Recorded fare comparison
January
Median listed fare: $123 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$123/night median
161 sailing listings
Cruise destination
North America cruises
Compare North America sailings by cruise line, ship, departure date, port, and price.
959 sailing listings in the recorded comparison · recorded Oct 21, 2026 at 11:19 UTCPhoto by Michael Denning on Unsplash
North America brings together coastal itineraries with very different geography. Alaska, Canada and New England, Pacific routes and warmer southern calls should not be treated as one seasonal product. The comparison does not exclude an itinerary simply because it also belongs to Alaska or the Caribbean. Choose the coastline and the places you intend to visit before using the monthly fares to narrow your options.
Compare the starting and finishing ports as well as the calls between them. A round trip and a voyage ending elsewhere can require different travel arrangements even when their cruise lengths match. Check the number of sea days and the time available at each stop. If the purpose of the trip is one landscape or a particular coastal region, confirm that the itinerary spends meaningful time there rather than relying on the destination label.
When climate figures are shown, New York is the local reference. It does not describe Alaska, the Pacific coast or tropical conditions. A combined monthly median can change with the itineraries represented, so it cannot choose the best season for the continent. Compare location, dates and cabin terms as separate parts of the decision.
In depth: Best time to cruise Hawaii
North America · comparison coverage
What these monthly fares cover
Data recorded ; calculated Oct 21, 2026 at 11:20 UTC.
Our North America comparison covers itineraries with a verified call in North America.
Departures from through . Months combine all matching years in this window.
780 of 959
listings with a comparable USD fare
179
listings without a comparable USD fare
Fares are USD per person per night. These starting-fare comparisons mix cabin types, ships and trip lengths. Compare actual cabins and conditions on the individual sailing pages.
See monthly coverage and comparison limits
Itinerary geography was checked across 45,076 market candidates: 39,850 unresolved and 4,267 conflicting. Those candidates are not included in this destination’s figures and are not a count of missing North America sailings.
- Counts cover active listings with a positive trip length whose itinerary locations passed independent source checks under the definitions above. A voyage may have more than one supplier listing.
- Geographic references include GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata. CruiseCaptain checks itinerary records against these references, applies the destination definitions and calculates the comparisons.
- The monthly median uses each priced listing’s lowest usable corroborated USD cabin fare, divided by its trip length. A lower monthly median does not mean the same cruise costs less.
- These counts cover the full comparison, even when the chart shows a smaller sample. They are not sample counts for any one cabin category.
- The dates describe departure coverage, not when each fare was last observed. Fare observation times and booking conditions are not included in this monthly snapshot.
- Check the individual sailing’s cabin, total fare and booking conditions before comparing offers. Weather guidance is a separate editorial source.
Recorded listings · monthly comparison
Monthly fare comparison
Compare recorded monthly fares across this destination’s different regions.
Among well-served months in this comparison, February has the lowest median listed fare at $101 per person per night and December the highest at $156. Adjacent months with limited choice are shown separately and may have lower fares. These are different future departures, not a price history for the same cruise. This comparison spans different seasonal calendars. A lower monthly fare is not a recommendation for weather or wildlife. Choose the region and itinerary first.
CruiseCaptain — corroborated USD listed fares, per person per night; recorded Oct 21, 2026
Real fares — sampled departures, by cabin
Each dot represents a sampled listed fare for one sailing and cabin category. The table’s monthly medians use the full eligible snapshot, not only the dots shown. These are different future departures, not repeated prices for an identical cruise.
Group by
959 sailing listings in the comparison window · dots show 390 priced listings after sampling and validation · calculated Oct 21, 2026
Fare sample and methodology
Departure window: 2026-10-21 to before 2028-04-21.
The recorded comparison contains 959 sailing listings; 780 have a comparable listed fare and 179 have none. Well-supported months and adjacent months with enough priced listings cover 895 listings; 64 listings fall outside that displayed fare comparison. Greyed months have limited comparison data, not a closed cruising season. Counts represent supplier sailing listings, not necessarily distinct voyages. Current verified itinerary links are checked separately.
Lowest and highest labels compare well-served (core) months only. Adjacent months with limited choice can have lower medians. No seasonal score is assigned to this mixed-region comparison.
For each sailing listing, we divide its lowest usable corroborated USD cabin fare by trip length, then take the median within each calendar month across departure years. Cabin medians use only listings priced in that category: inside, oceanview, balcony or suite. Missing fares are excluded from medians, never treated as free cruises. The dots are a bounded sample; chart lines smooth that sample by cabin over nearby departure dates, with monthly medians as a fallback.
Prices are displayed in US dollars per person. Occupancy, taxes, fees and inclusions follow the source listing and are not independently standardized in this comparison. Check the sailing and supplier before booking. The calculation date is not the time every supplier last refreshed its fare; this aggregate does not include individual quote timestamps.
Raw fares come from third-party feeds. CruiseCaptain’s contribution is tracking, normalization and analysis. These recorded-fare comparisons are descriptive: differences in lines, ships, cabins and routes can explain monthly gaps. They do not establish when to book or predict a future price.
Month-by-month comparison
Select a month to pin its column — the spotlight below follows.
Fares compare different itineraries. Greyed months have limited comparison data, not a closed cruising season. No combined weather or wildlife score is assigned.
Climate reference: Meteostat 1991–2020 monthly climate normals (nearest station), New York (40.71, -74.01). These representative conditions are separate from the recorded fare comparison and are not a sailing forecast.
Daylight reference: Computed for New York (40.7°N), sea level. Daylight changes with the itinerary’s latitude; these figures describe the reference location.
The months in detail
Recorded fare comparison
February
Median listed fare: $101 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$101/night median
103 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
March
Median listed fare: $114 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$114/night median
100 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
April
Median listed fare: $126 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$126/night median
124 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
May
Median listed fare: $129 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$129/night median
22 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
September
Median listed fare: $103 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$103/night median
29 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
October
Median listed fare: $106 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$106/night median
81 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
November
Median listed fare: $118 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$118/night median
137 sailing listings
Recorded fare comparison
December
Median listed fare: $156 per person per night across this month’s priced listings. Cabin types, ships and trip lengths vary; check individual itineraries before comparing value.
$156/night median
138 sailing listings
New York reference — Daylight & sun
Hours per dayNew York daylight and sun reference only. These figures do not describe other regions in this comparison.
Daylight
≈9 h · late December to ≈15 h · late June
Bright sun
10 hours a day in July
Jan: 5 hours of bright sun within 9.4 hours of daylight.
Feb: 6 hours of bright sun within 10.4 hours of daylight.
Mar: 6 hours of bright sun within 11.7 hours of daylight.
Apr: 7 hours of bright sun within 13.1 hours of daylight.
May: 8 hours of bright sun within 14.3 hours of daylight.
Jun: 9 hours of bright sun within 14.9 hours of daylight.
Jul: 10 hours of bright sun within 14.6 hours of daylight.
Aug: 9 hours of bright sun within 13.6 hours of daylight.
Sep: 8 hours of bright sun within 12.3 hours of daylight.
Oct: 6 hours of bright sun within 10.8 hours of daylight.
Nov: 6 hours of bright sun within 9.7 hours of daylight.
Dec: 4 hours of bright sun within 9.1 hours of daylight.
Bright sun
Total daylight
NASA POWER climatology (all-sky vs clear-sky shortwave; bright-sun via Angstrom-Prescott)
North America cruise timing — questions answered
Does the lowest fare month mean the best season to travel?
No. This comparison combines regions with different seasonal calendars. Compare the itinerary’s locations and dates before deciding when to travel.
Where do the weather and daylight figures apply?
The figures describe New York only. They are a local reference, not conditions across this destination or a forecast for a sailing.
Browse verified sailings
20 itineraries verified in this checked batch. Checked Oct 21, 2026 against the comparison recorded Oct 21, 2026. New listings enter after the next comparison refresh.
Further checks may not find more sailings.
For more options, explore North America cruises.
