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Cruise Line Tips #2

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GETTING THE BEST CRUISE PRICE

Paying the brochure rate for a cruise is like paying the full sticker price for a car. You should be able to easily find a good discount off those rates, if you can’t, keep looking around.

Book early, the booking rates become more expensive the closer to sailing. Booking early on a Cruise Line generally refers to 120 days prior to sail date.

Shop around, shopping the Internet can be the quickest and easiest way to compare many different cruise rates.

Be flexible about your travel plans. As with every other travel industry, cruising during the off season will also help you save money.

Apply any coupons or special discount programs for which you are eligible.

Types of special discount programs

Discounts may be available for associations, corporations, seniors, children or even large groups or family reunions.

Memberships in loyalty clubs often include offers of discounts and upgrades.

Some credit cards will have special discounts available to their cardholders.

Package deals often include a discounted cruise price along with pre or post-cruise activities.

FOOD ON A CRUISE

Some of the Cruise Lines focus on high cuisine. The more expensive Cruise Lines will generally have the more exotic foods to please all those pampered taste buds. So if you have those taste buds, you’ll want to do a little research to find the best match for you. Sample menus are usually posted on the Cruise Line’s web pages to give you an idea of their offerings. Most Cruise Lines sailing from U.S. ports provide very good quality food, but don’t expect to compare most ships to a five star restaurant. Remember, many ships may have to serve 2000 or more passengers, ten meals a day.

Cruise ships generally offer two main seating schedules.

The early seating generally starts with a breakfast around 7:00 a.m. with lunch at noon and dinner at six.

Late seating starts around 8:30 a.m. for breakfast with lunch at 1:15 p.m. and dinner at 8:15 p.m. These times aren’t exactly the same for every ship, but these examples should be close.

Once you pick a mealtime you’ll be expected to follow it for the three main meals of the day.

Some ships are more flexible about breakfast and lunch than dinner.

CRUISE ACTIVITIES

You’ll have many different opportunities to eat and enjoy dinner conversation.

You might want to exercise some of those meals off. Most Cruise Ships have equipped gyms and some have exercise classes scheduled.

You can try a game of chance in the casino.

Go to the ship’s theater and catch a movie.

Enjoy some live entertainment shows.

Become a dancing fool in the lounge.

Lie on the deck and catch some rays.

The ships will have a variety of other activities scheduled to keep you busy.

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