Find The Best Cruise Lines, Discounts and Tips with Voyage Masters
"What are the best cruise lines for all inclusive cruises?" This is the single most asked question coming to Voyage Masters and several other leading websites and blogs dedicated to helping people get accurate information about cruises. Even passengers that consume very few alcoholic beverage ask the question. So, what is the answer? Unfortunately there is no clear answer other than "it depends".
If you prefer premium brands and plan to consume more than 4 glasses per day then the all you can drink option may be right for you. Keep in mind these plans include unlimited consumption of no-alcoholic drinks such as sports drinks bottled water and sodas. Some plans, such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, the price also includes gratuities.
Most drinks containing alcohol cost in the range from $5 for beer to $12 per glass of wine. Prices can escalate quicking for premium brands. Celebrity Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean packages start at $44 per person per day for standard brands and $55 per person per day for premium. Generally, that means any drink available aboard ship.
Generally speaking, if you plan to indulge, purchase the all you care to drink package.
Unadvertised Specials on Cunard Cruise Lines' "QUEENS" - Free Upgrades for Balcony Fares
Considered one of the most prestigious niche cruise lines on the seas, Cunard is offering extraordinary promotions for complimentary upgrades from oceanview suites to balconies for the same price. What's more compelling is that the promotion is unadvertised and to date is nowhere to be found on the Cunard website. That's great news for you because the competition for these fares will be much less. Just to give frame of reference, these special offers start from $1,499 per person. The complimentary program, available on all three "QUEENS" is for May, 2013 departures.
Itineraries:
7 day Transatlantic Crossing departing from New York to Southampton aboard the Queen Mary 2 from $1,499.00 per person. (May 25, 2013)
14 day St. Petersburg and Baltic cruise departing from Southampton to Copenhagen, Berlin, Tallin and Helsinki, then returning to Southampton aboard the Queen Elizabeth from $2,699.00 per person. (May 01, 2013)
14 day Atlantic Isles departing from Southampton with stops at Lisbon, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, La Palma and Madeira, then returning to Southampton aboard the Queen Victoria from $3,499.00 per person. (May 01, 2013)
This offer is available through your travel agent or book directly with Cunard Cruise Lines. Call (800) 728-6273.
For more information about Cunard's itineraries, visit here.
Interesting Two-Day Promotion from Celebrity Cruise Lines
My friends at Celebrity Cruise Lines sent me an interesting email promoting some very attractive discounts. They're calling it their "2-Day Winter Solstice Sale". You must book in the very short window on December 20st or 21nd, 2012. The teaser is on-ship credits of $50.00 for inside or ocean view and $300.00 for suites. That may not seem like that great of a deal but if you peel back the onion you see that many of the last minute cruise prices are dropping significantly. I'm a bit surprised because demand remains strong throughout the cruise marketplace. I may be because people are waiting to see how far fares will tumble. No doubt that inside stateroom go for next to nothing when the embarkation date falls inside of thirty days. For those of us who prefer a stateroom with balcony, our leverage is not so great. Celebrity's two-day promotion is worth a second look. The credits are available for "almost" every itinerary in 2013, although Celebrity does not mention which ones are not included. Seems odd but marketing is marketing, I guess.
Remember, the offer ends December 21, 2012 at midnight Eastern Standard Time. Call 1-800-647-2251 and talk to a Celebrity Cruise Line representative for more information.
How to Get the Best Prices on Cruises
It is simple to make reservations for cheap cruises from any port of call if you just make the effort to search for them. It doesn't take a lot of time and could potentially save you thousands of dollars. It's a easy as this: Look for last minute or repositioning cruises for starters. You WILL save thousands of dollars on cruises by using my simple to follow techniques. I never pay full fare and it is crazy simple to learn how to find an all inclusive cruise at a highly discounted rate. Surprisingly, a large majority of people do pay way too much, especially if they are taking their first cruise. One of my primary reasons for having this Voyage Masters web site is to help people do research about all types of cruises, themes and destinations and then turn that newly acquired knowledge into knowledge power. Again, if you follow my suggestions for booking cruises and vacation packages, I am confident that you will save thousands on your next trip. Take advantage of my time-tested advice at no charge. What I mean by that is my goal is to help you get the best deals on the best cruises every time. As you scan my web pages and perhaps read my blog posts you will find that I always suggest that you book your cruises direct with the cruise line operators because they have best price guarantees and therefore you cannot get a lower price. Period. That is especially the case when researching deals for last minute promotions or lines offering repositioning cruise incentives. The cruise lines reservation specialists also have a better grasp of how many cabins and stateroom are still available and they are very well trained on the layout of every ship deck plan so they are in the best position possible to ensure you find the best location to fit your needs. They also have the flexibility to offer additional incentives or perks to help you to book right away. Take advantage of those offers because they can add up to huge savings.
There are times though, when booking through a third party, such as those listed on my pages, has its benefits. I monitor online booking services such as Vacations to Go, Travelocity and Priceline and I have found that they are the very best booking consolidators in operation. Vacations to Go all inclusive cruise packages compete very nicely with booking directly with the cruise lines but have more flexibility when you want to book absolutely everything in one place. Using a Travelocity promotional code offer has always helped me save lots of money on many of my itineraries, especially when it is a package deal. People write to me saying that using the Priceline bidding reservation system works very well also, however you may not be certain of the cruise lines, hotel and flights until your transaction is complete. I do not like that uncertainty, but again, there are some very compelling promotions at Priceline. You will find some great cruise discounts there since operators can pass through enormous discounts without revealing their prices to competitors. One last piece of advice about booking all inclusive cruises: Never book through a travel agent. They add no value to your reservation transaction whatsoever. They take a huge commission and tend to focus on vendors who are offering additional benefits by booking their cruises first. With dealing directly with the cruise lines or with the booking consolidators I mentioned above, you have all the options you will ever need to get the best deals.
Voyage Masters' contributing writers and enthusiasts are finding discounts on all-inclusive cruises of as much as 75% OFF FULL PRICE.
Be sure to check out our unique theme cruises on canals, river boats, small ships, barges and freighters.
Always ask for all inclusive cruises, because if you don't you pay much more in the long run. Our recommendations to major cruise lines will save you thousands of dollars. Be sure to check their sites first. No matter what some agents tell you, booking direct will save the most money and ensure your trip is seamless. This may be a once in a lifetime experience so read the fine print before you commit. Look for extra benefits and promotions that are only offered with a direct booking. There are plenty of options, so take your time and do the research with tools available from Voyage Masters. You can even check statistics about the ship's impact on the environment by reporting it's carbon footprint.
When in London, don't miss taking a Thames river cruise. With rates starting at under $20 per person, your tour of from the Thames will include passing by the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and Big Ben, just to name a few. It's a great way to see all the popular sites of London in a short period of time. Dinner Thames river cruises are also very popular.
And don't forget to take Seine river cruise when in Paris. It's a practical and inexpensive way to see the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.
Thames Dinner Cruise from $75.00. Seine River Cruisefrom $25.00.
Riverboat Tour through Burgundy, France- 1 week from $800 per person.
Check out our feature pages for cruises in 2013 and 2014. Remember, it is never too early to book cruises. You will get the best heavily discounted deals and have your pick of suite and stateroom locations.
The way this web site is set up it is sometimes difficult to get to the most popular cruise lines so I figured that it would be helpful to my return visitors and loyal readers to give a few more links so your visit here to Voyage Masters is helpful and convenient.
The website is designed to inform visitors about the best cruise itineraries, not to sell you anything.
We have no affiliation with any cruise line or travel agent so you get updates that we feel are most helpful for you.
Voyage Masters is a home-based information center owned by a husband and wife team. We do not contract any articles and postings to third parties.
Don't see what you are looking for? No problem! Send us an email with your questions and we will answer within 24 hours at no charge. My email is robert (at) voyagemasters (dot) com. (Sorry for the cryptic address. Using this format keeps spam to a minimum.)
What We Do
Every day, we scan major cruise lines and their promoters for the best deals on unique itineraries.
For example if you are looking for a Panama cruise deal you will find our update by itinerary, date, special occasion and cruise line. We don't do a lot of fluffy description. We leave that for the operators. Our job is to get you the information as quickly and efficiently as possible. Than means you have to take less time to sort through the multiple offers, find the best deal for your needs and make the reservation. It's that simple.
We hope you enjoy visiting Voyage Masters. Oh, and by the way...tell a friend about us!
