Aahh, Black Friday – the day synonymous with shoppers rugby tackling each other over the last cheap TV and websites crashing with customers clamouring over electrical and other goods. But Black Friday isn’t just the day to bag a cheap coffee machine – for many of us it’s the chance to bag a cheap holiday in the process. With travel companies offering some of the best deals on the market, we take a look at some of the best Black Friday travel deals to be had over Cyber Weekend.
Travel deals on offer
Ocean Cruises – Save up to 65% and Buy One Get One Free
Cruise lines are blazing a trail for discounts this year with arguably the best deals on the travel market. Those who receive our Cruise Day Tuesday mailings will know that Cruise and Maritime are offering incredible buy one get one free savings on many of their big world cruises until 30th November and up to 65% off other cruises, making Amazon’s discounts of up to 45% pale in comparison. Based on 2 people travelling their 47-day cruise from London to Sydney is currently half price at £2,689.50 (a daily rate of less than £58), making it more cost effective than a 11-day touring holiday to Japan (a daily rate of less than £237). European cruises are also in the sale, with a 15-day Magellan Northern Lights cruise now only £934.50 (a daily rate of less than £63). The 43-day Magellan Amazon, West Indies & Azores Cruise is the best bargain at £1799 per person (was £4849) – a daily rate of less than £42.
River Cruises – No single supplement worth up to £1299
River Cruise Line is holding a 6-day promo with a different deal each day starting Weds 25 Nov across selected river cruises and dates. The deals change daily but among the bounty includes free spending money worth up to £200, no single supplements worth up to £1299 per person, plus free excursion, drinks and money packages worth £382 per person. Viking River Cruises are also offering savings of up to £1000 on selected cruises outside of Black Friday, for bookings made before 31 December.
Coach Holidays – 10% off and low deposits
The shared cost of travel makes coach holidays great value for money anyway, but there are some good additional offers to be had at this time of year. Newmarket are offering £10 per person off many of their coach holidays (excludes events and theatre breaks), and Leger Holidays have discounts of £20 per person off some of their breaks including some coveted European Grand Prix, when booking before 30 November. Last year Shearings offered 10% off everything for one day only – keep your eye on their website for more. Gold Crest Holidays have also been kind to those on tighter purse strings just before Christmas, offering a 10% discount on any breaks over £120 per person plus a low £30 deposit with the remaining deposit not due until 31 Jan 2016.
Package Holidays – 50% off 5* holidays
Flight and hotel packages can offer some of the biggest savings, with many tour operators under pressure to shift seats after committing to flights. This year Expedia looks like they’ll be offering up to 75% off selected hotels on the Expedia app, and online favourite Lowcostholidays are reducing 1000’s of their package holidays this Friday with up to £200 off – take a look at them here.
Escorted tour operator Newmarket Holidays are also offering £50 deposits on their escorted Worldwide collection, featuring far-flung destinations like India and Japan among favourites USA and Canada. Meanwhile Travel Agent Tropical Sky are offering up to 50% off 5* luxury breaks from Mexico to the Maldives – the best one we found was 50% off a five star 4 night all-inclusive break to Dubai, a saving of £620 per person. The offers run from Friday to Monday 30 November.
Flights – Return flights to Europe for £10
Ryanair are selling 100,000 one way flights for £5, although you’ll need to get in quick and tweak the default search options to find the cheapest deals. Based on departures from London Stansted, all of them are for December, but so far we’ve seen Verona for £8.43, Stockholm for £8.48 and Billund for £8.48 return trip (not including checked in bags, seat selection and credit card fee).
Competitor Easyjet are offering a less attractive 250,000 seats under £29.99 (one way per person) for 65 European destinations, but the deal is open for a larger window for travel between 14 Dec and 30 June 2016.
Have you seen better Black Friday travel deals? Share it with us at [email protected] to see it on this page.