Has Carnival pricing more than doubled?

[john91498]

I did a mock booking for Aug 2022 for a 7 day cruise out of Long Beach, CA. The final price for a balcony was $6,200 for 4 people in the same room. That's over double what I paid in 2018 for the exact same cruise...

[bamaone]

That price sounds a little high. Does it include airfare? We booked an extended balcony on the Mardi Gras in Sept 22 and it was about $2500 for 2. That price also includes gratuities and cheers. 

[stobe1]

Looks like you have answered your own question.

[ProgRockCruiser]

Right now you are looking at the bow-wave of all the re-bookings for the last year piling on top of the "regular" bookings made pre-pandemic, which undoubtedly now cover from Aug 2021 through Dec 2022, so it makes sense that availability is low, and therefore pricing is high.  Those darned supply-demand giraffes!

 

I would compare out as far as you can and see if it is any different.

[Floriduh]

We just booked Oct 2022 out of Mobile and got a pretty good price.

[pc_load_letter]

Limited supply....big demand

[firefly333]

I think carnival pricing has gone thru the roof. There arent any good deals out of Galveston which is a favorite port for carnival. Prices for vista for sept started at $800 plus when I booked which is typical of past years. The same cruise is now $1500 for a inside cabin solo, deck 1 or 2, lowest starting price and that's not the drinks included or anything else. 

 

Earlier dates I priced are as high as 1900ish starting for a inside cabin. Balconies higher of course.

 

I think its those $600 obc people want, driving the demand. I'm hoping prices come down 2024. 

[cruisingguy007]

Yes, prices up big time. I expect that for the next few years. My Panorama cruise for 2023 was significantly less than the 2024 I just booked recently (like $1500+ less) for the exact same cabins on Lido. Those who were lucky to book under the old algorithms simply had good luck with timing. Booking Vegas hotels, San Diego hotels, Palm Springs etc was the same. The old and reduced pandemic pricing is being updated. There are still some deals out there but they are all quickly being reconfigured/updated to reflect current demand and pent up dynamic pricing. 

[crazy4themouse]

Prices are nutso right now, very likely due to the reasoning @firefly333 gave above. We have a cove on Breeze for October that I booked back in January, and it's fully double the fare now when I do a mock booking. Same details, same offer code. Our Havana Cabana on Vista in February is a grand more than when we booked it last December when the Feb 2020 one was cancelled. It's crazy!

 

 

[IntrepidFromDC]

[firefly333]

1 minute ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Kids may be back in school by the date you choose idk

 

I tried it with august 6, regular balcony, and clicked on the cheers offer and it went nuts. Jumped to over $5300 .. that offer is only for 2 in the cabin ..had to click on more options, and then was still over 3500 for a regular not cove balcony. 

 

Who knows exactly what he clicked on or what date in August  ..I agree prices are up.

[tallnthensome]

You could book on the new MSC Seashore out of Miami for August 2022 for four people like I did instead. 14 nights , Balcony, two drink packages, two kids drink packages, WiFi for two, $5490...... instead of a 7 night carnival. 

[mondello]

2 hours ago, Floriduh said:

We just booked Oct 2022 out of Mobile and got a pretty good price.

Big difference between Oct. and Aug. fares. I did mock bookings recently for 3 pax next summer. While I can book DS at third pax rate of $169 when school is in session; I'm seeing third pax rates of $869. These were trying for Havana interior. Very rarely do I see third pax rates higher than per person/double occupancy fares. Mid-summer and Christmas weeks are about the worst.

[tallnthensome]

2 hours ago, Floriduh said:

We just booked Oct 2022 out of Mobile and got a pretty good price.

Not even close to the same as cruising and pricing in August cruise industry wide. 

Edited May 19, 2021 by tallnthensome

[Floriduh]

16 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Not even close to the same as cruising and pricing in August cruise industry wide. 

Just saying it was the same price we are used to for the past few years.

[cruisingguy007]

56 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

You could book on the new MSC Seashore out of Miami for August 2022 for four people like I did instead. 14 nights , Balcony, two drink packages, two kids drink packages, WiFi for two, $5490...... instead of a 7 night carnival. 

 

That is a deal! 

[Earthworm Jim]

I would say the high prices are partially due to Carnival limiting capacity to some % (50% maybe ? Who knows?) and that prices will go down when the CDC announces ships can sail at full capacity again. But I can't imagine Carnival is still assuming they'll be sailing at reduced capacity in August 2022.

 

My currently booked cruises in December 2021 and February 2022 are both now selling for $1059 pp for a balcony on a 8 day cruise out of Miami. A little high maybe, but nothing crazy like the OP is seeing,

[tallnthensome]

2 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

That is a deal! 

Yep ...... booked it a couple months ago. Their ships are amazing and prices blow the other lines away.... MSC is still unknown to most. 

[cruisingguy007]

4 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Yep ...... booked it a couple months ago. Their ships are amazing and prices blow the other lines away.... MSC is still unknown to most. 

 

Just checked them out and it looks like they only sail from FL (Miami). If they ever come west and offer a deal like that I'd be all over it!  

[SNJCruisers]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

You could book on the new MSC Seashore out of Miami for August 2022 for four people like I did instead. 14 nights , Balcony, two drink packages, two kids drink packages, WiFi for two, $5490...... instead of a 7 night carnival. 

Fantastica?

[tallnthensome]

3 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Fantastica?

Bella, it was about $500`less .....

Edited May 20, 2021 by tallnthensome

[SNJCruisers]

13 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Bella 

You do know the difference between the levels?

[SNJCruisers]

24 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Just checked them out and it looks like they only sail from FL (Miami). If they ever come west and offer a deal like that I'd be all over it!  

They are cranking out the ships with their aggressive marketing campaign which began about 5 years ago with the Seaside.  They have 4 classes on their ships, Bella, Fantastica, Aurea and Yacht Club.  Since the Yacht Club is like the Havana area on steroids, eventhough you could get rock bottom cheap Bella pricing, the Yacht Club policy would not be your cup of tea.

For instance,  if someone comes into your elevator and they are Yacht Club, whatever floor they wish to go to has priority. If you're on 2 and wish to go to 7, they get on 4 and wish to go to 11, you will go to 11 and then go to 7.  Not making this up. RF wrist bands. 

[scpirate]

56 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

They are cranking out the ships with their aggressive marketing campaign which began about 5 years ago with the Seaside.  They have 4 classes on their ships, Bella, Fantastica, Aurea and Yacht Club.  Since the Yacht Club is like the Havana area on steroids, eventhough you could get rock bottom cheap Bella pricing, the Yacht Club policy would not be your cup of tea.

For instance,  if someone comes into your elevator and they are Yacht Club, whatever floor they wish to go to has priority. If you're on 2 and wish to go to 7, they get on 4 and wish to go to 11, you will go to 11 and then go to 7.  Not making this up. RF wrist bands. 

They pay 3 times more for the privilege.

[Madhatter12]

I did a mock booking for 8/6/2022