Any Black Friday Cruise Deal?

Was wondering if cruise lines offer Black Friday deals? Anyone notice any?

Sure

just shop around

Lots of close in deals lately , close in for soft sailings .

Check the cruise line websites or have a TA do it for you .

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I received several e-mail Thanksgiving Sale cruise offers. They weren't such great savings. :D

The best one I saw was $449 for 7 nights on RC's Fos Dec.14. It was listed as one of CC's best buys in the newsletter.

The best way to find out about any deals is to go to the cruise line websites and sign up for their email offerings. EM

Carnival gift cards has a black friday sale. Go check em out.

I just got an e-mail from Princess about their sale. The advantage in living in Florida is you can take advantage of the last minute deals.

Coming from the West Coast, the airfare is a killer and can be much more than the cruise cost!

Carnival is offering a gift card with purchase of a gift card. The gift card is around 10% of the one purchased.

Princess has a 50th Anniv. Sale starting on Dec 3rd .

Lower rates , OBC and Dinner for 2 .

Many sailings throughout 2015 instead of just the close in sailings we have been seeing.

Your TA will have the details now , but can't book until the 3rd.

Many of the high volume cruise agencies offer special promotions today (and a few other times of the year). The thing about booking cruises (and we cruise about 70-100 days a year so do a lot of bookings) is that you will always find better overall deals by shopping around among the major cruise agencies. These agencies will often be authorized by the cruise lines to give extra onboard credits, pre paid gratuities, and other extras. In addition, some agencies will cut their own commissions to provide additional enhancements. Savings can vary from a few dollars (on short cruises) to thousands of dollars on much longer voyages (we have saved over $3000 on single bookings for longer cruises).

In fact, this morning we spotted a pretty good deal on a 14 day Celebrity cruise and are in the process of booking.

Hank

Maybe a few VERY specific ones. We have a couple of future cruises booked. A few on line agencies have tooted their "Black Friday" super duper deals if you book TODAY! Both the cruises we have lined up are the same price today as when we booked them.

Thanks folks, appreciate your thoughts. We generally cruise twice a year, have only one cruise booked on Cunard so far for next September. Never thought much about Black Friday, since we usually book far in advance. So was curious about what others thought or experienced. Check our cruise we booked, with Cunard, still same price. We prefer to book directly with the cruise line then watch for price drops.

Maybe a few VERY specific ones. We have a couple of future cruises booked. A few on line agencies have tooted their "Black Friday" super duper deals if you book TODAY! Both the cruises we have lined up are the same price today as when we booked them.

Cruise prices do not always change. But extra amenities such as on board credits, pre paid gratuities, drink packages, free meals in alternative restaurants, etc. do change. Booking cruises, for us, has become a Mad Mad Mad World. At times we have over 100 cruise days under booking and try to keep monitoring each booking for major price changes. Our most recent cruise was on HAL (over 30 days long) and was booked nearly 1 year in advance for just over $21,000 which included a drink package. By the time we took the cruise, after multiple price changes and rebookings, that same cruise cost us less then $12,000.

One truth is that the longer and more expensive the cruise the more savings will accrue from shopping around and continuing to watch pricing right up until final payment.

As for those who think the cruise lines will take care of those price drops, do not kid yourself. Cruise lines authorize certain Cruise/Travel agencies to offer deals not available from the cruise line. Sometimes these deals are cloaked with terms like "group bookings" (which are not really groups) or other promos. Agencies will often offer large On Board Credits, the cost of which is split with the cruise line. This past spring we took a 28 day Princess cruise that cost about $8600 (total cost for 2). But we had about $2000 of On Board Credits for that cruise (most of which was not available if booked directly with Princess). At the end of the cruise we still had about $1000 of OBC left over...and Princess sent us a check. This type of pricing allowed the cruise line to maintain their pricing (so those who booked direct and monitored saw that the price had not dropped) but also allowed those who did a little shopping to save over 20% of the posted cruise price.

To quote Norm from the TV show "Cheers" it is "a dog eat dog world" and (some) are wearing Milk Bone underwear :)

Hank