Cheapest Time to Book Flights For Your Cruise

Your next cruise is officially booked, and you’re counting down the days until you’re enjoying beautiful ocean views again. But what about flights to the port? Many people have to fly to their destination to board the ship, so booking airfare is a key part of the cruise booking process. But plane ticket prices can fluctuate a huge amount. How can you make sure you’re getting the best deal? We looked at some year-end reports from sites like Google Flights, Expedia, CheapAir, and SkyScanner to find tips for booking your plane ticket to your cruise.

Domestic Travel

If you’re flying within the US to get to your departure port, you’ll want to book your airfare relatively close to your cruise. In fact, booking too far out is almost as expensive as booking a last minute fare. According to CheapAir.com, it was 59% more to book <7 days out or 280+ days out.

According to Expedia’s 2025 year-end report, the sweet spot for the lowest domestic travel prices is 34–86 days before departure.

Google Flights fine-tunes that estimate a bit more, saying prices are lowest 39 days before departure.

You also need to take holidays and peak-demand times into account when looking at this window. According to Google Flights, here’s where you’ll find the cheapest fares for major holidays:

• Thanksgiving: 24–59 days before
• Christmas: 32–73 days before
• Spring Break: 38–61 days before
• Summer Vacation: 14–43 days before

If you’re traveling during Spring Break, remember that not every school district has spring break at the same time. It might not be spring break in your area, but the location you’re flying into could be on spring break, increasing demand for flights in that market.

Here’s an example of the different spring break timing for this year:

• Los Angeles: March 30 – April 3
• Miami-Dade: March 23 – March 27
• New York City: April 2 – April 10

Taking other local events and timing into account can be helpful too. For example, I live in New Jersey, where during the first week of November, every public school is closed on Thursday and Friday, and many schools are closed the entire week because of Election Day. That means for NY, PA, and NJ flights, airfares are significantly higher than the rest of the country, where it’s just a normal travel week. This week is often called “Jersey Week” at Disney and Universal Studios.

International Travel

International travel is a bit different and more complicated. Expedia’s data shows the best prices for international travel are 18–29 days before the trip. Google Flights, on the other hand, says the sweet spot is closer to 49 days before departure.

A big thing to take into account here is peak travel season. If you’re flying to Europe during the summer (June through August) or to the Caribbean during winter (December through January), you’ll want to book further out because of higher demand, typically 4–7 months in advance.

Cheapest Day to Book

In past years, reviews of annual airfare data showed that certain days of the week were cheaper for booking flights. This year, the data is less conclusive.

Expedia reports that in 2025, the cheapest day to book travel was Sunday, with prices averaging 6% lower for domestic flights and 17% lower for international flights. According to their data, the most expensive days to book were Monday and Friday.

CheapAir.com, on the other hand, says there is statistically no best day of the week to book travel.

Sites to Monitor Flight Prices

To help predict prices and save money, use free websites to estimate the best time to book and track airfare prices.

• Google Flights
• Expedia
• CheapAir
• Skyscanner
• Kayak

Don’t Fly In The Morning Of Your Cruise!!!

While this doesn’t have anything to do with finding the cheapest flights, it’s important advice. Unless it’s absolutely unavoidable, do not fly on the morning of your cruise.

Air travel has become increasingly chaotic, with cancellations and delays getting worse and worse. Even if you schedule a 6 AM flight that arrives at the cruise port by 10 AM for a 3 PM all-aboard time, there’s still a chance a delay could cause you to miss your cruise.

This isn’t like a resort or hotel stay, where you might just miss a few hours of fun. Cruise ships will not wait for you. You’ll either lose your entire cruise fare or be forced to fly to the first port of call and attempt to join the cruise there, if that’s even allowed.

It’s much safer to fly in the night before your cruise. If budget is a concern, look for hotels closer to the airport or slightly out of the way rather than near the cruise port. For example, you might spend $290 to stay in Miami Beach or just $105 to stay near the Miami airport, which usually adds only 10–20 minutes to the cruise port in the morning.

For even more savings, consider booking your hotel and flight together on sites like Expedia. These packages often include discounts for booking together. When using this option, make sure you select that you only need a hotel for part of your trip.

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