You have decided why you are traveling, the next step is to determine when you will be going on vacation. For us, our travel is determined by the school calendar. If you are traveling with your family, this is the first thing to check when planning your vacation. As a teacher, it is next to impossible to plan any travel during the school days. First of all, I don’t want to use up my precious personal days for planned travel. Secondly, planning for a substitute takes almost as long as being out on a school day. Although the prices are higher when school is out, it is worth it for me to plan ahead around the school breaks.
Every year I have at least one or two students miss a week of school because of a cruise. As a parent, you must outweigh the costs of taking a cruise during school days. Your student will most likely have these days count against him/her as unexcused absences. He/she will be responsible for any missed work while you are on your cruise. Some assignments are simple to do ahead of time or upon your return. However, there are some that will require direct teaching to complete. Depending on the number of classes your student has, it could take weeks for him/her to get caught up on lessons missed, assignments, and tests. As a teacher, I ask you to please keep this in mind as you are planning when to cruise.
If you are planning a cruise vacation, the rates are lowest when the sailings are first announced. This means you may be booking 12-18 months before you actually embark on your ship. If your school calendar for the next year has not been published yet, it may be safer to book a week or so after you are sure school will be out for the summer. Many cruise lines run sales periodically that can make booking closer in more affordable. However, the cabin types may be more limited. Some cruise lines will even allow you to re-price your cruise during these sales. We were fortunate enough to book during one of these sales, so our cruise price was similar to an off-peak cruise sailing. Bottom line, book your cruise as early as possible, ask about the ability to re-price at a later date, and get busy planning!