The Site: CruiseDirect.com
- Compare 15 cruise lines at once. Popular cruise lines include Carnival Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Disney Cruises, and Princess Cruises.
- Luxury and Cheap Cruises to destinations such as the Caribbean, Hawaii, Bahamas, Mexico, Alaska, Africa, Australia and Europe.
- Over 22 departure ports, easily find one near your home. Popular ports include Galveston, Miami, Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, New York, and Port Canaveral.
- Live Cruise Pricing and Availability.
- Shore Excursions Search Engine. Select your departure date and cruise ship, and easily choose excursions. Excursions allow you to tour a port city or an island, and get more out of your cruise vacation. Tour guides take you to city highlights and often take you to out-of-the-way locations. Many excursions include lunch and a shopping stop.
- Last Minute Cruise Deals
- Top 10 Cheap Cruise Deals.
- Friends & Family GroupCruises. When booking 8 or more cabins.
- Corporate Events Specialists.
- Price Guarantee. Within 48 hours they will match any advertised price, and give you a free 4 night hotel gift certificate.
The Good:
The shore excursion search engine! We highly recommend that you check out the shore excursions that can be added to any cruise package, because it will make your cruising vacation that much more memorable. If you are cruising to Cozemel, Mexico, why not visit areas that are outside of the “tourist zone”? Let a tour guide wisk you away in a dune buggy convertible to the white sand secluded beaches on the eastern shore. Embark in some snorkeling and enjoy a mexican lunch on the quiet beach. If you are more adventurous, go for an ATV ride! The prices are very reasonable, and money well spent! However, we are a bit baffled as to why Cruise Direct seems to hide their shore excursion page! There are no easily identifiable links to it! The shore excursion search engine is difficult to find, but this is how we found it: Under the “Customer Care” tab on the home page, in the “FAQ”. Click on “shore excursions” and then “shore excursions page“. Believe us, it’s worth the effort.
The cruisedirect.com “Cruise Finder” makes it a breeze to find last minute cruise deals. The “Cruise Finder” is easy to navigate and allows you to be flexible. If you don’t know where you want to go, choose “any destination” and even “any departure port” to get some ideas. You are also able to search within a “date range”, so you can see what dates offer the best pricing.
MONEY SAVING TIP: If you are traveling with children, search the Disney and Holland America cruise lines because they generally offer a discounted rate for children. Most other cruiselines charge full-price for children.
Finally, our review will not be complete without mentioning Cruise Direct’s fabulous Price Guarantee. They are so confident that you will not find a cheaper cruise, that should you find a cheaper cruise rate advertised on another website within 48 hours of your booking, not only will they match that price, but they will give you a free certificate redeemable for 4 night hotel stay good in either Florida or the Western U.S.
The Bad:
When trying to compare prices for cruises for more than 5 people, we were directed to contact the cruise agents by phone to get pricing. If you would rather handle your entire reservation online, and you have more than 5 people in your party, consider booking 2 or more separate packages online. But, make sure all of the rooms are near each other (which is easy to do when selecting rooms).
The Fees *:
$0 ticketing or booking fees for cruises! The cancellation policy varies depending on cruise line. Read the terms for each cruise line in their FAQ section.
It is highly recommended that you purchase airfare (if needed) together with the cruise. Why? As CruiseDirect states on their site, “booking air through the cruiseline protects you if your flight is delayed and you either miss your cruise or are running late. If you are running late for your cruise, cruise line representatives will make every effort to get you to the ship before departure. If you miss your cruise altogether, the cruise line will reimburse you up to $500 in costs incurred while catching up with your ship at its next port of call. In addition, air rates offered by the cruise lines are often less expensive than those available to the general public–especially on holidays and during high seasons–and the departure times and dates ensure that you will reach your departure port on time, barring any prolonged delays”.
Make sure to read the “Age Restrictions” for the cruiseline that you will be sailing on, if anyone in your party is under 21. This is found under the “customer care” tab, in the FAQ section.
*Based solely on research done by TravelSiteCritic.com, these figures may be inaccurate and are subject to change. Double check before you buy.
The Deals:
7 Day Caribbean Cruise starting at $399*
4 Day Mexico Cruise starting at $299*
Last Minute Cruise Deals Page << CLICK HERE FOR THE CURRENT LAST MINUTE DEALS
Be careful about Cruise Direct ‘s promotion of on-board credit. I took Norwegian Epic two weeks ago because of the $400.00 on-board credit offer. I made sure by calling them before trip. But, on the ship, I found out it wasn’t credit but $400.00 worth coupon book. That coupon book was useless …Don’t get fooled when Cruise Direct says “on-board credit”. It is a trap. I am writing this to protect other customers.
The Cruise Direct website was very easy to use. I always go to them so I can chat with an agent and not have to call. The customer service department is very friendly. I got an extra $100 for booking with them as well. I would use Cruise Direct again.
I like the chatting with a real person without having to call, i managed to make my cruise reservation while at work:-) Not having to pay anything extra was a plus too.
Cruisedirect.com makes it seem like your getting the whole $100 during the check out but you dont. I also didnt want the $66 insurance but they still charged me with it. They dont let you confirm your order. Kinda shady in my opinion.
I have been a loyal follower your website. I always make sure that I am up to date with their tour and cruise packages. Long live your website!
CruiseDirect has a web page for Carnival Cruise Lines that has terms and conditions that are hidden unless you accidentally mouse over a spot on the page.
That, coupled with a misleading offer for Carnival Cruise cost me my deposit.
The other misleading information on CruiseDirect was regarding a 20% savings if you selected an Early Saver Offer which was in reality only $15, plus carried no non refundable deposit clause.