Tips for Booking Cruises -- Last-Minute and Otherwise

A tender heads for the cruise ship Zaandam, anchored off Sitka, Alaska. For lower rates on Alaska cruises, go in May or September. (By James Poulson -- Associated Press)

· Shop early, and shop late. Cruise lines like to start filling the choicest rooms as much as a year in advance and may offer incentives for early booking. (Keep watching prices after you book, because if the price on your ship drops, most lines will give you the lower price -- but only if you request it.)

Prices can drop dramatically, and all sorts of incentives, such as free airfare, can be thrown in as the sailing date approaches and cruise lines get anxious about filling cabins. Passengers who have put down deposits must pay in full 60 days in advance, so start looking for last-minute bargains 59 days before a sailing.

· If shopping online, check more than one site. Sites that specialize in selling cruises include Cruise.com ( http://www.cruise.com/ ), iCruise.com ( http://www.icruise.com/ ), eCruises.com ( http://www.ecruises.com/ ), CruiseDirect.com ( http://www.cruisedirect.com/ ), Cruise411.com ( http://www.cruise411.com/ ), CruisesOnly.com ( http://www.cruisesonly.com/ ), CruiseValue.com ( http://www.cruisevalue.com/ ) and MyCruiseGetAway.com ( http://www.mycruisegetaway.com/ ). Major all-purpose travel sites such as LastMinuteTravel.com ( http://www.lastminutetravel.com/ ), Expedia.com ( http://www.expedia.com/ ), Orbitz ( http://www.orbitz.com/ ), Travelocity ( http://www.travelocity.com/ ) and Priceline.com ( http://www.priceline.com/ ) also sell cruises.

Additionally, sites that give advice on cruises (see box, Page 6) also advertise sales even if they don't directly sell cruises. Also look for special deals on the home pages of individual cruise lines.

· Sign up for bargain alerts. Individual lines and even individual ships will e-mail you alerts about sales. So, too, will some Web-based sites. Advice sites such as Cruisecritic.com ( http://www.cruisecritic.com/ ) and Cruisemates.com ( http://www.cruisemates.com/ ) e-mail deals to anyone who signs up for a free subscription.

· Know peak and non-peak times. The rule of thumb for travel in general applies to cruising as well: If kids aren't in school, demand, and thus prices, will likely be high.

If school isn't an issue, consider traveling in the so-called shoulder seasons, when the weather is still good but the crowds have dispersed:

· For European cruises, one shoulder season begins in September; depending on how far south you're traveling, you could find the weather pleasant through November. In spring, the shoulder season generally extends from April to June.

· Alaska's shoulder seasons: May and September.

· The Caribbean: September through mid-December are generally slow periods. (You still risk hurricanes September through November, but ships can often avoid them by changing itineraries.) Business picks up just before Christmas, then drops again for a couple of weeks just after New Year's.

· Know what destinations have excess capacity, or a lack thereof. The Caribbean and Hawaii tend to have excess capacity, and thus price wars, while Alaska's short season keeps demand high, especially in the prime summer months.

· Ask about special deals. If you've sailed the line before, mention it to your booking agent, because there may be a deal for repeat customers. Cruise lines also routinely have discounts for passengers from certain states, or for families or other groups.

· Consider ships that are repositioning. When a ship changes its home port, usually because of seasonal changes, it may include major discounts as an incentive to get you to fly into one port but out of another on the way home. Cruisecritic.com has a section with information about ships that are repositioning. Just make sure before you book that the one-way airfares you'll need are affordable.

-- Cindy Loose