping, go to this website, cruisetip dot tpkeller dot com and they will give you a very good idea, broken down by cruise lines and by the services provided (i.e. waiters, head waiter, chambermaids and so on).

Maximize the Use of the Main Dining Room:
More and more cruise ships have specialty-restaurants to give passengers options beyond the cost-included main dining room and midnight buffet. On some cruise lines, for example, dinner at one of their designer restaurants can run you a minimum of $50 per guest!

You Need to Plan for Booze:
Don't expect to bring your own. Most cruise lines frown on this, and some actually employ a 'liquor retention team' to seize alcohol not purchased on board. The bottles are returned to you at the end of the cruise.

Follow these simple tips and you are on your way to getting the best value for your money while enjoying that well deserved cruise vacation!

Article Source: http://gamblingarticlessite.com

Cyrill is a retired teacher living in the middle of the Las Vegas desert. In an effort to relieve boredom, while at the same time make some money on the side, he has gotten into promoting a varied collection of sites such as this one for the aquabot pool cleaner to the equally pricey 'bots like the polaris pool cleaners.

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