rummaging for great cruises at last minute

[sacway]

Say hey all -

Got a new computer and rebuilding my travel links. Generally I book way in advance for great cruise, great cabin, great price but it seems I need a different strategy (and new links) if I'm going to squeeze in a little extra vacation this year.

Do you think we can find an X cruise from a few days to a few weeks in advance (constraints of my sweetie's erratic schedule), and does that mean abandoning all hope for a good value or are there some empty berths? I'm not picky about even where we'd be cruising, and as for air, anywhere near where Southwest flies works for us.

TIA for tips from my fav online pals.

[lucyjohnz]

I think you can get good bargains short-term but probably not starting until September when all the kids are back in school. And, I think the best bargains will probably be out of Miami - lots of cruise ships to fill. Just keep a lookout. We use Buycruises.com - they've got an easy to use search engine and their prices are typically at least 5% lower than Celebrity's online prices.

 

I've checked a lot of the cruises out of Galveston (we're from Ft. Worth) and the Sept.-mid-Dec. cruises are pretty cheap also - EXCEPT for the new Celebrity Galaxy Panama Canal cruises. But RCL Rhapsody and Carnival Elation and Ectasy all cruise out of there and the Rhapsody is a wonderful ship and a great W. Carib. cruise.

 

Good luck and happy hunting!

[winediva]

I just booked 2 weeks ago on Travelocity. 7 night Century Western Carribbean 8/28 ocean view guarantee $650pp. that leaves out of FT. Lauderdale, which I'm quite sure is a SW destination. I saw that the Sept 4 departures were even cheaper!

[tuggers]

Specials today and every Tues. I go to cruise411.com and click on last minute specials then scroll to X Happy Hour or RCL Happy Hour. Some good Century stuff sometimes.

[jezzdogg]

For bthe weeks specials on RCL try

http://www.creative.com/sales/promowave/rcl.pdf

change the rcl to CEL for celebrity

that will give you what info the agents have for specials that week

Once you p8ck a cruise I would try http://www.cruisequick.com, or http://www.bestpricescruises.com, or http://www.**************** for prices

Also cc has some links for last minutes sails

[SReeder]

I was able to purchase a 10 night Western Med cruise for $870pp a week and a half ago. So there is hope. Good Luck!

[Wor Lad]

Sacway - try

 

http://www.crucon.com/

 

- some good west coast deals on RCCL and X

 

Dave S.

[sacway]

hooray for the good ideas! I am just chomping at the bit in drydock. Already in the habit of checking SWA on Tuesdays, so I'll just add cruise pages.

When I tried the X site a few days back, I did notice that in 2005 (way too far out) they were adding a 4 day out of Seattle. Short for our tastes (10-14 preference) but enough to keep us going in a pinch... Never want to wish I were older (e.g. retired) but I do wish for more free days in a row so we can go cruising.