With the current economic climate hitting the world, we are all currently looking for a bargain. Buying a holiday would be considered by many as luxury spend but with all of the doom and gloom –people are still booking holidays and especially cruises to cheers themselves up. It could be argued people are forgiving other day to day essentials to get a way for two weeks of the year to relax, unwind and Destress stress.

The biggest growing sector in the travel industry is the cruise market. This has been fueled by all time low prices, more choice of ship and more destinations than ever. In 2012 there will be 15 new ships launched which again fuel the cruise market with supply now out stripping demand. Due to the constant influx of these new ships prices have over the last couple of years tumbled dramatically.

Many people will still argue that cruising is not cheap and looking at the upfront price of a cruise they would be correct. However when you add up what’s included in the price, the exceptional value of cruising then comes to the fore. With the boom in the cruise market the product does seem to be speaking for itself.

So the main and important question is where are the best places to get these all important cruise deals and the best time of year? The cruise industry has two main sales dates. The first is just after the New Year and this period is called WAVE. All of the cruise lines like car dealers offer discounts and incentives for you to purchase their goods. These incentives could include, FREE Upgrades, on board spend, Car Parking and some cruise lines will even offer free children’s places. During Wave period the cruise lines will go all out to get your business with multimillion dollar advertising in National papers, online and now some of the big players such as P&O and Royal Caribbean are advertising on TV.

The other big time to get the best prices is when their new season is launched. Cruise lines like to get beds sold early and like the WAVE period they will offer incentives to encourage you to book often up to two years in advance. Some of the cruise lines also say launch prices are the best prices that you will ever pay for this cruise. Invariably this is correct apart from when they have sailings that are not selling very well. If these are not selling on the required weekly rate to fill the ships the cruise lines will then put these cruises into what they call the late market. Here the prices will be reduced but the customer will not know their cabin number and could be situated anywhere on the ship.

Late markets normally come out 12 weeks before departure and if you are not fussy when and where you go this is when the best time is to bag yourself a bargain.