I've just bought the Berlitz complete guide to cruising and cruise ships 2006 and it's well worth reading to find out all about the different cruise ships.

I'm sure all the different websites for booking your cruise should be ready for 2007 by now though. You might want to check out teletext on TV though.

Thomsons Cruise 2007 brochures are out and have been for about 7/ 8 months so all the early booking discounts have already gone.

If you run seaches for Cruises through google, you will get the websites for all the main operators. Costa, Princess, Royal Carribean, lots of others.

There are also loads of websites with search engines where you can enter dates and the area you want to go. They will give you itineries with various companies.

Have fun, there is just so much choice though it all gets a little confusing.

This might be a little late, but if you're still keeping an eye out for deals then thought I'd let you know about this early booking offer that I was emailed the other week from Royal Caribbean before it runs out: http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/php/ebo.php. It looks as though if you book before 28th Feb 2007 you get a discount of up to £200, but you'd have to check the website for exact details of ships, itineraries etc.

Check teletext 228 or 262 I tend not to look at 227 as there are more package holiday cruises eg Thomson or First Choice etc.
If you look at prices you will often find that companies such as Princess Celebrity Royal Caribbean have got some great deals. Look at Celebrity Century and also Emerald Princess the new Princess launched this spring as I know there are offers on her 12 nights for £899 or so.

I am not sure if you are allowed to give travel agents names on this board or not but there are several who advertise heavily in the press particularly on Sat and Sun. who have a lot of really good deals.

Remember also that should prices come down then Celebrity RCI Carnival Princess I think also will apply that reduction to your booking. Also get yourself on to some of the TA that deal heavily in cruises and you will get regular email from them when offers are available.
Also for those of us who benifit from it there are also some offers for the over 55 on certain cruises on certain ships.

This cruise bug does get a hold of you so watch out looks like you have been bitten

ENJOY Sue

Yes RCI and Celebrity do have an early booking discount until the 28th February of £100 per person or £200 per room.

Sue

Don't dismiss TXT 227 there are a few subpages that include a range of companies, 227 is the "Med" cruise pages and It only takes a minute to scan all the sub pages if you do it on line.

The best way to get the deals I have found is to get on to the emailing lists of the main cruise specialists, and also spend a bit of time looking for those that price promise and have other benifits.

Also for each cruisline you may be interested in get on their email as well.

Also spend time looking for the paterns, eg Island cruises of er the bes prices in the week before sailing, where as the main US lines tend tostart their discounting 3months out as final payments are due from the US passengers who can cancell without losing deposits.

The current best deal I think is Navigator of the seas 4berth inside cabin @ <£550pp sailing 5th may 14night to the med for two it would be £850pp this dropped from 920 last week so it is final cabin clearence, last week there were only inside and 1 balcony now there are outsides and a suite. Probably available at a bargain price of arounf £5k

There are a lot of ships in the med this years so prices could drop a bit yet outside the school hols.

Hi WJ

Would you mind listing the website addresses for the companies you think are worth signing up with for offers? I'm sure our members would find it useful.

luci

Hi Luci,

I do sometimes post a TA if the deal is special for example they have an obvious block deal that gives them an edge or I have made a booking, I think people need to do their own research as much as possible.

There is one poster on another board that pushes a single person for making bookings and it does get a bit irritating.

The quality and quantity varies a lot and not all do deals on all the lines.

One or two are hot of the mark when it comes to new deals that are likely to be short lived so are better for the late bookers

What I will do is spend a bit of time going through my list and make up a post that I can keep upto date for future updates. with names, links, ABTA,ATOL etc, perhaps phone numbers etc

Then post soon, on a new thread where I can take feedback and add others that I currently don't use.

That would be great. I would certainly appreciate it as I'm sure many members would.

luci

I'd actually check out what's being offered on Planet Cruise: http://www.planetcruise.co.uk/ I recently got a fantastic deal with them (for November 2007 with RCI) for 75% off the total cabin price