Sometimes the best time to go to a restaurant is when no one else is there; going during the off-hours cuts down on crowds, wait times, and sometimes even the cost. The same principle applies to the travel and hospitality industry. While savvy-travelers have always known about the advantages that come from visiting places during the off-peak season, the reality is that the entire world is currently operating under the most extreme of off-peak conditions.
The normal determinative factor of off-peak pricing is one of seasonal interest. You don’t take a ski trip in the summer unless you are visiting the Southern Hemisphere. You don’t get to run with the bulls unless the bulls are actually running. You don’t book an island getaway during hurricane season. Instead, you go when environmental and cultural conditions are best suited to your own personal requirements.
At the moment, however, the limiting factors are not the normal ones but rather those of understandable hesitancy about any sort of traveling. It is currently the prime season for cruise ship vacations yet the cabins are largely unbooked. Likewise, the present state of weather and business conditions in the Northern Hemisphere seem to indicate that now would be the perfect time for a warm weather getaway. It’s not like people are getting anything accomplished at home. So what is holding everyone back?
Fear of medical complications obviously rates high on the list but is this really a rational concern? If people were to stay home in the Northern Hemisphere, they would be largely confined in indoor locales where viruses can spread most effectively. If anyone does go out, it is to visit a public venue such as a grocery store where hundreds of untested and possibly contagious people are congregating.
Compared to this, people who take advantage of cruise deals will be enjoying near-optimal conditions for avoiding viral infections. At sea in a tropical climate, there is much more opportunity for outdoor activity. Every single person on board the ship will have been tested prior to embarkation and frequent additional tests for crew and passengers provide additional assurances. Being able to take a trip now is almost literally a chance of a lifetime for most people.
Not only will there be far fewer passengers on board, but the crew staffing will remain as usual. This results in the best possible service that will never be on offer again. Exotic tropical ports-of-call will have the same advantages. Far fewer visitors and an economy desperate for tourists equates to fantastic service, amazing bargains, and much greater opportunity to savor land-based entertainment opportunities that might ordinarily be crammed to the point of being not particularly enjoyable. Imagine the fun one could have at Disneyland if there were no crowds. That same dynamic is what makes booking cruise deals at this time such an attractive proposition.
Nor should it be forgotten that the industry is fighting tooth-and-nail for passengers. Prices have been slashed. Amenities and extra bonuses have been upgraded. Rigid health care precautions have been instituted that are far more protective than one is likely to find under the conditions prevailing at home during this event.
In summation, a better cruise ship experience is available now than will ever be available again. The price will be drastically lower. The balance between medical precautions aboard a ship sailing under tropical conditions as opposed to huddling together through a long and bitter winter is really beyond comparison. The main reason for an uptick in viral infections at this time of year is the necessity of staying at close quarters indoors for long periods of time. In the summertime, these factors will be of considerably less impact as people resume an active lifestyle and get outdoors more often.
But you can go to where it is summer right now. You can be safer, warmer, and definitely more pampered than you are under current conditions at home.