It's a Great Time to Cruise

If you're one of the fortunate ones who still have some vacation money available, you'll find plenty of great deals for travel starting early next year. Cruise promotions in particular look good, well into early spring. You'll probably find some good airfare and tour deals, too, but they won't be advertised as far in advance as the cruises.

Currently, I see quite a few cruise deals—especially on the mass-market lines and most popular routes—starting at or even under the magic figure of $100 per person per day. And many of them cover sailings through April. Here are a few examples of currently featured deals from some of the larger online cruise agencies:

• Cruise.com is promoting several transatlantic Queen Mary 2 sailings in April and March, from Southampton to New York, starting at $808 per person for an inside cabin. Other deals from this agency include a seven-night early-January sailing from California to Mexico on the Norwegian Star, starting at $369 per person for an inside cabin—just a bit over $50 per day. An early-season (April 25) seven-night sailing to Alaska on the Norwegian Star starts at $429 per person. A mid-January 10-night trip to the Canary Islands, mainland Spain, and Morocco, round-trip from Barcelona, starts at $749.
• CruisesOnly features some great last-minute deals, including a 14-night Panama Canal trip from Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego, departing January 17 on the Celebrity Mercury and starting at $849 per person. Spring transatlantic repositioning cruises begin operating in March, with 17 nights from Ft. Lauderdale to Genoa on the Costa Fortuna starting at $999 per person. Or, check out 16 nights from Miami to Barcelona on the Azamara Journey starting at $1,119 per person, or 18 nights on the Holland America Oosterdam from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome starting at $1,299 per person.
• Online Vacation Center features balcony staterooms for seven-night Western Caribbean cruises on the Norwegian Pearl. There are also California to Mexico cruises on the Norwegian Star for $599 per person and suite accommodations for $799 on sailings through early February, and for $100 more per person through late March. Seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruises on the Norwegian Dawn start at $50 to $100 more per person for sailings through early February.
• Cruises N More's current specials include a 14-night round-trip from Los Angeles to Hawaii on the Golden Princess, sailing January 21, starting at $879. Also featured: several seven-night Eastern Caribbean round-trips from Miami on Norwegian Cruise Lines in January, starting at $439 per person for an inside cabin, $479 per person for oceanview, or $849 for a suite.

You have to add taxes, fees, and modest fuel surcharges to all these prices, but even after all the additions, they're outstanding values. And these are just examples of the many deals the big cruise agencies are featuring right now. If you prefer to avoid online buying, your local travel agent or cruise-only specialist can probably get the same or similar deals. As usual, the best prices are for trips that leave within a week or two of the latest posting, so if you're interested in the very best cruise prices, then keep looking for last-minute deals.

You'll certainly find some good airfare deals, too, but with much less advance notice. Today, as I'm writing this column, editors at our sister site Cruise Critic have identified some really good prices within the continental United States, to Hawaii, and to Europe, but you have to buy many of them within a day or two. Still, the chances are very good that these or similar deals will be repeated at least once before the end of the year and again in January. You just have to keep watching the marketplace. Better yet, sign up for a few of the free deal bulletins you can get from several of the big online sources. SmarterTravel.com, for example, keeps close tabs on all sorts of deals and publishes free weekly bulletins. Also check with sources such as Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity for information on last-minute deals.

(Editor's Note: SmarterTravel.com is a member of the TripAdvisor Media Network, an operating company of Expedia, Inc. Expedia, Inc. also owns Expedia.com.)