Pricing is up!!

[tulips*n*truffles]

What ship?

 

Crown. I was hoping for a Caribe, but just can't swing the cash. So I "settled" for Baja. I never should have allowed myself a Caribe balcony on my first cruise - it spoiled me. :-)

[gatour]

Good point! I do think we're going to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Lots of decisions to make.

 

Wow that is a big price difference.

 

Just looking at the ports I would prefer the Princess cruise, but then looking at the amount of sea days, I would give a nod to the Carnival Cruise. This would give you some recovery time to enjoy Venice without having to worry about packing.

 

The other plus about the Dream, is that you can book a roundtrip to/from Barcelona on your own for a relatively reasonable price. Whenever I looked in booking an open-jaw flight for a Med cruise the prices got really out-of-hand. This may or not apply to you.

[nchank]

And look at how Carnivals stock has done. So called Wall Street Experts explain the rise because of fare increases.:D

[nchank]

I suspect all of the Carnival cruise "family" will be raising fares. :eek:

[Cruise Junky]

We certainly got sticker shock today - considerably more than on 2008 Greek Island Cruise and that was before the market melt down. Not sure if we'll be booking at this price.

[caribill]

Speaking to analysts during a conference call to discuss Carnival's first quarter earnings, Carnival Vice Chairman and COO Howard Frank said a strong rebound in demand for cruises in recent months has allowed the rest of the company's North America brands such as Carnival and Holland America to raise prices notably. Pricing on North America brands over the past nine weeks is up 26% over the same period a year ago, he said.

[Lynda90]

Check with your travel agents. I just booked the Ruby for an 18 day Oct, 2011 cruise and the price through my TA was about half of what the Princess website shows. And, very affordable.

[love2bonboard]

Good point! I do think we're going to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Lots of decisions to make.

 

Dubrovnik is amazing! Walk on top of the wall for the most amazing sights.

[love2bonboard]

Yes, I noticed the prices, as well. Unfortunately I ended up booking w/ NCL for our upcoming November cruise to the Panama Canal. Even w/ all of my OBC options, Princess prices couldn't even get close to what NCL had for their 15 day itinerary (plus they are going to Roatan vs. Aruba, which I prefer). I'm so loyal to Princess that I am having a hard time looking forward to NCL, but I'm sure it will be great. I do love Princess, but money talks (especially when it is $1600).

[Woobstr112G]

Pricing is up, but is it that much? Last year we initially booked a VS suite for a pp cost of $6265.00 pp. This year the VS is $6790.00. That is a difference of $525.00 pp. That's about an 8.4% increase. This year, due to a cut in overtime at work, we had to downgrade to a mini. Last years prices were, as most would probably agree, very consumer friendly. The low prices were due to the bad economy and the lines desire to fill up the ships. In 2008 when we had initially booked a different 2009 cruise, we had recieved a basic 2 for 1 offer.

 

Princess (Carnival) along with other lines did say they were going to raise prices to bring their cost structures more in line. I read that Carnival was going to raise b/t 5-7 perecent. Yes 8.4% is more, but hopefully it will come down. Keep in mind that these are initial prices and will be driven on how quickly the ship fills up. last year, I goit a price break of almost $400 as the cruise got closer.

 

Bob

p.s. I'm not a Princess cheerleader.

[Drews_Cruise]

I just booked for 2011 but the prices are way higher than I expected. I'm basically just holding a cabin (my favorite) and if the price doesn't drop, then my loyalty will. Carnival and Costa are conciderably less expensive but then the ports are not all the same. I love Princess, but it seems that Princess's recipe for success is also allowing them to up the cost. I hope they remove the threat of further charges relating to fuel costs. It seems they've got that covered in the base prices now anyway. Its just a wait and see over the next 12 months.

[dog]

Check with your travel agents. I just booked the Ruby for an 18 day Oct, 2011 cruise and the price through my TA was about half of what the Princess website shows. And, very affordable.

 

Lynda, I appreciate you telling us this, and understand you cannot give out your TA's information.

 

But this is the major thing I do not like about Princess...different offers re: pricing for different people.

 

I'm sure many of us doing these early bookings will be watching for price drops and if they don't come then Princess will see some cancellations from loyal Princess passengers.

[Lynda90]

Lynda, I appreciate you telling us this, and understand you cannot give out your TA's information.

 

But this is the major thing I do not like about Princess...different offers re: pricing for different people.

 

I'm sure many of us doing these early bookings will be watching for price drops and if they don't come then Princess will see some cancellations from loyal Princess passengers.

What I can advise is that you check with some of the online agencies that advertise on the Cruise Critic websites. Any agent that discounts should be able to do much better than what booking directly with Princess will give you. If the agent happens to be able to book you under a group rate, you will do even better. Just shop around before booking. I know some swear by booking directly with Princess. I never do that and unless Princess is having some kind of a flash promotion you will do better almost anywhere else. Some TA's are offering almost a 50% savings over what Princess is offering. Please shop around! The high volume Princess booking agents will be able to give the best rates.

[Cruise Junky]

Pricing is up, but is it that much?

 

I think it depends where you look for your pricing. 2008 we paid about $2,500 pp for a BB on the Grand for the Greek Island Cruise. By just checking Princess's listed price, that is now a staggering $3,900, but if you get a quote from a TA, they're going for $2,900 which is not a huge increase over three years. I can imagine getting sticker shock just looking at the Princess website pricing rather than actually getting a quote.

[Cruzin-K]

What I can advise is that you check with some of the online agencies that advertise on the Cruise Critic websites. Any agent that discounts should be able to do much better than what booking directly with Princess will give you. If the agent happens to be able to book you under a group rate, you will do even better. Just shop around before booking. I know some swear by booking directly with Princess. I never do that and unless Princess is having some kind of a flash promotion you will do better almost anywhere else. Some TA's are offering almost a 50% savings over what Princess is offering. Please shop around! The high volume Princess booking agents will be able to give the best rates.

 

My plan is to call each and every one of the agencies that advertise on CC, plus two or three more, and see what sorts of deals are out there. If you could get such a huge discount this early, I don't see why I couldn't as well :D

 

My mother is driving me up a flippin' wall right now because the price is so high. I'm paying for her cruise, so why should she care? :mad: I've told her that I guarantee I'll get a lower price sometime in the next 515 days but she wants everything NOW. Grrrr. This could end up being a real short cruise for one of us, depending on who ends up getting tossed over the balcony first :eek:

[junglejane]

If you book with a TA who gives you one of these discounts, do they also let you re-price the cruise if the Princess prices falls below their discounted fare? Last year we booked the Crown Princess British Isles with a TA who didn't give us a discount off the Princess fare, but she got us price adjustments several times, and eventually we ended up at 50% of the original fare. I don't expect to get that lucky again, but I do wonder if these discounting TA's cooperate with price adjustments????

[Cruise Junky]

If you book with a TA who gives you one of these discounts, do they also let you re-price the cruise if the Princess prices falls below their discounted fare? Last year we booked the Crown Princess British Isles with a TA who didn't give us a discount off the Princess fare, but she got us price adjustments several times, and eventually we ended up at 50% of the original fare. I don't expect to get that lucky again, but I do wonder if these discounting TA's cooperate with price adjustments????

 

It depends. If they have some of the deals they had last year, they were literally half of the price on the Princess site. I never saw Princess drop that low on their website. So seeing a $50 drop on princess would likely not equate to a $50 discount from your already hugely discounted TA price. But if Princess ever did drop that low, then yes, a good TA would drop their price.

[junglejane]

Thanks Cruise Junky, that's helpful to know.

[delidan]

Just booked Fort Lauerdale to Copenhagen on the Emerald for 2011 for half the price that Princess had listed. that's with my TA.

[Cruise Junky]

Just booked Fort Lauerdale to Copenhagen on the Emerald for 2011 for half the price that Princess had listed. that's with my TA.

 

Good to hear! We're looking at Ruby's TA and one quote I got this morning I'm still asking...Really? That's for 2? ;)

[BballinQT24]

We haven't yet booked our cruise for later this year, but if prices don't go down a bit then we will definitely have to either not go at all, or switch and try out a different cruise line.

[Coral]

It really does pay to use a TA!

[dog]

Good to hear! We're looking at Ruby's TA and one quote I got this morning I'm still asking...Really? That's for 2? ;)

 

I see you're in Canada. Did you call a Canadian TA or a U.S. one?

 

Trying to figure out WHO is giving these fantastic prices for 2011 has been like a game to me over the past couple of days, since the agents can't be mentioned on this site.

 

The online sites who advertise on here do not have the cruises for 2011 posted yet or if they do, the prices are similar to the Princess website.

 

Any hints for finding the best prices are appreciated.

[dog]

I just checked the Princess website for the 2010 cruise, (same as the one I booked for 2011) and by signing in there is a price drop up to $796 pp from the price listed without signing in.

 

Hoping this happens again for the 2011 Europe cruises.

[Cruzin-K]

I know exactly what you mean. I've only found one online TA with a lower price than what I booked at for 2011 Europe cruise. And it is only $200pp less.

 

I'm just going to do what I've done in the past and check the sites for price drops. I've been pretty lucky in the past doing this. Have only canceled 2 Princess cruises that we felt were over priced.

 

With my cruise, I'm fairly certain I should be able to get a nice price drop in the next 513 days. I think once I settle on a good TA I'll be able to relax a bit more (and so will my Mom).

 

I'll be calling another TA tomorrow, and I have high hopes for this one.