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OMG … never seen a price increase like this!

canadarocks

By canadarocks,
in Princess Cruises

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canadarocks

canadarocks

Posted
Posted

I don’t normally post about pricing. Been cruising for quite awhile and I know how important it can be to lock a cabin and a price in early. But wow..

 

The cabin literally right next door to us on our Circle Caribbean next year is selling for $5000 more than what we’re paying!!! 
 

Never seen pricing change that dramatically before! 

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

No a Deluxe Balcony on the Caribe deck. And there’s a bunch of them still available!! 😮

Well, let's see.  You are from Canada and chances are you book in CAD, so not sure when you state $5K if you mean $5K CAD or USD.  And I presume that is the increase for 2 people.

 

I also don't know whether you mean EP on 2/21 or RU on 3/9 as both are doing the Circle voyage, but costs more in Feb. 

 

A Standard Fare can be had in Mid-Fwd or Mid-Aft zones for $6,619 CAD, plus Port Taxes.  So, that is $13,238 for a couple.  Assuming CAD, you paid around $8,238/couple, so indeed that is a hefty increase.  Again, assuming you are on Emerald in Feb.  So, you paid about $218 USD/night, which seems pretty decent these days for that cabin type.  I think the current price of $350 USD/night is nuts for a Balcony cabin - even though the Balcony itself is quite large.

 

You also didn't mention if you booked Standard, Plus or Premier, nor when you booked.  If you booked last year, then Plus and Premier where cheaper, so that factors in.  Otherwise, if booked after Dec 14, 2022, then those packages are same add-on cost. 

 

So, it's hard to figure just what the increase was, but I think your point stands.  It pays to book early and watch for any price drops, but expect prices to climb in general as it gets closer to sail date.  

 

BTW, what is showing may not be indicative of the real inventory as there can well be GTY's that need to be assigned.

 

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lx200gps

lx200gps

Posted
Posted

It's not just Princess. Our last cruise, back in June, was on X. In the weeks preceding our sailing I kept an eye on pricing for our exact cabin type. We had booked our cabin for about $CAD4K. When I researched the pricing  I found numbers, for our specific, sailing ranging up as high as $CAD9200, well more than twice what we paid. Dynamic pricing at its best, but I'm nor sure I could justify almost 10grand for a balcony cabin for two.

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SargassoPirate

SargassoPirate

Posted
Posted

Economics 101, charge what the traffic will bear.

 

As long as there's a demand, the prices will continue to escalate.  They've already removed a lot of the inclusives in favor of getting people on board and then nickel and diming them.  The next step is to increase the basic cruise fares.  

 

As a consumer, our job is to make informed decisions about how and where we spend our money.  Put the pencil to it and maximize your bang for the buck.

 

It's capitalism and a free-market economy.......for now at least.

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Ken the cruiser "Live from...." Rare

Ken the cruiser

Posted
Posted

We have a 14-day Alaska Voyage of the Glaciers B2B booked on the Grand during the May 2024 timeframe in a VS. Every morning I check to see if the price has gone down to the point where it would make sense to refare. About 2 months or so ago, the VS category on the second leg for some unknown reason shot up from $3118 to $5418 pp (with the Plus package) while the fare for the first leg remained at $3018 (with the Plus package). Then a couple of weeks ago, PCL corrected the "erroneous" fare bump and dropped it back down to what it originally was.

 

I'm not saying this is what's happening here, but the symptoms sure sound similar.

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helby

helby

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, theloo said:

I booked an obstructed ocean view on the Crown in May for December.  It has more than doubled.  

I noticed the same thing on an obstructed Balcony on Majestic booked in May for September.  The late July  "sale" price had more than doubled.

 

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cruisingrob21

cruisingrob21

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Welcome to the new world of cruising. 

No kidding, remember in 2021 and 2022 when the cruise lines were doing kids sail free, or 2nd passenger is free, or HAL even had "reserve a verandah or higher cabin, and get a interior for taxes and fees only"

 

Yeah those days are gone.  Our minisuite to alaska on discovery this year was about $5k for the 4 of us, next year its pushing 8-9k for the same voyage.  As are the days of ships only 50% to 70% full.  Oh well.  My hope is that the cruise lines can use this extra income to pay down their debt and start doing some drydocks that repair issues and do create new innovations on board.

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kywildcatfanone

kywildcatfanone

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

No kidding, remember in 2021 and 2022 when the cruise lines were doing kids sail free, or 2nd passenger is free, or HAL even had "reserve a verandah or higher cabin, and get a interior for taxes and fees only"

 

Yeah those days are gone.  Our minisuite to alaska on discovery this year was about $5k for the 4 of us, next year its pushing 8-9k for the same voyage.  As are the days of ships only 50% to 70% full.  Oh well.  My hope is that the cruise lines can use this extra income to pay down their debt and start doing some drydocks that repair issues and do create new innovations on board.

Well, yeah, during the pandemic they needed to entice people to cruise, but now they are bursting at the seams with people wanting onboard, and are pricing according to however they think they can maximize each cabin.

 

I will say, at least in my view, the package and onboard items such as wifi  prices are outrageous, but they are selling so good for the cruise line.  

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Mike07

Mike07

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Well, yeah, during the pandemic they needed to entice people to cruise, but now they are bursting at the seams with people wanting onboard, and are pricing according to however they think they can maximize each cabin.

 

 

 

I do wonder with seemingly endless new business, the same fad that went thru ski resorts, wine, scotch, micro breweries and currently bourbon will happen with cruising.... where it gets super popular.... investment dollars and pricing skyrocket and then a bust occurs.

 

I went on a lot of cruises after COVID and tbh, I got burned out for several reasons. I'm unlikely to be on an ocean cruise anytime soon.

Edited by Mike07
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ethereal

ethereal

Posted
Posted

Does anyone know how long a cruise has to be before Princess offers 50% off sailings to passengers on the ship?  They were offering great deals to passengers during my 34 day Antarctica cruise last December. Now the 50% off deals are DOUBLE what the quotes were onboard. I guess 50% off applies to the higher prices you're mentioning!

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Steelers36

Steelers36

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, charliedalrymple said:

 

I was going to make some sort of snarky comment, but you beat me to it!

 

LOL.

15 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

Sorry, but you misinterpreted my comment. Not meant to be snarky at all.

I totally agree and didn't take your comment that way in the least.

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  • 4 weeks later...
DiRonT

DiRonT

Posted
Posted (edited)

Guess I got lucky then - 2 months ago booked a B2B, CA Coast and Mex Riviera in Full Suite.  Booked as 2 separate cruises and last Friday I noticed a price drop  so texted my TA and yesterday got confirmation of refared down.  Saved $1400+ per cruise.  WooHoo!!!

Edited by DiRonT
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memoak

memoak

Posted
Posted

 Nothing new here. Ships are now booking like crazy   Per crew members on the Crown right now about 35% of cruisers are new to cruising. Ships are sailing totally full. As cabins book up prices go up. Best to get your cabins early prices rarely go down theses days and I have not been on any cruise in the last year that wasn’t full. This is just the marketplace in action

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