Pricing

[izmeeh]

I understand some people don’t care much about prices and some receive really good offers, especially the casino offers.  There’s no right answer so I just want opinions. 

 

Before, I consider anything below $50/night before taxes/fees a good deal. I haven’t seen those in a very long time. 

 

What do you consider a good deal? 

 

I’m looking at an interior room on the Royal Princess on 12/22/2022. It has 9 sea days so I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to be in an interior room, but I’m priced out for anything higher. It is a Christmas/New Year cruise so pricing is usually higher to begin with. 

 

15 days. How much does it have to be for you to consider? 

Edited May 18, 2022 by izmeeh

[cr8tiv1]

From my understanding, this Royal Princess cruise is going to Hawaii over Christmas.  

 

1.  It will be more expensive

2.  You will be missing Hilo and Kauai (tendering in Lahaina and Kona/overnight in Honolulu).

 

In all the years that I have cruised to Hawaii (6 times), the least inexpensive interior I have ever seen is $999 for past passenger during non-peak travel.  That divides into $66-$67 per night.  I just checked...$1499 pp is the Royal's lowest cabin fare for December.  The Crown is "only" $1399 pp for December.  I don't think I have ever seen fares of below $50/night that wasn't a casino offer.

 

I consider anything to Hawaii that is around $1000.00 - $1200, if booking an interior.

Edited May 18, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[Sea Hag]

19 minutes ago, izmeeh said:

I understand some people don’t care much about prices and some receive really good offers, especially the casino offers.  There’s no right answer so I just want opinions. 

 

Before, I consider anything below $50/night before taxes/fees a good deal. I haven’t seen those in a very long time. 

 

What do you consider a good deal? 

 

I’m looking at an interior room on the Royal Princess on 12/22/2022. It has 9 sea days so I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to be in an interior room, but I’m priced out for anything higher. It is a Christmas/New Year cruise so pricing is usually higher to begin with. 

 

15 days. How much does it have to be for you to consider? 

The last time we did a 14 or 15 day Hawaiian cruise, we had an obstructed ocean view on the Golden. I'd booked it and then saw a price drop. I got us the price drop, so we paid $1249 each, before taxes and such. This was more than 10 years ago. Honestly, for a like-kind cabin on one of those cruises these days, I'd consider $2249 each to be a great deal. I see an obstructed balcony on the sailing that you're looking at priced at $2694, which is a good deal to my mind. And I would book it at that, but we can't do a cruise that long because our cat can't deal without us that long even though she gets great care while we're gone.

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind an interior at all for that many days, but my DH can't handle that. 

[mtnesterz]

Inside now shows about $1600 on Princess website. I didn't log in, sometimes a lower price if you do.

Princess doesn't discount much and other TA's don't advertise lower. But sometimes they offer a gift card, or other perk.

Right here on CC, they track price trends and the price shows a downward trend, but not by much. Inside cabins are few on Royal Class. If you book now to get the cabin you want, and the price falls, you can get an adjustment, before final payment.

But having gone to Hawaii this year, tourism has not come back to usual. Prices on everything were high. This is the double Honolulu and Kona itinerary. Just be sure that's what you want.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, izmeeh said:

I understand some people don’t care much about prices and some receive really good offers, especially the casino offers.  There’s no right answer so I just want opinions. 

 

Before, I consider anything below $50/night before taxes/fees a good deal. I haven’t seen those in a very long time. 

 

What do you consider a good deal? 

 

I’m looking at an interior room on the Royal Princess on 12/22/2022. It has 9 sea days so I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to be in an interior room, but I’m priced out for anything higher. It is a Christmas/New Year cruise so pricing is usually higher to begin with. 

 

15 days. How much does it have to be for you to consider? 

Anything you want to do in terms of travel over Christmas and New Year's is going to be premium priced.  Like anything else in travel, Princess adjusts pricing for holiday periods and for high-season versus shoulder or low season. 

 

I am not sure we have ever cruised for $50 in past 20 years (we don't get casino offers).  Some sectors of the world just cost more pp/day than others.  For example, the Caribbean always seems cheaper pp/day than Europe.  

[izmeeh]

Thank you so much for the information and your opinion. 

 

The cruise from Long Beach on the same day has more ports and is $100 cheaper per person, but I will need additional time off for the drive and the additional cost for parking. This cruise has Maui which I have been to so that’s a bit of a wash. I wonder if it’s worth the effort to go to Long Beach. Hmm. 

[Coral]

14 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Anything you want to do in terms of travel over Christmas and New Year's is going to be premium priced.  Like anything else in travel, Princess adjusts pricing for holiday periods and for high-season versus shoulder or low season. 

 

I am not sure we have ever cruised for $50 in past 20 years (we don't get casino offers).  Some sectors of the world just cost more pp/day than others.  For example, the Caribbean always seems cheaper pp/day than Europe.  

Last year - Mexico over Christmas was dirt cheap. For a 10 night cruise - it was $499 or something.

[iluvthe-c]

I used to find $50/night fare (Interior cabins) regularly as recent as 5 years ago.  This was without the perks (gratuities, drinks, wifi).  Now I am finding prices are a bit higher than double that for the same base fare. We have since come to enjoy the Free at Sea, Always Included, etc. and like the package deals bundled into one price. It is still sticker shock for me until I stop to do the math and realize the actual value of what I am getting.

[amajaa]

Wow you get cruises for much cheaper than we get over here, plus we can’t get any price drops. 

[cruzsnooze]

I look for $150-$200 PP PD and don't sail in less then a Mini Suite. I can't imagine not having natural light from at least a window. 

[teecee60]

On 5/17/2022 at 5:32 PM, izmeeh said:

Before, I consider anything below $50/night before taxes/fees a good deal. I haven’t seen those in a very long time. 

 

On 5/17/2022 at 5:47 PM, cr8tiv1 said:

In all the years that I have cruised to Hawaii, the least expensive interior I have ever seen is $999 for past passenger during non-peak travel.  I don't think I have ever seen fares of below $50/night that wasn't a casino offer.

 

I consider anything to Hawaii that is around $1000.00 - $1200, if booking an interior.

 

On 5/17/2022 at 8:53 PM, Steelers36 said:

I am not sure we have ever cruised for $50 in past 20 years (we don't get casino offers).  

 

I just finished an 18 night Panama Canal cruise on Caribbean P... in a balcony... for $899pp.

 

There are multiple 14 night Alaska cruises for under $50pp/night... Majestic for $691pp,  Grand for $653pp,  Royal for $623pp, Grand for $611pp. and Royal for $646pp.

 

There are transatlantic cruises...14 nights on Sky for $659pp and 16 nights on Emerald for $709pp.

 

There is a 16 night Hawaii cruise on Diamond Princess for $899pp.

 

You won't get those prices (before taxes/fees) from Princess, but from on line travel agencies that are available to anyone. Many people still believe that agencies are NOT ALLOWED to charge less than the cruise lines... and those people pay A LOT for being misinformed.

 

 

Edited May 27, 2022 by teecee60

[Nebr.cruiser]

I consider anything under $100 a night for a balcony, before the fees, a good deal.  We've cruised many times for, at times, much less than that.  You have to be flexible and do your home work.

 

But, post-Covid we are finding prices pretty high right now, although we did a 7 day Mexican Rivieria in March for $359.  We currently have booked an 11 day Australia cruise, about $133pp  per day, including all taxes and fees, 12 day New Zealand $125, all in.  Note:  We don't do drink packages and will of course pay our gratuities.  We spend little else on board.

 

Also, certain itineraries are just more expensive, so we make allowances for that or for a 'bucket list' cruise.  

[roxievegas]

We were Celebrity cruisers, until we decided to try Princess with their 28 day LA roundtrip to Tahiti.

We spent a lot for a Balcony, no princess plus at that time (2018), I think we paid $3200 per person and then had to pay for gratuities on top of that.  Because there were so many sea days, we played in the Casino and after we got home we got Casino offers

So we did a number of cruises out of LA (our home port) and received offers of free inside cabin, with free casino play money.  Then covid - after they started the cruises back up, we got offers that were great - free balcony, plus package and casino play.  We booked four cruises and have our five, sixth and seventh coming up - except now the offers are not as good.  We still get offered a free cabin, but an inside, not balcony and it costs to upgrade, some offers with princess plus, some not.

So we will finish this years cruises and then see what we get offered.  If the price is not right, we won't go.  We no longer have any cruises that are on our bucket list, so anywhere we go now will be a repeat.

I have always said that we would book last minute and get a great price, but the cruise we want they discontinued - 10 day roundtrip out of LA to Alaska - we had to book the one out of San Francisco and pay for airfare, which is not what we want to do.

We will not go "inside cabin" we need the view and the fresh air.

 

[justafem]

I just did a B2B on the Ruby.  First leg (5 days) was $79, worked out to $250 with taxes and port fees.  Second leg (7 days) was $500 (including port fees and taxes).  And we received $300 per room onboard.  We did separate rooms, because it was actually cheaper on the first leg and exactly the same price on the second leg and we ended up with an additional $300 onboard.  We were able to add princess plus after booking.  

 

Cheap cruises are out there, you have to be able to grab them when the prices happen.  Much like the old "fill the rooms" discounts just after final payment.  I don't mind only having 2 months to plan.  In fact, because of the cheap cruises, I'm going on my 6th cruise of the year, yeah it's carnival, but hey it was only port fees and taxes. 

 

In fact, I just got off that ship 2 weeks ago.  I had to check it out before I actually went on a full length cruise.  Carnival really is the walmart of cruising! 

[JF - retired RRT]

On 5/18/2022 at 10:56 AM, izmeeh said:

Thank you so much for the information and your opinion. 

 

The cruise from Long Beach on the same day has more ports and is $100 cheaper per person, but I will need additional time off for the drive and the additional cost for parking. This cruise has Maui which I have been to so that’s a bit of a wash. I wonder if it’s worth the effort to go to Long Beach. Hmm. 

Never mind.

Edited May 28, 2022 by JF - retired RRT