THINKING OF A CRUISE?
I ‘m often asked, When is the best time for a cruise vacation ?
It's a question that really has a lot of answers. Really, it's not an easy one If you want to see Fall foliage for instance, you will find September and October the best time to take that Canada/New England cruise. If you are into water sports or have a young family you probably prefer to sail the region in the summer when school is out and temperatures are warm for swimming. Then again if you are interested in an Alaskan cruise, your optimal sail dates will vary depending on your preferences for wildlife-viewing, fishing, bargain-shopping, sunshine, warm weather and catching the Northern Lights.
So what factors influence your timing?
Do you need to schedule around school breaks? Is a holiday week the best time for your cruise? Is your main goal to escape winter temperatures? Or maybe you have lots of flexibility or a budget and don't mind making a few tradeoffs in timing for a steal on a cabin. Your answers will influence which sailing season is your best option.
Most cruise regions have periods of peak demand (high season), moderate demand (shoulder season) and low demand (low season). Not so long ago, high season tended to be when the weather was best in a particular area (and when all the northerners flocked to the sun), but as more families take to cruising, the summer months have become a peak-demand period, regardless of the weather . Families especially need to book high-season sailings as early as possible because some cruise lines limit the total number of children per sailing, and each ship has a limited number of cabins that can accommodate three or more people.
Slow and shoulder seasons often give you the best bargain opportunities in year-round destinations where the off season is longer.
Low seasons have shrunk in many areas, thanks to the boom in new cruising destinations and homeports, and the smart thinking of the cruise lines in repositioning ships to the places people want to sail and at the times when they want to sail them.
The great thing about a cruise ship iIs that they don’t have to wait it out for the season to change; they can move the ships to where people want to go..
