Which Cruise Promos Pique Your Interest?

Some of you have probably noticed that I've added a poll feature to the Luxury Cruise Bible blog. You'll find this week's question—What type of cruise fare specials do you prefer?—at the upper right side of the blog's homepage.

Your choices, and you can select more than one, include:

• 2-for-1 pricing
  
• free economy airfare
  
• low-cost biz airfare add-on
  
• cabin category upgrade
  
• shipboard credit
  
• free shore excursions
  
• pre-/post-cruise hotel stay
  

I'm posing this question because I'm curious which cruise line promotions catch your interest and which don't. I'll admit that 2-for-1 ads usually make me look twice, but I sometimes think that the per person rack rate is so inflated that the special may not be much of a bargain. Of course, recently there have been some amazing 2-for-1 deals, especially from Oceania Cruises.

Free economy air doesn't do a thing for me, probably because I'm a frequent flyer airmiles junkie. I can usually either find a great deal on airfare on my own or book an award ticket using the miles I've amassed on several airlines.

Low-cost biz airfare add-ons are attractive, however. If it's a long-haul flight, I try to figure out a cost-effective way to book business- or first-class airline tickets. Some add-on specials are definitely worth taking advantage of.

Cabin category upgrades are only enticing to me on certain types of sailings. If there are a lot of sea days or the scenery is especially gorgeous—French Polynesia, Caribbean, some of the Mediterranean ports—then I'd be more interested in a better category stateroom with a veranda. Otherwise, we spend most of our time outside of our cabin so we're fine with just about any category.

Shipboard credits can be useful if you're using them to pay a bar tab, visit the spa, or book shore excursions. But so many luxury cruise lines are all-inclusive, that it can be tough to spend the onboard credit in some cases.

I believe that Regent Seven Seas Cruises is one of the few luxury cruise lines offering free shore excursions. (Of course, this isn't a new concept. Small ship cruising has been packaging complimentary shore excursions for years, a la American Safari Cruises, Lindblad Expeditions, and others.)

While I haven't seen this offer that frequently, complimentary pre- and post-cruise hotel stays can make certain cruise fares very attractive.

So which pricing specials catch your interest? Vote in our poll today.

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