May have to change cruise date to get a better deal

Q. We promised our graduating children a cruise next summer. We thought this would be a low time of year but discovered that it’s the busy season. How can we find a bargain in late June?

A. Unlike Europe in the winter and Florida in the summer, the cruising world has no real low season, due to the family factor. Vacationers want to travel with their kin, and that means school holidays.

The cruise industry, though, does have price fluctuations that parallel holidays, school vacations and, for some regions, seasons.

Mike Mason, an agent with Didion World Cruises in Alexandria, Va., explains that for the Caribbean, rates drop between mid-August and Thanksgiving, early January and mid-March, and post-Easter and the end of the school year. (The highest rates are Christmas to New Year’s.)

Meanwhile, summer is the peak cruising season in Alaska and Europe, because of the nice weather. South America is the opposite, running October to April.

To find a lower rate, you may want to rethink your departure date. You might find reduced prices just before Memorial Day or right around Labor Day. Alaska cruise fares also start to dip the third week of August, about a month before the ships switch to warmer climes.

Mason said departures from San Juan occasionally cost less than those leaving from Florida ports, but you’ll have to spring for airfare to Puerto Rico, which can be hundreds more than to Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

If you can’t change your dates, watch for specials throughout the year. The late spring/early summer deals should start rolling in after the holidays.