Cruise expert shares six insider secrets to getting a cheaper deal and beat spiralling prices
A cruise ship guru has revealed his top six tips for bagging a bargain on your next sea voyage, amidst soaring prices. Gary Bembridge, who runs the popular YouTube channel Tips for Travellers, has shared some insider knowledge on how to outsmart the system despite 'scarily fast' rising cruise costs and bag the best deals.
His first piece of advice is to book as soon as new itineraries are launched by cruise lines. According to travel expert Gary, this guarantees you nab the best price before fares increase due to dynamic pricing strategies.
Secondly, he suggests travellers make the most of various promotions. He said: "While this might sound obvious, there's some important things I've discovered you must focus on with promotions. First, I ensure I am ready to take advantage of promotions as I keep a list of all the places, cruise lines and ships I'm interested in. But I hold off booking until any of those go on offer."
Another tip from Gary is to book your next cruise while you're still on board your current one. This is because cruise companies often have exclusive discounts only available on board, reports the Daily Express.
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He also recommends joining a group cruise to benefit from bulk discounts. He adds: "Group packages are also a useful way to find late deals. If a specific sailing is not full, occasionally the cruise liners will offer group rates to clear a block of cabins to travel agents that create and sell packages bundled with flights, hotels and transfers. These disguise the discounted cabin fares from us passengers as there is no direct comparison."'
Gary, a travel expert, suggests that travellers could utilise their social circles to secure discounted fares. He explained: "This is an underused way to cut your fares. Many cruise liners will give a credit to be applied to current or future bookings if you refer a new traveller to them and they make a booking. The person who you refer will also usually get a credit."
Furthermore, Gary emphasised the importance of timing when booking cruises.
Some companies offer last-minute deals on their websites, so it can be beneficial to delay booking until the last possible moment. He added: "Many cruise liners use travel agents to clear unsold cabins rather than advertise the last-minute discounted fares on their sites. It could mean people who have booked spotting the lower prices on the cruise lines site and hassling them to reduce their higher fare to the lower one.
"By using these agents lines can reduce that risk. One of the key things to do to make sure you're not paying more than others is to do fare tracking."
