Price Hikes! Holy Hot Dogs!

[cantgetin]

It will seriously depend on that happens with pricing.  We have a cruise in 2024 that I paid $2100 for a sea terrace.  This was a bargain. I priced the closest things I could get on other lines (Celebrity, Princess, etc) with packages that came as close to VV as I could find.  The other lines were about twice the price.  But now, that cruise is selling for $9K.  No, as much as I like VV, I would not pay $9K for it.

However, just as there are people out there who will pay whatever Disney asks (we quit sailing them some time ago in part due to too many ill behaved children and in part due to the ever increasing cost), there will be people who will book VV regardless of cost.

Edited October 27, 2023 by cantgetin

[Lustate]

9 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

The most unique thing about them is the no-kids policy. 

 

To me that one single sentence is worth a couple of $k. I don't have kids with my partner, and the idea of spending time which is hard to earn from work surrounded by other people is the worst!

 

The prices right now per night and still good enough for me, but a substantive rise would reduce the frequency of the voyages we do. 

[babalooo]

Just from last week to this week the sailing in May I want to go on jumped over $500 or more per cabin. I don't want to book last minute when the rates are even higher, but wonder if Black Friday or so will be the best time to take the leap since I didn't snag the cruise the moment they opened it up. 

[CanadianCruiser21]

VV prices round trip from Miami haven't really a bargain for a while now, but wow some of the previous amazing Europe deals are no more. Hoping the prices just went up to factor in an amazing Black Friday sale, but the 30% email that was accidentally sent out suggests otherwise. 
I have 3 sailings in 2024 and all of them are in a sea terrace and cost less than $100 USD per night per cabin, AFTER I factor in the getting back about $600 of the sailor loot in cash at the casino. That’s amazing for just the room, before factoring in the food and entertainment. My airport hotel in Miami the night before one of the sailings is $300 alone.
 

Most other cruises are about $250-$500 per night for a balcony cabin (after automatic gratuities and wifi).

 

Anyway, it’s not a surprise the prices have gone up. Glad I got in before it becomes Di$ney for Adult$

[Freelancer3]

I really enjoy VV.

 

However, I am concerned that VV is forgetting the clients that helped launched them by disclosing their new pricing schemes.

 

Those of us who are loyal VV cruisers did so for various reasons - one of the major reasons is its price point. I know thats why I tried them and am now preparing to board VV cruise 10. 

 

I am all for making a profit, but to keep and grow their market share they need to KEEP the loyal VV cruisers , draw in new cruisers, AND convert those of us who cruise a lot. It seems to me that a lot revolves around price (and yes... other factors).

 

I have looked at VV Caribbean 2025 cruises and I am not that impressed with the launch price. If the price were slightly better, I would have already booked at least one. I have 4 more cruises booked after this one. 

 

Will I continue to cruise VV? I want to- and will to some extent. Hopefully, they will remain unique, NOT price themselves using the Disney model, and keep some discounted pricing. "Discounted deals" sparks positive social media and will enhance bookings as prices increase due to occupancy. 

 

Why do I enjoy VV? The 4 big reasons are:  Price, "almost" all included pricing, the quality of the cruise product, and adults only.

[-The-True-North-]

16 minutes ago, Freelancer3 said:

I really enjoy VV.

 

However, I am concerned that VV is forgetting the clients that helped launched them by disclosing their new pricing schemes.

 

Those of us who are loyal VV cruisers did so for various reasons - one of the major reasons is its price point. I know thats why I tried them and am now preparing to board VV cruise 10. 

 

I am all for making a profit, but to keep and grow their market share they need to KEEP the loyal VV cruisers , draw in new cruisers, AND convert those of us who cruise a lot. It seems to me that a lot revolves around price (and yes... other factors).

 

I have looked at VV Caribbean 2025 cruises and I am not that impressed with the launch price. If the price were slightly better, I would have already booked at least one. I have 4 more cruises booked after this one. 

 

Will I continue to cruise VV? I want to- and will to some extent. Hopefully, they will remain unique, NOT price themselves using the Disney model, and keep some discounted pricing. "Discounted deals" sparks positive social media and will enhance bookings as prices increase due to occupancy. 

 

Why do I enjoy VV? The 4 big reasons are:  Price, "almost" all included pricing, the quality of the cruise product, and adults only.

Agreed.

 

We really like what we get with Virgin, and will pay a slight premium for it.  However, def not double and not even the Disney premium.

 

Me personally, maybe $300/$400 USD over a comparable cruise and itinerary from Royal or Celebrity.

[TotesMcGotes]

I booked last week.  I just checked the price for my sailing, price for the same category cabin I got is now about $600 more.

[-The-True-North-]

Glad I marked the day that VV decided to stick it to people. This is when we noticed priced across the board doubled what seemed over night.

 

Now with the new itinerary released, they are all 200 or 300% marked up. 

[TotesMcGotes]

Was looking at the Greek Island Glow itinerary for July 2025.  Almost $5k for a regular sea terrace cabin. 😮

[cantgetin]

Bottom line, they will either find people who want to pay the higher rates or they will need to find reasons for "discounts."  Bookings will tell the story.

[FFMilesJunkie]

I was a little shocked yesterday at the prices but started digging a little deeper and comparing to Celebrity 2025 prices which seems to be probably the closest mainline competitor to VV.  I found the fares to be pretty close

 

For example, the 7 night Greek Island Glow itineraries are about $5,000 for a Sea Terrace with included WiFi, Gratuities and $300 Bar Tab

 

Picked a random Celebrity Ascent 7 night Barcelona to Athens cruise on Aug 2

A Standard E2 Infinite Balcony is $4,600 without any perks.  Gratuities will run about $250 for the cabin and Wifi another $150+ depending on the deal. Throw in a couple specialty restaurants, and you are well over the Virgin Fare of $5000. 

 

The Ascent is shiny and new and will command higher fares but even if you book a 7 night on the 20+ Year Old Infinity out of Athens on August 2, A balcony is still going to run you $3,500 before adding in WiFi, Grats, & dining.  So even on the older ships you will be paying $4,000+ for a 7 night Greek cruise and probably closer to $5,000 with a drink & WiFi package. 

 

So, it just looks like Virgin is going to test these fares for now.  People planning 2025 cruises will be comparing against other 2025 cruises and not current or past VV Prices.  The good news is that Virgin is still allowing no fee changes up until 45 days before the sailing so you can reprice if the prices drop due to market conditions. 

 

[jame_g]

Yikes. The cruise I booked for Jan 2025 just a few days ago literally doubled in price! I guess that's one way to make up for the sale price because it still comes out higher.

[jon81uk]

4 hours ago, FFMilesJunkie said:

I was a little shocked yesterday at the prices but started digging a little deeper and comparing to Celebrity 2025 prices which seems to be probably the closest mainline competitor to VV.  I found the fares to be pretty close

 

For example, the 7 night Greek Island Glow itineraries are about $5,000 for a Sea Terrace with included WiFi, Gratuities and $300 Bar Tab

 

Picked a random Celebrity Ascent 7 night Barcelona to Athens cruise on Aug 2

A Standard E2 Infinite Balcony is $4,600 without any perks.  Gratuities will run about $250 for the cabin and Wifi another $150+ depending on the deal. Throw in a couple specialty restaurants, and you are well over the Virgin Fare of $5000. 

 

The Ascent is shiny and new and will command higher fares but even if you book a 7 night on the 20+ Year Old Infinity out of Athens on August 2, A balcony is still going to run you $3,500 before adding in WiFi, Grats, & dining.  So even on the older ships you will be paying $4,000+ for a 7 night Greek cruise and probably closer to $5,000 with a drink & WiFi package. 

 

So, it just looks like Virgin is going to test these fares for now.  People planning 2025 cruises will be comparing against other 2025 cruises and not current or past VV Prices.  The good news is that Virgin is still allowing no fee changes up until 45 days before the sailing so you can reprice if the prices drop due to market conditions. 

 

Yep I was comparing prices for the May 2025 transatlantic and a similar cruise was a similar price with Celebrity once tips are included.

[CruisingWalter]

On 10/26/2023 at 7:38 PM, Travel-and-See said:

Disney vs. Virgin is an interesting comparison - Disney provides a product that nobody else does. Sailing with Disney characters, Disney production shows, Disney fireworks... it's the Disney theme park style of experience that really can't be compared with anyone else.  

 

Disney is the cruise line I compare VV the most. Many of the senior management, including the original CEO came from DCL. The level of attention to service and food is the most notable similarity. Now the thing about a Disney cruise is being so much less stressful than going to the parks and you get much more quality 'face time' with the characters. At the parks you're in a line, take the picture, move on. On the ships, you see the characters every single day and they have the time to interact with you. The video of Dr. Strange and Thor playing Boggle with guests is still one of the most fun things I've seen from those cruises. And Belle meeting up with a very special little fan every single morning to chat. You can't get those quality interactions in the parks. 

 

Now does VV's current product warrant the pricing changes? That's completely up to the consumer. Celebrity & Princess both offer many more varied itineraries thanks to having so many ships. Especially in the Caribbean, VV is rather boring repeating the same old, same old constantly. Those new 7-night itineraries for 2025 are just... boring.... and in the middle of July. I would do the 8-night Eastern Caribbean Antilles again in the winter but not those 7-night offerings in July at those prices.

 

In Europe and the Med, VV does have some really interesting itineraries, but with one or two ships in the area, they are limited in the itineraries they can present.

 

Celebrity and Princess both offer a great product at a lower cost, even with Princess Plus/Premier added, you can often sail on Princess at a lower cost.  Premier includes 2 Specialty Dining meals so that's the most comparable to VV. Celebrity's onboard package is overpriced for what you get so you would have to compare ala carte pricing vs. VV to see if it's a good deal for you. 

 

We had an amazing time on the Sky Princess last year and are really looking forward to our sailing on Sun Princess next October. With so many dining and entertainment venues, that is truly going to be a big change for that cruise line. This is what VV is now going to be competing against. There are approx. 75 new cruise ships coming out over the next 4-5 years. Everyone else has big shiny new toys coming out at lower costs. It's going to get much more crowded in this space and VV might have to decide if they want to convert to a true 'luxury cruise line' at some point in the future to take advantage of their limited inventory. Perhaps start sending one of the ladyships on more exotic itineraries and possibly around the world ala Azamara and Oceania who also have smaller fleets. We'll actually be on the Oceania Sirena this coming Friday for Christmas/New Years. Only 650 pax. Should be quite the different experience. 🙂

[cantgetin]

DCL cruises started as very expensive, became reasonable, then went thru the roof.  And product quality has had better and worse periods but the character experience has always been amazing.  However, at the point where we had no children involved and frankly, some of the newer stage shows were just bad, there was nothing to justify those prices any more.  We started branching out.  We've had some great experiences on other lines, mostly due to itineraries.

VV was another of those "branch out and try it" situations.  Unfortunately, some of my favorite activities have either been seriously diluted or ended.  Food quality, while generally good, has not been uniformly so.  Disembarkation issues have been just plain bad each time with their handicap assist situation.  I understand some of the issues, but if Princess, Celebrity, Disney, etc. can master them, why can't VV?    It has been a good product at a good price.  It is not a product that justifies a  a 300% increase.  So we will enjoy 2024 as booked, then take a break while the industry straightens out as new ships are launched.  There going to be a LOT of competition out there.

[Alegeeter]

You'd think with these prices they'd actually have a better functioning onboard app and website. The onboard product is great (though IMO not with these significant hikes) but it's embarrassing to promote such a high end product with an app that crashed every other minute.

 

[Fogcityca13]

I’ve been pricing out a few Celebrity itineraries now that the cost is close to VV’s new prices. It’s hard to beat the number of itinerary options Celebrity has, especially for me on the US west coast. It’s not worth the hassle of flying to Miami for the short 4-5 day trips VV is offering. Hopefully when Brilliant launches we have more options in the US market. 

[Jimmym1981]

On 12/19/2023 at 11:48 PM, Fogcityca13 said:

I’ve been pricing out a few Celebrity itineraries now that the cost is close to VV’s new prices. It’s hard to beat the number of itinerary options Celebrity has, especially for me on the US west coast. It’s not worth the hassle of flying to Miami for the short 4-5 day trips VV is offering. Hopefully when Brilliant launches we have more options in the US market. 

We have been avid Celebrity sailors for over 7 years. Recently over the past year, the prices also went through the roof. To me, it just seems that Virgin is the last person to catch up to these changes. Thankfully we booked our first 6 night Dec 13th before the "new sale" that kicked in on the 14th. Prices of our Terrace went up $800 overnight. 

[-The-True-North-]

5 hours ago, Jimmym1981 said:

We have been avid Celebrity sailors for over 7 years. Recently over the past year, the prices also went through the roof. To me, it just seems that Virgin is the last person to catch up to these changes. Thankfully we booked our first 6 night Dec 13th before the "new sale" that kicked in on the 14th. Prices of our Terrace went up $800 overnight. 

VV has now lost it's luster for me now.

The price is what got my attention.

 

Their service is the same I've had on any ship. (cabin attendant making the beds, servers serving and are polite and bartenders making drinks). Happenings cast is the only real difference, and I am indifferent to them. I do enjoy trivia tho.

 

Definitely glad I was able to do a few on the cheap, but think we are doing Celebrity from here on out. To repetitive, been there done that.

 

Egar to hear what you have to say when you come back, so I hope you'll let us know.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip.

Edited December 22, 2023 by -The-True-North-

[Jimmym1981]

24 minutes ago, -The-True-North- said:

VV has now lost it's luster for me now.

The price is what got my attention.

 

Their service is the same I've had on any ship. (cabin attendant making the beds, servers serving and are polite and bartenders making drinks). Happenings cast is the only real difference, and I am indifferent to them. I do enjoy trivia tho.

 

Definitely glad I was able to do a few on the cheap, but think we are doing Celebrity from here on out. To repetitive, been there done that.

 

Egar to hear what you have to say when you come back, so I hope you'll let us know.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip.

We have a Celebrity cruise next month on the 28th - I'll make sure to respond back on how it was. We've never really had a "bad" cruise on Celebrity...actually all quite amazing. The only one that I have a small gripe about was our Med one on the Edge last September. The ship was only half full (1600 ppl) and it definitely felt a bit light all around with staff, service, and food. Nothing to truly complain about though as we had a wonderful time.

 

Our VV that we booked for next year was around $2200 for a Terrace (6 night) with the MNVV certificate $600 sailor loot, so the price was hard to pass up. To put it in perspective our AI Celebrity Reflection cruise we booked this past May for next month was $2150 for an inside room Guarantee. Both of these same cruises are well past the $3000 mark now with all the perks included. It is really hard to justify these prices when we were sailing on Celebrity pre-pandamic for all under $2000 for 9 night ABC cruises. 
 

[-The-True-North-]

21 minutes ago, Jimmym1981 said:

We have a Celebrity cruise next month on the 28th - I'll make sure to respond back on how it was. We've never really had a "bad" cruise on Celebrity...actually all quite amazing. The only one that I have a small gripe about was our Med one on the Edge last September. The ship was only half full (1600 ppl) and it definitely felt a bit light all around with staff, service, and food. Nothing to truly complain about though as we had a wonderful time.

 

Our VV that we booked for next year was around $2200 for a Terrace (6 night) with the MNVV certificate $600 sailor loot, so the price was hard to pass up. To put it in perspective our AI Celebrity Reflection cruise we booked this past May for next month was $2150 for an inside room Guarantee. Both of these same cruises are well past the $3000 mark now with all the perks included. It is really hard to justify these prices when we were sailing on Celebrity pre-pandamic for all under $2000 for 9 night ABC cruises. 
 

Awesome. Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Any tips or tricks you know how to score Celebrity for cheaper? For our cruises, we usually just watch the 90 day tracker and if we see a VACATION that is priced TO sell, we GO with them.

 

Before VV, we never bought a cruise outside of 90 days. 

[cantgetin]

3 hours ago, -The-True-North- said:

Awesome. Looking forward to hearing from you.

 

Any tips or tricks you know how to score Celebrity for cheaper? For our cruises, we usually just watch the 90 day tracker and if we see a VACATION that is priced TO sell, we GO with them.

 

Before VV, we never bought a cruise outside of 90 days. 

I generally do the same as you when looking for last minute stuff.  If it is something special, we book 18 months or so out.....and generally get at least decent rates then.  However, I'm not sure there are good rates out there any more.

[zumbaqueen1]

So with the current sale that ends tonight before midnight what are some thoughts on booking for next fall?

 

[jon81uk]

26 minutes ago, zumbaqueen1 said:

So with the current sale that ends tonight before midnight what are some thoughts on booking for next fall?

 

Current sale is through to end of January.

[cantgetin]

There will always be a sale.  The only question is how they will allocate the "discounts."