My husband and I and 10 year old son are looking at taking a cruise out of New Orleans since that is the closest to Illinois and we could drive and spend a few days there too. Our dates we could go are between Dec. 20-Jan. 5. What is the best way to find a deal? Would it be better to go over spring break the middle of March?

You might want to try the cruise board here (separate from US board).

If I'm not mistaken, those Christmas/New Years dates are very popular with cruisers. You'll find few "deals" compared to going a couple of weeks earlier or later.

Try www.cruisecritic.com.

Your choices are quite limited with one departure port and only the holiday windows. Go to www.icruise.com and use their "sort by departure port" screen to show what's avaiable. If you pick a cruise that looks good, go to www.cruisecritic.com to see user comments and reviews, then shop carefully through on-line and/or phone travel agents. We've found www.cruisequick.com usually has the best rates, but they only work via e-mail, so if you're not comfortable with that you might go with one of the larger on-line agencies like cruise.com or a local human agent. Good luck.