Last-minute cruises are only available, of course, at the last minute. One takes a last-minute cruise because they often cost less than cruises booked within the normal time frame, which is several months before the cruise departs, as most people need to plan for a cruise fairly far in advanced. However, if you have a flexible lifestyle, last-minute cruises are an excellent opportunity to explore. As the title of this article suggests, this is an introduction to last-minute cruises, covering how they work and why they are a good value.
Last-minute cruises refer only to cruise deals offered shortly before a cruise is scheduled to depart. In this way, they are different from, say, last-minute flights, which can be quite expensive, perhaps because people who need such plane tickets are often a desperate and vulnerable lot hoping to cover long distances to specific places in short time periods. (Obviously, this isn’t always the case, but it frequently is.) Cruise lines are not really in a position to exploit the same type of people. Indeed, prospective cruise vacationers actually have the leverage in last-minute scenarios, and hence the cheap prices.
This last point relates to how last-minute cruises work and why they are cheap. Operating a cruise is obviously a massively expensive endeavor. Thousands of people are employed on the larger cruise ships, and there are various other operating expenses. The cost of operating a ship will decrease a bit if fewer passengers are on board, but more paying customers are better than less, ceteris paribus. So, if a cruise is not fully booked prior to departure, the cruise line has a strong incentive to fill their ship to capacity, and if in order to do this they need to offer discounted tickets, they will offer discounted tickets. (Of course, this strategy can only be taken so far – it’s not like you’ll find a $10 cruise to Europe if you only wait long enough, alas.)
This is essentially all there is to it – cruise lines offer cheap tickets because they don’t want to send off a half-empty ship. If it gets near the departure date, the pressure is on and the prices drop. If you happen to be in a position to seize one of these deals, then you can get a great cruise vacation for a cheap price.
Here are some more details about how to book a last-minute cruise, but before you look into this, you might want to read about those who can take last-minute cruises and those who cannot take last-minute cruises.