Looking for an Affordable, Last-Minute Cruise? Try a Standby Ticket

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• 00:02

  Here's your money briefing for Friday, February 7th.

• 00:05

  I'm Mariana Asputu for the Wall Street Journal.

• 00:11

  Monitoring prices months ahead of time and planning every expense to a T is one way to travel on a budget.

• 00:18

  But if you're okay with some chaos, trying to nab a last minute standby ticket for a cruise is another option.

• 00:26

  Basically, you pay the money, but you don't find out if you get on until seven to two days before the cruise leaves.

• 00:34

  These programs, you know, ideally are for people who live in the port, right, Florida or Seattle.

• 00:40

  But I wanted to add a twist, so I booked this and I had to get all the way across the country on very short notice.

• 00:47

  So it was quite the adventure.

• 00:49

  Is it worth it?

• 00:50

  We'll talk with Wall Street Journal travel columnist Don Gilbertson about how she landed a low-cost ticket on a sold-out cruise after the break.

• 01:10

  Looking for a cheap getaway?

• 01:13

  Have you considered taking a chance on a standby cruise?

• 01:16

  Wall Street Journal travel columnist Don Gilbertson just did and she joins me.

• 01:21

  Don, why did you choose to sail standby?

• 01:24

  There's some of the best deals out there and I had heard about Holland America's standby program and I was like,

• 01:29

  I wonder how this works in practice.

• 01:31

  Can you give me like a quick definition like, what is a standby cruise?

• 01:35

  Because I had never heard about it pre this story.

• 01:37

  The way Holland America's standby cruise works is you go on their website and they have a list of eligible cruises over the next several months.

• 01:45

  So I had looked at it and I wanted to test a last minute cruise.

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