Cruise Tips in a Bad Economy

3DT taking a cruise?  No way!  But yes, we will be on a cruise of the Mediterranean this summer.   This is 3DT's FIRST cruise ever.  Typically, we are in and out of cities for long weekends or adding cities onto business trips.  But, we are happy to say we have booked a 13-night cruise that includes stops in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Egypt!  And, we'll do a 3 day tour of Rome as well. In doing so, and because this was our first cruise, we were unsure of how the market is played.  We booked our Airfare long before the cruise, because we wanted to take advantage of the Continental BusinessFirst sale.  Having had a large credit available to us, this cut our cost factor roughly in half.  Hopefully, if CO extends its double elite miles, then we are looking at a 300% total for those trips, having already qualified for 150% due to the fare.  With that special, we're at 25K for this trip alone.  Not bad - lets hope the special is continued! Either way, in shopping for the cruise, we went straight to the cruise carrier, Celebrity, and hedged research on that site against the information we received from a cruise specialist.  Having seen that the initial fare was $3299 Per person, for the lowest veranda room, we decided to wait.  The waiting paid off.  Despite being hounded by the cruise agent at the agency on a near daily basis, the prices went down to $2899, then to $2599, then $2499.  We booked at $2499, but upgraded to a special class.  The total cost, about $5600 all in.  Pricey, yes.  But, for 13 nights with food all-in and being on the ship that is 1 week out of the shipyard, it seems like a good deal.  And, the agent did what Celebrity wouldn't - gave us a $200 credit. But, its not over.  Today we check, and the fare has dropped again.  This time, our upgraded class is available for only $2450.  We've just saved another $500, and as per the agreement, the cruise line must refare us. So the point of this exercise...  If you are looking to go on an expensive cruise, NOW is the time.  This fare has dropped over 30% and the getting is good.  If a cruise ship that is brand new, on a new route, can't get decent fares, then you know there is an industry issue.  Will this work for lower fared cruises?  Maybe, and if I had to guess, probably.  But book soon - optimism is coming back and the markets are rebounding - we should expect travel spending to be better than expected this summer. Happy shopping!