Bizarre pricing

I was just looking at the prices for a cruise we are contemplating for next year (QV 8th June). The price for the round trip Southampton to Southampton is currently £3,129 on the Cunard fare or £2,960 for the early saver for a balcony. However, I have just noticed that if we stay onboard for an extra 2 nights and get off at Hamburg, the next port, the price FALLS to £2,449 and includes flights and transfers!!

How bizarre!

So are you going to Hamburg?

When I booked our last cruise, the Cunard fare was cheaper then the Early Saver and also included $750 OBC. Oddly enough I did not book the Early Saver !

So are you going to Hamburg?

Unfortunately we can't commit to booking yet. We are just at the stage of looking at possible cruises.

However, if this is the situation when we come to actually book, I would certainly look at going for an extra 2 days for the lower price. My problem is I don't fly. But even so the difference in price would easily cover a return on the Eurostar and we would get 2 extra days on the ship.

I was just looking at the prices for a cruise we are contemplating for next year (QV 8th June). The price for the round trip Southampton to Southampton is currently £3,129 on the Cunard fare or £2,960 for the early saver for a balcony. However, I have just noticed that if we stay onboard for an extra 2 nights and get off at Hamburg, the next port, the price FALLS to £2,449 and includes flights and transfers!!

How bizarre!

I agree that certainly qualifies as some bizarre pricing. For comparison, that pricing anomaly does not appear on Cunard's U.S. web site. Here are the base fares (before taxes and fees, and no flights or transfers) for an entry-level balcony that I am seeing in the U.S. for the two voyages under discussion.

Voyage V820 - 14 night Southampton-Southampton: $3,399

Voyage V820A - 16 night Southampton-Hamburg: $3,899

Regards,

John

... But even so the difference in price would easily cover a return on the Eurostar and we would get 2 extra days on the ship.

And you never know, if you ask them to quote a "cruise only" fare it may be cheaper still!

Reminds me of similarly bizarre pricing a number of years ago. Having booked and payed for an 18 night cruise we got an offer to extend it by an extra six nights. By some anomaly, that only seemed to apply to our grade of cabin, this turned out to be cheaper. We said YES and they gave us a refund. Not many people can say they were paid £100 to sail on QE2:D

Regards, Colin.

I was just looking at the prices for a cruise we are contemplating for next year (QV 8th June). The price for the round trip Southampton to Southampton is currently £3,129 on the Cunard fare or £2,960 for the early saver for a balcony. However, I have just noticed that if we stay onboard for an extra 2 nights and get off at Hamburg, the next port, the price FALLS to £2,449 and includes flights and transfers!!

How bizarre!

Cunard obviously wants to keep passengers on for those two extra nights, and is offering an attractive incentive to do so. Keeping passengers onboard means that the staff is tipped, money spent in the bars, and Cunard can spend less on marketing to the general public those two days. It's win / win for everyone.

Next July the QE's trip to Norway and north of the Arctic Circle was marketed in America the same way. I am paying less to get off the boat in Rotterdam with two extra nights than the fare for the twelve night round trip out of Southampton would have been! Unfortunately, I still have to pay for air to and from the States.