Med cruises - why so expensive??

[Murphey]

Just wondering......then you have to add air. I don't know how anyone affords them???

[Times Prince]

Traveling in Europe I have noticed that everything is more expensive. Start with gas being over $5/US Gallon (converting from Euros to $ and liters to gal). I have no doubt this is the major factor. If everything else is proportional then the prices are about right, but still seem high to US expectations.

 

For our last cruises we booked for both the Mediterranean and for South America, the airfare cost more than an 10-16 day cruise. The cruise is a bargain.

 

Oh, and for that last Med cruise - we did a lot of comparison shopping and our originally booked 10 day cruise with air cost less than a 7 day trip to Belize, right here in the Caribbean.

[georgelp]

I think the air fare should be included.

 

Apart of it, with american cruise lines (RCI, carnival, NCL, Princes ...) should be arround 10-14 days. So it must be more expensive than standar 7 nights' cruises ...

 

The med cruises are great but I do prefer baltic ones.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

You think the Prices are odd We can cruise the Carb cheaper than the Med, With 14 hours flying less shorter distances between ports the Med should be a give away.

 

yours Shogun

[STLPilot]

Expensive? $1000pp for 12 nite grand med is pretty cheap in my book. A friend of mine paid under $800pp via Costco. Airfare ... about $600 RT if you do it right. As far as spending ... do your own excursions, very easy to do. You can easily do the whole thing for under $2kpp if you do a little homework.

[cynbar]

Also, don't forget that Med cruises are longer than those in Alaska or Bermuda or the Caribbean--- typically they run 10-14 days instead of 7, so that is some of the difference right there. I agree, by the way, that you have to take your time and shop around for airfare--- last summer, we ended up getting our air round trip Boston-Barcelona for about half of the prices we were originally seeing.

[envy4u]

How about demand. That will surely bring prices up as well.

[sunviking82]

We are just back from our 12 days on the Crown Princess (1st ever Med / European cruise). I was rather pleased with the over all cost. Our balcony stateroom (BB) was around $1400.00 pp and air was about $1500 pp (we did custom air through Princess). So that comes up to about $242 pp / day. That is a pretty good deal. If we went to an inside cabin and did our own air, we could have cut it down to $160 pp/day.

 

Excursion were higher then most, but some places you could easily do without or go out on your own (Rome, Athens, Monaco, Santorini, Mykonos, etc). But again, we went with our rule of spending 1/3 of the total cruise on excursion, drinks and spa and hit it right on the dot.

 

Found food on land to be a good value, IF you avoided the flashy resturants. Little Deli on Mykonos was fastastic and 2 of us ate for under $15.00!

 

I know that some outstanding deals are being offered for the fall ($799 for 12 day Baltic!) and air fares have fallen too. Europe is fantastic and well worth the money, just have to budget.

[Murphey]

I certainly understand that the longer cruises cost more. ;)

 

I always price cruises out on a per day basis.

 

I will have to shop around a little more I guess....I'm looking at the 12 day med on the Ruby next spring.....$125 pp/day for an inside. On the other hand our 7 day Alaska is $100 pp/day for an outside unobstructed.

 

Air is difficult too because you are always going in one port and out of another!!

 

I'm also kind of stuck on Princess!!

[vacationhappy]

The price that I am paying for a 12 night cruise this July Venice to Barcelona for 2 rooms (1 inside and 1 balcony) is running about the same as what I paid in April 2008 for a quad balcony room for 7 nights in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, we have to travel during school vacations so that may inflate the prices but I am finding that a Med cruise is much more affordable this year than in previous years. In fact, we took a similar cruise in 2004 and we are paying the same amount for 2 rooms as we did for an inside quad back then. The air was less expensive in '04...but not by much.

[baxter007]

our prices are quite different to yours. We are doing a 12 night greek and med. cruise in an inside quad room, we are paying $633 US$ per person per day - this does not include the gratuity, this is a lot more expensive than the flight to a from NZ - which covers a lot of milage!

[Pam in CA]

My guess is supply and demand. Another factor could be higher port charges but I'm not sure about that. I do know that most Med cruises book very early and then go up in price. Even then, I don't think prices are that high. My sister and BIL are paying about $97/pp/day for their outside unobstructed view cabin, including government fees and port charges, in October which I don't think is bad at all.

[agabbymama]

I certainly understand that the longer cruises cost more. ;)

 

I always price cruises out on a per day basis.

 

I will have to shop around a little more I guess....I'm looking at the 12 day med on the Ruby next spring.....$125 pp/day for an inside. On the other hand our 7 day Alaska is $100 pp/day for an outside unobstructed.

 

Air is difficult too because you are always going in one port and out of another!!

 

I'm also kind of stuck on Princess!!

 

Murphey,

 

You are absolutely correct in thinking the Med cruises are more expensive. I booked our 12 day cruise on Grand Princess in July '07 for the cruise in October '08. Our balcony cabin was $2050 pp. I got a bargain on airfare R/T to Paris from LAX for approx $550 but then had to pay approx $330 from Paris to Rome/Venice to Paris (making a total airfare of approx $880). I estimated another $1500 for spending as we would be on land for 7 days total. We tried to do a lot of the ports on our own, but it was difficult as my friend is mobility impaired and couldn't do a lot of walking or stairs. Planned that the total trip should be around $4000-4500. Boy was I wrong. By the time all was said and done, the trip ended up costing us $6500 pp. Granted we did do a couple of unplanned ship's tours at $99 pp and a couple of independent tours with taxi drivers for $150 pp., but meals were a huge impact on the budget too.

 

So be sure to plan and budget, then double it. Another poster on this board has said "take half the clothes you think you will need and double the money you think you will need".

 

Have fun planning, then taking your trip!

[baxter007]

OOOPS..... I have made a big error of calculation here, that cost is per the 4 of us per day!

[MMDown Under]

our prices are quite different to yours. We are doing a 12 night greek and med. cruise in an inside quad room, we are paying $633 US$ per person per day - this does not include the gratuity, this is a lot more expensive than the flight to a from NZ - which covers a lot of milage!

 

What cruise line are you cruising with?

 

I hope you don't have to pay a fuel surcharge on top of that, if one is reintroduced.

 

Later - I just noticed that was for the total 4 people in an inside quad cabin. However, that still works out at $US158.25US pppd, plus gratuity. I always add in the cost of gratuity pppd, to calculate the real cost pppd.

[chrysalis]

OOOPS..... I have made a big error of calculation here, that cost is per the 4 of us per day!

 

I wondered about that and was convinced that you needed a new travel agent.....

[MGAfhc]

Many Mediterranian cruises were on a 2 for 1 deal last month. I booked an 18 day TA which has 12 days in Europe. My usual outsides were all gone so I had to settle for an inside, but its near the door to the rear terrace on Riviera deck, so I am willing to give it a try. That cabin is now about 2500.00 but I got it for half that. For oneway airfare Air Canada wanted 1500.00+300.00 and Princess wanted about the same for air, but I got a oneway on Transat for 99.00+150.00. You need to shop around a little.

[chipmaster]

Just wondering......then you have to add air. I don't know how anyone affords them???

 

Expensive is a relative term ;)

 

When you consider what you get with a European Med. Cruise they are a great value compared to what you'd have to do to get a different city every day for x days, two meals a day, entertainment, etc. etc. Air fare is air fare, there are deals right now. BTW the price for the cruises themselves are much cheaper this year then last year thanks to the economy. Price out air fare, meals, and transportation for what a cruise offers versus land and you'll find its actually a pretty good value as long as you don't mind having only a day in each port and boring cruise food twice a day :D

 

Now is a European Cruise vacation for someone from Oregon a small amount of money, hell no, but it is still a value considering other options for a European vacation. It is a lot more expensive then say 7 days in Bend of course, but also a lot more fun ;)

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

We are just back from our 12 days on the Crown Princess (1st ever Med / European cruise). I was rather pleased with the over all cost. Our balcony stateroom (BB) was around $1400.00 pp and air was about $1500 pp (we did custom air through Princess). So that comes up to about $242 pp / day. That is a pretty good deal. If we went to an inside cabin and did our own air, we could have cut it down to $160 pp/day.

 

 

Wow! I wish the prices in the UK were as cheap as that! We are doing a 12 day med in August and we are paying over £2,000 pp (yes, that is POUNDS not dollars!) for a lower category cabin (BD) :eek: I know Aug is an expensive time of year (didn't have much choice due to DH's work), but if you consider that the med it is much nearer to UK, I think you guys over the Atlantic are blessed :)

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

My DW and I leave in one week for a 15 day cruise on the Crown Princess. We have a mini suite booked and arranged our own air. The total cost for these 15 nights plus air fare from Seattle in a mini suite was $5928 or $198 pp per night. I think it is a bargain. And we could have paid much less if we had booked a balcony or ocean view cabin.

[DrivesLikeMario]

The cruise prices aren't bad at all. In fact, almost all of them have dropped in price from when they originally opened up for booking.

 

What makes it costly for us is airfare from Southern California to Europe!! We're looking at an average of $1500 per person for Economy Class to Europe for a one week cruise that cost much less than that per person. Add to that a DH who refuses to fly to Europe in anything less than Bus. Class and we're easily talking $3500-$4000 per person for air alone. :eek:

 

I envy those that live on the East Coast and can fly to Europe so much cheaper.

[tiyana4]

Expensive? $1000pp for 12 nite grand med is pretty cheap in my book. A friend of mine paid under $800pp via Costco. Airfare ... about $600 RT if you do it right. As far as spending ... do your own excursions, very easy to do. You can easily do the whole thing for under $2kpp if you do a little homework.

 

 

You are right, the pricing has been phenomenal this year. We had no plans to do anything big this year but we saw the pricing for the Med starting around $999 and we couldn't resist. Funny thing is that our 7-nt Alaska cruise is costing us more than our 12-nt Med cruise next year. Hopefully the airfare will stay in the $600 range next year.

[California Native]

I have travelled throughout Europe extensively on land trips,

cruises and a combo of both..

When you add up transportation WITHIN Europe, 3star hotels, and food...the basics that you receive with a cruise...

A cruise is ALWAYS cheaper and waaaaayyyyyy more convenient.

The downside is there isn't as much immersion.

I honestly don't think the rates are expensive.

Airfare on the other hand for your European vacation whether by land or sea can be quite expensive depending where you reside.

[California Native]

The cruise prices aren't bad at all. In fact, almost all of them have dropped in price from when they originally opened up for booking.

 

What makes it costly for us is airfare from Southern California to Europe!! We're looking at an average of $1500 per person for Economy Class to Europe for a one week cruise that cost much less than that per person. Add to that a DH who refuses to fly to Europe in anything less than Bus. Class and we're easily talking $3500-$4000 per person for air alone. :eek:

 

I envy those that live on the East Coast and can fly to Europe so much cheaper.

 

Greetings from Northern California...

I feel your airfare pain...

last month we flew United and purchased the Economy Plus upgrade for only a couple of hundred dollars for 2 people (total) I know it's not business class..but it's a definate step up than Economy and A LOT cheaper!

[Veronica13]

Guess it's just me, but I think they are insanely cheap right now and I'll never be able to afford to go later! My air was $600 roundtrip nonstop on Expedia. Total 12 day cruise for a veranda suite for me alone, was under $2500.

 

How do you beat THAT?:confused: