Loyal HAL cruisers try Norwegian and oh my.....

[dawei]

Interesting about the per diem factor. So, what dictates these rates as based on the itinerary? Why is NE higher than the Caribbean? Is it the port charges that vary so much? I'd be interested to learn.

 

David

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Interesting about the per diem factor. So, what dictates these rates as based on the itinerary? Why is NE higher than the Caribbean? Is it the port charges that vary so much? I'd be interested to learn.

 

David

 

The biggest difference between Canada New England and Caribbean is shear numbers of ships and passengers. There are not many ships that do Canada New England. Most cruise lines send their ships to Europe and or through the Canal over to Alaska. A very few leave their ships in the Caribbean.Those that do the Canada New England itinerary mostly leave it for their smaller ships, which makes the shear numbers of those that can take the cruise limited bringing the per diem way up. Basically supply and demand against the competition.

[sail7seas]

The per diem is higher as few ships do those fabulous Canada/NE itineraries. It is a short season that most come and the demand is high.

 

HAL's Massdam (and her sister Veendam) are two of the few that are low enough to fit under the bridge between Quebec City and Montreal. Maasdam has sailed Boston to Montreal to Boston for years and it is one of HAL's best short itineraries IMO. We always did it b-to-b, 14 days total. Veendam can do that route but she stops in Quebec City, overnights and does not go to Montreal. She returns to Boston.

 

It's all about supply and demand and having a ship that can do what most others cannot.

 

We always sailed in Neptune (or "S" suites as they used to be called) and while the cost varied some through the years, that cruise normally cost about $15,000 for the b-to-b. When we sailed in the exact same cabin in the Caribbean, we never paid that much for 14 days.

[sail7seas]

Seems we agree, Lisa. :)

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Seems we agree, Lisa. :)

 

Yes ;)

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Keith

[albingirl]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Keith

 

Thank you.

[dawei]

Thanks for the explanation, Sail and Lisa. It seems that age of the ship, by itself, is not a major factor in food allowance after all, with the exception being to show off a brand new ship like Koningsdam. Pete's world cruise blog comes to mind on which he reports outstanding cuisine and yet the Amsterdam is not one of HAL's newest ships. This goes along with what you explained, Lisa.

Meanwhile, I guess a Canada NE cruise I took a couple years ago was an exception to the supply and demand formula. It was just 5 days and it was "bottom, basement pricing" advertised a couple months in advance; Boston up to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia on the Carnival Glory. We grabbed it because we had promised to get a daughter on her first cruise and it fit in with her tight schedule. Carnival's fleet is apparently large enough to allow them to keep a couple ships for Canada NE and still have a good number for the usual Caribbean, Alaska, etc. BTW, DW and I wound up enjoying that short cruise up to St. John and Halifax.

 

David