Notes about General Cruise Pricing Trends
Cruise lines were off about 15% after the tragic news of the Costa Concordia accident. Caribbean cruise yields are still down but segments of the market are rebounding quicker than others. One thing I have noticed is that prices of balconies on Premium ships like Holland, Princess, Celebrity have gone up. The days of stealing really cheap cabin assigned balconies is gone but we are still giving away inside cabins on most ships right up until the last minute. Also we are encouraging those that want cabin assignments to book early as most of the last minute inventory (especially last minute cheap balconies) are “guarantees” or “run of ship” so you will probably be forward or aft and those last minute surprise cabin prices are similar to the early booking prices offered with cabin assignments.
Some of the entry level products have good balcony prices on the seven night ships. Right now, Carnival seems to be suffering the most in terms of yield and even has some really, really cheap balconies in the fall and even January. It is our opinion that doing away with printed brochures has hurt Carnival along with some other marketing mistakes, but the product is pretty solid and always a good value for the money. Short cruises still do not have an abundance of balconies either. Remember that before 1999 most ships were not built with a lot of balconies but the new mega ships are almost all balconies so you will get your best value per day on a seven night cruise on one of those new ships with lines like Carnival, Royal Caribbean or NCL. Short cruises can be extremely cheap when the kids are in school so if you are not traveling with children, go from Easter to Memorial Day or Labor Day until Mid December when we are regularly seeing $199 to $249 per person plus tax. Trans-Atlantics are still hot and we sold a few for less than $50 per day this fall. Again the airfare is the devil in that detail as some of the one way fares are as high as round trip unless you find a deal. The boats will be coming back from Europe en mass in October and November again to our Florida ports.
Right now there are some absolute steals on European cruises and some pretty good deals on what is left in Alaska. Some of the longer cruises are still running under $100 a day including the 42 day "no fly" European cruise starting at $3999 that departs from Fort Lauderdale in October. Interesting itineraries will always do well so the South America cruises, Asian cruises and the longer more interesting Caribbean cruises tend to run higher than the traditional 7 night stuff (even per night). The cruise lines are developing their own ports so the itineraries are getting to be more standard. Because of this, anything that sails to off the beaten track islands will carry a higher price (again per night) than the ships that go on the standard Eastern or Western Caribbean.
Almost everybody has leveled the playing field between the different types of distribution channels. Most of the times with cruises, on any given day, everybody has the same price so you might as well get some service from a licensed bonded travel agent. Our travel agency still prints your cruise documents for you, answers questions about the cruise, parking or the port areas and the online check-in process plus we provide support during your trip and after the trip if need be. We sell private lines of travel insurance that can be a better value than the cruise line insurance with more health insurance and emergency evacuation. Plus we sell Lite policies that are more like the cruise line. Look out for the fact that many cruise line fare codes are fully nonrefundable or fully nonrefundable deposit. In fact a couple of Holland and Princess fares are so restrictive they will not cover them with in-house travel insurance but ours does.
Buy early for the best price, preferred cabin assignment and your choice of the most popular itineraries. Buy at the last minute if you don’t care about cabin assignment and location on the ship or which itinerary you take but just want the rock bottom price to get out there. Don't be afraid to tell us if you have seen a cheap price on a sailing as we can usually match it and provide you with service. We won't be offended that you are shopping online as more and more people ask us to finalize online shopping reservations so they have somebody they trust handling the tranaction rather than having credit card and TSA information provided to employees of the online companies in third world countries like Phillipines or India. Whether you book early to get a choice cabin assignment or want to finalize details for next year on an exotic itinerary or just want to steal a cheap cabin at the last minute, call your travel agent. Either way we have the best prices plus the ship and destination help you need to enjoy your cruise.
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