4 Ways to Book a Cruise for Cheap
During a gap between changing jobs and starting school, I found myself with a little bit of flexibility and free-time. So what better way to spend that time off than by escaping to warmer weather? Switching jobs and starting school meant that I had to learn 4 ways to book a cruise for cheap, which led me to a 4 day drip to the Bahamas.
So how did I choose a cruise to the Bahamas? Honestly, when I started doing some mini trip research, the Bahamas wasn’t even on my radar. We started looking at trips to resorts in Mexico, but as you can imagine, those got a bit pricey. It only took a little Google searching to start finding other, more budget friendly options (like cruises). There’s tons of cruise lines, so it’s pretty easy to find one that has exactly what you’re looking for at the right price. Obviously, not having jobs meant that we had to be conscious of our budget. So how did we book a 4 day cruise to paradise without breaking the bank?
When to Book:
Sometimes booking last minute actually saves you money. Obviously you take a risk leaving it up to the last minute, but if you’re not too picky about your days or destination, chances are you can find a deal on a ship trying to sell its remaining tickets. We knew it had to be driveable, so our only search parameters were that it needed to leave from Jacksonville, FL – this left us with several options so we could pick the perfect one at a great price (we’re talking just over $300).
How to Get There:
Drive. Like I mentioned before, we drove to the port. If you’re pretty flexible on spending an extra day on the drive, this is a great way to save money. Instead of spending several hundred dollars on a flight and having to stick to a strict schedule, we spend just over $50 each on round trip gas. It also gave us the flexibility to take our time and stop where we wanted – meaning a few hours in beautiful Savannah, GA. I will say that the 13 hour drive back to the cold was miserable, but in the end totally worth the savings and time spent reminiscing the fun times on the cruise.
Ways to Save Money Onboard:
Excursions. We ended up booking one of the cheaper snorkeling excursions at our second port, and it was an awesome experience that I’m so glad we did. If you’re pocket book is a little tighter though, you could easily stay at port and save the money. Do your research and utilize Pinterest and you can find an itinerary that matches your budget and interests.
Don’t buy the drink package. We debated on this one, but we decided to steer clear of the $56/day drink package (both people in the room have to buy it if one does, so no splitting the cost), which comes out to around $250 for the whole cruise. You can each bring a bottle of wine of champagne on the boat, so that’s a great way to save a little money (just remember to bring a corkscrew). If you’re planning to drink 15 drinks per day, then maybe it’s worth it, but we drank what we wanted and spent a whole lot less without the pressure of making sure we got our money’s worth.
