🛳️ How to use cruise fare history
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Follow our own cruises for actual price tracking, analyses, and wholesale purchases. These include our 1-2-3 chart methodology and follow-up epilogues where we see how our recommendations fared.
Cruise fare history is valuable when planning a trip. Stateroom pricing is dynamic, based on demand, season, and promotions. Price patterns of similar sailings for that cruise line, ship, and itinerary aren’t a guarantee of future price. But they’re a strong indicator to help you determine when to book.
Use CruisePlum to track fares of upcoming sailings. The chart above is for the Norwegian Spirit departing Tahiti May 15th and arriving Honolulu May 27th. The chart shows fares from when the cruise was listed in September 2024, almost 2 years before departure, to March 21st, 8 weeks before departure. The observations below provide an introduction to using the chart in your cruise planning.
Don’t use CruisePlum for the best price. To book use Vacation Steal where the wholesale price is 5-15% off public sites, including those shown by CruisePlum. This Norwegian cruise was a featured Vacation Steal Live Steal where you could buy a balcony stateroom for just $2,970 for 2, 9% off retail and 93% off brochure.
Find a similar cruise (line, duration, departure port) for your analysis that leaves as soon as possible for the longest price history. This history can show if it’s typically discounted up to the sailing.
Booking early when the cruise is first listed often provides only a slightly lower price than a later booking. In our example the fares are mostly flat and rise less than 10% the first 14 months.
Fares typically and regularly drop after the final payment date - 3 or 4 months before sailing. In the cruise above, the fare reductions start a month early on Dec 8, over 5 months before departure. This early drop may be due to a holiday promotion. The final payment for most Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) sailings is due 4 months prior to the departure date. That applies to standard staterooms, suites, and The Haven, for both regular and holiday sailings.
Sometimes stateroom class pricing can be the same or even reversed. In our example there are a few late dates where Oceanview and Inside rooms are virtually the same. It’s like a FREE cabin upgrade!
It can be worth waiting for price reductions. The biggest drop on this cruise is over 61% for Balcony staterooms.
Watch out for sold out classes. The suites appear to have sold out Feb 26th, though one or a few opened a week later.
When to purchase is a balancing act. You’ll need to weigh waiting for more discounts against cabin class availability. In our example, suites were unavailable for a week. Then fares flattened on March 8th. These are key buying signals.