Wave Season has arrived! Check out our round-up of family cruise deals currently on offer. Compare promotions and get the best deal for your family.
Wave season has arrived! Now that the holidays are firmly behind us, it is a great time to start planning your next family cruise.
“Wave Season” typically runs from January through March. During this period, cruise lines present some of their most aggressive offers for the upcoming year. These are promotions that are available for sailings throughout the year, but the special discounts and perks accrue for booking during the wave season offer period. While the actual discounted cruise fares may not be the absolute least expensive for the entire year, the discounted fares plus a variety of valuable perks can make for some excellent family cruise deals. Read on to find what 2020 has to offer.
For tips on saving money on cruises year round, visit Try These Top Ways To Stretch Your Family Cruise Dollars.
Current Family Cruise Deals for Wave Season 2020
We have rounded up the current wave season promotions being offered by the major cruise lines. So, start looking for your family cruise deals here. Although numerous luxury cruise lines and river cruise lines are also offering wave season promotions, this round-up focuses on the larger cruise lines that are typically the most family friendly.
Carnival
Carnival has several different promotions running. Depending on itinerary and accommodations, discounts range from 20% to 30%. Specials include reduced deposits ranging from $50 to $199. Potential perks include up to $50 on board credit or Free Price Protection. For sailings starting April 2020 and beyond.
You can find Carnival promotions here.
Celebrity
Celebrity offers the Sale Beyond Event.
This promotion offers discounts on all staterooms plus additional free perks for families booking oceanview cabins and above. Savings start at $200 per cabin for inside staterooms and go up to $800 per cabin for suites. Also, additional passengers in a cabin receive 50% discounted fares.
Families booking inside, oceanview or verandah staterooms can make one or three selections from the perk menu. Suite bookings earn four selections.
The perk menu includes choices of a drinks package, wifi package, prepaid gratuities, and $150 per person of on board credit.
Offer valid on travel from Feb. 22, 2020 to May 3, 2022.
Disney
For its Wave Season promotion, Disney offers a 50% discount on deposits on select cruises 4 nights or longer. This offer is valid through February 14, 2020 for cruises departing between June 20, 2020 and May 31, 2021. Find more information on this Disney promotions here. (So, this particular promotion won’t actually save money ultimately, but it reduces your immediate out-of-pocket costs.)
While not necessarily Wave Season promotions, families can also currently find discounted family cruise deals on specific sailings of select itineraries:
- Up to 20% off designated sailings between now and April. More information here.
- The website mousesavers.com reports additional special deals for specific sailings & specific stateroom categories. More information available here.
Holland America
During this Wave Season period, Holland America has varying offers that periodically update.
For example, there’s a Top 10 Sailings promotion where you can save up to $1,600 per stateroom with this week’s Top 10 Sailings.
Or, you could try the View & Verandah Upgrade Event. This event features free stateroom upgrades, free or reduced fares for kids, 10% off select shore excursions and 50% reduced deposits. Suite bookings receive free gratuities. And, for a limited time, new bookings can receive on-board credit up to $1,000 per stateroom.
MSC Cruises
MSC Cruises currently offers its All-In Plus promotion. Guests booking this promotion receive unlimited drinks, free wifi, on-board credit up to $100 per stateroom, and reduced deposits.
Be sure to check out our review of MSC Seaside!
Norwegian Cruises
From Norwegian Cruises, check out its Greatest Sale at Sea promotion featuring 30% off all cruises fleetwide. This promotion can be combined with the Free at Sea promotion where you can receive up to 5 free perks. The perk selections include free drinks, free specialty dining, free wifi, free excursions, and/or free kids. (Be sure to check out our posts on that free NCL drink package and our review of the Norwegian Bliss.)
Find out more about Norwegian’s promotions here.
Princess
Check out the Best Sale Ever promotion from Princess Cruises. Packages include free drinks, wifi and free gratuities. Promotion runs through February 29, 2020 on select cruises sailing starting on March 26, 2020.
Royal Caribbean
This Wave Season Royal Caribbean has several deals featuring 60% off cruise fare of second guest and up to $150 in instant savings. There’s also a Kids Sail Free promotion and additional instants savings on Alaska sailings that total up to $250 in instant savings.
Find out more information on Royal Caribbean promotions.
More Tips on Finding the Best Family Cruise Deals
As you start checking out different websites for promotions, you may wonder how you should figure out what’s a good deal or not. For insights on evaluating different deals, check out this article on cruisecritic.com:
3 Ways to Make the Most of Wave Season Cruise Deals
This article provides great tips on how to objectively evaluate specific wave season promotions, and determine what may be right for your family. In addition, it provides tips on comparing apples to apples when looking at specific fares and itineraries. And, it also flags special issues to look for in the fine print of individual offers.
And, for more tips on saving money on family cruises more generally, check out Try These Top Ways To Stretch Your Family Cruise Dollars.
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