In February, Barb McGowan took a seven-day cruise on Holland America Line, visiting the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and the Dominican Republic for just $343, or $49 a day, excluding taxes, port fees and incidentals. By comparison, Holland America currently lists a seven-day Caribbean cruise in October from around $700.
The arrest: He had just 48 hours notice.
Ms. McGown, a 64-year-old from Naples, Florida, who runs a restaurant franchise, got one of the series’ news standby cruisesaimed at travelers living near ports of departure and intended to fill ship vacancies.
“I look for deals and this was a particularly good experience,” Ms McGowan said, praising the food and entertainment. “I was impressed enough to put down a deposit on a future cruise.”
A way to keep the ships full
Holland America introduced its standby program last August to maximize ship occupancy, knowing that cancellations are inevitable. So far, the rest of the cruise industry hasn’t followed suit.
“If cancellations happen within a week or two of sailing, it’s difficult to resell that space on the open market,” said Dan Rough, vice president of revenue management at Holland America.
In the same way that airlines oversell seats, cruise lines can compensate for cancellations by overselling cabins. Wait-filling, however, reduces Holland America’s reliance on overselling, which risks bringing passengers to distant departures, or offering generous cash incentives to volunteers to cancel.
Although the company is not heavily promoting the new practice, it has won a following among stewards by dangling a bargain price — $49 per person, whether sharing a cabin or traveling alone, before taxes and fees — on a website that states available departure dates to attract flexible travelers. Those waiting should wait for an inside cabin, according to the company, although ocean view and terrace cabins have been assigned. (The company declined to say how many waiting cabins it has offered.)
“Forty-nine dollars per person, per day is pretty great,” said Colleen McDaniel, its editor CruiseCritic.com, a website that reviews cruises, noting that the price covers all meals and entertainment. “You can’t find a cheaper rate at a land-based resort for what’s included.” (In 2023, the average nightly price for a hotel room in the United States was nearly $156, according to STR, a data analytics firm that tracks the hospitality industry.)
To participate, travelers select an itinerary from a waiting list on the website — current embarkation ports include Boston. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Montreal; Quebec City? San Diego? Seattle? Vancouver, British Columbia? and Whittier, Alaska — and pay for the trip in advance by calling Holland America or booking through a travel advisor.
There are no refunds for standby boats that want to turn back. However, if the bet fails and the cruise line cannot offer a cabin to someone on the waiting list, it issues a refund.
The company says standby offers are added on a rolling basis and usually lists itineraries within two to three months of departure. Current offerings include seven-day voyages on Alaska’s Inside Passage from April to September and seven- to 11-day voyages cruising the New England coast and Canada’s Maritime Provinces between May and October.
Proximity is a bonus
Cruises on standby do not learn of their acceptance or rejection until a week to two days before departure, complicating transfer arrangements.
“Last-minute airfare could offset savings on a cruise,” wrote Crystal Seaton, the owner of Road to Relaxation Travel, a travel agency based in Raleigh, NC, in an email. Although he hasn’t booked a customer on standby, he assumed it’s for travelers who can drive to a port.
“We were lucky? We found out Tuesday that we’re going on Friday at 3 p.m. sailing,” said Sheila Valloney, 66, of Clermont, Fla., who with her husband spent nine days on a Holland America cruise in the southern Caribbean in February on standby.
Before the cleanup, she booked a parking spot near the ferry dock in Fort Lauderdale, which would have set her back about $6 if she canceled. He also kept their holiday clothes ready for the last minute three and a half hour drive to the port.
Booking a refundable airline ticket — or at least one that guarantees a reward points or cash credit in the event of cancellation — is one way travelers who need to fly can take advantage of the deal.
To await the sailing, Ms. McGowan drove 90 minutes from her home to the ferry in Fort Lauderdale. But her travel companion was visiting from Indiana, so when she was waitlisted a few months before the departure date, she booked her boyfriend a Southwest Airlines flight using frequent flyer points that would be refunded if the last-minute cruise didn’t come. through.
Avoid extra charges
Once on board, fees for extras such as cabin upgrades, Wi-Fi, alcohol and shore excursions can add to the bill, although budget travelers try to avoid them.
Ms McGowan claimed the $17.50 per day charge for an upgraded drinks package (basic non-alcoholic drinks are included on the cruise) and took a shore excursion focusing on coffee farming, which she deemed good value at $89.
On their Caribbean cruise, the Valloneys asked for recommendations on good beaches where they went to relax on port days and waited until they reached land to check email in order to avoid paying for Wi-Fi on board.
“We didn’t miss him at all,” Ms Valloney said. “For drinks, we’d wait until happy hour, when it was buy one, get one free.”
Will other companies follow?
To date, no other cruise line has adopted standby programs.
Princess Cruises said it does not plan to offer standby cabins, but noted that it already does last minute deals, which tend to cost around $50 to $60 per passenger per day. For example, a seven-day Alaska sailing from Vancouver to Anchorage departing May 8 costs $399 per person in a double-occupancy cabin.
Several other major cruise lines did not respond to questions about the possible adoption of standby programs, although operators such as Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line they also offer last minute deals on their websites.
“We would be surprised to see many major cruise lines begin to adopt a similar model” to the waiting system, wrote Kimberly Coyne, head of sales and content strategy for Cruiseline.com, a cruise review site, in an email. He said standby fares may be financially unsustainable for cruise lines and raised the possibility that travelers might become too familiar with late booking offers.
More ways to save
With the recent increase in cruise bookings, companies are doing fewer discounts, said Ms. McDaniel of CruiseCritic.com.
He identified more reliable ways to get a deal compared to waiting, such as booking during “wave season,” a sale period that generally runs from January to March, or the repositioning cruise, when a ship moves from one area to another seasonally. A redo route may sail in the fall from Alaska to the Caribbean via the Panama Canal.
“It’s not unusual to see a change cruise for less than $75 per night,” Ms. McDaniel said, noting that other costs, such as airline routing to one city and return from another, can cost more than a standard return ticket.
Repositioning cruises tend to stop at fewer ports and add more enrichment programs onboard, such as lectures and activities like cake decorating classes and craft alcoholic tastings.
“For many people the ship is the destination and this is the perfect activity for people who like to be on a ship,” he said.