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Best Cheap Cruises, Cheap Cruise Reviews

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Best Cheap Cruises Good Cheap Cruises Carnival Cruises starting at $44 Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas Cruise starting at $50 Norwegian Sky Cruises starting at $25 Costa Atlantica Cruises starting at $43 Don't Bother Cheap Cruises  »

Cheap Cruises Guide

In a cash-strapped economy, cheap cruises can be a great way to take an inexpensive exotic vacation. The sheer number and variety of cruises and cruise deals on the market today is almost as vast as the great blue seas; the plethora of options leaves plenty of opportunity for bargain-hunters to set sail.

There are literally dozens of cruise companies in operation worldwide, and most offer travelers a choice of ships ranging in size and amenities. You can take an intimate tour of remote islands (for example, the Galapagos Explorer II, starting at $361/person/night, carries a maximum 100 people), cruise the Alaskan inlets on a midsize ship (with Princess Cruises, for instance, starting at $85/person/night), or board a 3,000-person floating city that trolls the Caribbean (Carnival or Royal Caribbean cruises, for example). Each cruise line specializes in something, and sometimes other features take a hit for budgetary reasons. Some cruises may excel in entertainment and activities, while others specialize in food and service. One line may be a non-stop party, whereas another has geography lectures. In deciding which cheap cruise is best for you, take stock of your priorities and your budget. And don't forget about the calendar: prices vary considerably from one month to the next.

When you're ready to book your trip, it's important to look at the cruise line's website as well as travel consolidators such as Orbitz.com, CruiseCompete.com, CruisesOnly.com, CruiseStar.com, and Cruise411.com. These sites basically serve as travel agents, but they sell cheap cruise deals at steeper discounts than are found elsewhere. If you call and talk to an agent, ask about unadvertised deals and upgrades.

To help you decide which cheap cruise is best for you, we've prepared a rundown of features commonly found on the affordable trips as well as a summary of their performance and reviews by consumers.

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What to Look for: Cheap Cruises Features

Cheap Cruises Location.

Typically, the more exotic the cruise's destination, the pricier it tends to be; a 13-night jaunt to the Fiji Islands, for instance, on Princess Cruises' Dawn Princess, starts at $122/person/night. So budget travelers may want to set their sights closer to home. Carnival offers a six-night deal to the western Caribbean from Ft. Lauderdale, FL for $70/person/night, for example, and a seven-night trip to the Mexican Riviera from Long Beach, CA for $56/person/night. But cheap cruise prices usually don't include airfare, so it's important to consider the location of the port from which the cruise departs and calculate the cost of getting yourself there and back home. For example, EasyCruise.com offers trips as low as $20/person/night, but they depart from Athens, Greece. Some other cruise deals leave from hard-to-reach destinations, such as San Juan, PR and St. Lucia. To save more money, choose a port you can drive to, such as New York; Baltimore's Cruise Maryland Terminal (10 minutes from downtown Baltimore); Port Canaveral (about an hour from Orlando, FL); Los Angeles' World Cruise Center; Mobile, Alabama's Cruise Terminal; Seattle; or the Port of New Orleans.

Cheap Weekend Cruises.

According to the editors at BudgetTravel.com, cruise operators are offering more weekend (two-to-four night) cruises than ever before in an effort to attract first-time cruisers and those who can't afford the longer trips. For example, Norwegian Cruise Line offers one- and two-nighters out of New York and Miami, as well as quick, one-way trips between Seattle and Vancouver. Princess offers short sailings between Vancouver and Seattle, San Francisco, or Los Angeles. Carnival features a full menu of short cruises to the Bahamas, Baja Mexico, the Western Caribbean, and even Canada and New England. In general, the editors say, cheap weekend cruises average about $50/person/night and the atmosphere onboard is more festive because the patrons tend to be younger.

Low-cost Repositioning Cruises.

One-way sailings take place when a ship is moving from one cruising region to another. The prices per night are low (starting at less than $50/person/night), but the trips tend to be longer (a week or more), so you'll want to factor that in. These itineraries occur at the beginning or end of the warm-weather cruise season (mostly spring, late summer, and fall). Look for voyages from the Caribbean, Florida, and U.S. East Coast to Europe (or vice versa) with stops in the Canary Islands or Azores along the way. On the West Coast, you'll find repositioning sailings between Vancouver or Alaska and the southern California homeports, as well as Panama Canal voyages between California and Florida. Thrifty travelers often choose these cruises as a way to board a luxury cruise line at a bargain price. For example, Celebrity sometimes offers a spring 14-night cruise from Miami to Amsterdam on Celebrity Century, starting at $799 (just $57 a night). Just remember that you need to factor in the one-way cost of getting to the jumping off point or getting home.

Cheapest Cruises Season.

As a general rule, shoulder-season voyages (those that take place at the beginning or end of a cruising season) tend to be the cheapest cruises. While the tradeoff for your cheap cruise fare may be less-than-ideal weather, you can often benefit from less crowded destinations and cheaper airfare. For example, Holland America lets you cruise Alaska at budget rates (starting at $599 for week-long trips) in May or September, right after the ship has arrived in the region or right before it's set to leave for warmer climes. (Just pack for colder weather.) In the fall, you can find better cruise deals on ships in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Bahamas, but this also coincides with hurricane season (generally August through October). Travel insurance (typically 5-8% of the trip's nonrefundable cost) might be a wise investment in these instances. For more exotic trips in the Mediterranean, consider a winter departure. A winter 12-night roundtrip cruise on deluxe line Azamara Cruises starts at less than $100 a night, and you get your own butler!

Bargain Cruises Accommodations.

Most cruises offer four basic cabin styles: inside (no window), outside (with window), balcony, and suite. But the choice isn't so simple. Some cruise lines divvy those four room styles into as many as 20 price categories based on location, size, and amenities, so consider your personal priorities when choosing the best room. If you don't plan to spend much time in your cabin, feel free to book the cheapest price you can find. But if you think of your stateroom as a retreat, you might want to pay for more square footage and amenities. Rooms on older ships can be as small as 100 square feet, particularly for inside cabins. Also note that cruise lines often include the veranda in the overall square footage. A balcony cabin on Celebrity Summit, for example, may look about average size at 208 square feet, but that covers 38 square feet of veranda. When possible, look at an online map of the ship's deck plans as you make your decision. Consider what is below, above, and next to each cabin. (You may not want to be directly under the noisy pool deck or disco hall, for instance.) Cabins on the lowest decks will hear the hum of the ship's propellers--a plus or minus, depending on your taste for background noise. And, if you get seasick easily, you'll want to avoid the highest-level rooms, which sway the most. The experts at CruiseCritic.com suggest that the safest bets are cabins that have staterooms above and below, like a traditional hotel.

Cheap Cruises Inclusions.

Are all meals included, or just breakfast? What's your alcohol allowance (if any)? Do you have to pay extra to attend shows, the spa, or participate in other activities? These are all important considerations for budget cruise passengers. Cheap cruise fares typically include most (if not all) meals and several onboard activities and kids programs, but you'll pay extra for alternative restaurants, some coffee and ice cream bars, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, shore excursions, spa treatments, and gratuities. The luxury lines include more, but even these trips are never completely all-inclusive. (For instance, drinks and gratuities may be included in fares, but spa treatments and shore excursions won't be.) You can save money by finding out which company is running the shore excursions or similar outings and then book directly with them. Just be sure to time it so you return to the ship well before departure because the captain won't wait for you.

Inexpensive Cruises Themes.

Once upon a time, cruises catered primarily to the "newly wed and nearly dead." Not so anymore. Many cruise lines now serve specific demographics or customer interests. Some of the most common cruise "themes" include: romance, family, singles, wheelchair accessible, sporty/adventure, wine and food, gay/lesbian, music-themed, outdoors/nature, or cultural. But the sky's the limit. We found clothing-optional cruises, ukulele-themed cruises, and musician tribute cruises, to name a few. The themes are noticeable both in the on-ship activities (for instance, the presence of a rock climbing wall for high adventure, or private sunbathing decks for romance) and the stops on land (retiree and family cruises tend to offer gentler land activities, such as museum or historical tours).

Cheap Cruises Shore Excursions.

Most cruises offer passengers the option of joining organized excursions at the various stops along the way. The cruises book these excursions through local guides, so prices and availability vary from ship to ship and season to season and can add as much as $300/person to your total cost or as little as $25/person. Many cruise lines, including Princess and Carnival, allow you to view brochures and book your desired excursions in advance. A few examples of excursions you might expect to find: On Princess Cruise Line's Alaska cruises you may have the option of glacier trekking, sea kayaking, or going on a wildlife-watching tour in a National Park. On the Caribbean cruise lines and other tropical cruises you can line up a diving or snorkeling excursion. On Mediterranean cruises, expect the option for museum tours or visits to ancient ruins. And Holland America Cruise Line has been known to offer excursions centered around food and wine.

Another excursion alternative is provided by Cruisecheap.com, which lets you search by ship and cruise date for local side trips that you can book online before setting sail. Researching all your options from the comfort of home without anyone pressuring you is a big advantage, but if the excursion has not been coordinated with the cruise line, be absolutely sure you leave yourself sufficient time to return to the ship before its scheduled departure.

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What to Expect: Cheap Cruises Performance

Professional travel writers, magazine editors, and consumer reviews are the best sources for feedback about budget cruises. Here's what they have to say about how cheaper cruises measure up.

Cheap Cruise Deals Overall Experience.

The best judge of a good cruise is the overall feeling once you head home, and whether you'd recommend the experience to a friend. Cruise reviews at CruiseCritic.com consistently rank Carnival cruises above average for overall experience, and the site named it one of its Editor's Picks for 2009. And thousands of cheap cruise reviews by travelers on CruiseCritic.com agree, hailing the variety of activities, family options, and the quality and cleanliness of Carnival ships. In addition, cruise reviews at Porthole Cruise Magazine named Carnival's Splendor ship Reader's Choice 2009 for best megaship (2,000+ passengers) and the entire Carnival Cruise Line "best value-for-the-money"; the magazine also granted Norwegian Cruise Line a Reader's Choice Award for best short duration cruises, like those offered on Norwegian Sky.

More than 100 passenger reviews of budget cruises posted on Orbitz.com rank Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas four-night Bahamas cruise high for ship quality and overall experience. The reviewers range in age from 20s to older than 65, and their enthusiastic comments are indicative of the cruises' ability to appeal to a wide audience.

Budget cruise reviews posted on Orbitz.com gives Costa Atlantica four out of six stars for overall experience; some of the highlights cited by passengers are Costa Atlantica's private balconies, Old World sophistication, and plenty of amenities.

Customer reviews for the Voyages of Discovery cruise line, on the other hand, are all over the map. Older/retired customers tend to give it higher marks, as do customers who say they like intimate cruises in order to make new friends. But cruise reviews by passengers say this no-frills ship isn't for everyone; they report the décor is plain, the food is average, and the entertainment is disappointing. Still, some travelers commenting on Cruisecritic.com are willing to make sacrifices for the affordable, leisurely, exotic trips to destinations like the South Pacific, Baltics, and Northern Europe and hear related educational lectures along the way.

Cheap Cruises Accommodations.

Cruise cabins or staterooms rarely compare to land hotel rooms because of their below-average size and basic bathrooms and, in some cases, lack of exterior windows. But some do stand out for all-around quality. Cruise reviewers give Carnival Liberty cabins highest marks for their above-average size, pleasant décor, and beds that open into larger sizes. Budget cruise reviews on Cruisecritic.com rank Voyages of Discovery above average for cabin size and storage space, a plus because these cruises tend to be much longer than most. On Expedia.com, travelers give Norwegian Sky four out of five stars for the quality of the staterooms, noting that they are clean and relatively spacious. Costa Atlantica draws raves on Cruisecritic.com for its numerous private balconies onboard as well as its classy, European-inspired décor. And despite low marks in categories such as food, MSC Opera is rated high in bargain cruise reviews on CruiseCritic.com for the cleanliness and size of its cabins.

Cheap Cruises Food.

Food quality varies widely from ship to ship and even within a single ship. In general, buffets tend to rank lower than fine dining restaurants. And some customers prefer casual dining of the sort typically found poolside or at the casual bar & grills that are common on most ships. Food is a subjective commodity, of course, but some budget cruise lines stand out for above average fare. For instance, while some customer reviews of bargain cruises posted on Orbitz wish for more healthy/vegetarian options on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas, overall food earns an above average ranking.

CruiseCritic.com gives high marks to Carnival's food variety (sushi bars and gourmet coffee are standard on many ships), noting that the 24-hour-room service on Carnival Liberty is especially tasty. Plus, the editors note, the heralded and bounteous midnight buffet found on cruises of yore occasionally makes an appearance on Carnival ships today; the Chocolate Extravaganza, they add, is not to be missed. Holland America gets high marks from several cheap cruise reviews sites, including Expedia.com and CruiseTalk.org for its quality dining. Some cruise lines, like Princess, get kudos for "any time dining," which allows passengers who pre-pay their gratuity to choose open seating for their dining arrangements rather than a fixed table and dining time (a welcome option in case a traveler returns late from a shore excursion or simply wants to dine early and retire early). Norwegian Sky earns mixed marks for food at Expedia.com; some passengers appreciate the "freestyle dining" (flexible dining time and casual dress code) and others wish for more gourmet options.

Low-cost Cruises Entertainment.

Almost all cruises offer some sort of onboard entertainment, such as shows, musicians, movies, and kid-specific programs. The trick is looking at the advertised themes and entertainment options before you book. Do you want to climb a rock wall aboard ship? If so, Royal Caribbean might be for you; the line gets a thumbs up from Frommer's for its innovative, fun, and varied amusements. Passengers posting reviews of bargain cruises on Orbitz.com also like the variety of entertainment aboard Royal Caribbean, with musicians, comedians, dancers, and family-friendly movie selections rounding out the mix. According to Frommers.com, some companies, such as Disney Cruise Line, do a better job catering to an all-ages crowd, although adult-only areas and pools still exist on Disney ships. Thanks to Kathy Lee Gifford commercials of the 1980s, Carnival has long been associated with "fun" and a more adult, party-like atmosphere, and reviewers agree that the entertainment options can't be beat. CruiseCritic.com even names Carnival an Editors' Pick for best nightlife.

Final Note.

Safety aboard cruise ships is always a concern, especially with media reports in recent years about outbreaks of Norovirus and passengers falling overboard. CruiseCritic.com polled its members about cruise safety, and more than 94% of the 1,700 respondents said that based on their experience, cruises are safe. Given the sheer volume of passengers and vessels at sea, it could be argued the incidents of illness, injury, and loss of life are proportionately low; experts say it's very difficult to "accidentally" fall overboard, unless alcohol is involved, because ship railings are at least 44 inches high.

To help you feel more at ease before you book, take a look at each cruise line's CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Ship Inspection Report. All cruise ships arriving at a U.S. port are subject to unannounced inspections and are given a rating on a scale of 100. Ships are rated according to CDC sanitation standards in the following areas: water, food preparation and holding, potential contamination of food and general cleanliness, storage and repair. A score of 86 or above is considered "satisfactory" while ratings of 85 and below are considered "unsatisfactory." CDC reports are updated monthly, and ships are inspected periodically. You can also ask your travel agent or cruise company representative about surveillance cameras and other safety features onboard.

Once you board your cruise, keep yourself safe. Don't skip out on the tours and safety demonstrations. And always make sure someone knows where you are and what your itinerary is. Secure your valuables, and report suspicious activity or drunk and disorderly passengers to the cruise staff.

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Products Mentioned in This Review

EasyCruise.com
Celebrity Cruises
Holland America Cruises
Disney Cruises
Voyages of Discovery Cruises
MSC Opera Cruises
Norwegian Sky Cruises
Costa Atlantica Cruises
Carnival Cruises
Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas Cruise

Thrifty Resources

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