| A question was posed to me over the weekend | | | | be plenty, even if your pay 100 bucks a month. |
| about financing a cruise through the cruise line or travel | | | | This is how I do it: |
| agency. My first question is Why? With the economy | | | | -- Plan my date |
| that we are in, I think financing something (other then a | | | | -- Pick my cruise |
| need) is ridiculous. I always try to pay with cash when | | | | -- Put down a deposit (starts at 100 dollars pp) |
| possible. To answer his question, yes, you can finance | | | | -- Pay within 61 days (generally) of sailing |
| a cruise, many of them have options so I went on to | | | | With a layaway program, you don't have to worry |
| tell him of an option that surprisingly he had no clue | | | | about putting all the money up front and not being able |
| about, layaway. | | | | to sail because you don't have the cash. A |
| Both the cruise line and travel agents offer layaway | | | | recommendation that I find very helpful is to go ahead |
| travel programs. The concept is fairly simple, in fact | | | | and prepay the gratuities along with your excursions |
| exactly like if you were going to Target, Kmart, or | | | | too. The more you pay ahead of time, the less out of |
| Sears. The idea is to plan your cruise enough in | | | | pocket you have to pay. Remember that travel |
| advance so it isn't a strain on your wallet when you | | | | agents are sometimes a lot more beneficial then |
| actually sail. I used to like to plan about six months out, | | | | booking directly through the cruise line. |
| this way I had four months to pay it off, which should | | | | |