Wow! Prices have skyrocketed-Canada/New England

[lovesublime]

We've been thinking about a Canada/New England cruise on CB in Oct. It would be the 10/10 sailing. We like the itinerary because it includes Newport. It seems like only a month ago when I checked that a balcony on the Caribe deck was only $889 pp. Checking today, I see the price has shot up to $1665 pp. Does this seem right? Does anyone think we may get a better price if we hold out on booking? What's the chance of fares going down? And we thought Alaska was expensive-wheeewww!

 

BTW, there will be three of us traveling and yes, we'll be booking two cabins and paying the single supplement for the second cabin. Any advice is welcome.

[Toto2Kansas]

We've been thinking about a Canada/New England cruise on CB in Oct. It would be the 10/10 sailing. We like the itinerary because it includes Newport. It seems like only a month ago when I checked that a balcony on the Caribe deck was only $889 pp. Checking today, I see the price has shot up to $1665 pp. Does this seem right? Does anyone think we may get a better price if we hold out on booking? What's the chance of fares going down? And we thought Alaska was expensive-wheeewww!

 

BTW, there will be three of us traveling and yes, we'll be booking two cabins and paying the single supplement for the second cabin. Any advice is welcome.

 

The price rising so drastically normally is the result of supply vs demand. The more staterooms booked and the less available can mean a huge price increase.

[mii]

I have been watching for 2010 on the Crown repo from Quebec city to ft. lauderdale and boy they are proud of their prices. For us who have to travel from the westcoast to Quebec and then home from Ft. lauderdale it is a fair amt of monies. I still watch once a week to see so it is not just the 2009 it is also 2010 cruises.

 

Marilyn

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree the ships have been selling out hence the price increase. :)

[kruisey]

We've been thinking about a Canada/New England cruise on CB in Oct. It would be the 10/10 sailing. We like the itinerary because it includes Newport. It seems like only a month ago when I checked that a balcony on the Caribe deck was only $889 pp. Checking today, I see the price has shot up to $1665 pp. Does this seem right? Does anyone think we may get a better price if we hold out on booking? What's the chance of fares going down? And we thought Alaska was expensive-wheeewww!

 

BTW, there will be three of us traveling and yes, we'll be booking two cabins and paying the single supplement for the second cabin. Any advice is welcome.

Caribe deck BB balcony $2277.55 pp including tax

Single $4312.50+242tax+4433.78 Canadian funds

 

Now see the price difference just across the border

[Atomica]

Supply and demand.

 

Last year, a couple friends of mine got themselves on a last-minute Celebrity Canada/New England sailing that was 13 days long for far, far less than we paid for a week on the QM2 to C/NE a week prior. So last minute deals may be found - but chances are, if the price has gone up, it's here to stay.

 

Keep watching the sailing you're interested in every day - you might luck out.

 

Princess doesn't seem to be having a problem filling their ships. I've been watching our upcoming Crown Princess sailing, and there's been no fire-sale of the lowest categories like there usually is in the last remaining weeks. What that says to me is that there's very, very few cabins left, and Princess doesn't feel the need to lower their prices to fill one or two cabins.

 

They may have adopted a philosophy somewhat similar to what Royal Caribbean announced earlier this year: that it wasn't going to reduce the prices of their sailings to insanely low levels just to fill the ship. Instead, they were going to maintain price integrity to fill a maximum of the ship, then reudce prices as necessary to see if they could shore up the remainder that wasn't selling. If Princess doesn't need to drop the price, they won't.

[sept10dsm]

We booked the Oct 17th sailing the end of May for 499 pp for an obstructed OV. The balcony at the time was 699 and mini 899 (Our price) Now all have gone up. The minimum cabin for each type have lower prices (with my signon) today but all waitlisted now. For the past 2 weeks all cabins were more than double the end of May prices. We shall see once final pmt is due I guess for sure how the ship is really booked. We did this cruise in 2007 on the Crown and booked the first week of July and any Obstructed view was available for 499 pp then (all obstructed were 499 too not just the lowest cabin of the type) This was the same for all the pricing insides all were 449. MOst balconies were 699 as well. This year the cruise went 'on sale' much earlier than 2007. We did the cruise in 2004 as well on the Grand and paid 649 pp for an inside! I watch this cruise almost daily since no air and we live only about 40 minutes from NY.

[Coral]

I am on that sailing and booked a minisuite guarantee for around $900 and the cheapest minisuite is now $19xx. The only reason I booked it early was that I had a goldmine promo from Princess saving $100 per cabin.

 

Having done this cruise, I can honestly say that a minisuite on this sailing is not worth $2000 pp or $1500 pp for a balcony.

 

You are right - the prices shot up - I wonder if there is a group on the ship that booked recently?

 

Final payment is July 27th.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

We are on the August 22 sailing of the CB. The prices did nothing but increase from the time I booked and now every category is waitlisted. If you really want to go this year, I'd book it now. Personally I'd book early for next year.

Cynthia

[lovesublime]

It looks like we'll be taking the Canada/New England cruise on NCL. We were really looking forward to trying Princess as we have never sailed with this line before. We could get a decent price on an inside, but we don't want that. Fortunately, we've cruised with NCL before and we like them. It's all just too bad.

[julia]

It looks like we'll be taking the Canada/New England cruise on NCL. We were really looking forward to trying Princess as we have never sailed with this line before. We could get a decent price on an inside, but we don't want that. Fortunately, we've cruised with NCL before and we like them. It's all just too bad.

 

Sorry that you weren't able to book with Princess... we are on this 10/10 cruise, and yes, I've watched the prices really go up in the past few months. But, that's not necessarily a "bad thing" (as you note). It says that Princess has a good product and this is a popular itinerary.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Drews_Cruise]

After receiving a mailing from Princess, we checked and the Canada / New England rate was $999.00 CAD for a balcony and we waited 3 days to book. The price went up to around $1400.00 CAD and I said forget it. Lesson learned, You gotta be quick when the price is reasonable. It appears the price is still rising at an unbelievable rate. Recession? What recession? Princess seems to be weathering the storm fine.

[Suskies]

I spent quite a bit of time earlier this year looking for a bargain cruise leaving from the northeast US, because I didn't want to spend $$$ on airfare, and guess what--I think that's what everyone living in the northeast is thinking. I found no real bargains on any cruiselines leaving from northeast US ports. The real bargains were (still are?) on Alaska cruises, and I'm figuring that's because most people have to fly there and can't afford to add on the airfare in today's economy.

[mr green]

New England never was one of the lower priced cruises.

 

john

[sept10dsm]

For some reason we have received great prices on Canada/New England each time we have cruised there. WE are paying 499 pp for an outside obstructed on Oct 17 CB. That's a great price for us especially since we live in NJ. I always watch this cruise and you do have to purchase the days the price decreases without waiting. We are in Cat FF as well.