Is 'wave season' still the best bet for cruise deals?
(CNN) -- Getting a killer price on a cruise in the first quarter of the year used to be as common as seeing chocolates dominate store shelves before Valentine's Day, but these days, the rules may be changing.
Many travelers wait for wave season -- the period from January to March, when cruise lines have traditionally offered their best deals -- to book their vacation at sea.
Is that still a good strategy today? The views are mixed.
The magnitude of wave season deals has lessened each year for the last three years, to the point where there really is no wave season in 2012, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com , calling it a major shift in the industry.
"Cruise lines used to have a Nordstrom mentality, where they were selective about how they put things on sale. So during wave season ... they put all their marketing dollars in a basket, and this was the best time of year to get incredible value for the money," Brown said.
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