13 tips to save money on your next cruise

Christopher Elliott Travel columnist • Profile • E-mail

Thinking of taking a cruise? Then you picked the right time — and you’re reading the right story.

Wave season — the time of year when most cruises are booked — is just ahead. It runs from January to about mid-March, and because everyone’s out there buying a floating vacation, there are lots of deals to be had.

But the 2008 wave season promises to be a little different than past ones. Coming off a year in which the industry trade group Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) expected to welcome a record 12.62 million cruise passengers, an increase of about a half-million guests over 2006, there’s trouble on the horizon.

The biggest, as far as passengers are concerned, are a pesky and probably illegal fuel surcharge on cruises. It’s no secret that fuel prices have risen recently, but the cruise industry appears to have taken the Gordon Gekko approach to paying its energy bills. Many have retroactively charged customers who already paid for their cruises in full, offering a piece of the action to travel agents who helped them collect.

Forget, for a moment, that some cruise lines have hedged their fuel costs, which means they aren’t really paying more for energy. And forget that those same cruise lines also agreed in 1997 to not charge any fees in addition to the advertised initial ticket price, except those actually passed on by the company to a government agency.

Apparently, greed is good.

At a time like this, you have to be smarter about your cruise purchase. First, find a competent travel agent. Nearly 9 in 10 cruises are sold by professional travel consultants, and there are many knowledgeable agents out there who know their stuff. I always check to make sure they’re members of the American Society of Travel Agents or CLIA — signs that they’re on the up-and-up.

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Next, you should know that there could be deals, and lots of them. The major cruise lines were expected to add 12 new ships totaling 22,039 beds, and if demand doesn’t keep up with supply, you could see some serious discounting come wave season. So shop hard.

And beyond that? I asked a few good agents and veteran cruisers for their money-saving secrets. Here they are:

Buy now. When Jeff Cooper worked for a cruise line, the best deals didn’t come during wave season. They came just before. In other words, now. “The sailings prior to Christmas and New Years were rarely at capacity,” says Cooper, who now works as a hospital administrator. And while the bargains during wave period were good, these were better.

Skip the air-inclusive cruise. “Cruise air is usually the worst possible deal,” says Amber Blecker, an agent for CruiseResource.com. “You get bad itineraries, multiple connections and higher prices.” And, she adds, don’t think for a moment the cruise line will wait if your plane is late. “That’s a wives tale,” she says.

Find a preferred agent. There are travel agents, and then there are travel agents. “Find one that specializes in booking with your desired cruise line,” advises Charles McCool, a consultant who specializes in finding travel deals. “Only a select few have preferred status. These agents and agencies offer better discounts and amenities, and the cruises cost between 10 percent and 20 percent less than cruises bought from other agents.”

Deal of the Day Newfoundland and Labrador Explore World Heritage sites, glimpse into the life of the Vikings, more, from $1,635.

Think small, think shoulder-season. Crystal Griffith, a nurse from Baker, Fla., scored a deep discount on her Alaska cruise by choosing a September itinerary and picking a windowless inside cabin. “We rarely spent much time in the cabin, and use it mainly for sleeping,” she says. “It saved us lots of money.”

Become a shareholder. “If you buy 100 shares of Carnival or Royal Caribbean shares, you’ll get between $50 and $200 of free cabin credit on every cruise,” says George Smart, a consultant in Research Triangle Park, NC. Note: Carnival and Royal Caribbean own most of the cruise lines out there, so this is a pretty decent deal.'

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