S.A.L.T. on the Silver Moon

[Doolz]

I asked our SS TA why the summer cruises around Northern Europe are around 20/25% more expensive than those in the Mediterranean, he couldn’t answer my question which I understand as he’s not involved in the pricing.

I tend to look at the situation logically and wonder for instance if the cruise spends a few days in Saint Petersburg then does that influence the cost due to the mooring fees, but some of the Northern European cruises don’t visit Saint Petersburg, so I’m trying to understand the reasoning behind the differences!

[cruiseej]

@Doolz Does anyone understand airline prices? For instance, why you can sometimes fly thousands of miles for only hundreds of dollars and sometimes must spend far more to fly much shorter distances? No. We can't, and we never will, understand all the factors which influence air prices. And I'd say it's the same for cruise prices. We can try to factor in distance to ship supplies, variations in fuel costs, differences in port fees -- but I don't think anyone outside the inner sanctum of a cruise line will ever fully understand differences in the pricing of different cruises. 😉 

[Gourmet Gal]

It is what it is.

[RetiredandTravel]

In its simplest form cruise (and airline) prices are just supply and demand.   The companies are trying to get each cruise (plane) full (or near full) at the highest price possible.   I'll spare you the more complex economics.  I know airlines, and would guess cruise lines, have very complicated algorithms that analyze historic client behavior to produce the optimal price based on demand (they know the supply).   Of course they also have to be cognizant of what their direct competitors are charging.

 

I would guess Northern Europe cruises are more expensive than Mediterranean cruises because of demand, the season is much longer in the Med and there are more ships.   Once you back out the airfare Asia is much cheaper than Australia, go compare future Asian and Australian cruises.  Australia cruises are always in more demand.  Other things impact cruise prices, new ships seem more expensive and of course popular cruises get more expensive as the cruise fills.

 

We are retired and can travel anytime.  When we go abroad we usually travel on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday because business class airline tickets are cheaper and its easier to book with miles.  Why?  Because business travelers prefer going Sun/Mon/Fri/Sat.  This is somewhat oversimplifying it but ultimately its just supply & demand.

 

 

 

 

[wine-wine-wine]

Isn't travel by land appreciably more expensive in Northern Europe, say in Sweden, than in many areas of the Mediterranean? Perhaps this influences it. 

 

Last time I looked it was actually cheaper to take a nice cruise through Northern Europe than to go it alone. Even Rick Steves admitted this in his guide to Northern European Cruising...

[RetiredandTravel]

I used to do a lot of business in Sweden and Sweden is very expensive, especially imported alcohol.  I once bought a California Cab in a restaurant in Stockholm that sold in the US for $15 for $150.

 

I don't think Stockholm is any more expensive than London or Paris tho.

 

Great fun Stockholm, would recommend it to anyone.

[jpalbny]

3 hours ago, wine-wine-wine said:

Isn't travel by land appreciably more expensive in Northern Europe, say in Sweden, than in many areas of the Mediterranean? Perhaps this influences it. 

 

Last time I looked it was actually cheaper to take a nice cruise through Northern Europe than to go it alone. Even Rick Steves admitted this in his guide to Northern European Cruising...

 

I tend to agree with you. In our experience, Denmark and Norway (particularly the latter) are on average, a lot more expensive than The Med. Food prices in Oslo are enough to make you want to go on a starvation diet! When we were there in 2011, a basic dinner (shared app, two mains) and a bottle of cheap wine was easily $200. The only Continental European country that I've found with comparable prices is Switzerland. Even Iceland isn't that bad...you can eat cheaply at the gas stations.

While you certainly can find expensive places in London or Paris where you can spend that much or more, less-expensive places seem easier to find in those locations. We couldn't find them in Oslo.

 

Haven't been to Stockholm or Helsinki yet to see it it's everywhere in Scandinavia but will hopefully make it to Helsinki in the next few months...

 

  

3 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

I would guess Northern Europe cruises are more expensive than Mediterranean cruises because of demand, the season is much longer in the Med and there are more ships. 

 

This makes sense to me.

Edited October 21, 2021 by jpalbny

[Stumblefoot]

8 hours ago, RetiredandTravel said:

We are retired and can travel anytime.

Really?  I never would have guessed that based on your screen name. 😉