Best price cruises and how to get them!

Everyone likes to steal a deal when it comes to booking a holiday, and it's no different when it comes to cruise holidays, so here goes with some of my top tips for booking your next cruise.

1. Booking your Cruise holiday
You might perceive that you would be best placed to book your cruise directly with the cruise line, but this is rarely going to secure you the best price. You will tend to find that you can get a discounted price on the same cruise going through a travel agent. However it isn't always as simple as just  walking into your local high street agent. Great deals don't come that easily, a little bit of savvy is required, which I will elaborate on next...

2. Collect and Compare Quotes
You won't be surpised to hear that going with the first price you are given isn't likely to deliver the best deal. You need to do a bit of shopping around. The most efficient way to do this is on the web. Compare the offers from at least 4 or 5 different travel agencies. There are quite a number of "cruise specialist" travel agencies who just sell cruises, not necessarily operating from retail shops, but with large offices populated by cruise experts who work over the phone or in some cases with on-line chat facilities. These cruises specialists are able to leverage their scale to get the very best commercial deals from the cruise lines, which they can pass on to their customers. The cruise lines don't want to "bite the hand that feeds" so rarely under cut their cruise specialist agency partners. We recommend that once you have done some research online and know what cruise you want, to then call up to check that the price is accurate and that there are no add ons or restrictions to the price shown (eg pay in full on booking). You also need to weigh up other added value offers such as "on board credit" - this is where the cruise line, for example P&O Cruises, Cunard or Royal Caribbean, often ofter to credit your account when you on the crusie with a sum of monety that you can use to pay for drinks or other luxuries on board. Do remember also that on most cruises all your meals are included in the price.

3. Customer Service It doesn't always make sense to book with the travel agent or cruise specialist who gives you to cheapest fare. You should also consider how they treated you when you spooke to them on the phone and how good you think their customer service is going to be. If you felt more comfortable with one particular company but they weren't the most competitive on price, don't be afraid of calling them back and telling them the cheaper price you were offered through a competitor and ask them if they would be willing to match the quote. Most of them will. Remember that customer service is important - all the major cruise lines offer amazing customer service on board, but you want good customer service from time you book, through to the confirmation document or tickets and any follow-up after you get back from your cruise. This is all the more relevant this summer with the threat of volcano ash clouds if you are looking at a fly-cruise.

4. Customer Loyalty
Let's be honest, loyalty does not always reward you, well certainly not blind loyalty. You may have had a super deal on your previous cruise holiday, but it doesn't always mean you will get as good a deal next time from the same agent. It is still worthwhile calling around and browsing the internet as some agencies do get exclsuive offers from certain cruise lines. However if you have had a good service from a cruise specialist it's definitely worth making sure they are one of the ones you try and as stated earlier you can always give them the opportunity to price match a quote that you've had elsewhere.

5. Flight + Cruise + Hotel + Transfer Most cruise lines will pre-book allocations of seats on flights so that they can sell you a package. This of course has many advantages, not least the fact that you will be guided on arrival at the airport as to where to go, and have the transfer to the port all included. However sometimes you can get a better all round deal by booking the flight, cruise and transfer separately. Now that may sound like a lot of work, but you don't have to do all the work, you can ask your cruise specialst to do it for you, just ask them if they can get a better price for you by "dynamically packaging" a cruise holiday for you. If they are smart and commercially switched on, they should be able to rise to the challenge and get a you cracking deal. Also, you can ask to have an extra night or two added on to the beginning or end of your cruise, so as to make the most of the departure destination. Quite often if you book a cruise package, you are whisked off from the aiprort straight to the port and you never get to see anything of the city that the cruise departs from. But if you opt for a flight plus cruise plus hotel self-package, you can fly in a couple of days before the cruise starts and tack on some extra days at the end of the cruise to really explore the destination. One thing that is really important if you are going for this option is to make sure that your travel agent is ATOL registered, so that you are covered with protection for all elements of the holidays collectively.

6. Onboard Bookings
The worst thing about going on holiday is when it come to an end! The last night when you know tomorrow is going to be time to get off the ship and back to the airport. Assuning you've had a good time (cruising holidays have one of the highest levels of customer satisfaction), all you can think about is doing it all over again, and on a number of cruises now that exactly what you can arrange to do. You can book your next cruise holiday onboard usually at the future cruise desk. Quite often you can get a discount, or some free onboard spend. You can even check with the cruise specialist agent that you orginally booked with when you get back home to see if they can get you a better price, which if they can you can trasnfer the booking across to them.

7. Shore Excursions
My last piece of advise is to do some research on the places that you will be stopping at on your cruise before you go. Now it might involve a bit of work on your behalf, but with the internet at hand it's not too difficult. The lazy option is to go along with the excursions offered by the cruise lines, and in many cases, an arranged excursion is a great, safe way to see places, but these are often rather pricey. You might find it cheaper and more adventurous to hop in a taxi and head to places you really want to see that you have researched before hand rather than the places the cruise lines want to take you. Finally be mindful that if you pay for pre-arranged excursions and then they are cancelled, for reasons such as weather or a change in itinerary resulting in a port no longer being featured, that you are not guaranteed to get your money refunded.

So there you have it, plenty of tips to ensure that you get yourself a cracking deal, with you doing as little work as possible and getting your travel agent to really earn their commission.