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The Complete Guide to Cruise Deals Season – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Wave

Updated: 11/2019

By the time you’re done reading this guide to Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Wave Season — and cruise savings beyond — you’ll be such a cruise expert that you may consider changing your name to Martinique! (Or Thomas. Or Lucia…or hiya, Maya!)

Scoring Big on Black Friday

When you think Black Friday, what comes to mind is the time-worn traditions of pushy crowds, stepped-on toes… and almost certainly coming home disappointed. It’s almost like people love deals a little too much. So no, forget all that — you don’t need to worry about any of those things with Carnival. You know, you won’t even have to leave the house — sleep in, sleep off that turkey n’ football hangover (extra points for extra helpings!). Black Friday is a great day to wake up to incredible cruise deals, but it isn’t the only day…

File-Save-As-If-It’s Cyber Monday

If you’re not up-to-date on Cyber Monday, here’s what we know so far about 21st century savings: Internet technology brings us deals of all kinds, and you can think of Cyber Monday as the Web’s answer to Black Friday. The Web is all like “come save with me!” and people are all over those deals. The main difference with Cyber Monday is that the savings often require you to jump through hoops, but with Carnival you can forget clicking around coupon-code sites or hashing out #hashtags — you’ll find great cruise deals, all from the comfort of your home. Or wherever you happen to be.

Meet the Ghost of Thanksgiving-Weekend-Sales-Past

Pop-quiz: do you remember the Black Friday and Cyber Monday savings that we brought our fans last year? If not, you should read on… and if you do remember, c’mon say it with us now!

  • On Thanksgiving, everybody ate turkey, watched football and warmed up their saving thumbs to prepare for the great vacation deals to come.
  • Black Friday kicked off a weekend of Holladays Dockbuster savings, which worked out to great guarantee rates on select sailings through February 2019, plus a $50 onboard credit bonus.
  • Come Cyber Monday we brought you a sweet Early Saver sale on sailings through April 2021. Everybody loved deposits that were just $50 per person, plus onboard credit of up to $25 per stateroom… unless you booked a longer sailing and got $50 in onboard credit!
  • Okay, that was everything… unless you count the big bonus offer! It featured Early Saver rates, $50 deposits and $50 in onboard credit per person — except on select sailings where it was $100 per stateroom!

What cruise savings can you expect from Carnival for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019? Come on, we wouldn’t spoil such big surprises!

Stand Up and Do the Wave (Season)

These days everybody seems to be up on Black Friday and Cyber Monday… they’re pretty much common knowledge. But here’s a term that only the real pros know: Wave Season. What’s that, the best time to go surfing? Nope! Running from more-or-less December through March, cruise industry insiders use this term to describe the months where most people book their cruises. It makes sense too — when you’re snowed in at home and your car’s somewhere under that snowdrift, your dreams are drifting around somewhere in the balmy 85° Caribbean. You can probably guess that this desire makes Wave Season a great time to book your cruise — the competition heats up and the savings can be significant.

Ok, Here’s the Secret

You’ve read this far, so we’ll let you in on the biggest little secret: booking early is always the surest path to great deals. Sure, your savings game is strong around the end and beginning of the year… but just like you can’t schedule your vacation cravings, you can’t wait like eight months to book a vacation! If you wait, you might not get the cabin or sailing you want. So whether you’re a planning pro, feeling the need to get away ASAP… or you just find yourself having daydreams about deck chairs and piña coladas, remember that we’ve always got something ready for you. Even if your daydreams come at 3 a.m., no prob — there’s always a great deal or two for you to book now.

The Last Word on Carnival Cruises

Just a reminder: yes, the prices are low but no matter how great the deals, how deep the discounts, you’ll still get to enjoy everything that’s always included in a Carnival cruise… all the stuff that Carnival guests count on from the moment they step aboard the ship until it’s debarkation time. Your cruise includes delicious food served up in casual or formal settings, on-stage musical entertainment and shows, age-appropriate supervised activities for the kids, room service delivered direct to your comfy stateroom 24 hours a day… and chances to get dancing, get moving, everywhere you look. And let’s not forget to mention the stops your ship will make in ports — these destinations are the very definition of breathtaking!

The Actual Last Word on Carnival Cruises

Remember: when the vacation urge strikes, get searching for one!