Booking a cruise can sometimes feel like you really have to dig to find the best value for your vacation.
Between the ships, itineraries, cabin types, and embarkation ports, it requires a lot of planning to do it right, and then you have to determine the most affordable option.
Royal Caribbean has new sales every week, and they are a smattering of BOGO deals, percentage off discounts, and freebies. On the surface, it sounds good, but how do you know it's actually saving you money?
Here's how to know whether or not you're getting a good deal when you book a cruise.
Start tracking prices now to get a baseline
Assuming you know nothing about cruises at all, you might want to start off by simply tracking prices for cruises you're interested in and then seeing how the shift over time.
Cruise prices are specific to the ship and sailing, and it's priced more like airfare than a pair of jeans. The specific sailing on a certain date and vessel could have drastically different prices than the sailing immediately following or preceding it.
If you're more than a year before you'd like to cruise, I'd recommend tracking the price of the cruise for the specific stateroom you want in a spreadsheet or notepad on a daily or weekly basis.
You'll probably see the most price swings when a new month rolls around, but I've seen prices change daily.
Once you start to get an idea of how much the cruise fare is going to cost, you can start evaluating new offers to determine if it's really making a difference in the cost.
Don't wait too long to pull the trigger on booking a cruise. Just like airfare, as more people book up cabins, prices tend to go up.
You should also leverage a good travel agent to help, because they track a lot of prices for clients on a daily basis. They'll have a good idea of what constitutes a good price for a spring break cruise, or a Christmas sailing.
Read more: The biggest cruise hack you're not doing that has saved me thousands of dollars
Know what 'good deal' means to you
Everyone has their own sense of what's a good deal, so don't get too wrapped up in what others think. Ultimately, you need to feel good about the price you're getting.
Your vacation budget will be different than someone else, and maybe you are looking to get the best price on a suite, whereas others want an inside cabin.
I spent $7,000 on a suite because it was a good deal on that type of high-end suite, but some people thought I was crazy to spend that much money on any cruise ship cabin.
Look at a variety of cabin choices across different ships, and start to get an idea of the ballpark you're considering for the cruise cost. Pretty soon you will come up with a number that you're seeing, and a number you'd like to be at before you book.
Read more: The 5 best cabin locations on a cruise ship
Determine your personal priorities, and start looking for the right price with that context in mind.
What is a great deal to one cruiser may not be to another, because cruises are about being on vacation - and whether your price is good or bad is about your vacation!
Factor in the specifics of your situation
Just as where a house is located will largely factor into the price, there are a few major factors that will greatly influence the price of a cruise.
Seasonaility: There can be major differences in a price of a cruise (as well as discount offered) from one week to the next.
High demand weeks will see far less deals than other weeks of the year. In addition, whether school is in session can also play a big part in the total price.
You might see deep discounts offered on a cruise in September, because it's hurricane season in the Caribbean and the shoulder season of Alaska and European cruises. These bonus sales will absolutely save a lot of money, but you need to be aware of the tradeoff you might have in trying to get time off from work or school.
How close to your sail date: You might find a really good deal on a cruise more than 12 months in advance because Royal Caribbean wants to fill up rooms now for it.
Similarly, there could be a good last-minute deal on a cruise sailing in 6 weeks because of leftover unsold cabins.
There's a reason why Royal Caribbean might want to offer a better deal on one cruise over another, and it's usually due to how many cabins they've been able to sell so far, and what their internal forecasts predict going forward.
Room type: Deal is a relative term, and what makes a good price on one type of stateroom might be completely different from another.
I believe you're far more likely to find a cheap rate on an inside cabin with no windows than a balcony. That doesn't mean you should (or want to) stay in an inside cabin.
Read more: Inside cabin vs. balcony room on a cruise ship
Focus on the final price, not the promotion
Royal Caribbean rolls out sales almost every day, and they all sound great until you price things out.
My advice is skip over the name of the sale and what promotion is offered, because it's akin to window dressing. You want to skip right to the final price.
Royal Caribbean offers kids sail free, onboard credit, instant savings and more. They all sound lucrative, but quite often the final price doesn't change much. Plus, there could be blackout dates that might prevent you from taking advantage of a specific offer.
You can safely skip over the promotion advertised, and plug in the ship and sail date you want and then see the real cost.
