Booking a cruise always involves a bit of mystery. It's hard to know exactly when or where to book. Using a travel agent can help -- and a good one can monitor price changes easier than you can -- but sometimes third-party booking platforms offer the best deals.
You can book a cruise at Costco (COST), for example, which may get you a lower price but less flexibility in other areas. The same could be true of using Priceline Cruise, or other third-part sites. The challenge, and it's a big one, is that each cruise line uses slightly different policies.
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When you book Royal Caribbean (RCL), for example, the cruise line will generally adjust your price -- if you ask -- by issuing onboard credit if the cruise fare drops before final payment is due. MSC has different rules based on the type of base fare you have booked and Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) all have their own pricing quirks.
Booking early is usually the cheapest option, except when booking late is, and there's no sure-fire way to know you're getting the best price possible, Cruise lines, like many airlines, hotels, and resorts might sell the exact same thing at very different prices depending upon how and when you have booked your fare.
That's true whether you're booking a high-end cruise on Walt Disney's (DIS) cruise line or a more budget-friendly weekend trip on an older Royal Caribbean, Carnival, or MSC ship. Now, cruise fans who happen to be T-Mobile (TMUS) customers have another option to book a (theoretically) lower-cost cruise with significant on-board credit perks for doing so.
Image source: Getty Images.
Wait, T-Mobile Sells Cruises Now?
One of the perks of being a T-Mobile subscriber is the company's "T-Mobile Tuesday" giveaways. The wireless carrier has a dedicated app for its subscribers where each Tuesday they can log in and get perks like free food, discounts, chances to win free things, and who knows what else.
Past giveaways have included major perks like free season-long subscriptions to Major League Baseball's streaming service. Now, the wireless carrier has partnered with Cruisebound to offer members discounts on cruises.
"T-Mobile Tuesdays just launched the app’s first ever exclusive cruise booking platform powered by Cruisebound -- the simplest way to find, compare and book the best cruise deals. Customers can simply go into the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, select 'Travel,' click the cruise tile and hit 'Book Online' to start shopping -- and even see how to get up to $1,000 in on-board credits to use on eligible sailings," the wireless carrier shared in a press release.
Members don't need to wait until a Tuesday to use the new service. It works every day of the week. The new services allows members to compare prices, itineraries, ships, and cabin types from all major cruise lines when booking their next cruise right in the T-Mobile Tuesdays app. They can also find personalized discounts based on categories like age, military service, past cruise reservations and more, according to T-Mobile.
People who book through the Cruisebound, T-Mobile portal can earn up to $1,000 in onboard credit. Earning that, however, would require spending $30,000, so most booked cruises will earn less.
Royal Caribbean, Carnival, MSC, Norwegian, Princess, Holland America, Costa, and Celebrity cruises can be booked through the service. Disney Cruises is not part of the promotion.
