Prices are going up!

[sunshine002]

I think the note said ~5% increase. Use an avarage of $1500 for seven days for two people, the fare went up $75 total.

 

 

The silver lining of this announcement....?

 

 

CCL Stock went up 6%!!! So my piddly 100 shares made $202.

 

 

The stock hasn't seemed to of moved much in years, but I still love getting the shipboard credit.

[cruisinmeme]

Why? Because they have more restaurant choices that they charge for? They still have MDR, Buffets, and Blue Lagoon that are free choices. I didn't see any extra nickel and diming on NCL than I saw on Carnival and my cruises were relatively comparable to Carnival in price.

 

well said... i just cancelled what would of been cruise #10 with carnival and booked #1 with ncl and saved 140.00pp and we get 4 ports rather than the 3 with carnival. i did alot of checking first and plenty of FREE places to eat. i read the cruise critic forums for ncl for weeks and saw little or no grumbling there.

i also liked the fact i could book for 2012 now. prices are out. guess what , could book the same cruise we are doing for 2011, yet another 100.00 pp cheaper..........so there may be a shift going on in the cruising business soon if carnival goes up and others are ALOT cheaper. what gonna happen there?

[pcrum]

well said... i just cancelled what would of been cruise #10 with carnival and booked #1 with ncl and saved 140.00pp and we get 4 ports rather than the 3 with carnival. i did alot of checking first and plenty of FREE places to eat. i read the cruise critic forums for ncl for weeks and saw little or no grumbling there.

i also liked the fact i could book for 2012 now. prices are out. guess what , could book the same cruise we are doing for 2011, yet another 100.00 pp cheaper..........so there may be a shift going on in the cruising business soon if carnival goes up and others are ALOT cheaper. what gonna happen there?

 

Let us know how you liked NCL compared to Carnival. We did the NCL Star to Alaska last July and found the dinner food in the MDR mediocre, at best. The buffet food was a step above Carnival, but the dinners in the MDR were not very good. We tried the Mexican restaurant that charges a fee ($10/pp) and found it also bad. We did enjoy the French restaurant. I don't remember the surcharge, but it was more than the Mexican place. We found the rooms slightly smaller, but not enough to make a difference. There was a coffee pot in the room and we were given a welcome glass of champagne upon arrival. I'm glad we tried NCL, but to be honest, I don't even look at their ships when booking future cruises and this is entirely due to the food in the MDR. We are devotees of Carnival and HAL. It irks me to have to pay for a good dinner!! Just my humble opinion.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Let us know how you liked NCL compared to Carnival. We did the NCL Star to Alaska last July and found the dinner food in the MDR mediocre, at best. The buffet food was a step above Carnival, but the dinners in the MDR were not very good. We tried the Mexican restaurant that charges a fee ($10/pp) and found it also bad. We did enjoy the French restaurant. I don't remember the surcharge, but it was more than the Mexican place. We found the rooms slightly smaller, but not enough to make a difference. There was a coffee pot in the room and we were given a welcome glass of champagne upon arrival. I'm glad we tried NCL, but to be honest, I don't even look at their ships when booking future cruises and this is entirely due to the food in the MDR. We are devotees of Carnival and HAL. It irks me to have to pay for a good dinner!! Just my humble opinion.

 

I'm with you there. Yes you can save money initially but if you are going to eat like on Carnival you will be paying daily.

 

Pretty sure the coffee pots have been removed from the cabins and no more champagne welcome aboard.

 

I'd rather cruise with RCI if the prices are the same.

 

Bill

[Warm Breezes]

Let us know how you liked NCL compared to Carnival. We did the NCL Star to Alaska last July and found the dinner food in the MDR mediocre, at best. The buffet food was a step above Carnival, but the dinners in the MDR were not very good. We tried the Mexican restaurant that charges a fee ($10/pp) and found it also bad. We did enjoy the French restaurant. I don't remember the surcharge, but it was more than the Mexican place. We found the rooms slightly smaller, but not enough to make a difference. There was a coffee pot in the room and we were given a welcome glass of champagne upon arrival. I'm glad we tried NCL, but to be honest, I don't even look at their ships when booking future cruises and this is entirely due to the food in the MDR. We are devotees of Carnival and HAL. It irks me to have to pay for a good dinner!! Just my humble opinion.

 

Everything is so subjective. While I agree I liked the food in the MDR better on Carnival, I liked the Buffet better on NCL and Blue Lagoon on NCL (Both free). I preferred the entertainment on NCL over the enternment on Carnival. But that could change from ship to ship on the same cruise line. If the price is right I have no problem sailing either line because food and entertainment is too subjective to be the basis of my decision.

[tls630]

I went NCL in Feb. because of price. I like carnival but they have been creeping up on price now NCL blows them away on some of the cruise dates.

[Phxbyny]

Big mistake Carnival! ONE of the reasons new cruisers try CCL is because of the lower cost of their product. Many return because simply for cost containment and the family vacation budget. If Carnival raises its rates, I as well as many of its past customers might consider Royal Caribbean/Celebrity the next time. Take a look a the rebound of the CCL stock from last year. They are making major profits. Getting greedy may be hazardous to their health.

[deborahjo]

Great message from Carnival. Since they have record reservations, they will punish customers by increasing prices. Wow, just the incentive I need to book somewhere else.

 

FIND A CRUISEIf you're thinking about cruising in June, July or August, now is the time to book and save. Due to record reservation activity, effective March 22nd, Carnival Cruise Lines will increase pricing on all summer 2010 sailings.

For more details, click here.

<A href="http://carnivalfunmail.com/a/hBLhUVIA6i8YVB75BatBsyWKRwe/alert3" target=_blank>

 

Does anyone realize that the time Carnival is raising their rates is high rate time anyway. June, July and August.

[wasiii]

.....I have to commend Carnival for giving us all advance notice. :D

 

How mad would you have been if you were going to book a cruise tomorrow and they raised the rates tonight with no warning?

 

Exactly why I booked our August cruise the other day instead of waiting any longer.

 

:confused:

 

wasiii

[S.S.Oceanlover]

.....I have to commend Carnival for giving us all advance notice. :D

 

How mad would you have been if you were going to book a cruise tomorrow and they raised the rates tonight with no warning?

 

Exactly why I booked our August cruise the other day instead of waiting any longer.

 

:confused:

 

wasiii

 

I think it is nothing more than a marketing ploy to get people to do exactly as you did. BOOK NOW!

 

Bill

[DEBnGAB]

I think it is nothing more than a marketing ploy to get people to do exactly as you did. BOOK NOW!

 

Bill

 

Agreed 100%!!

[c&d]

Wall Street Journal ran a article about this last week. The WSJ also mentioned a possible marketing tool. Article did not say if Carnival plans to raise prices on all lines or just Carnival.

 

I will just play the wait and see game.

[baby_tran]

Just wanted confirmation that increased prices are only for new bookings correct? If I've already booked and paid a deposit, it wouldn't affect us even though we haven't fully paid, right?

[Traveler353]

In reality would anyone even notice if the prices went up 5% or less. They are constantly adjusting the prices on a daily bases sometimes even hourly. The prices always go up during the summer time and come back down during Hurricane season.