How to Find the Best Cruise Deals (and Why It’s Not as Simple as It Sounds)
If you’ve ever tried to work out how to find the best cruise deals, you’ll know it can be confusing fast. Prices vary wildly, different sites show different offers, and what counts as “best” depends on your budget, destination, cabin preferences and even whether you’re travelling solo.
In this guide, based on a real‑life test search for a 9–10 day Mediterranean cruise in the off‑peak season (October–December) on a tight budget, we’ll compare five popular websites and show you exactly how to use them to find the best cruise deals for your situation.
- Cruise Critic
- Cruise Direct
- Secanner
- Cruise Plum
- Vacations To Go
We’ll look at what each site does well, where it falls short, and which one is likely to be the best fit depending on where you live and how you like to travel.
Quick Start: Where to Find Great Cruise Deals
Short on time? If you just want some reliable places to start looking for cruise bargains, these are the tools we personally use.
- Discounted cruises: Search a wide range of cruise lines and itineraries on CruiseDirect – especially good for mainstream cruise lines and US‑dollar pricing.
- Deep comparison & currency options: Use Vacations To Go to compare multiple cruise lines, switch currencies, and find repositioning or last‑minute deals.
- Flights for your cruise: Once you’ve found a cruise, compare flight routes and prices to your departure port on KAYAK.
Some links are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you.
Our Test Scenario: Budget Mediterranean Cruise in Off-Peak Season
To fairly judge how to find the best cruise deals, we set some clear parameters:
- Destination: Mediterranean
- Duration: 9–10 days (with some flexibility of 6–14 days when required)
- Time of year: Off-peak, around October to December
- Priority: Budget-friendly (cost is a major factor)
- Bonus considerations:
- Currency options for non-US travellers
- Solo traveller friendliness (low or no single supplement)
- Clear pricing and inclusions
We used these criteria on each website and compared:
- Number of cruises found
- Ease of search and filtering
- Price clarity (including gratuities and fees)
- Currency options
- Solo traveller tools
- Overall usefulness for real-world trip planning
Cruise Critic: Excellent Research, Weak on Real-Time Prices
Cruise Critic is one of the biggest and best-known cruise review sites. It’s fantastic for research, but less strong for booking and pricing.
What we did:
- Searched for Mediterranean cruises in December
- Got 67 results, then narrowed to 6–14 days → 48 results
- Tried a custom search for a “10 day Mediterranean cruise” → 802 results (but with flexible dates)
Strengths:
- Detailed itinerary information
- In-depth ship overviews (dining, activities, cabins)
- Expert reviews plus plenty of traveller reviews
- Photos and breakdowns of different cabin categories
- Great for learning about the ship and ports
Weakness:
- No live prices on the options we checked
- You’ll likely need to take the information and then:
- Go to a cruise line website,
- Use a third-party booking site, or
- Contact a travel agent for prices
Verdict:
Cruise Critic is excellent for researching your options and getting an honest feel for a ship or itinerary. However, if your main goal is to quickly identify how to find the best cruise deals by price, this site won’t give you what you need on its own.
(External resource for neutral cruise info: the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) offers helpful general advice about cruising: https://cruising.org)
Cruise Direct: Strong Prices, but US-Focused and Weak for Solo Travellers
Cruise Direct is designed for booking rather than just researching. It claims to offer some of the best prices available and allows direct reservations.
What we did:
- Searched Mediterranean, December, 6–9 nights
- Couldn’t select 10–14 nights at the same time
- Saw clear prices by cabin type and departure dates
Strengths:
- Shows departure dates and prices for each cabin type at a glance
- Clear summaries with:
- Ship details
- Departure port
- Itinerary
- “Best for” style summaries (families, etc.)
- Detailed itinerary maps, ship videos, and photos of bars, lounges, and onboard facilities
- Example: An interior cabin for $424 on a short cruise, clearly displayed
Weaknesses:
- Prices are only in US dollars with no visible currency converter
- Not obvious how to filter for solo traveller deals
- No clear tool to find low or no single-supplement options
Verdict:
Cruise Direct is a good resource if you’re US-based or comfortable working with USD pricing. It gives decent visibility into costs and ships. However, if you’re outside the US or travelling solo, it isn’t the most powerful tool for how to find the best cruise deals tailored to your situation.
How we use it: We like to run a broad search on CruiseDirect for our destination and dates, then quickly scan cabin types and departure ports to see which itineraries offer the best value per night.
Secanner: Basic, Euro-Focused, and Limited Options
Secanner (secanner.com) is a lesser-known comparison tool with a straightforward layout.
What we did:
- Searched for a 9–10 day Mediterranean cruise
- Loved that it allowed us to set a specific duration
- Used a 9–13 day window
Results:
- Only three options appeared
- All prices shown in euros
- No visible currency converter
- Prices didn’t seem particularly competitive compared to what we saw on Cruise Direct
Strengths:
- Clean, simple interface
- Ability to enter exact day lengths
Weaknesses:
- Very few options for our test criteria
- No apparent currency conversion
- Feels largely focused on European customers with limited breadth
Verdict:
This one doesn’t really stand out in the race to work out how to find the best cruise deals. Limited options and no currency flexibility make it easy to skip unless you’re EU-based and like the interface.
Cruise Plum: Fantastic for US/Canada and Solo Travellers, Weak for Med & Rest of World
Cruise Plum (cruiseplum.com) didn’t even appear in the Google results, but it comes highly recommended by experienced cruisers—and with good reason.
What we did:
- Noticed a prominent “solo supplements” option on the homepage
- Started a standard search and were asked for:
- Number of passengers
- Country of residence (US or Canada only)
- Display style: one row per cabin or one row per cruise
- Chose December, 9–10 day cruises
- Tried to search for Mediterranean, but found nothing available for that month
So we switched to a North America itinerary as an example.
Strengths:
- Very clear pricing breakdown by cabin type
- Shows gratuities and what’s included
- Price history chart for each cabin category (you can hover to see past prices and changes)
- Can sort by days, price, and other criteria
- The solo supplement deals section is outstanding:
- Pulls up cruises with low or no single supplements
- You can sort by price, date, or solo supplement amount
- Example: A 12-day cruise under $1,000, with an inside cabin for $912 including tips
Weaknesses:
- Only for US and Canadian residents
- Limited or no options for Mediterranean and some other regions, especially in the off-season
- Not ideal if your focus is on European or Asian cruises
Verdict:
For US and Canadian solo travellers, Cruise Plum is one of the best tools available when you’re working out how to find the best cruise deals. Its solo supplement filters and fare history charts are incredibly powerful. However, if you want Mediterranean or Asia-heavy options, or you live outside North America, this won’t cover everything you need.
Compare That Cruise: UK-Friendly, But Steers You to Third Parties
Compare That Cruise appears in Google as a recommended comparison site, and it does provide plenty of options—especially from a UK perspective.
What we did:
- Searched for December Mediterranean cruises
- Found 96 cruises, a healthy selection
- Noted that prices were in British pounds (GBP)
Strengths:
- Good number of Mediterranean options
- Shows starting prices by cabin type
- Offers a solo price display, which is helpful (although supplements can be high)
- Provides detailed itinerary information, maps, and photos
- Shows what’s included in the fare
Weaknesses:
- Primarily GBP-based, so clearly aimed at UK residents
- Sends you to third-party booking websites to complete reservations
- Gratuities are not always clearly mentioned in the price breakdown
- Less transparent about total trip costs compared to some competitors
Verdict:
Compare That Cruise is a decent comparison tool if you’re in the UK and happy to be redirected to third-party agencies. It’s useful, but not the most transparent or self-contained option if your main aim is to nail down exactly how to find the best cruise deals with total costs clearly laid out.
Vacations To Go: The Best All-Rounder, Especially for Non-US Residents
Vacations To Go might not look flashy at first glance—it’s compact and busy—but it’s extremely capable and flexible.
What we did:
- Searched December → Mediterranean → 8–13 nights
- Got 14 deals initially and could sort them by number of nights
- Noticed a useful ship rating system (1 to 6)
- Saw both brochure prices and Vacations To Go discounts
Key Strength: Currency Options
- You can switch between multiple currencies (including USD, GBP, and others), which is something most of the other sites don’t offer.
Other Strengths:
- Clear display of starting prices by cabin type
- Detailed itinerary maps, ship information, and photo albums
- Good breakdown of:
- Cabin types (with photos)
- Deck plans
- Dining options, including hours and reservation requirements
- A Custom Search module with more parameter options than any other site we tested:
- Ship ratings
- Length of cruise
- Region and departure port
- Repositioning cruises
- And more
Using Custom Search with a wider 6–12 night range returned a huge selection of Mediterranean and other cruises. We could sort by nights or starting price to zero in on the best value.
Practical approach: Start with a broad Custom Search on Vacations To Go (region + month + 6–12 nights), then sort by price or nights to spot genuinely cheap per‑night fares. If you’re flexible on dates, this is one of the fastest ways to uncover hidden bargains.
Great Features:
- Example: An 11-day cruise from Southampton on a 5-star rated ship for around $1,029 per person for an inside cabin
- 90-Day Ticker:
- Shows all cruises departing in the next 90 days
- Ideal for last-minute bargain hunters
- Example: 17-night England to Florida for $819 per person, or a 13-night repositioning cruise for a fraction of brochure price
- Repositioning Cruise Search:
- Select “repositioning” under custom search
- Excellent source of ultra-low per-night fares if you don’t mind more sea days
- Solo Traveller Option:
- You can switch the display to “singles only”
- Sort by solo supplement to find cruises with low or zero single supplements
- Example: 17-night Barcelona to Brazil for an extremely low solo fare (including taxes and port fees, but usually not gratuities)
Weaknesses:
- Website design feels a bit old-school and text-heavy
- You may need a few minutes to learn where everything is
Verdict:
Vacations To Go is the best overall tool from this comparison, especially if you’re outside the US, care about currency options, and want a powerful way to search across many lines and regions. It’s particularly strong if you’re flexible on dates and open to repositioning cruises.
Among all the sites we tested, this is the one that comes closest to solving the puzzle of how to find the best cruise deals for the widest range of travellers.
Final Thoughts: Which Site Wins for How to Find the Best Cruise Deals?
Here’s the short summary:
- Cruise Critic – Best for research and reviews, not for actual pricing
- Cruise Direct – Good US-based booking platform, weaker for solo deals and non-US currencies
- Secanner – Limited options and euro-only; not a standout
- Cruise Plum – Excellent for US/Canada solo travelers and price history, but weaker for Mediterranean/Asia
- Compare That Cruise – Useful for UK residents, but reliant on third parties and not the clearest on full costs
- Vacations To Go – Best all-round tool, great currency flexibility, powerful custom search, strong options for last-minute and solo travelers
If you live in the US or Canada and travel solo, Cruise Plum is an outstanding resource.
For most other travellers—and especially if you care about Mediterranean cruises, currencies, and having lots of search controls—Vacations To Go is likely your best starting point when figuring out how to find the best cruise deals.
Don’t forget flights and insurance: Once you’ve found a great cruise fare, you still need to get to the port and protect the trip. We use KAYAK to compare flights to the departure city, and buy cruise‑friendly travel insurance through VisitorsCoverage so flights, hotels and the cruise itself are covered.
If you’re working out how to find the best cruise deals, you might also like our Ultimate Cruise Tips and our first Viking cruise tips for saving money and avoiding common mistakes once you’re actually on board.
See also our other cruise planning guides here
Watch our exclusive video on ‘Best Cruise Deals
