It seems like you can get a cheap last minute travel deal with all forms of travel if you are willing to not plan and cheap cruises are no exception. Airfare is a big part of this because it makes up a big part of your travel expense and if you are not particular about exactly when and where you go, you can generally get a cheap air travel fare. If you are looking for cheap cruises, you really need to consider the entire cost of the vacation and what ports are available for your departure. I live in Arizona and the closest cruise port used to be LA, but now there are some cheap cruises going out of San Diego. I am limited to particular cruise destinations from these ports, but it is much less expensive to get to ports in California than Florida for me. If you own a timeshare, like many of us do, you may want to check to see if your timeshare company is partnering with a cruise line to offer relatively cheap cruises. It may not be the best deal considering the payment on top of exchanging your time share week, but if you are having trouble exchanging your week for anything good anyway, it might not be so bad.