Strong reaction to high summer cruise pricing in North America

[SilkySal]

3 hours ago, RosieRoo said:

We are booked out til 2025 and every one of the cruises has almost doubled in price since we booked.  

Yup, same here! We have a dozen booked and all are way up now! Glad I booked early!

[OCSC Mike]

Some of us who don't have the freedom to book way in advance for one reason or another have started exploring other options.

 

I don't know how many times I've posted here that that I will ONLY sail from PC because it's an hour drive and that I DISLIKE ships smaller than Voyager class...

 

So what was I just doing since I have free time on my hands? Finding more reasonably priced cruises on smaller ships from Tampa. 🤣

Edited April 29, 2023 by OCSC Mike

[ONECRUISER]

18 hours ago, chiguypaul said:

I'm a 19 time RCL cruiser. I typically book way in advance - usually a year and not less than six months. I was just looking at booking a cruise this summer out of US ports and could not believe 1) the high prices, and 2) low availability. Good for Royal. Great to see people cruise again. I know RCL has a lot to make back from covid losses. All that being said, I still can't believe what certain ships were going for. We're within 90 days of most of the sailings we're looking at so not really expecting much in price drops. Anyone else having a similar reaction to prices this summer?

Nope, nothing new. When Ships run 108%+ Capacity prices go up. When my Kids were young we could only Cruise Sept-Oct and Jan-Feb. A typical Royal Cruise then in Summer time $799-999 each for first 2, $1099-1399 for Passenger 3-4. This in an OV Cabin. Cruises I Booked last yr for this yr have doubled in price as Ship's are almost sold old. Full Ship, and with Inflation prices are up like everything/everywhere else

Edited April 29, 2023 by ONECRUISER

[molly361]

5 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Some of us who don't have the freedom to book way in advance for one reason or another have started exploring other options.

 

I don't know how many times I've posted here that that I will ONLY sail from PC because it's an hour drive and that I DISLIKE ships smaller than Voyager class...

 

So what was I just doing since I have free time on my hands? Finding more reasonably priced cruises on smaller ships from Tampa. 🤣

I only sail out of PC as well.  It's only an hour from my house.  I have the Indy booked for June and was looking to possibly change my balcony to an inside or OV to save some $$.  Well the insides were several hundred MORE than my current balcony  So much for that idea

[ONECRUISER]

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

I only sail out of PC as well.  It's only an hour from my house.  I have the Indy booked for June and was looking to possibly change my balcony to an inside or OV to save some $$.  Well the insides were several hundred MORE than my current balcony  So much for that idea

Common for few yrs on the Radiance Class I Booked, Insides/OV same or more then Balcony Cabins. During startup I was getting Balcony Cabins for $50-70 a Day, this with my SOLO 340+ Discount. OV/IN were lot higher

[OCSC Mike]

Just now, molly361 said:

I only sail out of PC as well.  It's only an hour from my house.  I have the Indy booked for June and was looking to possibly change my balcony to an inside or OV to save some $$.  Well the insides were several hundred MORE than my current balcony  So much for that idea

 

We have a repeat of last year's Harmony extended family cruise (that you were on, maybe 🙂) in June on Wonder in our 2nd ever GS but that's it right now. We couldn't do a late summer cruise this year for personal reasons so I'm up to looking at times that fit my wife's schedule (i.e. when school is off since she's a teacher) but that includes some random weeks when she has one day off and would just use up some of her 20+ years of accumulated personal days for however many other days she'd need to take off.

 

We did an Indy 4-nighter last October when school was closed on Monday anyway and she went to work after we drove home from the port that Friday morning b/c she's nuts and hoards her personal days. That was when they were $129pp for interior in the GGG sales.

 

Google Maps says the Port of Tampa is only like 80-90 minutes from my house (PC is an hour like you) so I can handle the extra half hour of driving. It's the small ship that's the biggest issue but a cruise lover has to do what a cruise lover has to do. 🤷‍♀️

[nelblu]

21 minutes ago, molly361 said:

I only sail out of PC as well.  It's only an hour from my house.  I have the Indy booked for June and was looking to possibly change my balcony to an inside or OV to save some $$.  Well the insides were several hundred MORE than my current balcony  So much for that idea

Before calling the Casino desk to take advantage of the annual free inside cabin, I did a mock booking comparing an inside vs. a balcony cabin.  With the solo supplement and D+ balcony discount the balcony was about $150 cheaper.  This was for Harmony OTS sailing December '23 from Galveston.

At the end I took the $500 trade-in value as I would be losing the OBCs for booking on board and shareholders.

 

Ps.  Many times in teh past I found that 2 cabins are cheaper than a cabin for 4--dynamic pricing anyone.🤣

[ARandomTraveler]

2 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

TA cruise prices down, but not one-way TA airfare.

 

My upcoming TA was dirt cheap, but one-way return air is $2500pp.  Luckily I was able to book the same flight for 30K FF miles + $195 taxes/fees.

True - the round trip airfare for my summer cruise to Singapore cost me almost twice as much as the actual cruise (cruise in a balcony room cost me $4600, airfare cost me just over $8,000). 

[LobsterStalker]

6 hours ago, loman said:

Yes , Icon prices are substantially higher than Oasis class , and although i would like to sail on it once , i can wait until things settle down.

We prefer Oasis class anyway , but pricing is up on this class also.

It appears that lots of people have the cruising bug.

Hmmmm.... How do you know you prefer Oasis Class over Icon ?

[loman]

11 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Hmmmm.... How do you know you prefer Oasis Class over Icon ?

I have sailed most of the different classes of RC ships and decided Oasis class fits my needs .

Icon class is over the top with all those slides which i dont utilize.

Id go on Icon to take a look , but it would be one and done .

Its geared towards people with young families and thats not us.

[Ocean Boy]

3 minutes ago, loman said:

I have sailed most of the different classes of RC ships and decided Oasis class fits my needs .

Icon class is over the top with all those slides which i dont utilize.

Id go on Icon to take a look , but it would be one and done .

Its geared towards people with young families and thats not us.

I didn't think the O class ships would be for me until I tried it.

[loman]

6 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I didn't think the O class ships would be for me until I tried it.

When i first saw the plans for Oasis i couldnt wait to sail on it . 

Icon seems like a big waterpark on a ship. Great for families with kids.

 

[Ocean Boy]

7 minutes ago, loman said:

When i first saw the plans for Oasis i couldnt wait to sail on it . 

Icon seems like a big waterpark on a ship. Great for families with kids.

 

Then I guess no need for Icon to go to Coco Cay.

[loman]

2 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Then I guess no need for Icon to go to Coco Cay.

Well, there is the ocean at Coco Cay that may appeal to some.

[ARandomTraveler]

2 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I didn't think the O class ships would be for me until I tried it.

Same, and I avoided booking it for 9 years. Finally tried symphony a few months ago and it's my new favorite.

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

True - the round trip airfare for my summer cruise to Singapore cost me almost twice as much as the actual cruise (cruise in a balcony room cost me $4600, airfare cost me just over $8,000). 

With Air prices like that I would be staying home. 

[Merion_Mom]

2 hours ago, loman said:

I have sailed most of the different classes of RC ships and decided Oasis class fits my needs .

Icon class is over the top with all those slides which i dont utilize.

Id go on Icon to take a look , but it would be one and done .

Its geared towards people with young families and thats not us.

 

I have often explained to people that I LOVE the slides and the flowrider and the zipline.  Why?  Because it keeps people far away from me/where I want to be. 

 

😄 

[Jimbo]

10 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

I have often explained to people that I LOVE the slides and the flowrider and the zipline.  Why?  Because it keeps people far away from me/where I want to be. 

 

😄 

Well like some people have said " You can run but you can't hide"

[OCSC Mike]

34 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

I have often explained to people that I LOVE the slides and the flowrider and the zipline.  Why?  Because it keeps people far away from me/where I want to be. 

 

That's along the same lines as why we don't mind sailing while kids are out of school (which is almost always since my wife is a teacher)...  they don't tend to congregate in the same areas as us.

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Well like some people have said " You can run but you can't hide"

 

Apparently I can.

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, rjrpar said:

Plus they are facing high inflation for fuel, food, etc.  It’s evident almost everyday in our normal lives.

Consider the price of eggs. Pre-pandemic, we could buy a dozen eggs for $0.79. Earlier this year, it was over $6.00/dozen. Now about $4.50/dozen. Consider every product on the ship that take eggs,,, let alone the eggs consumed at the buffet each morning 😞. But, people expect the cruise line to continue to sell cruises at pre-pandemic prices. Even our local McD has jumped the price of an egg mcmuffin by 75% over the past few months. 

[BennyandBo]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Consider the price of eggs. Pre-pandemic, we could buy a dozen eggs for $0.79. Earlier this year, it was over $6.00/dozen. Now about $4.50/dozen. Consider every product on the ship that take eggs,,, let alone the eggs consumed at the buffet each morning 😞. But, people expect the cruise line to continue to sell cruises at pre-pandemic prices. Even our local McD has jumped the price of an egg mcmuffin by 75% over the past few months. 

Exactly. I don't mind the price going up. I do mind cut backs in food and services. But food most of all. Double the price per person, but don’t go from five salad dressings to three, no bags of chips with sandwiches, no cracked black pepper in dinning room. (All very petty cut backs that ain't never gonna pay back billions in debt). But prices going up to maintain the same level of quality and service, fine, fare enough, that's life. Prices go up, not down.

[Thisguylikestocruise]

4 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Consider the price of eggs. Pre-pandemic, we could buy a dozen eggs for $0.79. Earlier this year, it was over $6.00/dozen. Now about $4.50/dozen. Consider every product on the ship that take eggs,,, let alone the eggs consumed at the buffet each morning 😞. But, people expect the cruise line to continue to sell cruises at pre-pandemic prices. Even our local McD has jumped the price of an egg mcmuffin by 75% over the past few months. 

It’s more than just eggs. Prices of a lot of food items are up 100%-300%. Salsa, chips, oatmeal, almost everything is up significantly. 

[BennyandBo]

26 minutes ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

It’s more than just eggs. Prices of a lot of food items are up 100%-300%. Salsa, chips, oatmeal, almost everything is up significantly. 

I think BirdTravels was just using eggs as one example of many. 

 

Everything (especially food) is up 50% minimum from last year. It makes perfect sense for future cruise prices to double. Possibly triple. 

 

But for those of us who booked and paid a year ago for this year, it's not our problem. Even though they can't force it on us, I would be willing to pay a last minute $50 food surcharge. Who knew bird flu / egg situation was going to happen. What I won't do is stay quiet for petty cut backs that put a damper on my trip. It's not like I can get in the car a drive down road for better meal. 

 

But yes, so this doesn't happen next year. Change prices and charge enough to cover 2024/2025 costs. Don't sell trips now for next year for less than you need to provide quality without endless cut backs. 

 

I don't see the 2024 rates as outrageous. Food costs have doubled. Makes sense the cruise rates do the same.

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

MSC is ready to fill this gap.