Pricing Whiplash

After having done a transatlantic on the Odyssey(first Seabourn cruise) in 2016, I decided to book a 21 day Mediterranean again on the Odyssey for July of 2018. Since my original booking in July of 2017, the price has gone up and down 6 times in four months. I know there is an algorithm for pricing, but have not seen this in the past on other cruise lines. Since final payment is not until April 5th, 2018, its really not a problem, but seems a bit much. Just curious.

Why spend so much time following the price? If the original price you booked was satisfactory (it must have been or you wouldn't have booked) forget about it for now, You can always check again just before final payment to see what the fare is then. That's really the only time it matters. If it's lower they'll adjust it. If it's higher buy yourself another drink onboard to celebrate.

The problem with a 21 Med cruise in July is that it will really be three, 7 day cruises. Bookings for these individual cruises may affect the pricing. I have found the best time price wise to book a summer Med cruise is in Jan/Feb Seabourn really tries to encourage booking to fill capacity. And as a result prices tend to be the lowest per diem.

Unrelated to pricing, we have found that the guests on 7 day summer Med cruises can vary greatly. Be prepared for a larger number of children, large family groups etc. This can affect the overall normal Seabourn experience.

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Why spend so much time following the price? If the original price you booked was satisfactory (it must have been or you wouldn't have booked) forget about it for now, You can always check again just before final payment to see what the fare is then. That's really the only time it matters. If it's lower they'll adjust it. If it's higher buy yourself another drink onboard to celebrate.

They do not always adjust the price lower if the price goes down due to poor sales. My TA had to argue with them to do this last year on a booking we had made early, which then dropped pre-final payment, when the price differential for two of us was $6000 for the same level suite. They acted like they were magnanumously doing us a favor. I told the TA to tell them to appropriately adjust the price on the poorly selling cruise, or we would cancel completely and book with an offering with SS on a similar route, then and in the future due to the sour taste they were leaving.

This is a seven day attached to a 14 day I believe, so the fluctuation of two cruises back to back may have influenced the 21 day price. My TA was able to have the price adjusted to the lower price for the 21 day I am on, so no worries there.

The problem with a 21 Med cruise in July is that it will really be three, 7 day cruises. Bookings for these individual cruises may affect the pricing. I have found the best time price wise to book a summer Med cruise is in Jan/Feb Seabourn really tries to encourage booking to fill capacity. And as a result prices tend to be the lowest per diem.

 

Unrelated to pricing, we have found that the guests on 7 day summer Med cruises can vary greatly. Be prepared for a larger number of children, large family groups etc. This can affect the overall normal Seabourn experience.

 

 

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Why spend so much time following the price? If the original price you booked was satisfactory (it must have been or you wouldn't have booked) forget about it for now, You can always check again just before final payment to see what the fare is then. That's really the only time it matters. If it's lower they'll adjust it. If it's higher buy yourself another drink onboard to celebrate.

It actually helps to follow the price...unless you have money to burn? I have found that checking pricing at different points after booking has been helpful and saved $$. I would not obsess about the price after booking, but the price at final payment may have been lower previously, so if you do not check it (or have your TA do so) you will be out money in the end. Seabourn has a dynamic pricing strategy, so booking early will mostly ensure you pay more than strategically watching what and how they price the cruise you are interested in.

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They do not always adjust the price lower if the price goes down due to poor sales. My TA had to argue with them to do this last year on a booking we had made early, which then dropped pre-final payment, when the price differential for two of us was $6000 for the same level suite. They acted like they were magnanumously doing us a favor. I told the TA to tell them to appropriately adjust the price on the poorly selling cruise, or we would cancel completely and book with an offering with SS on a similar route, then and in the future due to the sour taste they were leaving.

It's your TA's job to argue with them if they don't adjust the fare immediately. Usually I have never had a problem getting the fare adjusted if it has been lowered prior to final payment. Even afterwards they might either upgrade ir give you an oBC to compensate.

They do not always adjust the price lower if the price goes down due to poor sales. My TA had to argue with them to do this last year on a booking we had made early, which then dropped pre-final payment, when the price differential for two of us was $6000 for the same level suite. They acted like they were magnanumously doing us a favor. I told the TA to tell them to appropriately adjust the price on the poorly selling cruise, or we would cancel completely and book with an offering with SS on a similar route, then and in the future due to the sour taste they were leaving.

Have had a similar situation,and was not impressed. We had made the BIG error in booking our flights through Seabourn after a "discounted flights" promotion was made. When we asked for a price correction prior to the final payment we were informed we would not only forfeit our deposit but also the airline flights which we had fully paid for!.

Out TA attempted to gain some traction with SB on 2 occasions, but it was not untill I sent a strongly worded email via our TA that we were offered a class of cabin comensurate with the original fare and some shipboard credit. So the moral is, avoid SB flights as they lock you in to the original cabin cost. This situation appears to have effect in other markets, but it might not be the case in the USA as consumer laws seem to be better there!.

It’s not final payment that is critical, it’s when cancellations start. My TA was told yesterday by Seabourn that since penalties started Feb 1 the price can NOT be adjusted unless a 15% penalty is applied. The price is now 2k less pp. The penalty would be 3k total. So we would save 1k and be in the same cabin. Last week the prices were not lowered, looks like they lowered them after the penalties kicked in. They offered an upgrade but I’d rather have the cash in my pocket. Of course, I’d rather they would have given me the new lower price without a penalty, but that’s just me.

It’s not final payment that is critical, it’s when cancellations start. My TA was told yesterday by Seabourn that since penalties started Feb 1 the price can NOT be adjusted unless a 15% penalty is applied. The price is now 2k less pp. The penalty would be 3k total. So we would save 1k and be in the same cabin. Last week the prices were not lowered, looks like they lowered them after the penalties kicked in. They offered an upgrade but I’d rather have the cash in my pocket. Of course, I’d rather they would have given me the new lower price without a penalty, but that’s just me.

Edited to add my TA will call them again and speak to a contact she has on Monday.

It's your TA's job to argue with them if they don't adjust the fare immediately. Usually I have never had a problem getting the fare adjusted if it has been lowered prior to final payment. Even afterwards they might either upgrade ir give you an oBC to compensate.

Agreed. We rarely use a TA, but b/c we were booking with SB opted to go with one for a cruise in Nov. Promotion this past Dec had the price at $8200 p.p. We told our TA we would wait to see if the price went lower. The day the Signature Savings sale was announced and the rate we were looking at lowered the price to $6100 (saving $2100 p.p.) we booked. I doubt it will go much lower, but if there are upgrades offered at decent rates we might consider that.

You should always be aware of the changes in fares. While SB has less cabins to fill than the megaships they may not feel they need to be flexible, but every passenger has the ability to cancel (assuming they are outside of the penalty period) and find something with some other line. Especially with all the new ships coming into service.

A sept 2018 med journey I have been watching for 7 nights has gone from being £2500 in a veranda with obc and internet included to £3500 with obc. Price has gone up and up, but this is one of the first weeks after the children return to school and the med is still warm, so demand will be high I suppose.

An October Med cruise we are booked on has gone down a bit but with the added OBC and Internet offered in our booking it works out about the same. So I think if we opted to cancel and rebook at the cheaper rate it would work out about similar pricing. So I will wait and see closer to the final payment time. It’s all a bit of a juggling act and I certainly wouldn’t consider cancelling and rebooking for a small amount of money.

It is understandable that cruise operators would act like airlines, supply and demand, when it comes to prices.

I always think that if you are happy with the itinerary and the price then you book it and enjoy it.

There will always be someone that pays less and someone that pays more,so as long as you are happy then that's all that matters.

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I always think that if you are happy with the itinerary and the price then you book it and enjoy it.

There will always be someone that pays less and someone that pays more,so as long as you are happy then that's all that matters.

 

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Just one more reason the internet can be damaging to one's emotional health. In the good old days no one but TAs knew about price fluctuations. Now everyone is free with the click of a mouse to see fares go down or up and in the process develop resentment and anger.

If you buy a washing machine from a shop and the next month it is in a sale at a cheaper price do you go back to the shop and demand cash back ???

It's your TA's job to argue with them if they don't adjust the fare immediately. Usually I have never had a problem getting the fare adjusted if it has been lowered prior to final payment. Even afterwards they might either upgrade ir give you an oBC to compensate.

Think yourself lucky, in the UK once booked if you cancel you loose the 10 pc deposit when ever you cancel.

If you buy a washing machine from a shop and the next month it is in a sale at a cheaper price do you go back to the shop and demand cash back ???

If it's John Lewis;p;p

We noticed this week that SB lowered the price $700pp and offered a three category up grade, same offer we had when we booked. They told our TA that our category was sold out so they would not lower our price. Guess maybe we should not book early.

Our upcoming cruise was booked early and then had a significant price drop. Our UK Travel agent offered us a three category update and $300 credit. We said we would see if we could do better talking to Seabourn ourselves. In my email to Seabourn I mentioned that Seabourn still promotes that early bookings receive optimum savings, and, in the past they had been prepared to match a lower price when it occurred. I asked if the policy had changed, and if so we would never make an early booking again. The upshot of this was that we received a reduction in fares of 4,500 GBP pp!!

If you buy a washing machine from a shop and the next month it is in a sale at a cheaper price do you go back to the shop and demand cash back ???

If the washing machine was being delivered in 6 months time I would.

if the washing machine was being delivered in 6 months time i would.

:) :)

My wife and I have over 100 nights each on SB. We frequently watch the pricing and have seen the prices fluctuate.

We were on board the Odyssey last November and encountered a "revenue management" strategy that we had not seen before. A large group of passengers had booked with "Travel with Alan" and were bragging about the good deal that they got.

The best that I could,tell, this is a cruise re-seller (Alan) who takes a large block of rooms from SB and bundles the package with airfare, hotel rooms pre and/or post cruise and perhaps a pre or post shore side excursion, all for one price. One cannot tell what the price of the actual cruise is?

If we think about it selling unsold space to a reseller eliminates us from complaining. The reseller bundles the package and takes risk, but only because the price is not disclosed and may be severely discounted over what we early bookers pay. The same strategy is employed, in a reverse scenario, with Masters tickets. Bundle the rental house with the tickets (badges) and you will never know how much was for the ticket and how much for the "other services".

On this cruise my wife and I felt that SB service was slipping and that was a possible reason for the reduced fares and reseller. This may sound bad but we found that most of the Alan passengers were stepping up from lesser cruise lines and were naturally pleased.

We signed up to receive Alan emails with proposed deals. Recently we saw one come across for the Ovation in June. It included airfare, cruise, 3 total hotel nights in Europe and 2 excursions out of the hotels. The price of the "extras" was $1500 over the lowest SB internet price for a V1- which I found low for transatlantic airfare and 3 hotel nights. Personally, I find it odd that SB is having trouble selling a brand new ship and is discounting the cruise in only its 2nd month of service. By contrast the SS Explorer was sold out for about the entire 1st year - early.

We are booked on the O in September and we hope that it will e a good experience.

My wife and I have over 100 nights each on SB. We frequently watch the pricing and have seen the prices fluctuate.

 

We were on board the Odyssey last November and encountered a "revenue management" strategy that we had not seen before. A large group of passengers had booked with "Travel with Alan" and were bragging about the good deal that they got.

 

The best that I could,tell, this is a cruise re-seller (Alan) who takes a large block of rooms from SB and bundles the package with airfare, hotel rooms pre and/or post cruise and perhaps a pre or post shore side excursion, all for one price. One cannot tell what the price of the actual cruise is?

 

If we think about it selling unsold space to a reseller eliminates us from complaining. The reseller bundles the package and takes risk, but only because the price is not disclosed and may be severely discounted over what we early bookers pay. The same strategy is employed, in a reverse scenario, with Masters tickets. Bundle the rental house with the tickets (badges) and you will never know how much was for the ticket and how much for the "other services".

 

On this cruise my wife and I felt that SB service was slipping and that was a possible reason for the reduced fares and reseller. This may sound bad but we found that most of the Alan passengers were stepping up from lesser cruise lines and were naturally pleased.

 

We signed up to receive Alan emails with proposed deals. Recently we saw one come across for the Ovation in June. It included airfare, cruise, 3 total hotel nights in Europe and 2 excursions out of the hotels. The price of the "extras" was $1500 over the lowest SB internet price for a V1- which I found low for transatlantic airfare and 3 hotel nights. Personally, I find it odd that SB is having trouble selling a brand new ship and is discounting the cruise in only its 2nd month of service. By contrast the SS Explorer was sold out for about the entire 1st year - early.

 

We are booked on the O in September and we hope that it will e a good experience.

We are booked on the O in September and we hope that it will e a good experience.

PM1225,

which cruise are you on? The roll calls for September on the Odyssey are rather "dead".....