Cheap Cruises: Which ships to sail for the best value

On some major cruise lines there is a little niche of cruise ships out there that represent an extraordinary value. They are not the newest ships and not the oldest ships. The great value comes from them being about in the middle of all the ships on a couple diferent lines.

Carnival Destiny is one of those ships. Carnival Cruise Lines built Carnival Destiny in 1996. At the time she was the greatest ship afloat at 101,353 tons. Much smaller than new Carnival Dream at 130,000 tons, Destiny was nearly double the size of older Carnival Fascination at 70,367 tons. Currently sailing from Miami the ship does a four night sailing to Key West and Cozumel with a day at sea, alternating with a five-night sailing that goes to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Grand Cayman with two days at sea. Another five-night sailing does Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Nassau in the Bahamas with one day at sea.

Prices are reasonable on this one with prices starting at $199 per person on the four-night and $289 per person + tax on the five-night.

On Celebrity Cruises, the Celebrity Millennium at 91,000 tons is another one that prices out nicely for a shorter cruise. This one sails from Miami on a four-night to Cozumel with two days at sea starting at $349 per person and a five-night to Falmouth, Jamaica (if it ever opens) and Grand Cayman starting at $449 per person + tax or a five-night to Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel also starting at $449 per person +tax.

Celebrity Millennium was built in 2000 and held title of the latest, greatest class of Celebrity ships until knocked off the top spot by the popular new Solstice class ships, surely the future of the line.

There are other ships as well, let’s call them second-generation ships, that are not the newest but not the oldest but can represent some of the best values in cheap cruises at sea.