Cruise Pricing ????

[ccrain]

Having read almost all the posts related to cruise pricing, I am still a bit confused. We have booked the Star Princess on 12/5/04 with our local TA, and am pricing the Island Princess for an April 05 Hawaii cruise. The issue is, I can't find any of these great bargains (10-20% off) that people talk about.

 

Now let me clarify. I'm talking about 10-20% off some of these web fares, NOT the brochure price. (I know no one pays the brochure price anymore.) For example. We booked the Star at around $750 each for a balcony guarantee, port charges included, but not taxes. ICruise is a bit less on their price, but does not include port charges, Travelocity, cruise.com and at least 3 others are still in the same ballpark. There is not 10-20% difference between them.

 

So where's the balcony guarantee for around $550-$600 including port charges and taxes?

 

On the Hawaii trip I've found basically the same thing. For a minisuite its going to be between $2600 and $3000 for the two of us depending on when and if I book and what's available.

 

I'm coming to the conclusion that everyone uses the brochure fares as baseline and then starts talking about 10-20-30-40% discounts from there. Is that about right?

 

I do know that some large travel agencies book blocks of rooms and do have some additional discounts available, but haven't found anything substantial yet.

[serene56]

SInce I got myself familiar with cruise fares I never ever look at brochure rates any more (wish I knew that long time ago when I first got interested in a cruise. thought I could never afford it)

 

I just start looking at all what the web offers for rates. I go to each one to figure out the base costs.

 

But what you are talking about-- your cruise may be a "good" seller and you wont see your price come down.

When we sailed on the Voyager the price was the same across the web. Even local travel agents gave us the same price. We booked and watched fares slowly climb higher. THey never once dropped in price even by a few dollars. byt the time we cruised it was 250pp more then what we paid.

 

Going NOWHERE

 

 

Miracle, February 13, 2005

Legend, October 22,2004

Voyager August 31,2003

Victory September 22,2002

Regal Empress,June 2001

Sensation,August 2000

 

 

[ccrain]

The way I chose this particular cruise (12/5/04) was that this week is the low price point week. Cruises prior and post, especially in 2005, were hundreds higher.

 

I think post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas is just a slow week, but last year the price break was during the Superbowl week, not during December.

 

Times change, I guess, thanks for the response.

[nancycoop1]

We are looking at an Oceania cruise in August. Has anyone had any luck with an upgrade on Oceania?

 

Nancy C

 

MS Noordam 2002

MS Oosterdam 2003

Grand Princess 2004

Oceania Insignia 2004

[tinsel57]

I just had some luck with cruisecompare.com

I had an existing booking that I've watched like a hawk and have upgraded from exterior to balcony and now they've just saved me another $145 for the same cabin. And I check the listings several times a week to look for price changes!

 

That's certainly the way to win my business, especially with two more cruises coming up!

 

tinsel57

 

[bigmike7]

Yo tinsel57-

 

Try as I might - I cannot get www.cruisecompare.com to come up - is that the right handle for them??

 

Happy Cruisin'

 

Mike

 

Fairsea'86-Mexican Riviera

Stardancer'88-Mexican Riviera

Crown Odyssey'00-E. Med

Dream'01-W. Med

Sky'01-Hawaii

Regal'02-Alaska

Norway'02-E. Carib

Norway'03-E. Carib

Elation'03-Panama Canal

Crown'04-Canada/East Coast

Norway "Royal Suite" 07/04/04-CANCELLED!!

"We have never had a BAD cruise - some were just BETTER than others"

[tinsel57]

Mike -major brain freeze here! I am so sorry,

www.*****.com

 

I have hunted so many sites to price compare it fried my brain!

I hope it works for you.

 

tinsel57

 

[ccrain]

Tried ***** and several others.

 

For the most part travelocity is lower and my local TA can match travelocity in all but one case. In that case not even Princess could figure out the Travelocity price.

 

In one case Kim's Cruises was cheaper than cruise compete, travelocity and local TA.

 

But in all cases we're talking about a 5% maximum spread in cruise, tax, port and government charges. Big differences in insurance, airfare, hotel.

[dhill]

Having read almost all the posts related to cruise pricing, I am still a bit confused. We have booked the Star Princess on 12/5/04 with our local TA, and am pricing the Island Princess for an April 05 Hawaii cruise. The issue is, I can't find any of these great bargains (10-20% off) that people talk about.

 

Now let me clarify. I'm talking about 10-20% off some of these web fares, NOT the brochure price. (I know no one pays the brochure price anymore.) For example. We booked the Star at around $750 each for a balcony guarantee, port charges included, but not taxes. ICruise is a bit less on their price, but does not include port charges, Travelocity, cruise.com and at least 3 others are still in the same ballpark. There is not 10-20% difference between them.

 

So where's the balcony guarantee for around $550-$600 including port charges and taxes?

 

On the Hawaii trip I've found basically the same thing. For a minisuite its going to be between $2600 and $3000 for the two of us depending on when and if I book and what's available.

 

I'm coming to the conclusion that everyone uses the brochure fares as baseline and then starts talking about 10-20-30-40% discounts from there. Is that about right?

 

I do know that some large travel agencies book blocks of rooms and do have some additional discounts available, but haven't found anything substantial yet.

 

That's about the way its works:)

[CruiserBruce]

11 year old thread...