Ways to find a cheap cruise

Pick a cruise that falls across the seasonal change period – because the most popular time for cruising is high season eg during school holidays, and national festivals such as Christmas, you won’t find many great bargains at these times. If you pick an off season time to take a holiday, it could save you as much as 40% on the peak season price.

Go nowhere special - repositioning cruises are those that take place when a cruise ship is being moved from one place to another for a new season’s sailing or perhaps when it’s heading into a refit – such cruises offer fewer ports of call, and more sea days, which means that prices can be cut by half compared to more traditional itineraries.

Don’t fly – there are cruises that depart from Southampton and Liverpool and even occasional offerings from Harwich and other British ports: these not only save you the cost of your airfare, they mean you can pack more clothes etc so that you have to buy less on board, saving you money that way as well as avoiding the cost of hotel stays if your flights and cruise dates don’t tally perfectly.

Be brave and hang on – if you don’t much care where you go or what ship you sail on, you can find fantastic cruise deals in the two months before a cruise takes place because the company wants to fill all its cabins, hoping to make more money on what people buy once they are on board – up to 60% discounts can be offered. Use sites like www.socruise.com to help you pick a bargain.