Affordable cruise destinations vary throughout the year, according to travel trends.

Take advantage to get great deals by leveraging some of the tactics below.

Travel off-season

The best way to hit up the most popular cruising destinations on the planet at a fraction of the typical cost is to select a sail date outside of high season.

Fares follow projected weather patterns, meaning that off-season or low season fares cannot guarantee the most ideal weather – but with fares being half the price, it’s worth checking out. Besides, you could luck into some serious sunshine.

Book older models

Just as we gravitate towards the latest smartphone and dream of signing up for one of those fancy Teslas, cruisers want everything that’s shiny and new: bigger cabins, upgraded amenities and modernised ship layouts.

But selecting an older ship often yields some of the best deals in the industry. Get the input of a travel agent and scout out three- or four-day itineraries on older, smaller vessels in these destinations:

 Repositioning sail

To maximise their profitability, cruise companies will move their vessels from one region to another to capitalise on the alternating high seasons around the globe.

As they move from one place to the next, cruise lines bring passengers along for the journey to defray the cost of reorienting their ships. Generally these trips have more time at sea and cheaper price tags.

These tips are taken from The Cruise Handbook (available now, RRP $29.99). Reproduced with permission from Lonely Planet © 2019; lonelyplanet.com