Map out your cruise before you begin searching the Internet. You should have your arrival and departure dates, desired location, and number of passengers mapped out before you even think about bidding. This ensures that you know exactly what you're looking for before you start.
Come up with a price estimate or a desired amount you'd like to spend on your cruise. Without an approximate price, you're without a ballpark figure to even come up with a bid.
Be flexible with your cabin preferences. Since food is usually free on-board, cabin preferences usually make or break your cruise package price. If you don't necessarily need the largest or most extravagant cabin on deck, don't get it.
Consider other expenses outside of the cost of the cruise. If you need to make additional preparations for travel to the cruise boarding site, this factor needs to be considered when booking, as it will not be included in the cruise package itself. You'll need to make these preparations in addition to the cruise.
Navigate to cruise-package bidding sites such as HotWire.com, CruiseCompete.com, and Priceline.com. These sites offer the most affordable rates, and some of the cheapest bids are accepted.
Bid at the last minute. While not always encouraged for cruise travel, bidding at the last minute can actually save you tons of money. Bidding when cruises are running out of cabins can get you some of the lowest cruise prices available, as most cruise lines are just trying to book out the entire boat with no vacancies.
