2017 RANKING & REVIEWS
TOP RANKING BEST CRUISING DEALS
Where to Find the Cheapest Cruise Deals for Your 2017 Vacation
There’s just something about cruising on the open sea to exotic ports that makes it the ultimate vacation for some people. And if you can find the best cruising deals with discounts, it can actually be more within reach financially than you might think.
Going on a family cruise used to be something many pictured as a once in a lifetime opportunity due to the cost and inability to find all-inclusive cruise deals. But now that there are more cheap cruise deals available, it’s possible for people to enjoy a cruise as often as they like.
According to Cruising.org, the number of global ocean cruise passengers, many of whom took advantage of cruise ship deals, increased from 17.8 million in 2009 to 24.2 million in 2016, an increase of 40%. More people are cruising than ever thanks to great deals on cruises.
Award Emblem: Top 6 Cheapest Cruise Deals Sites
So where do you find the best cruise deals?
That’s what we’re going to take a look at in our top six list of the best all-inclusive cruise deals. We’ll review the best sites to use to find a cruise deal for your next vacation and take a look over the most popular destinations for cruise package deals.
There is never a dull moment on a ship when you grab great cruising deals. Besides on-shore excusions, you can enjoy live entertainment, slot machines, and both family and nightlife activities. And all-you-can-eat is included in many of the best cruising deals.
There are several exotic destinations you can visit, and most of them will have discount cruise deals you can use to make the trip more affordable. So, let’s get started and take a look at where to find the best deals on cruises for your next vacation.
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AdvisoryHQ’s List of the Top 6 Sites for the Cheapest Cruise Deals
List is sorted alphabetically (click any of the site names below to go directly to the detailed review section for that site):
Top 6 All-Inclusive Cruise Deals | Brief Comparison & Ranking
Best Cruising Deals Sites | Example of One of Their Cheap Cruise Deals | Website |
| Cruise Critic | $262/night for 15-day Altantic Cruise with $1,700 onboard credit | www.cruisecritic.com |
| Cruzely | $296/night for 4-night Western Caribbean Cruise | www.cruzely.com |
| Dunhill Travel Deals | $367/night for 4-night Mediterranean Cruise | www.dunhilltraveldeals.com |
| Expedia | $379/night for 3-night Bahamas Cruise | www.expedia.com |
| Liberty Travel | $285/night for 3-night Bahamas Cruise | www.libertytravel.com |
| VacaGuru.com | $395/night for 7-day Western Caribbean Cruise | www.vacaguru.com |
Table: Top 6 Cheapest Cruise Deals Sites | Above list is sorted alphabetically
All-Inclusive Cruise Deals FAQ | How Does Pricing Work on Cheap Cruise Deals?
When you’re reviewing the best cruise deals and see a low cost per person per day, you may get excited…but not so fast. There are some other charges you should know about so you can fairly compare cruise ship deals and understand what to expect with all-in costs.
Here is a breakdown of the commonly included and not-included charges with discount cruise deals.
Main Pricing PPPN (Double Occupancy)
When you see $285 per night, that is typically a per person per night (PPPN) charge and assumes that two people are sharing a cabin. You’ll see that rooms with an ocean view cost more. Usually, taxes and other fees aren’t included in this price.
Usually included are:
- Ship accommodations
- Ocean transport
- Most meals onboard
- Some beverages onboard
- Most entertainment onboard
Not usually included are:
- Alcholic beverages
- On-shore excusions/activities
- Gambling and bingo
- Spa or salon services
- Laundry service
- Photos
- Babysitting
- Gratuities
- Other extras
With all-inclusive cruise deals other items may be included, such as alchoholic beverages, children’s activities, all ship activities, and on-shore activities or dining.
Here’s a great blog from Cruise Critic showing “extras” costs on a variety of different cruise lines with deals on cruises.
Image Source: Deals on Cruises
Taxes and Port Charges
These are generally extra and can vary widely between cruising deals, from about 12% up to 15% or more of the total cruise main pricing.
Onboard Credit
You’ll note that some of the best deals on cruises offer a certain amount of onboard credit to use on drinks, special services, or other activities that you would usually have to pay for. So, that’s a great extra perk when you can find it.
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Detailed Review – Top Ranking Best Cruising Deals
Below, please find a detailed review of each site on our list of cheapest cruise deals sites. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these sites with all-inclusive cruise deals to score so highly in our selection ranking.
Cruise Critic Review
If you’re looking for a great comparison site for the best deals on cruises that also has reviews, then you’ll want to check out Cruise Critic. Since the site began in 1995, it has become one of the most influential cruise sites on the internet to find a cruise deal.
In 2007, the site was acquired by TripAdvisor, making it part of a much larger travel site community and giving it more power to search and find the best cruise package deals for users.
Highlights That Make Cruise Critic Stand Out on Our Top List of Cheapest Cruise Deals
Cruise Critic is really a one-stop shop for researching where you may want to go on a cruise and finding discount cruise deals. Besides helping you search out cruise ship deals, you can find a lot of other excellent content, such as:
- Detailed Reviews
- Cruisers’ Choice Awards
- All-Inclusive Cruise Deals
- Featured Articles on Cruising
- Ports of Call Profiles
Multiple Site Searches
When you use the site to find the best deals on cruises, the power of their connection with TripAdvisor really kicks in. We did a search on a 15-day transatlantic cruise, and six different site results for cruise package deals were at our fingertips.
You can choose from cruising deals results at sites like Orbitz, Priceline.com, Cruise.com, Cruises.com, and others. This is a great time-saving feature rather than having to search each site for cheap cruise deals individually.
First-Time Cruisers’ Guide
If you’re a novice at cruising, then you’ll definitely want to read their First-Time Cruisers’ Guide before you choose one of the cheapest cruise deals. It has tips on what to expect, how to book a cruise, and things to know before you cruise.
Cruzely Review
Cruzely is another site that allows you to find the best cruising deals offered by multiple companies. They also include helpful traveler information for cruisers alongside the ability to search for deals on cruises.
There isn’t a lot of background information on the site, but from their Affiliate Disclaimer you can see they have affiliate arrangements with Lyft, Amazon, TripAdvisor, and others, meaning they’re compensated when you click through and purchase.
Highlights That Make Cruzely Stand Out on Our Top List of Cheapest Cruise Deals
When you visit Cruzely, you’ll find it’s one of the cleanest and easiest to navigate sites for searching for a cruise deal. The lean layout makes the site fast, and you can bring up multiple cruise ship deals in just seconds.
Top 10 Cruise Ship Deals
You can search deals on cruises by the port you leave from or by the cruise line. A great feature is that the results come up in a top 10 best cruise deals listing that makes it easy to see and compare all the best deals on cruises at a glance.
When you click on a cruise deal, it will take you to one of the sites where you can learn more and make the booking.
Extensive Port Guides
Packing and getting on the ship aren’t the only things you have to plan when chosing the best cruising deals. Most people don’t live in the same city as the port the ship sails from, so you have to navigate getting to the port and might have to stay in a hotel overnight.
Cruzely’s extensive port guides give you everything you need to know once you’ve found your cruise deal about how to get to the port, where to find a hotel, and what to do for port parking.
Related: Top Hotel Discounts | Tips for Finding the Best Hotel Deals
Dunhill Travel Deals Review
Another great site where you can find the cheapest cruise deals along with hotel deals and vacation deals is Dunhill Travel Deals. The site is operated by Dunhill Vacations, Inc., based in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
The site doesn’t book the discount cruise deals themselves; rather, it brings in tons of search results from companies offering cruise package deals so you can easily compare them to find the best cruise deals for your vacation.
Highlights That Make Dunhill Travel Deals Stand Out on Our Top List of Cheapest Cruise Deals
The company behind Dunhill Travel Deals is made up of a team of travel industry experts with over 100 years of combined experience finding the best all-inclusive cruise deals.
They receive hundreds of travel and best cruising deals daily that you can search out on their site. And if you’d rather have the cruising deals come to you, you can just sign up for their email travel newsletter.
Image Source: Dunhill Travel Deals | Best Cruising Deals
Global Deals on Cruises
Some cruise deal sites have a more limited reach, showing the cheapest cruise deals from U.S. ports only, but not Dunhill Travel Deals. The world of cruising is yours to discover here.
They have all-inclusive cruise deals for just about every continent on the globe, including Dubai to Singapore, Alaskan cruise ship deals, and European river cheap cruise deals.
Last Minute Super Cheap Cruise Deals
If you have flexible travel plans, then you will definitely want to take a look at their last minute best cruise deals. When a ship is about to sail and it’s not yet fully booked, prices drop dramatically to fill those cabins and you can find some great discount cruise deals.
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Expedia Review
Expedia is of course one of the most popular travel booking sites, but many people think of it first for air travel and may not realize you can also use it to find the best cruising deals.
The company includes some of the leading online travel brands, such as Hotels.com, Travelocity, and Hotwire. In addition to being a number one flight booking site, they also offer some of the best deals on cruises you can find, and you can book with them.
Highlights That Make Expedia Stand Out on Our List of Cheapest Cruise Deals
If you’re familiar with Expedia and have used them before for other travel bookings, then it could be your best bet for finding cruise package deals.
You also have the extra convenience of being able to stay on their site to pay for and book your all-inclusive cruise deals vacation instead of being sent to someone else’s site.
Best Price Guarantee
An excellent feature from Expedia for any traveler looking for the best cruising deals is their price guarantee. If you find a better price on your cruise deal within 24 hours of booking, they’ll refund the difference plus give you a $50 travel coupon.
The Best Cruising Deals Plus Special Offers
You can get some exceptional extra deals for earning onboard credit or points to spend for travel on top of the all-inclusive cruise deals when you book with Expedia.
A couple of ways to earn more cash or points are:
- Paying with MasterCard can get you $1,000 onboard credit in 2017.
- Expedia rewards allow you to earn points with any type of travel booking that you can save and use on more best cruising deals in the future.
Liberty Travel Review
Another top site to use if you want to find the cheapest cruise deals is Liberty Travel. They have over 65 years of travel experience and pride themselves on curating one-of-a-kind vacations and all-inclusive cruise deals for every type of traveler.
If you like a more personalized touch when you’re looking for the best crusing deals, then Liberty Travel hits that mark. They have more than 125 store locations in the U.S. and use personal recommendations from their 800+ travel consultants.
Highlights That Make Liberty Travel Stand Out on Our List of Cheapest Cruise Deals
When you visit Liberty Travel, you will feel like you have your own personalized travel agent to help you pick the best cruise deals. They have an excellent Cruise Guide that includes what to pack and everything else you need to know after choosing your discount cruise deals and before you embark on your vacation.
Price Beat Guarantee
When you book with Liberty Travel for your all-inclusive cruise deals, you get their guarantee that their specialists will find you the lowest price.
If you find a cruise deal for less the same day you book with them, they will beat the competitor quote by $1 per adult and $1 per child. So you know you’re getting the best cruise deals with Liberty Travel.
Image Source: Liberty Travel | All-Inclusive Cruise Deals
AARP Offers for Cheap Cruise Deals
These days, 50 is the new 40! So if you’re young at heart and are an AARP member, you can get some great discount offers on the cheapest cruise deals. They are currently offering savings of up to $200 per person and 60% off a second guest for their cruise ship deals.
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VacaGuru.com Review
The last site rounding out our top six list of best cruising deals is VacaGuru.com. This is one of those “hidden gems” because most people use it for vacation rentals, which is a main focus of the site. But they also have some of the best cruise deals.
You can both list and rent a vacation property on VacaGuru.com, but don’t overlook their cheapest cruise deals specialists that can help you find the best price on a dream cruise vacation.
Highlights That Make VacaGuru.com Stand Out on Our List of Cheapest Cruise Deals
While this site may not have as extensive a listing of all-inclusive cruise deals as other sites, they definitely have some great deals on cruises, like a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise for just $395 per person per night.
Featured Cheap Cruise Deals of the Week
VacaGuru.com has a hot list of their top featured cheapest cruise deals of the week where you can find some rock bottom prices. And the locations vary from the tropical Caribbean cruises to the expansive Alaskan cruise ship deals.
The Guru’s Blog
Are you wondering what it’s like to kick back in the Florida Keys? What about how to save on last-minute cruises? Well, you can find those topics and more on their Guru’s Blog. Their blog is definitely a “must read” before you choose your best cruising deals, because you might just find some great intel for your next cruise vacation.
Conclusion – Top 6 Best Cruising Deals
While the Caribbean still remains the top destination for all-inclusive cruise deals, when you’re able to locate the cheapest cruise deals online, you can go wherever your heart desires.
Many of the sites on our top six list of great crusing deals have excellent guides that take you step-by-step through the process of taking your first cruise. Others offer the cheapest cruise deals and give tips on how much the extra drinks and other services might be. You’ll want to use those resources.
Some of the sites on our list offer the biggest aggregate selection of best cruising deals, while others may have a smaller selection but offer more personalized service. Whatever your preference, great cruise package deals are out there just waiting for you.
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