Choose between booking direct with the cruise line, using a travel agent, a cruise specialist or doing it yourself – we explore how to book your first cruise.
We explore how to book your first cruise – when is it best to book directly with the cruise line, use a travel agent, use a specialist cruise agency or book each element yourself. There are pro’s and cons to each potential method.
No-one likes the thought of lying on that sunbed on the pool deck only for the guests lying next to you smuggly telling you about the great deal that they got to book exactly the same cruise and cabin type. And one of the things that sets cruise apart is that there can be huge variations in price depending on when you book and who you book the cruise with.
As with airlines most cruise lines adopt a dynamic pricing policy – effectively as availability reduces prices will increase. So in most, but not all cases, the earlier that you book the better the deal that you will get and certainly the wider the choice of cabin type and cabin location will be available. The main exception to this would be last minute deals – usually offered around 8 -12 weeks prior to sail date. Prices may be at their lowest depending on the amount of unsold cabins that remain available but there may also be more limited optiions when it comes to specific ships, itineraries, cabin types, cabin locations etc. Also bear in mind that ‘last minute’ prices for flights may have increased and there may be fewer available flight options.
The reality is that nothing beats shopping around for the best price and what is deemed ‘best’ for one guest might not be for others depending on preferred options for flights, accommodation, cabin type etc.
Book Direct with the Cruise Line
It would be easy to think that booking directly with the cruise line would offer the lowest cost option – after all that means that thay are cutting out any ‘middlemen’ who would also be taking a margin from the price that you pay.
But it really is not as simple as that. Cruise lines still rely on travel agents for much of their business and therefore have to support agents with great deals meaning that often travel agents can offers better deals. In particular see below about how larger specialist cruise agencies gain access to the very best prices available.
In addition whilst most major cruise lines have specialist teams that will also book any required flights and / or accommodation options they do not usually offer the same range of choices that a more conventional travel agent would be able to access. Many has been the time that we have spoken to other guests who end their holiday sitting around an airport all day because of their return flight time.
There is one big advantage to booking a fly cruise through the cruise line. If there is a flight delay that means that you would miss the scheduled cruise departure time the cruise line would either hold the ships departure, for a short delay, or arrange onward travel to get you to the next port – if the flights were booked as part of a package offered by the cruise line. If you have booked flights either through a travel agent or independently the cruise line would not accept any repsonsibility for a delayed arrival.
Book Through a Travel Agent
There are two types of travel agents when it comes to booking a cruise.
A ‘conventional’ high street travel agent would perhaps be someone that you have used for many years and have built a trusted relationship with. This is a perfectly viable option for guests that prefer to book with ‘someone that you know’.
However a conventional high street agent is a bit of a ‘jack of all trades’ selling everything from staycations to packaged beach holidays to the Costa’s and may not have the specialist knowledge that a specialist cruise agenct would have when it comes to making sure that the cruise that you are booking is the right one for you and is available at the best possible price.
Specialist cruise agency tend to be a bit more ‘ anonimous’ being either telephone or internet based but, as the name suggests they are specialists and will have invested significantly in training and product knowledge to make sure that guests find their perfect cruise.
Specialist cruise agents will also usually have access to a full range of flight and / or accommodation options either pre or post cruise.
Cruise is also a very competitive market amongst specialast cruise agencies so there is usually always a deal to be found if you shop around. How they acheive this is a bit of an industry secret so is not particularly well known. Cruise lines will allow specialist cruise agents to ‘block book’ a number of cabins on specific sailings and in doing so are able to ‘lock in’ the price for those cabins and so avoiding the normal increases that dynamic pricing affords. Quite often the deals that are advertised in national newspapers are based on these locked in prices and explains why that same deal may not be available to other agents (there can be hundreds of pounds difference for exactly the same cruise and cabin type).
The other advantage of booking a fly cruise through a specialist cruise agent is that the whole package should be ATOL protected. In plain speak what this means is that if any one part of the package failed the whole package would be financially protected. This may be a big plus for some guests relative to booking each element (flight, accommodation, cruise) independently to get the bets prices.
Book Independently
Maybe you have seen the perfect cruise itinerary at a great price but don’t like the flights offered or want an extended pre or post cruise stay. Then consider booking each element of trip indpendently – so book the cruise direct with the cruise line or specialist travel agent, look at accommodation options on the likes of Expedia and book flights either directly with your preferred airline or through a flight booking site.
The big advantages of booking each element independently is the flexibility to enjoy an extended pre or post cruise stay at your preferred accommodation and to be able to fly from your preferred UK airport at a time that suits you.
The big disadvantage is that there is no ‘packaged holiday’ protection afforded to you – so if any one part fails you have no financial protection for any of the other elements. So for example if your flight is delayed or even worse cancelled and you are unable to reach the embarkation port in time for sailaway you will be entirely responsible for ‘catching up’ with the ship at the next port of call.
We often book each elementt independently but with our experience in the travel industry we know how to minimise any potential disruption. The main advice that we would offer is to never fly in on the day that the cruise is scheduled to sail. You can never predict what could happen during your journey to the port – whether that be a mishap with your car delaying your arrival to the airport, flights being delayed, cancelled or diverted or even an accident closing the roads between the airport and the port in your embarkation city. So wlaways fly in at least one day prior to the scheduled embarkation day – remember that unlike a hotel, if you ae late arriving your ship won’t be there when you arrive !
In any event most ports of embarkation, for example Barlcelona or Rome re interesting detinations in their own right so are well worth a day or two’s expolration prior to your cruise.