You may have been teased by cruise lines that give you a chance to re-book your fare at a lower rate without penalty, if one becomes available. You may have then tried to find out if it happened, in a market where figures jump around like they're on the Dow Jones or the Nasdaq. You may have felt like you needed a stock broker to watch.
Now there's an online service (not free) that will do just that. It's called CruiseFareMonitor.com and, on the surface, it sounds at least mildly appealing.
Once you sign up — and it appears you need to have a cruise booked before you can do that — you have access to software that monitors cruise prices and lets you know if they go lower than what you've paid. Then you call the cruise line and, hopefully, re-book at a lesser price.
In cruising around the website, which doesn't take long unless you're a member, we found that it's unclear what the cost of this service is. One article about it said a "one-time fee of $10 to $15" — hmm, is it $10 or is it $15? — but nowhere on the site does it say that, and you can't go further without having a cruise booked. And is it a "one-time" fee, or a "one-time fee" for each cruise? Either way, it has the potential to provide savings.
The other thing is that it seems not to include all cruise lines, which by extension means it doesn't include all cruises. Each ship graphic on the home page is attached to a cruise line. There are nine graphics and two say "Future Cruise Line Arriving Soon" so the only seven that appear to be listed are Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Azamara, Carnival, Norwegian, MSC and Oceania. So you can fill in the blanks.
It does warrant further checking. If you have a cruise booked (we don't) on any of these lines, see what happens when you try to sign up. That will probably tell you whether it's worth pursuing.
Carnival Conquest
7 nights
September 1, 2013
New Orleans (return): Key West, Freeport, Nassau
Inside: $339
Cost per day: $48
www.carnival.com