Price Comparisons Today vs Tomorrow

[Luvcrusn]

35 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

You can't price compare cruises that you booked several months ago. We all know the earlier book, the better the price (typically). That's not a fair comparison at all. If I were to do that I could say my next cruise increased over $3,000. But I booked it months ago on a trip that nearly sold out a year in advance. That's not apples to apples. 

 

I checked a few cruises and really see no difference other than the base fare being easier to find. Still $315/pp for all 4 perks on a 7 night cruise. All of the cruises I checked still show the premium package as the drink package with all 4 perks, not the classic. From the info sheet posted earlier, I understood you would get the classic package with all 4 perks. 

Doing the comparison the way you suggested the Reflection cruise I cited in post #59 with 2 perks went up $700 per person overnight!

[Beachin2]

3/15/20 Eclipse TP cat 2B.  Added the 2 perks option (grats & bev) and after netting out the grats (which we would have paid anyway) the bev pkg addition basically cost 500 PP for a 15 night TP cruise with 7 sea days.  Believe we will probably get our $ worth on this one.

 

15 minute phone call.  Easy.

[kydems]

I must be one of the few lucky ones. Planning a repositioning from Singapore to Sydney on the Eclipse in November 2020 and have been watching the price. New offer is $500 less pp for a balcony or if I choose the 2 perks It is the same price as yesterday but I get a classic beverage package X 2 and $300 OBC. It is very unusual to get these offers on repositioning cruises so I am a very happy cruiser. Booked it ASAP

[Jeremiah1212]

4 hours ago, Luvcrusn said:

Doing the comparison the way you suggested the Reflection cruise I cited in post #59 with 2 perks went up $700 per person overnight!

 

I'm reading that post as those were the figures you paid on Feb 4. If those rates weren't the exact same as they were on 4/3 the day before this superficial change went in to place, I have a hard time thinking that's an even comparison if I'm interpreting your post correctly. 

[Luvcrusn]

6 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

I'm reading that post as those were the figures you paid on Feb 4. If those rates weren't the exact same as they were on 4/3 the day before this superficial change went in to place, I have a hard time thinking that's an even comparison if I'm interpreting your post correctly. 

I did a mock booking the night before the new pricing structure went into place for an A1 and the next day. The cost difference on the rollout of new pricing was $700 more than the day before both with 2 perks. Apples to apples comparison.  2 months before the difference was in post #59.

[2Long2NxtCrz]

Wow!  It feels like the prices have definitely gone way up.

 

I'm currently booked on a 7-night on the Summit out of San Juan for this November.  Took a quick look and I think it might have gone up $700/person!

 

But what's even crazier is looking at a February 2021 cruise on the Equinox.  It has that overnight in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and I've never priced it before, so it's likely a normally high demand (thus more expensive cruise), but it's pricing out at $5588.50 for a C2 with prepaid gratuities and class drink packages.  And, this is definitely a case where the "lowest" rate wasn't the best value and the non-refundable, C3 was only $456 less.  But this cruise is more than the 14-night Asian cruise out of Singapore that we, unfortunately, had to cancel (I guess we had a steal on that one for $5079.)

 

I do hope these prices settle down and return to a level that I can afford.  I took my first Celebrity cruise in November of 2019 and we thoroughly enjoyed it so booked another.  But all things considered they didn't cost that much more than a Royal cruise so it wasn't difficult to decide to cruise Celebrity.  But if the prices are so much higher on Celebrity, I might have to return to Royal, or try some other line.

[FlorenceItaly]

I price watch a lot and my observation is that in the past few years the Mardi Gras cruise has dropped after final payment, sometimes significantly.  I think it is because it is priced too high in the first place.  

[2Long2NxtCrz]

25 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I price watch a lot and my observation is that in the past few years the Mardi Gras cruise has dropped after final payment, sometimes significantly.  I think it is because it is priced too high in the first place.  

That makes a lot of sense.  I guess I'll keep watching. 

 

We made some friends on our last cruise (which was in November of 2018, not 2019.  DOH!) and they're looking at that cruise.  I'd be willing to wait until after final payment because worse comes to worse we can always drive to FLL (we did it last June and I swore I'd never do it again because it is about 22 hours) so it just depends: time or money.

[FlorenceItaly]

9 minutes ago, 2Long2NxtCrz said:

That makes a lot of sense.  I guess I'll keep watching. 

 

We made some friends on our last cruise (which was in November of 2018, not 2019.  DOH!) and they're looking at that cruise.  I'd be willing to wait until after final payment because worse comes to worse we can always drive to FLL (we did it last June and I swore I'd never do it again because it is about 22 hours) so it just depends: time or money.

We are driving(from SC) to OKC next month for a wedding.  Last May we drove from SC to CA!  We will drive to NJ in June for our cruise.

[2Long2NxtCrz]

32 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

We are driving(from SC) to OKC next month for a wedding.  Last May we drove from SC to CA!  We will drive to NJ in June for our cruise.

SC to CA!  That *is* a long drive!

 

I don't mind driving.  We take driving vacations, but I really didn't enjoy driving through Florida.  It felt like we were driving for days and not getting very far!  Plus, our alternator died on us when we were exactly 20 minutes out of the cruise terminal parking.  So we had an "adventure" and didn't hit the road going back until nearly 6pm.  I just wanted to drive straight through at that point (we had four drivers, we should have been able to), but the kids and hubby mutinied and we had to get a motel at 2am.  There was something in the place that I was terribly allergic to and *I* would have been better off sleeping in the car!

 

Hubby and I should have just planned to take Monday off and gotten a hotel in FLL after the car was fixed and then hit the road early on Sunday.  I think we all would have had a better time.

[Mango Tango]

On Feb. 21, 2019, I booked Summit Panama Canal 15 night for Nov. 2020.  I paid $6401.00 for a 2B Veranda with free prepaid gratuities and classic drink package for two.  Today, I checked pricing and it was $3080.00 more than what I booked at!  I guess I booked at the right time!!  Pricing right now is crazy!

[NantahalaCruiser]

On 4/5/2019 at 4:50 PM, 2Long2NxtCrz said:

Wow!  It feels like the prices have definitely gone way up.

 

I'm currently booked on a 7-night on the Summit out of San Juan for this November.  Took a quick look and I think it might have gone up $700/person!

 

But what's even crazier is looking at a February 2021 cruise on the Equinox.  It has that overnight in New Orleans for Mardi Gras and I've never priced it before, so it's likely a normally high demand (thus more expensive cruise), but it's pricing out at $5588.50 for a C2 with prepaid gratuities and class drink packages.  And, this is definitely a case where the "lowest" rate wasn't the best value and the non-refundable, C3 was only $456 less.  But this cruise is more than the 14-night Asian cruise out of Singapore that we, unfortunately, had to cancel (I guess we had a steal on that one for $5079.)

 

I do hope these prices settle down and return to a level that I can afford.  I took my first Celebrity cruise in November of 2019 and we thoroughly enjoyed it so booked another.  But all things considered they didn't cost that much more than a Royal cruise so it wasn't difficult to decide to cruise Celebrity.  But if the prices are so much higher on Celebrity, I might have to return to Royal, or try some other line.

Must have been a time warp!

[2Long2NxtCrz]

10 hours ago, NantahalaCruiser said:

Must have been a time warp!

Yep.  Of course I only noticed that when I was replying to someone else's reply to me.