Know how to analyze the value of your cruise
Don’t book a cruise based on price alone, says Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of cruisecritic.com: “You’re not always comparing apples to apples.” Repositioning cruises—the seasonal relocation of ships—don’t run round-trip, which means that you have to factor in an expensive open ticket. And if you want to go the last-minute route, “make sure you can secure a corresponding flight,” adds Lorenzo Surianello of Valerie Wilson Travel. “You could wind up with an undesirable flight schedule if you buy air through the cruise line.”