Great!

You would have to talk to Debbie at the link I gave but I would guess the problem is this...........

To get the group price she gets she probably has to use off season ship time. For example prime time for Caribbean ships would be in the winter. Their summer season is also a season because that is when kids are out of school and families can travel. but it is much lower than winter prime time when the ships can charge more. So I am guessing Debbie is choosing ship times when she can negotiate and get not only a good rate, but also meeting room time (we had our own meeting room for three whole days and several additional night Q&A sessions) and a Party Night (the ship covered the ice rink and we got to use the stadium for drinks and the floor for a band and dancing). I am guessing in the winter it might be much harder for her to negotiate a decent price for the cruise and the use of additional facilities on board. It might be so high priced no one would attend.

As an example of how much fares can vary with cruise ships. We were going to, and did, drive to Alaska a few years ago. Before we go up there we usually visit friends near Seattle then go up the western route then back down the Alcan highway back to home. Since we were driving to Seattle first we had the brain storm, "hey, there are Alaska cruises out of Seattle. Wonder if there are any cheap departures?". Turns out our timing to be in Seattle would match up with the second cruise of the season, very very early for Alaska cruises. This was within about a month of departure. Sure enough, they were trying to fill the boat and we got a fare for $300 each. Dirt cheap. Of course there are always additional fees like port fees, fuel surcharge, etc. so the $300 each actually turned into about $600. But that was still cheap. Compared to their peak summer fees of around double that for the exact same cruise. Of course it was a little chilly that early in the season. We took big coats and were glad we did. But it was still a great cruise and less than half price had we decided to do it a couple months later. If I recall correctly the highest sailing at that time was $1200 or thereabouts and I think you still had to add the fees to it. So maybe $1500 but I don't know if they actually sold any at that rate. But to a family that has their vacation time scheduled for X date, that might have been the only option.

We enjoyed it, got back to our friends house after they picked us up at the cruise ship terminal, and then drove up into Alaska and drove around more than a month up there. It is so nice being retired................ but I digress.

This long lingering ramble is to point out that I think the organizer of Low Carb Cruise does all she can to make if affordable to people and that includes the time of year she can negotiate a good price. There were 350 in the low carb group. Six bus loads out of Houston motel down to Galveston.