Viking River Cruises 2008 Sale Hits Final Day

You can save $1,000 per couple on Viking River Cruises' 2008 sailings by booking and paying in full for them by today (July 31, 2007).

Itineraries for this deal include the 10-day Tulips and Windmills river cruise roundtrip from Amsterdam (double occupancy prices start at $1,699 per person); the 12-day Berlin to Prague cruise (with prices starting at $2,499 per passenger); the 16-day Eastern European Odyssey from Bucharest to Nuremberg (with prices starting at $2,999); and the 16-day China's Cultural delights cruise from Shanghai to Beijing (with prices starting at $3,399).

Other itineraries include Burgundy and Provence, France; the Danube; the Rhine; Russia; and Switzerland to Belgium, among others.

To take advantage of this offer, click here or call 800-510-4002 for RiverCruise.com.

As Marco Polo bids farewell, a chance to sail at two-for-one rates

Orient Lines is offering some two-for-one specials during the next half year on its legendary cruise liner Marco Polo, which will leave the parent company NCL fleet in March 2008.

On nine departure dates in the Mediterranean and South America between September 2007 and February 2008, two passengers sharing a double cabin can cruise from rates starting at about $763 (549 euros) per cabin.

Among the Mediterranean itineraries are two seven-night cruises from Barcelona to Piraeus, Greece, on September 12 and October 10, 2007, starting at $763 per cabin. A South American coastal itinerary including Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, starts at around $1,041 (749 euros) per cabin.

Other specially priced sailings take passengers around Cape Horn and to the Antarctic Peninsula.

After the Marco Polo departs the NCL fleet, it will operate on charters run by Transocean Tours of Bremen, Germany. Passengers who have booked cruises on the ship after March 2, 2008, will be able to rebook on an earlier Orient Lines cruise if they choose, convert their bookings to an NCL cruise, or apply for refunds.

To book or for more information, click here or call 800-333-7300 or a travel agent.

The Smarter Cruising secret

If you've been following the Smarter Cruising blog, you're well aware that great cruise deals pop up quite frequently. Just this month alone we've tipped you off to 15 or 20 fantastic deals.

But what if you've had your eye on a particular destination -- one we haven't covered much?

What if you need different sailing dates? An extra cabin for the kids?

How do you get the best deal on the cruise you've been dreaming about?

The answer is simple: read the Smarter Cruising guide "How to Book the Best Cruise Deal." Inside you'll find the answers to such common cruise-booking questions as:

• Who your best friend -- or worst enemy -- in the cruise industry is
• What to do to get free or low cost upgrades
• When to book your cruise to get the best bargains
• Where to go to find the hottest cruise deals online
• Why you shouldn't believe everything you read in cruise line brochures

Obviously, booking a cruise is a significant investment in both time and money. Don't go into "battle" negotiating your cruise fare without first arming yourself with all the money-saving tips inside "How to Book the Best Cruise Deal!"

And with all the money you'll save, you'll be that much closer to booking your next cruise vacation!

To find out more about "How to Book the Best Cruise Deal," click here now.

Cruise from Spain to Brazil with a verandah and free air

Oceania Cruises is featuring a 15-day repositioning cruise from Barcelona to Rio de Janeiro departing November 24, 2007, in which you can land a verandah stateroom for as little as $2,699 per passenger.

The deal, based on double occupancy of a stateroom, excludes taxes and fees, but includes free airfare to and from the cruise from some 20 U.S. cities, which makes it much sweeter.

Because the cruise leaves from Europe and ends in South America, you would have to pay steep airfare if booking it on your own. (While I often counsel passengers to book their own airfare rather than accept a cruise line's offer of "free" air -- you can usually get a nice rebate from the cruise line if you turn it down, and often get better air connections to boot -- finding decent airfare for repositioning cruises covering two faraway continents can prove much trickier and more expensive.)

Port stops include Gibraltar and the UK. The offer expires August 31, but space is limited. Call a travel agent or Oceania at 800-531-5619.

Exotic destinations: hot, but pricey

This is the fourth in a four-part series on finding bargain destinations for 2007. 2007 is proving to be a bust-out year for exotic cruise destinations.

Whether you want to voyage to Greenland or the Amazon, China or Dubai, you can find a cruise ship ready to take you there. Asia, South America, the Arctic, and Antarctica are all in demand, as cruise passengers seek out variety in far-flung locales.

Alas, like personal computers in the 1980s and wide-screen high-definition TV sets today, cruises to remote destinations are still unusual enough that prices remain relatively high.

One exception, however, seems to be Australia and the Pacific. If you're looking to cruise off the beaten path at discount prices, these areas are probably your best bet this year. (On the other hand, getting to your far-flung cruise by air is never going to be cheap.)

But stay tuned -- as cruise lines send more ships into ever more exotic waters, chances are that competition will send prices dropping a bit. And I'll keep you posted when they do.

China cruise photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews

Europe: wait till fall for bargains?

This is the third in a four-part series on finding bargain destinations for 2007. Demand has risen faster for European cruises than any other destination this year.

The Mediterranean, the Adriatic, the Baltic, and river cruising throughout Europe have all ballooned in popularity over the past few years, and last-minute bargains and cut-rate deals for this summer in Europe are much tougher to find.

But, if you're willing to wait till this fall -- after the summer high season (but when the weather can still be very pleasant) -- you can find some excellent deals.

Most important, keep in mind that cruising may be the most economical way of seeing Europe these days, short of donning a backpack.

The key is that when you book a cruise in the U.S., you can pay in dollars. But when you travel by land through most countries in Europe, you have to change your dollars into euros -- and right now, the dollar is getting clobbered by the euro in exchange rates. (One dollar will only get you .72 Euros, while one Euro is worth 1.38 dollars.) So Europe -- which is already a very expensive destination -- has become much more so for Americans.

Unless, that is, you go by cruise ship and pre-pay most of your expenses in dollars. Yes, the initial cruise rates will be higher for Europe than they are for the Caribbean or Hawaii. But if the Continent is on your agenda this year, cruising is the way to see it -- without having to mortgage your house before you go.

Photo by Dennis Cox/WorldViews

Hawaii and Alaska: surprising cruise bargains

This is the second part in this week's Smarter Cruising series looking at bargain cruise destinations for 2007.

Alaska -- traditionally one of the more expensive cruise destinations because of its relatively short season (May to September) -- has been in a bit of a downturn this year.

Again, like this year's Caribbean slump, no one knows the exact reason, though the 49th state's tremendous popularity over the past decade or so may be catching up to it -- the "been there, done that" crowd may be searching for new destinations and adventures.

That means that even in mid-July, you can still find space on a good many ships for August and September -- and at discount prices, too. According to Travel Weekly magazine, basic fares have dropped about 20 percent this year.

Hawaii (pictured above right) is another place to land terrific bargains -- but maybe only for this year. Norwegian Cruise Line, which has dominated the Hawaii market, announced earlier this year that it's pulling two ships out of Hawaii by early 2008, an admission that it had created too much supply for the demand.

In all likelihood, with fewer cabins available next year, prices will rise. But for now, Hawaii cruises are going at bargain prices similar to those in the Caribbean. (It may well cost you more to fly to Hawaii, however, than to an embarkation city for the Caribbean. And unlike Miami, Houston, New Orleans or other mainland starting points for Caribbean cruises, not many of us can drive to Hawaii!)

Tomorrow: Europe.