A travel expert has revealed the best way to book a cheap cruise – but it has its risks.
Travel columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Dawn Gilbertson, shared how she got on a cruise for less money using a standby system.
Some cruise lines will release eligible cruises at fixed prices. Once you have given them your availability, you are entered into a list used to fill the boat in case of cancellations.
She explained: “I took a flier on Holland America’s standby programme in a bid to score a cheap, spontaneous deal to fun in the sun. It tested my nerves, patience and backup plan skills, but I would do it again for the price.”
Holland America offers $99 a day for an inside or ocean-view cabin and $129 for a room with a balcony, including port charges and taxes.
Gilbertson, a latecomer to the list for the Nieuw Statendam out of Fort Lauderdale, paid only $693 a person on January 16 – a mere 10 days before the ship’s departure.
The price was a deal – most of the week-long cruises departing out of Florida that week cost more than $1,000 per trip.
The deal works best for solo travellers – they don’t have to pay double when there’s only one person in a room, as most cruise lines require.
Gilbertson invited her 82-year-old mother, who asked: “Do you get advance notice you can go on the cruise or is it like a flight, and you have to be there?”
Those on the standby list won’t find out whether they have a room on the ship until seven to two days before sailing. You get your money back if you don’t get on the cruise.
Those living near a port will have an advantage here, as they don’t have to book a flight to the port with no definite spot to claim on arrival.
The ship Gilbertson booked was completely sold out online, leaving her “obsessively checked (her) email” only to receive “nothing, nothing and more nothing”.
But then, just two days before setting sail, Gilbertson finally got confirmation on her trip.
It didn’t come through email as promised, but instead through an alert on the app informing her of an assigned room number. She called the cruise line to question whether it was a fluke.
It wasn’t. Only three of seven standby passengers managed to snag a spot, and Gilbertson was one of them.
