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What increased charges should we expect when cruising continues?


Wannacruise81
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19 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I sort of have the opposite opinion.  Cruising is so damaged that the key marketing demo cruise lines have been pursuing is not going to book right away.  The frequent cruisers (most of us here) will book.  But a big portion of passengers are new customers.  I think prices will have to be slashed in a bad economy with fear of cruising in many minds.  Maybe a few fees will always go up but the core price will have to come down, way down.  They expect the unemployment rate in the United States to hit around 16% which has not been that high since the Great Depression.  You really think FDR is going to keep his goal of getting hundreds of dollars more off cruisers?

 

 

Agree, Del Rio will lower the base price but will attempt to recoup that lost revenue as much as possible with opaque ancillary fees.   The timing all depends on how much pent-up demand there is from the holders of FCC.  After coronavirus subsides we could initially see some higher prices as the FCCs are used on popular dates/itineraries.   

 

Del Rio's business model has been more about recruiting new cruisers rather than retaining loyal cruisers.  As of late the cruise industry has received quite the black eye.  It would seem reasonable to assume attracting new cruisers will be more difficult at least in the short-term.  I wonder if Del Rio will pivot to focusing on recruiting return cruisers.  

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7 hours ago, ray98 said:

 This is going to set the cruise industry back 20 years.  

 

Maybe not good for the cruiselines but for us as passengers? Wasn't everything better 20 years ago? 

 

I guess I misunderstand something!

Edited by sverigecruiser
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2 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Maybe not good for the cruiselines but for us as passengers? Wasn't everything better 20 years ago? 

 

I guess I misunderstand something!

 

Ehhh....yes and no.  Depends on if you enjoy the mega ship movement right now because it was spurred by the current cruise climate.  The industry exploded and went mainstream and to lure those guest the lines began creating more of an experience than just a method of travel.  I don't know if that is sustainable with a flat or declining business model.  Those ships are huge investments that were leveraged on an every growing market.

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7 minutes ago, ray98 said:

 

Ehhh....yes and no.  Depends on if you enjoy the mega ship movement right now because it was spurred by the current cruise climate.  The industry exploded and went mainstream and to lure those guest the lines began creating more of an experience than just a method of travel.  I don't know if that is sustainable with a flat or declining business model.  Those ships are huge investments that were leveraged on an every growing market.

 

We went on our first cruise 2004 so I don't know for sure about 20 years ago but I have seen on cc that many people think that food and service has declined.  

 

I can't really say because 2004 we had an oceanview and now we have a suite. I don't really think food and service has declined since 2004 but maybe that is because we book another kind of cabin now. 

Edited by sverigecruiser
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1 minute ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

We went on our first cruise 2004 so I don't know for sure about 20 years ago but I have seen on cc that many people think that food and service has declined.  

 

I can't really say because 2004 we had an oceanview and now we have a suite. I don't really think food and service har declined since 2004 but maybe that is because we book another kind of cabin now. 

 

You will not see an increase in quality without a substantial rise in prices.  Cruises on mainstream lines are much cheaper now factoring inflation than they have ever been.  There are more luxury oriented lines out there to fill that need.

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Remember guys the price of oil too ! its has plummeted and a big chunk of the price of the cruise is the gas is uses constantly, even when stopped at port. Its buring and burning all the time.

If they resume cruises with the regular prices and the oil price does not rise fast as well, they are bound to make an extra big profit too.

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4 hours ago, hallux said:

At least Royal, when taking the massive loan the other day, confirmed financing for in-progress and planned new ships.  Maybe NCL isn't as open with new ship progress, but other than knowing the name of the "class" (Leonardo), has steel even been cut yet?

Unlikely that steel has been cut yet because the first ship isn't due to be delivered until 2022 and the project was on a one ship per year schedule.

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4 hours ago, Comi.uy said:

Remember guys the price of oil too ! its has plummeted and a big chunk of the price of the cruise is the gas is uses constantly, even when stopped at port. Its buring and burning all the time.

If they resume cruises with the regular prices and the oil price does not rise fast as well, they are bound to make an extra big profit too.

First, once demand resumes oil prices will rise. Second,  the cruise lines have hedging contracts in place with suppliers that set the price they pay for oil so short term fluctuations in price won't have a substantial impact on cruise line profitability one way or the other.

Edited by njhorseman
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1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

 

And they had already announced a 50 cent per person per day raise that was to take effect this April.

 

Yes, and they will continue to raise it every year.  It's a great fee for them . . . many supporters believe every increase means a commensurate raise for the crew. 

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5 hours ago, mianmike said:

It matters not that the crew will not receive a raise. 

I guess you're privy to the employment contracts between NCL and its crew so you know they won't get a raise. :classic_rolleyes:

 

I'm certainly not privy to them so I don't know one way or the other, but I do know that I keep meeting a lot of crew that are happy enough with being employed at NCL that they've stayed for 10, 15, 20 years or more, and I've met numerous others who have come to NCL in the past couple of years because they got a better deal than they had at other cruise lines like Carnival and MSC.

Edited by njhorseman
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2 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

I guess you're privy to the employment contracts between NCL and its crew so you know they won't get a raise. :classic_rolleyes:

 

 

I sense sarcasm in your reply and I usually ignore snarky posts, but I'll bite.  Of course NCL crew gets raises, just not commensurate to the yearly DSC increases.  I follow the Norwegian Seafarers' Union's sites, it's a good source of information.     

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34 minutes ago, mianmike said:

 

I sense sarcasm in your reply and I usually ignore snarky posts, but I'll bite.  Of course NCL crew gets raises, just not commensurate to the yearly DSC increases.  I follow the Norwegian Seafarers' Union's sites, it's a good source of information.     

So,  good...you follow the Seafarers Union's sites and you know the crew gets raises. I'm not sure I've seen anyone on this board in recent years claiming that the DSC raise goes immediately and directly to the crew so I'm not sure what your point is.

 

By the way, when my local supermarket raises the price of eggs 10 cents per dozen I don't go running up to the dairy department clerk and ask if he's getting a salary raise proportional to the increased price of the eggs he puts on the refrigerated case shelves. The fascination on Cruise Critic with exactly how much of the service charge goes to the cruise line's crew just continues to boggle my mind. The cruise line has contracts with the crew. The crew is paid in accordance with the contract. Why so many here seem to think they're entitled to know exactly how their cruising dollar is carved up relative to crew salaries is mind blowing.

 

In the end all I care about is that I get what I'm paying for...that I think I'm paying a fair price for the product, and if some of what I'm paying is called cruise fare and a relatively small amount is call daily service charge I don't give two hoots about how they whack it up.

Edited by njhorseman
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22 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

I'm not sure I've seen anyone on this board in recent years claiming that the DSC raise goes immediately and directly to the crew so I'm not sure what your point is.

 

Obviously you choose to ignore all the: "Can I reduce or eliminate the DSC and just tip the crew myself?" threads.  Lol

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I agree that the entire travel and leisure industry will be hurt deeply by this recession. I have to believe that things will get back to normal in a month or two. The recent stimulus package should help folks survive until we all get back to full time work. Many jobs are not going  away completely - just temporally. Recovery for these industries will be slow and will start with the food service industry - I think that after being cooped up we will all want to eat out and be social. Travel will start back with business travel and then leisure. People will also do more land based vacations and it may be into next fall/winter before the cruise industry is able to start attracting people back to cruising. Yes there will be those of us who love cruising so much we will be on the first cruises after the pandemic is over. I believe that this time the CDC will continue research into a vaccine for COVID19. The industry needs to prepare for a slow recovery and not take any drastic actions to regain lost revenue. 

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1 hour ago, bonvoyagie said:

I agree that the entire travel and leisure industry will be hurt deeply by this recession. I have to believe that things will get back to normal in a month or two. 

No Alaska or NE cruises until July does not sound like normal in April or May.

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There you go again - famous words expression - - -

 

This D S C - be it a Daily Service Charge -OR- fully adjustable Discretionary Service Charge

 

NCL offers BST Behind the Scenes Tours - - -

 

Would like to see - No I demand to see -

NCLs - Behind the Accounting Office Tour to actually see the disbursement of these DSCs -

applied and paid to the crew and who gets it.

Who gets paid by what position or is it equally proportioned no difference ?

Is there any disciplinary reduction to a crew member not performing ?

 

It is after all DISCRETIONARY and I and a boat load of fellow guests are paying it.

 

Cruise guests get an invoice of the charges - I would like to see the fine print breakdown of the D S C

You talk with the crew and they must be sworn to some contractual secrecy to not reveal what they

are getting paid and any bonuses.

Shady forms of arbitrary discretionary payments leave much to be desired and I don't feel that NCL

guests need to be fleeced in this manner with seemingly good intentions.

 

Raise the fare - pay the crew well - eliminate this sinister method of crew bonus (or is it bogus) wages -

 

Let the guests pay the TIPS and rewards directly to those crew members of merit ! 

 

Oh and remember that it is  "Of Course for your Convenience" !

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12 hours ago, ray98 said:

 

You will not see an increase in quality without a substantial rise in prices.  Cruises on mainstream lines are much cheaper now factoring inflation than they have ever been.  There are more luxury oriented lines out there to fill that need.

 

Our cruise in 2004 was not much more expensive than a similar cruise now.

 

I know that a long time ago (30 years?) cruising was more expensive.

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LOL....this never ends.  Not one of the do-gooders will march into their local restaurant tomorrow and make the same demands.

 

"Waitress.....excuse me.....could you tell me your salary....any benefits.....also do you pool tips....how much do you tip out the bartenders....bussers....back of the house......"

 

They would walk off before you got done.

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22 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Our cruise in 2004 was not much more expensive than a similar cruise now.

 

I know that a long time ago (30 years?) cruising was more expensive.

 

.....and the cost of other items has steadily risen since '04.  $1 of spending power then requires $1.37 today just with basic inflation.

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