Don't Miss the Boat

The home, built in 1851, is filled with the original furniture and replicas of the artwork Hemingway and one of his several wives collected during their sojourns in Paris. The flowering gardens are home to 60 of the cats that are the progeny of Hemingway's cats.

I've got my own snorkel gear, and Fort Zachary Taylor beach is a short cab ride from old town. In this forever-summer place, the water is still 78 degrees.

Back on the ship, on the pool deck, I meet Evelyn, who like me is traveling alone and bought her cruise at the last minute. Her husband, a Key West fisherman, doesn't like to travel. She works in the Key West tourism industry, and when things got slow a week earlier, she decided to book, drive to Miami and board the Imagination. Today, when the ship docked in Key West, she just stayed on board.

Turns out she paid the exact price I paid for the cruise, and we congratulate ourselves on finding such a great price for a room for four nights plus four square meals a day and endless snacks. Although neither of us has yet to use the well-equipped exercise room, we intend to.

Like me, she ended up with a free upgrade. We each still have an interior room, meaning no window, but the cabins have big double beds instead of bunks. I rather like the lack of windows; it makes for a very cozy, dark space for sleeping.

Of course, booking last minute has some drawbacks. The more particular you are about destinations and types of ships and styles of rooms, the further out you should book. If you must have a balcony suite, for example, know that the best rooms tend to go first and book accordingly.

In peak season -- the summer months for Alaska, Europe and family-friendly Caribbean cruises -- shopping last minute can leave you with very little choice. Cruisecritic's Brown, for example, says a colleague who wanted adjoining suites for her family on a Mediterranean cruise was having a tough time finding a ship even six months out. In fact, travel agents last week began warning that if you want an Alaska cruise next summer, better act now. But last-minute Caribbean cruises from September until just before Christmas are like treasures waiting to be uncovered by bargain hunters.

The Caribbean is already a cutthroat market, but booking last minute can still save you 30 percent or more. European cruises tend to be more expensive to begin with, so the dollar savings can be even larger. For example, the day I searched for Caribbean cruises I took a peek at European options. I found an Oceania cruise of the Mediterranean, 12 nights in September, including round-trip airfare, for $1,799. Then I checked the same cruise, same cabin for the same time next year: The cruise will be 10 nights -- two fewer nights -- for $2,199, airfare not included.

Such bargains are common during the off-peak season if you have some flexibility about when you go. However, "it's risky if you're bound to a certain time frame," warned agent Lynda Maxwell of Destinations Inc. in Ellicott City.

Also, before committing to a last-minute cruise, you need to be sure there's a decent airfare to get you to the port.

Flattery Will Get You . . .

The three women who like to party with anyone who's fun still haven't invited me, three days into the five-day cruise, to join them for anything. But at the new port in Mexico's Riviera Maya, I end up sharing a 10-minute, $10 cab ride into Playa del Carmen with an elderly couple who eagerly accept my proposal to share my cab.

I know this town well but am too busy chatting with the driver to notice that he's dropping us about five blocks from the beach, which also is where the main tourist shops and restaurants are. I worry that the couple won't make it over the broken sidewalks to the better part of town and offer to guide them to where I'm sure they'll want to be.