This Is the Best Time to Book a Cruise for Lower Fares—and Sailings Could Cost Nearly Half as Much

Key Points

• Shoulder-season cruises often have lower fares than peak-season departures in Alaska, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean.

• An Alaska cruise priced from $785 in May can rise to $1,530 in July for the same itinerary.

• Lower prices can mean cooler or wetter weather, but travelers may also benefit from fewer crowds and more comfortable sightseeing.

I'd love to tell you that you'll always find the best cruise prices for sailings during the third week of April or that cruise fares rise and fall in sequence with the phases of the moon. Unfortunately for anyone looking for an easy trick to finding low fares, cruise pricing is more complicated than that. 

Cruise lines hire entire revenue management teams to manage pricing against supply and demand. They employ algorithms and other technology to make sure that ships sail full, but don't sell out too early or too late. It feels like you need an advanced degree to game the system. But if the best price is what you seek, you can find a few rules of thumb to point you toward sailings that commonly offer lower-than-average prices. 

Here's my favorite: The best time to cruise to get the best price is during a destination's shoulder season.

"Alaska is probably the best example of a cruise destination where travelers can save significantly by sailing in the shoulder season," says Chris Gray Faust, executive editor of content innovation at the cruise forum and review site Cruise Critic . 

She gives the example of a seven-night cruise on Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas . The same itinerary starts at $785 per person for an early-season May 2027 cruise but nearly doubles to $1,530 in July. Late-season September sailings also typically see lower rates than peak mid-summer departures .

The Mediterranean is another cruise region where shoulder-season spring and fall departures are often cheaper than peak-season sailings in July and August. "A seven-night [Mediterranean] cruise that might be $1,200 to $1,800 per person in peak summer could be closer to $800 to $1,300 in the shoulder season," says Royal Ahmadi, senior vice president of cruise booking site The Vacation Group .

Fall Caribbean cruises between the summer high season for families and the winter high season for escaping the cold can also see lower-than-average fares.

How do you figure out when a destination's shoulder season is? For seasonal itineraries, look for the first and last departures following or preceding the ship repositioning. For year-round destinations, like the Caribbean, your best bet is to check with a travel agent or research seasonality online yourself.

However, the low fares do come wrapped in fine print. A destination has a shoulder season for a reason, usually relating to weather.

Shoulder-season weather can be cooler, grayer, or wetter, with fewer picture-perfect blue-sky days. Cruise travelers might find outdoor activities to be less pleasant and scenery to be less colorful. 

In certain regions, like Alaska, shorter daylight hours can impact how much you can do in port; in destinations like the Caribbean, bad weather and storms can increase the risk of missed port calls and changed itineraries. Rougher seas can be more common in the fall in the Mediterranean or Gulf of Alaska than in summer.

In addition, certain attractions might not be open outside the high season, and select shore excursions might not be running. Your cruise ship's pools, open decks and alfresco restaurants might be less pleasant on a cold or rainy itinerary.

Don't let that dissuade you. "None of these are dealbreakers for the right guest, and in some cases the tradeoff actually turns into an advantage," says Matthew Jones, who cofounded The Cruise Globe booking agency, along with popular content creator Emma Le Teace ( Emma Cruises ). 

Early-season in Alaska is actually less rainy than summertime, and late season is the only time cruisers have a chance to see the Northern Lights. Europe in summer can be too hot and overly crowded; spring and fall cruises offer a more authentic experience and temperatures more conducive to sightseeing. In the Caribbean, reduced crowds in the shoulder season give visitors space to better enjoy ship amenities and onshore attractions.

Are the lower prices worth it?

"I wouldn't choose shoulder season solely because it's cheaper," says Gray Faust. "I'd choose it if the things you're potentially giving up aren't the things that matter most to you on that particular trip."

If you're cruising to enjoy hot beach days in the Mediterranean or the midnight sun in Alaska, you'll get better value by paying a bit more to experience these destinations the way you want. But if heat and crowds are off-putting, you might find that the shoulder season is actually your preferred season. 

And a lower cruise fare is just extra incentive to seal the deal.

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