Last minute cruise
 

It's 0 degrees here in Buckeye Land with a foot of snow and I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. I know this is very last minute, but DD has spring vacation March 16-25 and was thinking of a 7 day cruise. Last minute flights to/from FL are a killer, might use Priceline. Have used cruisecompete in the past. Any other TA specializing in last minute fares? Any recommendations for Mom and 15 yr old daughter? We did a cruise to the Southern Caribbean last year on Carnival and really liked it. We are looking for warm pool & beaches, decent ship with good food and very low $$, as this is unplanned for our budget. Suggestions?

Once you decide what cruise to take, it's hard to beat "cruisecompete". I have also used "vacationstogo" with a lot of success.

Might look at cruises out of Houston --- airfare could be better.

www.buycruises.com sorts cruises according to price. It's a good site to use for research. Their pricing is competetive as well. I always get lower pricing quoted when I phone. There are sometimes promotions, past passenger discounts etc.
Good luck! Sounds like a great idea.

I might start with Travelocity - cruises using advanced search. You can search based on length, destinations, origin, and also price. They also have a section for searching for deals.

While I am not a cruise expert, what adds to price is the stuff you buy on board and excursions. So if you can curb the sodas, alcohol, photos and at ports use a taxi and just go to the beach, it gets a lot less expensive.

Since there are so many airports so close togelther in south Florida, by searching West Palm Beach (PBI) as well as FLL and MIA you might catch a deal, even if it involved a rental car for a day to get to port. Even Fort Myers is a reasonable drive to ports of Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

Don't just look at the traditionally lowest price cruiselines - we are going on a 5 night cruise with our teenage dtr next week and found a lower price on Celebrity than some other traditionally lower-priced lines.

for airfare, look at kayak.com. It isn't an agency like travelocity, yet searches all the sites for best fares. I've used cruisecompete and cruisequick with great success. You might consider doing the 5 day Enchantment and spend a day in Orlando or elsewhere. We got great deals to Orlando, then droveto Juno Beach for a night, renting through Thrifty for 62 dollars. Then, we returned the car to Thrifty and they have a shuttle to Miami pier. However, I think Enchantment is in FLL. Not every rental agency will do this, but it saved us big bucks. Good luck in your planning and hurry!!

just for the heck of it, I tried some flights and got some good rates from Dayton to Palm beach!

Try a different departure port. We just got back from a southern caribbean cruise (royal Caribbean)and flew into San Juan...best cruise we've ever done!