Baja California cruise: cheap rates via CruiseCompete

Some great deals are out there for cruises this month and next. One I just looked at is a four-night Carnival Cruise Lines trip to Baja California aboard the good ship Carnival Paradise. It departs from Long Beach, California, and takes in Catalina Island, California, and Ensenada, Mexico. While CheapTickets.com prices are competitive, I decided to comparison shop using CruiseCompete.com.

Deal: The trips between April 14-May 16, 2008, seem to offer the best discounts, in general. On Cheaptickets, for the May 12-16, 2008, cruise, the price for two adults, based on double occupancy, for an interior stateroom (the least expensive room) came to $572, including taxes and fees. Though the site advertised a free upgrade from the interior stateroom to an ocean-view room, the rooms set aside for that deal were sold out when I tried for it.

On CruiseCompete, which I hadn’t used before, I entered my specifications so that travel agents could come to me with their best offers. Even though I entered these details on Saturday night, within two hours I had two offers. The cheapest, for the same date and room-type specifications, was $538, including all taxes and fees. I was given an e-mail address and phone number for the respective travel agent, as well as a promotion code to cite, in case I wanted to book. The process seemed straightforward enough.

I would feel comfortable going this route to book a cruise, but I’m interested in others’ experiences using the travel agents they found through this site.

Have you booked a trip through CruiseCompete? Tell us about your experience via the Comments section below.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Catalina Island; Chris Erskine / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 7, 2008 at 3:15 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under Mexico, Tours & Cruises. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.