Prices

[cougarcb16]

Im looking into a cruise for next year and price is something big for me unfortuantly. Is Carnival really the cheapest cruiseline? Or which is? Thanks

[CruiseVirginfromBrooklyn]

Pricing has a lot of factors: itinerary, time of the year you travel, cabin class etc. But, I am sure you aware of all this... Carnival is NOT ALWAYS THE CHEAPEST! Price shop all cruise lines that interest you and take it from there.

[cougarcb16]

Well I am taking that into consideration. I want to know if Carnival is cheaper overall, because looking at RCI, I think im lying to my self when I say that iternary and date are the only reasons that its more expensive.

[MrPete]

They are the best VALUE, not necessarily the cheapest.

[cougarcb16]

What exactly do you mean by best value? As in you get the most for your money on them?

[Lauri32]

What we normally do, is find an itin, port of departure, (since we drive to port) time of the year to sail that suits us, then go from there. Sometimes Carnival's cheaper, sometimes RC. They are both comparable in most areas. Everyone has their opinion on which is better. Personally, if you have older kids going RC's Voyager class ships are great. Hubby prefers Carnival food, I prefer RC, but to us it's only a slight edge of either. We love them both as you can see from my sig.;)

[bjboothman]

Can you cruise from the port of NY and drive to the port? Can you go on a moment's notice? Are there just two of you or do you need a triple/double? When I have had flexibility in my schedule I've found the cheapest way to cruise for only two people is to take advantage of a last minute special. I got a great price on a 10-day Panama Canal on Princess last April and I had enough notice to book 21-day advance tickets from PIT-FLL. So by last minute, I mean about 6 weeks prior to sailing. If I were looking for a bargain, that's the route I'd go if I could.

[cougarcb16]

Thanks for the info guys.

I can drive to the port, but I would be traveling with my wife and 2 kids soo .... i would need a quad. Bjboothman, how do you compare Princess to Carnival?

[KShea]

Cougar,

Not sure how old you're kids are...but...sometimes the 3rd and 4th person in a room in not that inexpensive..meaning...we found it better our last two cruises to get two seperate rooms. We had adjoining rooms the first time and completely seperate last time. My boys are 20 & 18 now.

On our second cruise the 1st and 2nd in an inside room was something like $948pp, and the 3rd and 4th were like $775 pp. So for an extra $350 bucks we had two rooms. I know you are looking to go less expensive but that was the best money I have ever spent. Quads are very hard to find so it limits what you can do Cat. wise. They are usually the first cabins to go.

Good luck on you're quest....

[HeidiHo]

Cougar,

Not sure how old you're kids are...but...sometimes the 3rd and 4th person in a room in not that inexpensive

 

I'm finding the same thing. 2 years ago, we probably only paid about $300 - $400 ea. for 3rd a 4th person on a 7 day cruise. I'm pricing cruises for Mar. of '06 now and 3rd and 4th person rates have gone way up. For the cruise I'm looking at, they range from $600 - $700 so we are defintely getting 2 cabins. My kids are teens though. Maybe yours are too young to have their own cabin.

[JrMafia90]

Pricing has a lot of factors: itinerary, time of the year you travel, cabin class etc. But, I am sure you aware of all this... Carnival is NOT ALWAYS THE CHEAPEST! Price shop all cruise lines that interest you and take it from there.

 

Yea, Carnival isn't always the cheapest. We were looking at a cruise in March and RCCL was $200 cheaper. So look around.

[cougarcb16]

My kids are 15 and 8. I will look into that. Thanks for all the help. So basically nothing is certain and everything fluctuates?

 

Now what about Princess? LOL

[KenMo]

Don't know if this applies to you but.....are you in the military? Do you work for an airline/hotel/etc? These will get you discounts if you tell the person you're booking with! I haven't cruised on anything but Carnival. When looking for itinerary/ship/time, it always seems, to me anyway, that Carnival has the best deals. But I'm sure that's not always the case, according to others.

[cougarcb16]

No I dont have that privalege.

[floridasun lover]

In January, our 7 day Glory balcony was $750 for 1st and 2nd passengers, and only $349 for the 3rd and 4th - so we and our 20 and 22 year olds

shared the same cabin. It worked out fine- We had enough storage - you just have to work hard at keeping things picked up and put away. Before dinner, at least 2 of us would shower in the spa after working out -

[cougarcb16]

Well we already have been in a quad and we had no problem at all so we arent worrying about that.

[skiorcruise]

We had 3 adults in a Gty cabin last Sept. Paradise out of Long Beach for 4 nights. After I booked, I started watching web sites for price changes, and could have gotten the same cabin for $10 less PP than we paid at the "right time". However, I could have paid $80 more at the wrong time.

 

It pays to shop around.

 

However, the price of the cabin was only about half of what we spent. Don't forget drinks, shore tours, pictures, gifts, etc.