Hi, I’m Chloe. My husband and I have been on 26 cruises, and people always ask the same question: how do you afford it?
The honest answer: we only cruise when the deal is too good to ignore. We wait, we watch, and when the right sailing comes up at the right price, we book it fast. Over the years I’ve become very good at spotting the ones worth booking.
This newsletter started when my friends and family kept asking me to help them find deals. I’ve booked cruises for more people than I can count, and every single one has come back converted.
Where it started
Our first cruise was in the Caribbean in 2017. We paid £891 per person. That included return flights, a two-night hotel stay in Miami before we boarded, all meals on the ship, basic drinks, and the cabin itself. I remember standing on deck watching the sun come up over the ocean and thinking: why doesn’t everyone do this?
From that moment, I was hooked. Not just on the sailing, but on the idea. The maths made no sense in the best possible way. There was no restaurant bill at the end of each evening. No taxi between hotels. No transfers between cities. We unpacked once and woke up somewhere new every day.
“The biggest luxury isn’t the ship. It’s watching the sun set over the mountains in St Lucia from your own private balcony. Or sailing into a Greek island at dawn with nobody else awake. You can’t buy that in a hotel.”
Cruising is luxury, if you know when to book
I want to push back on the idea that cruising is expensive. It can be. But so can any holiday if you book at the wrong time without knowing what you’re doing. The difference with cruising is that the deals, when they appear, are genuinely extraordinary. A balcony cabin on a premium ship for less than a budget hotel room in Majorca. A two-week transatlantic crossing for the price of a long weekend in a European city. They exist. You just need someone watching for them.
That’s what I do.
My proudest deal
My father-in-law had never cruised. He was sceptical. I found him a Caribbean sailing in peak season on Celebrity Edge, which at the time was brand new, for £600 per person. That’s what this is about.
Caribbean, Celebrity Edge, peak season
Brand new ship. Peak season dates. £600 per person all in. My father-in-law’s first cruise. He’s booked three more since.
What makes the cut
I go through hundreds of sailings every week. The vast majority don’t make it. I’m looking for deals that make you stop mid-scroll. A balcony cabin at an inside cabin price. A luxury line having a flash sale. A repositioning cruise that crosses an ocean for less than a fortnight in Tenerife. Something with drinks or gratuities thrown in that tips the value over the edge.
If I wouldn’t book it myself, it doesn’t go in the newsletter. Simple as that.