When it comes to value, it’s hard to beat a cruise. While most vacations have you shelling out for flights, hotel, food, entertainment, and more, a cruise wraps that up in one bundle, all for a price that can be significantly less than a similar vacation on land.
It’s no stretch that you can take a complete vacation for just a few hundred dollars per person when you decide to take a cruise.
(In all fairness, there are plenty of ways — including everything from drinks to gambling — to spend plenty more on a cruise ship.)
Over the past few years, however, cruise prices have pushed up in part due to soaring demand. So if you want to cruise cheap, where should you search? We recently looked at dozens of cruises sailing from the cruise capital of the world, Miami, to see where you’ll find the lowest prices across major lines.
Miami: The Cruise Capital of the World
When you think of gambling, Las Vegas no doubt comes to mind. Similarly, when you think of cruising, then Miami should be at the top of your list.
Miami is the world’s busiest cruise port with literally millions setting sail from here each year. Nearly every major cruise line sails from here including names like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and NCL.
And when it comes to cheap cruises, Miami is a happy hunting ground. With so many lines, you have a lot of options. Not only does that create competition between lines, but you also have trips ranging from three-day cruises to 14-day cruises that can fit any schedule and any budget.
If you’re looking for the cheapest cruises, however, Miami can actually be overwhelming. There are so many lines offering so many cruises that you can literally have hundreds of options depending on when you’re looking to sail.
To help you out, we recently looked specifically at the Port of Miami to see who offers the cheapest prices. This will help any deal hunter narrow their search and get an idea of the best prices available.
We Looked at Six Different Lines With 84 Different Cruises
Given all the lines sailing from Miami and the sheer number of cruises offered over the course of the year, we had to narrow things down a little bit.
For that reason, we took a look at all the sailings from a specific month from the port to see who came out on top with the least expensive trips.
Specifically, we looked at all the sailings for the month of June 2026. Why June? This is the start of the popular summer cruising season when most people — especially families — can more easily take off work and school to set sail.
You should know that given the higher demand, prices are higher during this time of year. The absolute cheapest cruises are going to be in months like January, February, September and October.
However, June gives us good insight to who has the cheapest cruise prices during a popular time of year. That information can then be used to find deals no matter the time of year.
Looking at the schedules, six different cruise lines sail a staggering 84 cruises from Miami during the month. This includes Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL, MSC, Celebrity, and Virgin Voyages.
We looked at the price per person for an interior cabin (the lowest priced rooms on the ship) for each and every one of these 84 cruises.
The results give us a clear picture of who offers the cheapest cruises from Miami.
Clear Winners in 4-Day and 7-Day Cruises
As mentioned, there are cruises that run the gamut from short three-day trips all the way to two-week sailings that truly get away from it all.
However, not all of the cruise lines we looked at offer all of these sailings. For instance, Celebrity Cruises only offers seven-day trips. Virgin Voyages offers only four and five-day cruises.
Therefore, we looked at two different trip lengths: four days and seven days. These two lengths were well represented and also provide insight into who offers the least expensive short cruises and the least expensive longer cruises.
Let’s start with four-day trips. In that case, five different cruise lines offer this length of trip, across a variety of ships. Prices here vary widely. The least expensive trip overall was just $414 per person aboard MSC. Trips on other lines can be up to double that amount.
In fact, taking an average for four-day cruises across all the lines, MSC comes in the clear winner. Its trips come out to an average of $442 per person. Carnival is second with an average price of $570.
On the flipside, Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Virgin Voyages are considerably higher in price. Royal Caribbean and NCL come in at nearly $800 or about $200 per day. Virgin takes the top price at more than $900, though the cruise line is well known for offering lots of extras with its cruises that other lines do not.
What about week-long cruises?
Our analysis showed a surprising leader when it comes to that length of trip. Compared to the wide disparity of shorter cruises, the seven-day trips are more in line with one another. Royal Caribbean comes in with the highest average cost, due mainly to higher pricing on Icon of the Seas.
The least expensive, however, is Celebrity Cruises. That’s surprising given that the cruise line aims to have a more luxury focus. Yet the four week-long cruises it has from Miami during the month can be had for as little as $909 and average out to just $948. That’s less expensive than even Carnival, the line known for being budget friendly.
Even Lower Prices Available
If you’re looking at these prices and wish you could find even less expensive cruises, then you are in luck. Remember that this analysis looks only at the month of June. That’s historically one of the more expensive months to sail. You can find even cheaper cruises at different times of year.
But no matter when you decide to cruise, the data is clear. Shorter cruises tend to see the lowest prices with MSC, and at least from Miami, don’t count out Celebrity for those longer trips.
I want to avoid the school aged kids. So January, February, September, and October are much for me. I don’t want to be out there during hurricane season even if its free.