If you’re looking to save money on your next family cruise, look no further.

We’re a family of three with a toddler and love life at sea, however we’re also budget conscious and are always looking for a good deal.

Here’s our tips when you’re looking to book your first or next cruise.

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Shop around

It sounds simple, but prices vary wildly dependent on where you book your cruise.

We’ve recently been using some third party sites and also a travel agent specialising in cruises which have managed to beat the direct prices and given us the same rooms and itineraries. Sometimes this can be hundreds of pounds less than booking direct.

One thing to be sure you do when booking with a third party is be sure who you’re booking with is ABTA and ATOL protected. This means you’re covered should anything happen to the company you booked with or the travel or cruise line.

If you’ve used skyscanner for flights, take a look at seascanner, its a comparison site which works the same as the flight comparison sites but for cruises. You can search by month, cruise line, duration, destination and sort by price which is easy to do.

If you’re looking at a MSC cruise I can highly recommend a travel agency based on Facebook called, “Need that cruise” they offer huge discounts on all MSC sailings, but also offer cruises from all other lines too. You just need to screenshot the cruise you’re looking at, then post it on the Facebook group along with details such as, number of guests and whether or not you want drinks or a package included. One of the team will reach out to you and give you a price.

A friend and I were looking at sharing a room for two adults and two children and they were able to give us separate rooms for just £50 more per family.

Room type

It goes without saying, but if you’re looking to reduce your overall cruise price, it’s worth considering other room options ships have to offer.

We love inside rooms, with a busy toddler we find we are usually up and about most of the day. We also loved inside rooms when Warren was small as they’re nice and dark for naps and sleep.

Inside rooms can be smaller, but there’s ways to make the most of space, we usually push the bed over to the wall to give us more floor space. We love the luxury of a bigger room and if there isn’t too much of an uplift love an oceanview room. Oceanview rooms are generally the same size as a balcony room (including the balcony space). So are a great family options, they almost always come with a sofa bed so perfect for extra guests.

Kids sail free or reduced rates

There are still so many kids sail free spaces or heavily reduced rates.

MSC and Cunard never charge for children under 2 years old. P&O also offer a reduced rate for children under two.

MSC often offers free kids spaces for older children, but it’s worth checking which sailings these apply for and we really love the kids club they have onboard there ships.

Royal Caribbean also offer a large number of sailings where kids sail from just £99 per person.

Gratuities

Some cruise lines charge gratuities on top of the base fair, these can be paid upfront or at the end of the cruise, but these can be a significant amount ontop of the cruise, so just aware when booking.

Cruise lines which currently do not charge gratuities for UK guests include

MSC and P&O, both of these lines include gratuities in the base fare and don’t add anything else.

Internet

Both my husband and I rely heavily on the internet however, when out to sea we never buy the internet package. We both have very busy jobs and so actually it’s nice to be “off grid” when on holiday. It gives us chance to really spend family time together.

If you’re looking for tips for avoiding the high internet charges, I can recommend the following for kids whilst at sea. Download some offline games for children and some movies or tv shows. We have used Netflix and Prime in the past and these have worked great.

We also love some of the Lucas and friends games, but be sure to make sure these are updated before you leave as if they patch any updates, they might need a connection to launch. We also always take our Yoto player for books and songs. We love the make your own cards, to add playlists.

I also download plenty of books before sailing, our library offers borrowbox which is a free service, but Kindle also offer a 30 day free trial and can be read on your phone when abroad once downloaded.

I hope some of these tips help and if you do have any questions please do reach out to me on Instagram and I’d love to be able to help you enjoy your first or next family cruise.