March Cruise deals

• Cruise lines have traditionally offered their best deals between January and March
• Known as wave season, the period has become less important, cruise expert says
• Cruise executive disagrees, calling it still the best time to book a cruise
• Watch out for more fees and "cabin stuffing" if you book a voyage this year

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.

"I really think that it's not Nordstrom anymore. It's Macy's, because Macy's has a sale all the time."

Brown said she hasn't seen any offers that would compel her to book now, so she advises cruise aficionados to simply look for deals year-round, taking care not to wait too long to lock in trips for popular vacation times like spring break or Christmas.

But Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales at Royal Caribbean, said she respectfully disagrees with Brown, calling the first quarter of the year still the best time to book a cruise.

"This is where we have our deepest discounts right now, " Freed said.

"For us as an industry, not just as a company, wave season continues to be a very important part of our calendar year."

Year-round bookings

Still, wave season has "changed considerably" over the past few years, said Mark Schiffner, vice president and chief operating officer of Cruise Holidays, a network of cruise agencies.

He estimated that up to 60% of the company's Caribbean business for the year is still booked in January, February and March - in part because those are big travel months in the region as people seek to escape the winter cold. But the overall focus now is more year-round.