The email’s subject line instantly caught my attention “Book now, sail tomorrow from only $99!” Of course I immediately opened the message to get to the details. My eyes focused on the photograph of a  young couple lying in deck chairs staring at each other and smiling their approval at their present good fortune.

My mind cruelly allowed me the momentarily lapse into thinking that that too could me my wife and I in just a few short hours. The dreaded four letter word, (WORK) which oftens prevents me from taking advantage of deals such as this, caused me to return to reality.

This unexpected deal came up due to Hurricane Gustav’s havoc played on the U.S. Gulf Coast and cruise intinerarys. In the last blog post, “Cruising In Hurricane Season” I explained that two Carnival cruises were extended by an additional two days at sea to allow conditions to improve at Mobile and Galveston. This decision led to an altering of the scheduled upcoming cruise, which in this case was shortened to a three day cruise to no-where. Guests on the effected cruise were given the option of canceling without penalty, or were given a 50% discount on the cruise and another 50% off on a future one.

Due to these cancellations Carnival found them in the position of having berths to fill, thus the drastically reduced price. Cruise lines would rather reduce the fare than sail with empy beds. They expect, and hope that onboard spending will make up the difference. This being a cruise with no port stops has a good chance of doing just that. Guests will be on-board booking spa apointments, visiting, or in some cases, camping out in the casino, and most likely consuming adult beverages on a more frequent basis than when at home.

This is just another example of being able to save money on a cruise during this time of the year. Yes, there is always the chance weather may change intineraries or delay sailings, but often times the guest is compensated with deep discounts and vouchers for future travel.

It’s a good idea to get on a cruise line’s mailing list where one can receive updates like this via email and hopefully have the flexibility of schedule to take advantage of great savings.