Cheapest Christmas Cruises

Finding the cheapest Christmas cruises can be challenging. However, with a little patience and persistence there is a good chance you can spend your holidays on the high seas without breaking the bank.

Christmas and New Year Cruises

There is no better way to escape from Old Man Winter’s chilly grip than to sail away on a Christmas cruise. Instead of shoveling snow on Christmas, you could be sipping eggnog on the deck of your stateroom overlooking a cobalt blue sea. What’s more, cruising on Christmas allows you a reprieve from cooking up a multi-course turkey dinner for the entire clan and cleaning your home for company.

On a Christmas cruise you can enjoy the following:

• Amazing holiday decorations
• Elaborate holiday menus
• Santa appearances
• Christmas-theme parties
• Caroling on the ship’s deck
• Festive staff and crew

Unfortunately, there are some downsides to sailing away on a Christmas cruise, namely the fact that the holidays are the most popular time of the year for the cruise industry. Cabins are in high demand during December and January as many families are looking to take advantage of school breaks. Consequently, Christmas cruises are often the most expensive to book.

Here are a few cost-saving tips for booking winter getaways on a cruise ship:

• Book early: If it’s possible, you should consider locking in your preferred itinerary, ship, cabin and dining group nine to 12 months in advance of your sailing. By doing so you can take advantage of early-bird specials offered by some cruise companies.

• Hold off: If you are flexible with your itinerary and care solely about price, then you can wait for last-minute deals to post, often within two months of sailing. The downside to waiting so long to book a spot on a Christmas cruise is that you might get stuck in an inside cabin or with your family spread throughout the ship, rather than in adjoining cabins.

• Itineraries: Another way to save on a Christmas cruise is to select a moderately popular itinerary instead of an ultra-popular one. You can score some savings by booking itineraries that have you in a port on Christmas Day where everything's closed but churches and the beach. If you want to be at sea on Christmas, you might have to pay more. In addition, if you are pinching pennies, you might not want to book a Christmas cruise that incorporates a lot of at-sea time into its itinerary. Rather, look for lines that focus on port-intensive itineraries, so you get more bang for your buck.

• Ship size: Larger ships, which boast huge playrooms, massive swimming pools and super-sized video arcades, are great choices for families with young children. However, sailing on a Christmas cruise that’s overrun with youngsters may not be your idea of a quiet getaway. In this case, you might consider paying a bit extra to book a cabin on a small luxury ship, which tends to have fewer kids and a more mature clientele.

The following websites offer some of the best rates on Christmas cruises:

• BestCruiseBuy.com
• CruiseCompete.com
• VacationsToGo.com
• Tavour.com
• Orbitz.com
• IGLUCruise.com

• Thanksgiving Cruises
• 3 Day Cruise Packages
• Princess Cruise Lines

• Adults Only Cruise Ships
• Cruise Ship Cabins
• Royal Caribbean Cruises
• Cruise Ship Formal Nights
• Carnival Cruise Line