Too Expensive?

[Megtheblackbelt]

Hola!

 

I am looking in to booking a 7-day Greek isles round-trip cruise for late 2021. The ports are as such:

 

Embark: Athens, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Patmos, Greece

Ashdod, Israel

Haifa, Israel

Limassol, Cyprus

Santorini, Greece

Disembark: Athens, Greece

 

The total price for a guaranteed balcony cabin is 3,400 euros, or roughly 3,650 USD. 

 

We live in Spain, so airfare certainly would not be as expensive as if we were coming from per se the US - but 3,400 euros still seems overly expensive? Especially being on such an old ship - Norwegian Pearl?

 

The itinerary is fantastic (in my opinion), so that is the driving force. But the price seems - to me - a bit too high for a guarantee room, and an old ship.

 

Or is this to be expected, price-wise? We just re-located to Europe this year, and have never sailed in Europe, so we are not too familiar with pricing.

 

Gracias!

[FLAHAM]

On the U.S. site, looks like the sailaway balcony fare on the Pearl (a beautiful ship) is $1,359 per person, which doesn't seem especially unreasonable to me for this nice itinerary.  

[dexddd]

That does seem high but NCL prices on average seem high.

 

Thinking that is a strategy with all the cancelled trips and loads of FCC out there.

 

Did you look at MSC?  They have some new ships although looking Dec 2021 not seeing Greece yet.

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, Megtheblackbelt said:

Hola!

 

I am looking in to booking a 7-day Greek isles round-trip cruise for late 2021. The ports are as such:

 

Embark: Athens, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Patmos, Greece

Ashdod, Israel

Haifa, Israel

Limassol, Cyprus

Santorini, Greece

Disembark: Athens, Greece

 

The total price for a guaranteed balcony cabin is 3,400 euros, or roughly 3,650 USD. 

 

We live in Spain, so airfare certainly would not be as expensive as if we were coming from per se the US - but 3,400 euros still seems overly expensive? Especially being on such an old ship - Norwegian Pearl?

 

The itinerary is fantastic (in my opinion), so that is the driving force. But the price seems - to me - a bit too high for a guarantee room, and an old ship.

 

Or is this to be expected, price-wise? We just re-located to Europe this year, and have never sailed in Europe, so we are not too familiar with pricing.

 

Gracias!

 

Is 3650 USD for one person? If it's for one it seems high but if it's for two it seems like an okay price.

 

Norwegian Pearl is a little older but not very old. Perfect size and if I should book a balcony cabin on NCL it could defenitely be on the Pearl.

[d9704011]

2 hours ago, Megtheblackbelt said:

Hola!

 

I am looking in to booking a 7-day Greek isles round-trip cruise for late 2021. The ports are as such:

 

Embark: Athens, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Patmos, Greece

Ashdod, Israel

Haifa, Israel

Limassol, Cyprus

Santorini, Greece

Disembark: Athens, Greece

 

The total price for a guaranteed balcony cabin is 3,400 euros, or roughly 3,650 USD. 

 

We live in Spain, so airfare certainly would not be as expensive as if we were coming from per se the US - but 3,400 euros still seems overly expensive? Especially being on such an old ship - Norwegian Pearl?

 

The itinerary is fantastic (in my opinion), so that is the driving force. But the price seems - to me - a bit too high for a guarantee room, and an old ship.

 

Or is this to be expected, price-wise? We just re-located to Europe this year, and have never sailed in Europe, so we are not too familiar with pricing.

 

Gracias!

The cruise would cost about 5000 CDN (about 3300 euros) if I tried to book it.  For me, it is too expensive for one person; it looks like the singles supplement is 100%.  Only you can decide whether it is ‘worth it’ to take the cruise.

[pghflyer]

All the NCL cruise prices are very inflated right now, higher than they were in December which is ludicrous if you think of what has transpired since then.

[sanger727]

Does that pricing include free at sea? If so, it's a  good deal. If it doesn't, for me personally the price is too high for a 7 day cruise.

[Megtheblackbelt]

39 minutes ago, d9704011 said:

The cruise would cost about 5000 CDN (about 3300 euros) if I tried to book it.  For me, it is too expensive for one person; it looks like the singles supplement is 100%.  Only you can decide whether it is ‘worth it’ to take the cruise.

 

51 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Is 3650 USD for one person? If it's for one it seems high but if it's for two it seems like an okay price.

 

Norwegian Pearl is a little older but not very old. Perfect size and if I should book a balcony cabin on NCL it could defenitely be on the Pearl.

 

No, this is for two people! $3650 USD / 3300 euro for two people in a guaranteed balcony. I am not going to book now - surely the prices will fluctuate over the next year. But I'm just trying to figure out a good average/"good to go by" pricing range for EU cruises (though I understand a Western Med is going to cost differently than a Norwegian Fjords).

[Megtheblackbelt]

1 minute ago, sanger727 said:

Does that pricing include free at sea? If so, it's a  good deal. If it doesn't, for me personally the price is too high for a 7 day cruise.

Is that what you choose when you are checking out - the 2 "add ons"? Sorry, I have only ever sailed RC, so I'm not too familiar with the workings of Norwegian.

 

I believe it does not include any add-ons, but for 200 euros more I could add on the drinks package and internet (which we would probably get anyways).

[sanger727]

Just now, Megtheblackbelt said:

Is that what you choose when you are checking out - the 2 "add ons"? Sorry, I have only ever sailed RC, so I'm not too familiar with the workings of Norwegian.

 

I believe it does not include any add-ons, but for 200 euros more I could add on the drinks package and internet (which we would probably get anyways).

 

So typically norwegian offers two prices. The sail away price which doesn't include the ability to do add ons. And the free at sea price which does allow the add ons. Now, the drink package and dining package do add on gratuities if you can add then. But typically the free a sea price is a good amount more than the sail away price. If this is the free at sea price, and you can add the drink package on for just the gratuities (sound about right at 200 euros) then I would find the price more appealing than if it was the sail away price where you can't add the drink package on and would have to purchase it outright if you wanted it. 

[Megtheblackbelt]

7 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

So typically norwegian offers two prices. The sail away price which doesn't include the ability to do add ons. And the free at sea price which does allow the add ons. Now, the drink package and dining package do add on gratuities if you can add then. But typically the free a sea price is a good amount more than the sail away price. If this is the free at sea price, and you can add the drink package on for just the gratuities (sound about right at 200 euros) then I would find the price more appealing than if it was the sail away price where you can't add the drink package on and would have to purchase it outright if you wanted it. 

 Ah, good call out! If I can get the unlimited drinks and wifi included for 3300 euro, that seems much more fair/doable. Thank you for clarifying - it is very helpful. 🙂 

[sverigecruiser]

2 hours ago, Megtheblackbelt said:

 

 

No, this is for two people! $3650 USD / 3300 euro for two people in a guaranteed balcony. I am not going to book now - surely the prices will fluctuate over the next year. But I'm just trying to figure out a good average/"good to go by" pricing range for EU cruises (though I understand a Western Med is going to cost differently than a Norwegian Fjords).

 

For two it sounds like an okay price if booked in Europe. Americans always seems to get it cheaper.

[Comi.uy]

If you book closer to the date u'll get better prices for sure

[Megtheblackbelt]

1 hour ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

For two it sounds like an okay price if booked in Europe. Americans always seems to get it cheaper.

 

That is a good call-out. I guess because I have never booked in Europe before, I never thought about this. I can certainly book as an American though, so I will look in to it when the time is closer. Thank you! 🙂 

[FLAHAM]

The NCL U.S. site is showing the 31 Oct 2021 Pearl Greek Island 7-day cruise for one person as USD 2,718 (sailaway - no free at sea, they assign room) and USD3,198 (free at sea, you pick room).

[CruiseMH]

8 hours ago, Megtheblackbelt said:

Hola!

 

I am looking in to booking a 7-day Greek isles round-trip cruise for late 2021. The ports are as such:

 

Embark: Athens, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

Patmos, Greece

Ashdod, Israel

Haifa, Israel

Limassol, Cyprus

Santorini, Greece

Disembark: Athens, Greece

 

The total price for a guaranteed balcony cabin is 3,400 euros, or roughly 3,650 USD. 

 

We live in Spain, so airfare certainly would not be as expensive as if we were coming from per se the US - but 3,400 euros still seems overly expensive? Especially being on such an old ship - Norwegian Pearl?

 

The itinerary is fantastic (in my opinion), so that is the driving force. But the price seems - to me - a bit too high for a guarantee room, and an old ship.

 

Or is this to be expected, price-wise? We just re-located to Europe this year, and have never sailed in Europe, so we are not too familiar with pricing.

 

Gracias!

 

The main reason for the high price is that you chose balcony.On the older shipes (e.g. the pearl) only 45-55 % are balcony cabins.This makes them much more expnesive the inside cabins. I had the same problem in the past. I found some interesting itineraries on the older and smaller ships and when checking the prices i always saw that there is a big gap between the balcony cabins and the interior cabins. This gap is much lower on the newer ships with much more balcony cabins.

 

In your sepcific case i find the price really high,i would even say it is overpriced. The average price per night is significantly lower, even for us european guests.

 

 

[FLAHAM]

57 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

The NCL U.S. site is showing the 31 Oct 2021 Pearl Greek Island 7-day cruise for one person as USD 2,718 (sailaway - no free at sea, they assign room) and USD3,198 (free at sea, you pick room).

These are balcony prices.

[sverigecruiser]

3 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

The NCL U.S. site is showing the 31 Oct 2021 Pearl Greek Island 7-day cruise for one person as USD 2,718 (sailaway - no free at sea, they assign room) and USD3,198 (free at sea, you pick room).

 

Their European site is showing €3198 for that cruise (sail away and they assign room) for two.

[skywonder]

18 hours ago, pghflyer said:

All the NCL cruise prices are very inflated right now, higher than they were in December which is ludicrous if you think of what has transpired since then.

I agree, I wish they would stop playing this game and give us some half decent prices. I have been looking at Royal and Carnival and their prices have not increased to the extremes that NCL has increased. I mean we paid for our cruises and they got cancelled at no fault of our own, now they want shove these extreme prices on everyone. Most of the new pricing has gone up way over the 25 percent many were given in FCC.