Is Princess Trying Too Hard

[Coral]

Princess grew too fast for it's own market, so right discounts and cutbacks have been put into place in compensate. But I wonder what would have happened had Carnival Corp taken Princess' existing market profile and had continued to pursue that rather than growing the line.

 

 

This is the million dollar question.

 

As far as Carnival Corp lets lines run themselves. I don't think this is what happened when he merge took place. I think Carnival Corp was the driving force in coming out with all the Grand Plus ships. Princess used to be pretty creative with their ship designs. The Grand Plus ships were anything but creative and created a line that almost all looks identical. This is not what existed in the Princess culture before the merger.

[baldercash]

"Lexus sales have accounted for as much as half of Toyota's annual U.S. profit in certain years. Division executives have employed pricing strategies aimed at sustaining profit margins rather than sales volume, with historically fewer price incentives than rival brands."

People are willing to pay more for a Lexus then a Toyota even though it is engineered by the same company. Mercedes builds the B class for people who cannot afford a full size Mercedes.

 

This is why I believe RCI launched Azamara as profit margins are far larger but volume is smaller then on an Oasis class ship. On big ships you get your profit from economy of scale.

Oasis is like Caesars Palace in Vegas lots of people will pay a premium to be there but there are also lots of down scale rooms as well. They are not interested in competing with the Wynn.

 

Now Oceania is building bigger ships but trying to keep the price and experience elevated. If they succeed their profits will escalate. So far it seems to have worked for them.

 

Cunard went with fewer ships but higher standards. I bet they make a tidy profit now for Carnival ( the corporation ).

 

So why is Princess going with a bigger ship like Royal not a smaller ship? It is easier for them to market to that demograpfic.

They would have a very hard sell now trying to market Princess as a premium sailing experience.

 

Though I would have preferred if they would have a taken a run at competing with Celebrity instead of RCI.

With RCi a passenger can move from Royal Caribbean ships up to Celebrity and eventually to Azamara.

[dmwnc1959]

OK - these premium lines are owned by larger corporations, but my point was that premium lines absorbed by larger corporations don't have to become mass market lines...and your post proves that.

 

I think the other point would be that none of those smaller niche market premium or luxury cruise lines (Azammara, Regent, Seabourn, Crystal, Oceania) absorbed or created by larger corporations have a fleet of 17 (some very large) ships with another bigger (biggest) one on the way. Once you pass a certain sized fleet it would seem quite impossible to maintain anything other than a 'mass market' strategy.

 

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[caribill]

Deep discounts is exactly the reason that Princess provides what you say is a ho hum experience.

 

From what I can see, there are not very many deep discounts except from high list prices in the first place. Compared to several years ago, prices are up sharply.

 

Examples:

 

Baltic cruise (on a per day basis with taxes, fees included, same type cabin)

Sale price on 2013 cruise in Princess e-mail received Friday is 114% higher than price actually paid in 2009. 2009 cruise was booked 9 months in advance and was not a part of a big sale.

 

Fort Lauderdale-Rome (on a per day basis with taxes, fees included, same type cabin) Sale price on 2013 cruise in Princess e-mail received Friday is 61% higher than price actually paid in 2011. 2011 cruise was not booked as part of a big sale.

 

So from my viewpoint, the cutbacks are accompanied by significantly higher pricing for the product.

[baldercash]

I have tried to figure out Oceania pricing. Does anyone ever pay full price? Even at constant 2 for one price they are still expensive.

[swedish weave]

I have tried to figure out Oceania pricing. Does anyone ever pay full price? Even at constant 2 for one price they are still expensive.

 

I believe Oceania has barred TA's from discounting or rebating. I think this was started on 2012, so the future may be interesting.

[LBL]

I don't understand how people think that cruise prices would not go up. The cost for everything in our lives have gone up. This is a business and there are costs to be covered as well as profits to be made for shareholders and replace older ships. The prices have been very low for so long this is what is expected but it's not real life. Princess has given me a consistent product overall for what I want from a cruise. Until that changes, I will cruise them. I am not a fan of very large ships but will be trying the Allure of the Seas to see how it is.

[Cruise Junky]

I believe Oceania has barred TA's from discounting or rebating. I think this was started on 2012, so the future may be interesting.

 

They found a way around rebating. We had a cruise booked for March 2014 and it would have come with a $400 rebate the week of sailing.

[Loonbeam]

Not so much. Alaska 2013 looks to be about $100 more pp than we paid for 2009, same class of cabin and land itinerary. That would represent about a 4 percent increase in 4 years, and that's assuming no changes closer to sailing or sales to fill the ship.

 

Overall, looking at CCL and other statements, it looks like average per cabin pricing is increasing about .6 percent per year, some categories and itineraries will of course do better than others. But generally speaking, the glut of supply and the economy is keeping prices fairly depressed.

 

I suspect (and someone posted) you could find cruises with a marginal cost differential between now and the 1990s if you tried hard enough.

 

Needless to say, prices for consumables alone, especially the ones used on cruise ships have risen more than that.

 

From what I can see, there are not very many deep discounts except from high list prices in the first place. Compared to several years ago, prices are up sharply.

 

Examples:

 

Baltic cruise (on a per day basis with taxes, fees included, same type cabin)

Sale price on 2013 cruise in Princess e-mail received Friday is 114% higher than price actually paid in 2009. 2009 cruise was booked 9 months in advance and was not a part of a big sale.

 

Fort Lauderdale-Rome (on a per day basis with taxes, fees included, same type cabin) Sale price on 2013 cruise in Princess e-mail received Friday is 61% higher than price actually paid in 2011. 2011 cruise was not booked as part of a big sale.

 

So from my viewpoint, the cutbacks are accompanied by significantly higher pricing for the product.