I have an RCL cruise booked for April 8-15, 2007 on the "Adventure of the Seas" ship, leaving from San Juan, PR. (Airfare and transfers separate)

My wife and I originally booked the cruise in September for an "E2" level Deluxe Oceanview Stateroom (w/balcony) for $1,449pp + tax. This is the cheapest balcony room available. Since RCL has a guaranteed "price match" if the rates drop, we have been checking their site frequently. We noticed today that our same level room was dropped to only $1,049pp + tax!! $400 off!! We upgraded to a "D3" level balcony (a bit bigger) for only $20pp more. (UPDATE: This price dropped AGAIN by $200pp!! We are now down to $849pp + tax. This is almost 1/2 our original booking price!)

I can't speak for any other times, but April's rates are drastically reduced. Anyone who has a cruise already booked, check out the site and call their 800 # asap. They were super friendly and all it took was my reservation # and about 2 minutes of my time.

If you are looking to book a new trip, hop on this one right away (this is PRIME travel time as many schools are on break).

Happy cruising!

LINK

Awesome Post!

I ended up getting the best deal with cruisecompete by cruises-n-more.

Once you have booked your cruise, the number one way to save money is to book your shore excursions yourself. As has been noted, previously, cruiscritic is the best place to suss this out. We are a family of five and saved over $500 by booking our own shore excursions. Additionally, we had better service and less crowds.

The one risk here is that is you are late getting back to your ship, you're out of luck. The reputable tour operators are well aware of this and are careful to get you back early. When we used taxis to all-inclusive resorts, we left ourselves lots of time to get back to the ship early.

thanks to op for giving us the tools to save well over $1k on our vacation.

Slightly Off Topic on cruise transfer:
Cruisers, if you need a transfer between airport and port; most of the time it will be cheaper if you rent a car for one way travel. This is a speedy, relax and comfortable way to travel. Avis allows this. Use Avis AWD C031529 discount code bookable on Avis.com. It dropped the rate from regular whooping $90 to $35 on a full size car. I use this code all the time, good discount, unlimited mileage, anyone can use, LDW $3000 is included. I booked a full size and I got a Linconln Town Car. Hey, you can even tour around the town since the rental is good for 24 hours. Once you get to the port or returned from the cruise, local Avis locations are with in 5 minute taix ride (less than $10).

Following are list of examples with Avis location code. Make sure you use AWD C031529 to get the proper discount and avoid high one way charge.
- Miami airport <-> Port Everglads (Fort Lauderdale)
MIA <-> PB8
- Fort Lauderdale airport <-> Port of Miami
FLL <-> M6I
- Orlando <-> Port Canaveral
MCO <-> P3F

Acrossenger said:Slightly Off Topic on cruise transfer:
Cruisers, if you need a transfer between airport and port; most of the time it will be cheaper if you rent a car for one way travel. This is a speedy, relax and comfortable way to travel.


I agree this is the least expensive way to go if you are a family. I'm not sure I agree with the whole speedy, relax and comfortable. Our experience was that we picked the car up in houston and dropped in galveston. Enterprise had a shuttle that ran to the ship...but lots of people do this and we had to wait about 45 minutes to get over to the ship. When we came back we had to wait a long time for the shuttle to pick us up. Then we had to wait 30 minutes on a line to get our car.

If we had used the cruise ships transfer it would have cost us $400. The car rentals cost us $120. We also stopped at some local attractions on the way to the airport which was great.

Cheezy21 said:Since RCL has a guaranteed "price match" if the rates drop, we have been checking their site frequently.

Curious-- does RCCL match price drops right up until you cruise, or only until you've paid in full? Seems like the big price drops come within 30 days, when those already booked have paid and can't cancel without a huge penalty, which doesn't give you much leverage with the cruise line...

echip said:Thanks OP! This is an excellent thread.
But I find it's hard to find $50-$60pp/pn.
Most of the sites have the cheapest no view cabin at around $90-$100pp/pn.

Oh well, I will be keep on searching. Hopefully some of these $50pp/pn deals will pop up.

I found this deal on Carnival Cruise Lines-Carnival Freedom (NEWEST SHIP)
6 Day Western Cruise to Port Everglades, Freeport, Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Port Everglades

Departure date: Nov 30 2008
Prices from:
Inside $299 -- $50pp/pn
OceanView $399
Balcony $529
3/4 Addtl $259

6 Day Cruise 11/30/2008 from $299.00

Note the year!

IrieMon said:Departure date: Nov 30 2008

This doesn't answer your question, but I thought I'd give you my opinion on the two cruises.

I've sailed on the Holiday once before, and I've sailed on the Fantasy class ships a couple of times. The Holiday is much smaller, and older than the Fantasy. I've heard the Holiday is to be retired in the next year as it's nearing the end of it's usefullness.

Being a smaller ship, it is more likely to be affected by the condition of the water. The cruise we were on, a large number of the guests were seasick to some degree due to the rockiness of the boat.

I am a huge fan of finding value on trips, and have been going on two a year lately. My wife won't travel on the Holiday again, and I'd really have to find a great price to get on her again.

Good luck finding a deal.

punt99 said:5 days on the Celebration to the Bahamas from Jacksonville FL for $309 for and inside guarantee (62 per night) You can even move to an OV category for $339.

Thanks, punt! I'm a little partial to the Western Caribbean, but I'll definitely take that one into consideration. (And definitely thanks for the info about the Holiday / Fantasy. That makes it easy to choose -- Fantasy.)

I'm still kind of curious if Carnival's prices are standardized across the board. If they are, then agonizing over hot deals and searching for the best site might be in vain.... (and I should stop now!) Also, from Cruise411, it looks like they're offering a "Up to 3-Category Upgrade!" for the Fantasy leaving next week. I wonder if that will apply to my date if I wait another week.

Is a 3-Category Upgrade (4A -> 4D) worth the risk?