I'm a teacher and have to go during the school holidays. Like you, we look for affordable cruises too. But it's how you define affordable. What is affordable to some may not be for others; it depends on your income and budget. My partner and I are booked on Sea Princess (15 nights) for 27th March 2010 (Easter hols) in the Caribbean. We booked 5 days after it first went on sail (July 2008) and got an inside cabin on Baja Deck for £1380 each. To us that's a good price, especially as we've often found 14 night cruises in the med at a similar price, sometimes more expensive. A bit 'weird' considering there's generally no flight or a short flight depending on the port of departure in the med. We generally find that the caribbean is better value than the med (ports apparently more expensive hence why the med prices are similar or more expensive than the caribbean). Hope this helps.

It pays to be a little flexible with dates eg we booked with island cruises for the 28th oct, which where we live is the 1st Tue of half term,instead of looking for cruises on exact dates.We booked in July cost £495 each. Get on mailing lists for cruise companies (or emails)and recieve special offers through the post.

Book the day they go on sale - Independence sold out for school holidays next summer and has been for months. Summer 2010 will go on sale aroung April 09 - get in quick. Also how do you define 'affordable'? A 7n cruise on Voyager of the Seas on Jul 26th for family of 4 incl MAN flights is £4110.20 total incl everything. Is that 'affordable'?

Ocean Village usuallyhave some great deals but the trick is to book early as family cabin get sold really quickly