Huge price increase??

[cmaasfamily]

Checked in today on the April 2025 cruise we have planned and others we are considering, and man, there were some big jumps! Our British Isles cruise is up 40% since we booked it. There have been minor intermediate increases, but most of that was in the last day or so. Sales must be good if they can get away with those numbers? Is anybody else seeing the same?

Edited January 11 by cmaasfamily
typo

[millybess]

5 minutes ago, cmaasfamily said:

Checked in today on the April 2025 cruise we have planned and others we are considering, and man, there were some big jumps! Our British Isles cruise is up 40% since we booked it. There have been minor intermediate increases, but most of that was in the last day or so. Sales must be good if they can get away with those numbers? Is anybody else seeing the same?

Yes, our cruise next week is up by a small amount.  Our cruise in April has increased by 60%.  Our cruise for 2025 has increased by 40%.  It's sort of like playing the stock market when you book. 

[jrkstl]

I too noticed this! We booked the Malta, Morocco and the Mediterranean cruise for March of 2025, and our DV5 category room has jumped up almost $5K! I can certainly understand a minor increase, but this seems to be a bit much. Wondering if it's maybe a website glitch? All dates of this itinerary sold out quickly, and I noticed that the prices were as high for the just-opened 2026 dates too. 

[millybess]

1 minute ago, jrkstl said:

Wondering if it's maybe a website glitch? All dates of this itinerary sold out quickly, and I noticed that the prices were as high for the just-opened 2026 dates too. 

We have found that it has to do with the itineraries.  The most popular ones seem to jump in price fairly quickly.  We book early -- pretty much as soon as new dates are posted -- and we often look at current prices and never regret it.  So far, there have been no exceptions to this strategy.  

[millybess]

Also, with the $25 deposit (albeit, a slightly higher cancellation penalty), you can't lose.  It's a win for us.  Book it, insure it and look forward to it.  😊

[jmfdr]

50 minutes ago, cmaasfamily said:

Checked in today on the April 2025 cruise we have planned and others we are considering, and man, there were some big jumps! Our British Isles cruise is up 40% since we booked it. There have been minor intermediate increases, but most of that was in the last day or so. Sales must be good if they can get away with those numbers? Is anybody else seeing the same?

Yes, we were considering booking  a 2026 cruise a week or so ago.  I was very surprised to see such a huge price jump in pricing when I checked the Viking website today.  We have four Viking cruises booked,  but we might be priced out of future cruises. 

[1985rz1]

56 minutes ago, jrkstl said:

I too noticed this! We booked the Malta, Morocco and the Mediterranean cruise for March of 2025, and our DV5 category room has jumped up almost $5K! I can certainly understand a minor increase, but this seems to be a bit much. Wondering if it's maybe a website glitch? All dates of this itinerary sold out quickly, and I noticed that the prices were as high for the just-opened 2026 dates too. 

Your post made me look, as we are on the same cruise. The current pricing for a PV1 is $6,500 pp higher than what we paid.  The cruise is listed as sold out except for one DV1 which is listed as $4,300 higher than what we paid for the PV1.  Whoa!

[miami mama]

Just took a look also. Have one cruise scheduled this year. Will need to tell my husband to really enjoy himself. If these prices hold, this will be our last Viking cruise. 

[Mike07]

The cruise YTers keep saying record numbers of bookings are happening. I think Don was saying that Princess is claiming not to hold out for last minute fares, because their bookings are so solid that they won't do any fire sales.

 

That being said, it's travel sales. It's hard to say what is and isn't happening. You go to any car dealer in any city we live in and ask a rando car salesman, he'll say "sales are great!!!!" even if it's 2009 and half the city is unemployed.

 

With all these new cruise ships coming onboard... Icon of the Seas, Princess's new ship, I think Ritz Carlton has a ship coming, Viking has that new one coming... it tells me that there are a lot of beds to fill on these ships that run 365 days a year.

[CCWineLover]

Yes the prices took a big jump in 2024 for sure - but mostly on the very popular itineraries that sell out.  Namely British Isles, Malta, Japan, Australia and probably others (these are the ones I've been following).    Conversely the ones that aren't as popular (transatlantic cruises, some others) actually are offering pretty good deals.

Supply and Demand - as is the case in airlines, hotels, cruises, and more.  

 

If you think the cruise prices are getting ridiculous, have you looked at what hotel prices are doing this past year!  Unbelievable !!

 

Makes one think about putting down that $25 placeholder "just in case" you might want to go in the future (almost like a "price protection" insurance amount).

Edited January 11 by CCWineLover

[zalusky]

We got a move over offer back in May on an Italy/Greece sailing.  We took the same sailing for 2025.

I see it jumped $2200 from May when they made the move.  Best yet it was a complete refund then a free sailing of our choice.  So we are saving even more now.  I wonder if they will keep up with the move over offers given all the price increases?

[Clay Clayton]

To add an opposing data point (or to perhaps support CCwinelover’s) the South Atlantic Crossing we have booked for March 2025 is exactly the same as when we booked it in July 2023. 

[kctwinmommy]

Someone posted this on another site, but said they went back later this evening and found prices had gone back down. Thinking it might have been some glitches in the system.

 

Having said that, I did look at ours. We booked almost exactly a year ago, had a $1500/person discount offer at the time. Our DV4 cabin if we could book it now (as it's sold out), it would cost us $18,000 more total!! So almost $42,000 for our trip. And that's the price for this cruise through October of this year. I think 2 or 3 of the sailings still have a few open cabins, but most are sold out.

[cmaasfamily]

7 hours ago, kctwinmommy said:

Someone posted this on another site, but said they went back later this evening and found prices had gone back down. Thinking it might have been some glitches in the system.

 

Having said that, I did look at ours. We booked almost exactly a year ago, had a $1500/person discount offer at the time. Our DV4 cabin if we could book it now (as it's sold out), it would cost us $18,000 more total!! So almost $42,000 for our trip. And that's the price for this cruise through October of this year. I think 2 or 3 of the sailings still have a few open cabins, but most are sold out.

Yep, ours dropped back down by $4K per person. I've seen glitches like this with airlines (but not recently) where prices were haywire for a few hours - typically earlier on Sunday mornings. I hope no one panicked and booked the crazy prices expecting them to go higher!

[CDNPolar]

We have tracked Viking pricing since we started to sail with them in 2017 and every year there is a price increase and it tends to be based on the popularity of the itinerary.

[jmfdr]

1 hour ago, cmaasfamily said:

Yep, ours dropped back down by $4K per person. I've seen glitches like this with airlines (but not recently) where prices were haywire for a few hours - typically earlier on Sunday mornings. I hope no one panicked and booked the crazy prices expecting them to go higher!

Yes, the price for the 2026 cruise we were considering went back down $2K to the original offer.  Must have been a price glitch on the website.

[Cienfuegos]

There is a huge North American demand for cruises right now.  My travel agent mentioned last week that he's hearing from people who've been absent for years.

 

The cruise lines are pricing for the demand...

[Twitchly]

Wow. Just checked the 2025 price for the British Isles cruise we took in 2022. It has doubled in three years. We wouldn’t be able to take it now.

[janetcbl]

Wow! I just checked our cost for Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Beyond for 5/24/2024 that we booked in 2023….cost almost $3000 more per person than now. Glad we booked when we did.

[kctwinmommy]

So that's totally bizarre!! It did drop back down today and now it's only $1500 more per person. That's just crazy that it was showing $8000 more yesterday. Wow! And there's actually ONE Explorer's Suite open now. Wish I could afford that! LOL!

[duquephart]

Whatever the traffic will bear.

[farmecologist]

19 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Yes the prices took a big jump in 2024 for sure - but mostly on the very popular itineraries that sell out.  Namely British Isles, Malta, Japan, Australia and probably others (these are the ones I've been following).    Conversely the ones that aren't as popular (transatlantic cruises, some others) actually are offering pretty good deals.

Supply and Demand - as is the case in airlines, hotels, cruises, and more.  

 

If you think the cruise prices are getting ridiculous, have you looked at what hotel prices are doing this past year!  Unbelievable !!

 

Makes one think about putting down that $25 placeholder "just in case" you might want to go in the future (almost like a "price protection" insurance amount).

 

Doesn't seem like these price increases are just for the popular itineraries though.  

Just checked our TA coming up in April, 2024 and it has also substantially jumped in price.

 

Cruise booking is like any other travel booking...timing is critical when attempting to snag the best deal.  For instance, we booked this TA during the sales in late November.  Free air, free SSP, reduced rates, and past customer discount.  This combo was only available for a very limited time for our sailing.

 

I'm also guessing the $25 deposit has something to do with it.  Sailings are "filling up"...but nobody has paid, and many will likely cancel as the payment date approaches!

 

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, farmecologist said:

 

Doesn't seem like these price increases are just for the popular itineraries though.  

Just checked our TA coming up in April, 2024 and it has also substantially jumped in price.

 

Cruise booking is like any other travel booking...timing is critical when attempting to snag the best deal.  For instance, we booked this TA during the sales in late November.  Free air, free SSP, reduced rates, and past customer discount.  This combo was only available for a very limited time for our sailing.

 

I'm also guessing the $25 deposit has something to do with it.  Sailings are "filling up"...but nobody has paid, and many will likely cancel as the payment date approaches!

 

Yes, sometimes a great time to check the prices is just before the 6 month final payment (for many people) and then again before the 120 mark (when the penalty for cancelling rises substantially.  I've had success with this strategy - especially with sold out cruises.  It can also help you get a better cabin, as the good cabins were reserved early and when those people cancel, they free up.

[Dukefan]

On 1/11/2024 at 4:43 PM, cmaasfamily said:

Checked in today on the April 2025 cruise we have planned and others we are considering, and man, there were some big jumps! Our British Isles cruise is up 40% since we booked it. There have been minor intermediate increases, but most of that was in the last day or so. Sales must be good if they can get away with those numbers? Is anybody else seeing the same?

Our British Isles Explorer Cruise for July, 2025, which we booked last year for a PS3 Cabin, is showing the same price as when we booked it.  If fact, it is $1000 less the the same Cabin on the April 2004 Cruise.

[Hanoj]

Viking may be using dynamic pricing, increasing prices as categories approach being sold out.