🛳️ Sail on to Vacation Steal for the best prices, according to Optimal Cruising

Wholesale clubs don’t pay commissions and so offer the lowest pricing.

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We thank Gary Ward at Optimal Cruising for this excellent coverage in one of his videos. Head over to their cruise insider protection YouTube channel. They do a great job of listing the latest deals and getting the facts to help you avoid mistakes, save money, and be the best prepared on your next cruise.

Here is a transcript and the sweepstakes link he mentions.

Oftentimes, when I’ve been looking for the best cruise deal, I have found prices below what the cruise line advertises by booking through a wholesale club. Now, wholesale clubs operate a little differently. They don’t live off the commissions like cruise travel agencies do. There are different types of wholesale clubs, and they operate on different models. But a lot of them have a membership system that allows them to pass on most of that cruise commission directly to you in price savings.

I put a link in my description to the wholesale club that I use, Vacation Steal. Right now, they’re offering anybody who uses this link a free basic membership. All you have to do is sign up, and you’ll be entered into their sweepstakes, where you could even win a cruise.

You won’t necessarily find a better price on every cruise by booking through a wholesale club, but a lot of time you will find a lower price. It’s not necessarily going to save you thousands of dollars, but on a given cruise, it could easily save you $50 or $100 per person—and that’s something. There are some other advantages to being a member of a wholesale travel club because they don’t only handle cruises. When you’re booking your flights or hotels for the stay before or after your cruise, you can usually get discounts on those things as well.

The other thing you need to know about wholesale clubs is that cruise lines strictly limit how they can talk about their lower prices. They’re not allowed to advertise any price below the cruise line’s price. To find out what discounts they’re offering on various cruises, you have to be a member so you can log into their member portal. That’s where you can find out what kind of deals you can get.