Cost of cruising: now vs then

There are deals to be had. Many months ago I saw a posting here on CC for 11 night Equinox cruises in Concierge or Aqua for $999 per person plus port fees and taxes. We booked two of them. Under $100 per person per day!!! Sailing in Sept and Oct.

Our cruises back then were in the summer or school breaks because they included our son so we had to always go away during school vacations. If you can travel off season you can get a deal. But if you have to add in cost of flying a lot of times it doesn't make sense to pay more for airfare than the cruise IMO. Also since I still work I cannot just get away any time I want.

Not me. Our very first cruise in 2000 was $1,500 for 3 people for 7 nights out of NYC and drink prices were low. Much cheaper than in a good restaurant or bar at home at that time.

 

Our first Celebrity cruise in 2002 on Millennium, which was only 2 years old at the time, was $3,000 for 3 people and it included airfare. It was a 10 night cruise. Martinis were only either $6.95 or $7.95 at the time and they gave you the entire shaker..

Cruising has changed over the years, some things for the good and some not so good, but it is still holds a great value for me and when it doesn't hold that value, then I'll just find another way to spend my vacation dollars. The one thing I've learned over the years, is that we all want different things. We have different expectations, likes and dislikes and a company can never give everyone what they want.

I haven't tried X before.

 

Is this $10 fee fleet wide and apply to the MDR?

The Crown Grill is actually on Princess and not on Celebrity... it is, what I consider to be, one of their outstanding specialty restaurants. The fee is $29 pp and for that you get so much food, I can't even imagine finishing all the provide, much less, an additional entree. Anyhow, I can only imagine that some passengers have taken advantage of the all you can eat policy by ordering several entrees. Thus, instead of raising the price of the meal for everyone, Princess is now simply charging $10 more for each additional entree ordered by those passengers that want more. The ones that are satisfied with what is included still pay the $29 pp. I totally applaud this action!

Even without inflation, I can cruise for less today than my first cruises.

Even without inflation, the cruise I took in December was up 60% more, per day for the same category cabin, than I did for my first cruise in 2003. No cruise line perks for either one.

You just need to look. Last year I got a 12 night in a concierge class room on the Constellation for $899 pp. That included drinks and grants. With port fees I believe it was like $1050 pp. It cost more to fly to Rome and home from Athens than the 12 nights on board.

While I do book a splurge cruise once in a great while (approx 1 in every 20 cruises or so), I hardly ever book a cruise unless it is around $100 a day pp. This is the same mark I used to use back in the 80's and my limit just hasn't gone up in all those years. And, it didn't use to include a beverage package or much onboard credit at that time. Now, it's funny because in that same decade, I had my limit set for Hawaii that I would pay no more than $50 a day pp for a nice hotel down by the beach and that didn't even include my food or drink. Yikes, try finding a decent hotel in Hawaii for $100 a day now! Hahaha ... not very doable!

I also remember reading an article a couple of years back about the most and least expensive (larger) cities in America for tourists. The most expensive, which is right in my backyard, was San Francisco, which will set tourists back an average of $583 per day ... I am thinking that was for a couple. This included hotels, food and drink, activities / entertainment, gratuities and transportation. Holy moly ... that is expensive! Of note, the least expensive was Las Vegas.

My last cruise on Celebrity was a couple of months ago and I booked it rather last minute. I booked a guarantee OV cabin for just under $100 pp per day. I was lucky and was upgraded to CC but would have been happy either way. With that fare, I also received the beverage package, $500 OBC and included gratuities. Since all my needs were covered, I used that OBC plus very little of my own money to purchase an iPad Pro.

My next cruise on Celebrity, later this year, was even less than $100 pp per day for a balcony cabin (not a guaranteed cabin this time). I also received the go best package included in this pricing ... plus another $100 loyalty credit and an additional $100 statement credit from my credit card.

And as a matter of fact, my next cruise on Princess is only $50 a day pp. That is in one of my favorite oceanview cabins and does include a small amount of obc but am thinking of transferring it to a travel agent for a bit more.

I big factor that is overlooked when comparing prices now versus back in the day. That factor is fuel cost. I don't know exactly what percentage it is when related to total cost but it has to be considerable. Last I heard, it was about $50 dollars a barrel. For us that have cruised for many years, I remember it being well over $100 a barrel for quite a length of time. What do you think happens to pricing if it ever reaches that price again? That means the economy is probably in the toilet and the first thing to go is discretionary spending for such things as vacations. That probably reduces the younger generation. For us seniors, I think it has little effect, at least for me. Pricing will probably drop, but for me, it doesn't make a difference. I book for value and enjoyment and the current product satisfies neither, no matter what the price. Good luck cruise lines.

My first cruise was back in the early 80's ... it was on Carnival and I booked a week long cruise in an oceanview room for just a little under $100 a day per person. Food was all included but if you wanted a drink, you bought a drink. They had a daily happy hour where they charged under $3 for a cocktail. The gratuities totaled approx $7 a day pp. Port charges, taxes, government fees, etc were a lot cheaper than they are now ... just as the gratuities, additional costs for specialty restaurants, single cocktail prices, excursions, etc. were a LOT cheaper.

 

Now, what hasn't gone up exponentially? It's the base price of an actual cruise!! I can still get a room for under $100 per day per person for the cruise... I can and I do....and not on Carnival, either!! What I get now, though, is a balcony room for that pricing and it usually will come with at least one free perk, oftentimes three free perks so end up with a free beverage package, free gratuities and free onboard credit, sometimes even a free specialty dinner or two for each person in the cabin. And I usually can get this all for the same base price of the actual cruise fare that I paid way back in the early 80's....approx 35 years ago.

 

So, while I am a bargain traveler, it really doesn't bother me to pay a little extra here and there onboard. Do I wish all these prices stayed the same and all the little extras remained free of charge? Yes, but when it comes down to it, the choice is mine and I don't have to purchase these extras if I don't want to. I am just thankful that the base fares haven't priced me right out of my favorite way of vacationing ... cruising is still a great bargain!! When they stop offering great fares and great perks, I guess I will have to stop cruising. But in the meanwhile, I just appreciate being able to do so!!

The cruising experience has regressed to the point that we are no longer looking at any cruise line. There's nothing special about the experience, except for the ports, it's turned into a floating hotel and nothing more.

How's THAT for two different views! :eek:

Cruising (along with everything else) has indeed changed from the days of Titanic, the Love Boat, or even 10 years ago... but I just booked a 13 night transatlantic on Royal's Jewel OTS in an ocean view cabin... for $531pp! (plus $75pp for taxes) but I also got $200 OBC. Spending a couple of days in Switzerland before the cruise, and my flight from Tucson to Zurich was $297.80. (through AIR2SEA/Choice Air) Elite/Diamond status gets us free drinks from 5:00-8:30 every night. Would I prefer Celebrity??? YUP! But I don't think there are many vacation opportunities to be found at a price better than that, so I will continue to very much enjoy and appreciate the current environment. :cool:

How's THAT for two different views! :eek:

 

Cruising (along with everything else) has indeed changed from the days of Titanic, the Love Boat, or even 10 years ago... but I just booked a 13 night transatlantic on Royal's Jewel OTS in an ocean view cabin... for $531pp! (plus $75pp for taxes) but I also got $200 OBC. Spending a couple of days in Switzerland before the cruise, and my flight from Tucson to Zurich was $297.80. (through AIR2SEA/Choice Air) Elite/Diamond status gets us free drinks from 5:00-8:30 every night. Would I prefer Celebrity??? YUP! But I don't think there are many vacation opportunities to be found at a price better than that, so I will continue to very much enjoy and appreciate the current environment. :cool:

:)

And I totally respect the opinions of those that feel as though cruises just no longer hold any appeal to them and they are foregoing cruising altogether .... or at least they say they are on these boards. I don't doubt it, but just have no evidence of that.

It still holds a great deal of appeal to me which is why I cruise a few times each year. I just start going a bit stir crazy when on land for too long.

Yes, changes have occurred, some for the better ... some not so much. I guess we all just have different likes / dislikes, varied priorities and a wide range of breaking points. I have not come anywhere close to my breaking point where it comes to cruising and have been at it for 35 years. And, actually, I can see more positive changes than negative changes happening in my view.

It's much more now with much less quality.

Our cruises back then were in the summer or school breaks because they included our son so we had to always go away during school vacations. If you can travel off season you can get a deal. But if you have to add in cost of flying a lot of times it doesn't make sense to pay more for airfare than the cruise IMO. Also since I still work I cannot just get away any time I want.

We, too, have to sail at peak periods and so the deals are much harder to find, and the airfare is very high also. We're lucky to get an inside cabin for the kids (without any perks) for the prices being quoted here.

Our first cruise was in and inside cabin, Caribbean, on NCL and cost $1500 for the two of us. That was 1981. That was a lot of money back then.

DH and took our first cruise on Carnival in 1982 - it was around $1,600 for the two of us in an inside cabin but that also included RT air and was the brochure rate.

I still see rock bottom prices for insides, but we stopped doing those a long time ago. However great deals can be found for OV's and balconies. I've booked a lot of balconies for under $600 for 7 night Caribbean cruises.

You can't compare apples to oranges.

That saying doesn't make sense. Why can't fruit be compared?

DH and took our first cruise on Carnival in 1982 - it was around $1,600 for the two of us in an inside cabin but that also included RT air and was the brochure rate.

 

I still see rock bottom prices for insides, but we stopped doing those a long time ago. However great deals can be found for OV's and balconies. I've booked a lot of balconies for under $600 for 7 night Caribbean cruises.

Take a look at European prices...

That saying doesn't make sense. Why can't fruit be compared?

Apparently you are correct, you can compare apples and oranges.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/comparing-apples-and-oranges-37838381/

First cruise was my honeymoon, 1982 on the NCL Skyward. I honestly don't know how much we paid, but it couldn't have been all that expensive because we were broke, broke, broke. I know it included airfare (on Eastern, the airline that no longer exists). There were no balcony cabins, one set dining time and everyone could fit in the dining room at the same time. There were a handful of honeymooners like us, otherwise everyone was much older. The casino was the size of my living room. I remember the shows being kind of lame, mostly audience participation stuff. Drinks were pretty cheap. Outside of bingo and the tiny tiny pool, there wasn't much to do onboard. Ports are pretty much the same as they were then. It was relaxing, but kind of boring for a 23 year old. We had rough seas one night and you literally had to hang on to your glass or it went sliding. . We didn't cruise again until 2000, wow what a difference. Today's cruises don't even resemble a little bit cruises back then. Much nicer now and a good deal for what you get, IMO

Take a look at European prices...

OK - last June DH and I took an 11 night cruise to Norway on RCI. We booked in late April. I got an OV in one of those cabins that were added from the MDR, so it had a huge round window. Not a balcony, but we didn't want one for this itinerary. We paid $1,200 pp, which was a fantastic price for Norway. I had been looking at this itinerary for a couple of weeks and one weekend, they threw in free gratuities and a generous OBC -the price I had been looking at didn't change. I jumped on it. I even was able to find RT air on SAS for less than $800 pp.

TA's are even better - our balcony, (a huge hump one), on Liberty OTS for 2 weeks was less than $900 pp with stops in Nassau, Canary Islands, 3 ports in Spain.

Similar prices can be found on any mainstream cruise line. It just takes some work. There were all kinds of bargins for Europe this summer - I just couldn't make the dates work.

Deals are out there.