The Cruiselines -- All of Them -- Have This Week Launched Their Largest Sale Ever (They Claim)

Starting today, and throughout the week to come -- even longer than that on some cruiselines -- the entire U.S. cruise industry has placed their fleet on sale for its National Cruise Vacation Week. What does that mean? From October 17 to the 23rd, the participating lines will offer bonuses to persons who book during that week. And many individual travel agencies will be scheduling "cruise nights" to entice such bookings through refreshments served and videos shown.

Last year, a similar industry-wide sale was held on just one night around this time. The sale was such a success that it was extended this year to a full week.

Most of the special inducements to book cruises, offered during the October 15-23 period, are credits against the bills you incur by ordering alcoholic drinks, booking specialty restaurants, or using spa services while aboard the cruise. In some instances, the credit is as great as $400 or $500 per cabin, as on Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Club Cruises. And the fact that the figures are, on occasion, that high, only serves to emphasize how much a great many cruise passengers now spend on drinks, specialty restaurants or spas. (And such figures also serve to bolster the arguments of many observers that all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, which include drinks, specialty restaurants and spas for no extra charge, are today less expensive to enjoy than are cruises, where all such purchases are billed over and above the basic cost of the cruise).

So if you're a would-be cruise passenger who enjoys several daily drinks or an occasional specialty restaurant or spa, you'll be well served by purchasing your cruise during the forthcoming sale week. The overwhelming number of cruise lines are offering credits of at least up to $200 and $250 per cabin and sometimes per person.

That being said, the two outstanding bargains of National Cruise Vacation Week are not onboard spending credits but two-for-one cruises aboard winter departures of the Cunard Line and Oceania Cruises (the latter being the increasingly popular upscale line that offers a considerable degree of luxury to the 700 passengers per ship who book its smaller vessels). Go to the websites of each line, and you'll grasp how much of a saving you'll enjoy by paying one cruise amount for two persons.

Complete details can be found at http://cruising.org/vacation/plan-your-cruise/national-cruise-vacation-week-information.