Trouble Brewing?

[halos]

Anyway, one of the sites I checked, Carnival was $1229 for a 7 day cruise, inside room. Same cruise on Crystal Harmony $1295. Now don't tell me Carnival compares with Crystal Harmony that closely. .

 

well, I tell you this...if Carnival's prices go up that much...and sailing on a line like Crystal will only be a slight bit more money....it's GOODBYE Carnival for me...H E L L O Crystal! :D

I love Carnival...but it ain't worth $1299 for an inside cabin..... :rolleyes:

[Chief Cruiser]

Bob Dickinson, president and ceo of Carnival Cruise said:

 

‘If you stay in a New York hotel or go to Disney and look at the prices of the tickets and the popcorn and the Cokes, or Las Vegas, everything has gotten significantly more expensive.’ People generally pay 50% more for a land vacation, according to Dickinson, ‘so if our pricing went up 35%, we’d still be below land-based alternatives, and that’s assuming you could get the same level of hospitality and service on land.’

 

Bob can go up on the price all he wants, but there will come a point where the public will no longer pay and that will be the true cost of what a cruise is worth. Market value.

 

He can spout off all he wants about the level and quality of service and I've had the spectrum from excellent to poor and none consistent form one cruise to the other. Keep in mind Bob, me and a lot of other folks don't take their vacations in NY or Las Vegas. If they keep going up, they will be right up there with some moderate land based vacation choices pricing themselves right out of the market. That would bring a decline in the number of folks cruising. That's not a good thing with new ships in the works.

 

JMHO.

[selucrey]

Just did a little research on my last few trips. ( DW keeps a cost log) The costs are for two adults.

Inspiration 7-day-$1750

Colorado 7-day-$1990

Conquest 7-day-$2200

DC 6-day-$1500

Vegas 5-day-$1640

Sensation 5-day-$1820 (a lot of foo-foos)

Weekend in New Orleans 2-day-$550 :eek:

I have to say that cruises and land vacations are comparable.

[S.S. Cruisers]

well, I tell you this...if Carnival's prices go up that much...and sailing on a line like Crystal will only be a slight bit more money....it's GOODBYE Carnival for me...H E L L O Crystal! :D

I love Carnival...but it ain't worth $1299 for an inside cabin..... :rolleyes:

 

Halos: That is exactly what I was trying to say, but being older and discomboobaladed (sp) with this packing and moving, I just couldn't get it out like you said it! I don't understand why everyone says Carnival is the cheapest. On the west coast here, that is not always the case. Our December cruise was an aft balcony on RCL for $750 pp for 7 days. Carnival can't even get close to that. But I like both lines the same. I go for date and dollars, dollars more than date usually. Now, priority embark and debarkation are a strong consideration. We hadn't been on RCL for awhile and you forget the little perks you get.

[TNtraveler]

...wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, if it prices the riff-raff out of the cruise market.

 

Well, speaking as one of the riff-raff who already books almost exclusively on the basis of price, I'd guess enough of us would depart that those new ships wouldn't stay full very long -- and they'd come seeking out us riff-raff again when they realize our money's green, too, after all.

[mikesteg]

I listened into the last earnings annoucement webcast (maybe the prior one) and it was pretty clear that they believe they are sqeezing every last dime out of consumer as it is. The nature of the market and the dynamic pricing they use on a per cruise/week/category basis pretty much assures that they are very close to true market value anyway. If there were truly a 35% discount to competitive products, the ships would sell out well in advance. An increase like this in base fare would be corporate suicide.... but maybe they are talking about 35% increase in overall cost by selling more coffees, etc. Certainly that fits the trend.

[Dolphintime]

The Carnival Corp Brands and RCCL/Celebrity control the cruise market pure and simple. First they deem that travel agents can't discount their own money to clients and now slowly they will raise prices.

.

One guesses that no Carnival Corp or RCCL/Celebrity employee shops at Wal Mart, K Mart or Target because they discount the prices of their products and make it more affordable for people to enjoy a product they might not be able to purchase at higher prices.

.

First the cruise lines are going to wipe out the entire travel agency system (the system which provided cruises with discounts to the general public). Yes Carnival has PVP's which may send you a bottle of wine, which most think is just great. Well remember on that $2,000 cruise you may have received $200 back from your t/a. That buys more than one bottle of wine, even on Carnival.

 

Dolphintime

[ChuckLL]

I wouldn't get too excited about a price increase cutting out the "riff-raff". In my business I get to deal with people from the lowest up to the highest income brackets. "Riff-raff" can be found in them all. Being able to afford a more expensive cruise doesn't mean person "A" is above or better than person "B". It just means person "A" is more able to afford a more expensive cruise.

[SevenVII]

Colorado 7-day-$1990

 

Should have came stayed with us Dan, we woulda given you a discount :D BTW, where did you go/what did you do while in the Colorful state?

[TXRoo]

I would have told you to go to Mesa Verde National Park. Fairly inexpensive, beautiful and well worth it!

[mikesteg]

One guesses that no Carnival Corp or RCCL/Celebrity employee shops at Wal Mart, K Mart or Target because they discount the prices of their products and make it more affordable for people to enjoy a product they might not be able to purchase at higher prices.

 

They discount items so they can sell a greater quantity. Generally speaking, selling 10 of item XYZ and $1 profit each is better than selling 2 of the same item at $4 profit each. It worked well for K-mart until Walmart came along, and Walmart has $280 billion in revenue this year. (With cruise lines, the equation is a little bit different because of the extremely high cost of adding capacity, but the general idea of maximizing profit still holds.)

 

So, while the overall effect is to allow people access to products they couldn't otherwise afford, and some of the corporate leaders may be honorable people, the driving motive is still profit. Without the "profit motive", the companies would never be funded indirectly by the public though the stock market, prices would be higher due to reduced competition, etc...

[selucrey]

Should have came stayed with us Dan, we woulda given you a discount :D BTW, where did you go/what did you do while in the Colorful state?

We generally visit the Durango area on up to Montrose.I love Silverton! I lived on a farm outside of Montrose many years ago and took my kids to see the old homestead and two-room school on one of our trips.We try to get up there at least every-other year.

[zannaree]

For many years we had a house in Silverton and spent summertime there - we loved it and loved the people. They welcomed us even though we were "summer" folk. Did lots of rock hunting with the kids and jeeping across the mountains... sometimes I wonder how we lived to tell about it!

 

I miss it very much.

[selucrey]

For many years we had a house in Silverton and spent summertime there - we loved it and loved the people. They welcomed us even though we were "summer" folk. Did lots of rock hunting with the kids and jeeping across the mountains... sometimes I wonder how we lived to tell about it!

 

I miss it very much.

Can you imagine what it's like in the Winter! Cut off from the rest of the world! Beautiful place:) . There is one place just West of Silverton where we walk up a trail to the top of a ridge where snow remains even in July. Kids loved it!:D

[LSUtraveler]

Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, if it prices the riff-raff out of the cruise market.

 

Sorry to see you equate riff-raff with folks that may not be as financially able or perhaps more furgal with their funds.

I find riff-raff at a lot of levels. But if not liking price hikes is being part of riff-raff well I guess us common folks will just have to suffer with all the elite!:rolleyes:

[CruiseDawg2001]

Mr. Dickenson must have had a talk with Gary Bettman recently because this sounds very familiar...

[makeda]

being unable to get a real feel for prices with the current-call to get the real deal- policy....i may pass on cruising this year and go with a land based...i do not have the time to make calls or get call-backs....i like to choose an itinerary, price, accommodations, date that suit my schedule, book it on-line and be done with it...after i do all my on-line homework that i can do at any hour...did dc, la, and vegas for brief weekends last year and a cruise, maybe this year no cruise and longer times on land!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

being unable to get a real feel for prices with the current-call to get the real deal- policy....i may pass on cruising this year and go with a land based...i do not have the time to make calls or get call-backs....i like to choose an itinerary, price, accommodations, date that suit my schedule, book it on-line and be done with it...after i do all my on-line homework that i can do at any hour...did dc, la, and vegas for brief weekends last year and a cruise, maybe this year no cruise and longer times on land!

 

If it was up to me I'd be going to an all inclusive in Riviera Maya. Of course I am only 1/6 of the equation, so I go where the majority wants to go.

 

Bill

[dsclark]

Prices have shot up a lot. In fact, for the month of June (peak season) it would now cost my family more to go this coming June wwith an inside than it did last year at the same time with a balcony!

I still get those little email specials but they are not as good as they used to/ Remebr the old "pay for a guarantee, get the highest level room for free deal"? That's been replaced with "Great deal for this one cruise in the middle of february to Mexico when no one can get time off!"

I got a 10% off coupon and will soon have two $200 off coupons via the not long for this world Capital 1 cc. Even with these, my price for a cruise next year will still be about the same as I paid last year.

Now, I'll admit I have been spoiled with good crusie prices. I have been on four in less than two years and last xmas was super cheap. But, I am not one of these people that will keeping crowing about how "cruising is still a bargain" because... what is a bargain? For me to fly the family out and get an inside room (yuck!) room for four will easily cost $5000. This summer, rather than cruise, I'll fly the family out to Waikiki, Hawaii for a week. Airfare, car rental and a nice room at the Sheraton will run under $2500. Yeah, I know you get free food on a ship, but $2500 can by a lot of food, even in Hawaii! As it is, we will use my sisters' HA Enteratianment book, spend a lot of time at the beach and Hananama Bay snorkeling and hey, I think we can pull off everything, even with food, for under $3000. Sorry CCL, but I consider this land based vacation a better deal. I'll give CCL another shot in '06...

[huskerdude]

Just did a little research on my last few trips. ( DW keeps a cost log) The costs are for two adults.

 

Inspiration 7-day-$1750

Colorado 7-day-$1990

Conquest 7-day-$2200

DC 6-day-$1500

Vegas 5-day-$1640

Sensation 5-day-$1820 (a lot of foo-foos)

Weekend in New Orleans 2-day-$550 :eek:

 

I have to say that cruises and land vacations are comparable.

 

Then take into account drive time, traffic, weather, where do we eat, what do we do now, and everything else that goes with land based vacations and a cruise still gets my vote in a landslide. There is no better vacation value for me out there. :D

[S.S. Cruisers]

Just for kicks and giggles, and I know I am mixing apples with oranges, months with different months and so on. I got an email from Cunard advertising an 8 day Caribbean cruise with a balcony room for $1299. Granted one of the rooms was an obstructed view, it is next month, but 8 days on Cunard for the same price as an inside on Carnival? Whats up with that. Help me out here Halos! :D

[dsclark]

Something funny is happing here... if CCL is starting to cost as much as other "higher" lines, that means demand is huge; that they can charge that much.This really is incredible.

Any debate about whether CCL or RCL is better would be futile; CCL is the champ. This is determined by the number of people waving their credit cards trying to book a funship.

A good parallel would be the japanese auto market of the early 70's. Back then, people still derided their cars as inferior. Then when the gas crises hit, people bought their cars in droves. When the price of gas went down, people still went out of their way to pay top dollar for these cars, whereas supposedly "superior" american cars rusted away on the dealer lots. CCL has come up to the point where is selling at a premium price.

CCL corporation will not allow this to continue. This has happened sporadically in the past , where CCl would cost more than say Hal. That's one reason why they put a lot of $ into Hal. CCL has a marketing strategy similar to GM- get them started on CCL, then they move up to Princess. From there they move up to Hal and hopefully, eventually, Seaborn. Each line has to cost more $ I would expectt he other lines to start increasing their fares.

[born2crooz]

I think the dangerous part is that Carnival may assume that cruisers who choose Carnival do so because of the value. Many people may not even shop the other cruise lines thinking that they're just automatically more expensive, which could be false.

 

The biggest example is people who shop at Walmart or BJs/Costco and believe that they have the lowest prices. That is not always the case but I believe the success of those chains relies on consumers' willingness to believe that.

 

I've often bought items at these stores only to find them cheaper elsewhere.

 

I think the same goes for cruising. Most people won't bother pricing, say a Disney cruise thinking it's just way too expensive.

 

I'm pricing cruises for Feb, 2006 and have found that Norwegian is the least expensive, Carnival the next tier up, Royal Caribbeanand Princess only pennies more than Carnival ;and Disney, in the past HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS more, is priced within $300.00 of Carnival.

 

What that means for me is that maybe we'll give another line a try. We're not unhappy with Carnival, but for the same money, we get a little taste of what the experience is like on other lines. The worst thing that could happen is that we come back to Carnival. The worst thing for Carnival, is that we "jump ship" to another line.

 

Definitely a hot topic!!

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Then take into account drive time, traffic, weather, where do we eat, what do we do now, and everything else that goes with land based vacations and a cruise still gets my vote in a landslide. There is no better vacation value for me out there. :D

 

drive time: I drive to airport to get to my destination whether it be a cruise or all-inclusive.

 

weather: is the same in Riviera Maya as it would be if we stopped in Cozumel or Playa Del Carmen.

 

eating:I eat at the resort just like I would eat on the ship every night.

 

what do we do now:plenty of things to do in Riviera Maya and the resort.

 

Prices: pretty much even here. compaing mini suite to jr. suite at the resort

 

Sorry no landslide here.

 

Now if you were comparing to Disney World you'd have me on that one.

 

Bill