Costa Concordia affecting cruise prices

[Nukesailor]

But not the way expected.

 

A group I am in is planning a cruise on the Eclipse in November and our agent had reserved a block of rooms at a certain price. Celebrity just cancelled the reservation and has increased the prices for the cruise. The reason given is that they expect to pick up more business from cruisers bailing out of Costa and Carnival as a result of the disaster. This I didn't anticipate as all the discussion so far has been speculation that prices would go down due to people's reluctance to cruise. Has anybody else heard about this?

 

Art

[curiouscat]

If TA had group space and they cancelled just to raise the price...something is wrong... they will only cancel group space if TA didn't put deposits/names on the cabins and they recalled her cabins.....

 

Something ain't right...:eek:

 

CC

[ME Guide]

Nuke,

Try another agent. It doesn't hurt to get a second quote for a group as well as asking what that TA can offer. We had a similar issue with a group booking years ago with a TA and found out that price was from TA, not cruise line. When we did investigate, we also were given better OBC and prepaid gratuities! We are still using this new TA now and still getting those perks. Good luck.

[lovestx]

Thanks for sharing this info. It's certainly not what I expected but I can see the point. How many Costa passengers do you think will bail on their cruises now and go elsewhere?

[Freecall]

I wouldn't think that any will bail out (sorry!) to go to another cruise line.

 

Those that were already booked on the Concordia are already being found alternatives.

 

There may be some who, as a result of the incident, decide that cruising is not for them but that won't have any effect on other lines.

 

There has been lots of talk of prices falling (we wish!) due to a possible reduction in passengers but I suspect other issues such as oil prices, the new EU labor laws and the general state of the world economy will swamp any differences.

 

.

[mcrcruiser]

I wouldn't think that any will bail out (sorry!) to go to another cruise line.

 

Those that were already booked on the Concordia are already being found alternatives.

 

There may be some who, as a result of the incident, decide that cruising is not for them but that won't have any effect on other lines.

 

There has been lots of talk of prices falling (we wish!) due to a possible reduction in passengers but I suspect other issues such as oil prices, the new EU labor laws and the general state of the world economy will swamp any differences.

 

.

 

Agree & then add that statements have been made on Geraldo that it is expected that there will be slower growth in cruising due to all the press on the Costa Concordia tragedy :rolleyes: .

 

In our opinion pricing is still based on supply /demand factors .Should the demand drop a lot then we will see prices drop on any cruise line ;)

[gkm]

Also remember that Costa ships do not have English as their first language and most of their passengers are European.

 

Garry

[Despegue]

35 % of RCCL and Celebrity's income comes from EU-Passengers...almost as much as the American passengers...do not underestimate the imporance of Europe to RCI:):)

[Nukesailor]

Actually, when I was told this, I checked the prices on an online TA. They are indeed up by a couple hundred per category. My initial thought was that this was part of the periodic fluctuations in price that occur as the cruise date gets closer. I did not check other cruises or other cruise lines, but I wouldn't be surprised to find the same thing.

 

On our group cruise, we had already had a number of people make reservations. They pulled the remaining uncommitted cabins to increase the price.

 

Not nice.

 

Art

[Nukesailor]

Nuke,

Try another agent. It doesn't hurt to get a second quote for a group as well as asking what that TA can offer. We had a similar issue with a group booking years ago with a TA and found out that price was from TA, not cruise line. When we did investigate, we also were given better OBC and prepaid gratuities! We are still using this new TA now and still getting those perks. Good luck.

 

There are reasons we are using this TA. This is a fund raiser for our organization and we use the free cabins (for every 8 cabins booked by a group, we get a free cabin from the cruise line - been doing this for many years) as a source of funds. Also, the TA is kicking in her commission.

 

I also noted the price increase on an online TA.

 

Art

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Actually, when I was told this, I checked the prices on an online TA. They are indeed up by a couple hundred per category. My initial thought was that this was part of the periodic fluctuations in price that occur as the cruise date gets closer. I did not check other cruises or other cruise lines, but I wouldn't be surprised to find the same thing.

 

On our group cruise, we had already had a number of people make reservations. They pulled the remaining uncommitted cabins to increase the price.

 

Not nice.

 

Art

 

I've booked a few group cruises in my day and I can tell you that Celebrity only guarantees the prices on the cabins in your block for a certain time. After that, it's open season. They may raise the prices at that point if the cruise is selling well. Your original post is misleading as it made it sound as if those with bookings had their prices raised. Subsequent post shows that's not so.

 

I'm pretty sure that other cruise lines probably do the same thing.

[macruisefan]

But not the way expected.

 

A group I am in is planning a cruise on the Eclipse in November and our agent had reserved a block of rooms at a certain price. Celebrity just cancelled the reservation and has increased the prices for the cruise. The reason given is that they expect to pick up more business from cruisers bailing out of Costa and Carnival as a result of the disaster. This I didn't anticipate as all the discussion so far has been speculation that prices would go down due to people's reluctance to cruise. Has anybody else heard about this?

 

Art

 

 

I'm calling total BS on this one. First, they "CANCELLED" and existing reservation? And then they told you outright it's because they are expecting increased demand because of people switching lines?

 

Total nonsense...

[Cigar King]

FWIW, we did have a Royal cruise canceled once. When RCI contacted us they said that they had sold the ship for the week to a private party. They then offered us the same price and accommodations on another cruise, OBC, and would cover any expenses we had. So, I guess I'm willing to believe that under some circumstances the cruise lines would cancel a cruise, but, I don't think they would do so without offering compensation. I also can't imagine them telling this to anyone, if it was the reason. Talk about a public relations nightmare.

[Nukesailor]

I've booked a few group cruises in my day and I can tell you that Celebrity only guarantees the prices on the cabins in your block for a certain time. After that, it's open season. They may raise the prices at that point if the cruise is selling well. Your original post is misleading as it made it sound as if those with bookings had their prices raised. Subsequent post shows that's not so.

 

I'm pretty sure that other cruise lines probably do the same thing.

 

The period for signup had just started and was supposed to be until June, during which time the prices would remain steady. Some cabin reservations have been made, and I assume those will continue and will be at the original price. However, the remaining cabins in the "block" have been pulled. Anyone signing up now has an increase in price and cabin availability is questionable. That is what I meant to say. Sorry for any confusion.

 

Art

[Nukesailor]

I'm calling total BS on this one. First, they "CANCELLED" and existing reservation? And then they told you outright it's because they are expecting increased demand because of people switching lines?

 

Total nonsense...

 

Sorry for the confusion. As I posted above, the block was supposed to be available January through June at a given price. Some people have booked and, as far as I know, will keep their reservations at the given price. However, the remaining, unbooked, cabins in the block have been pulled and anybody reserving now does so at a higher price. No booked reservations have been cancelled.

 

By the way, of course they can cancel an existing reservation. Especially this far out. If they charter the ship to a large group, anybody who had a reservation on that cruise is bumped. Cruises get cancelled for other reasons as well.

 

Art

[macruisefan]

Sorry for the confusion. As I posted above, the block was supposed to be available January through June at a given price. Some people have booked and, as far as I know, will keep their reservations at the given price. However, the remaining, unbooked, cabins in the block have been pulled and anybody reserving now does so at a higher price. No booked reservations have been cancelled.

 

By the way, of course they can cancel an existing reservation. Especially this far out. If they charter the ship to a large group, anybody who had a reservation on that cruise is bumped. Cruises get cancelled for other reasons as well.

 

Art

 

 

I'm calling BS on the reason for the cancellation. There is no way any RCI rep told anyone they are bumping prices and pulling cabins because they anticipate people bailing on Costa and Carnival. MAYBE in some marketing strategy meeting they would speculate about that, but NO WAY are they having their customer support staff publicizing that.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Sorry for the confusion. As I posted above, the block was supposed to be available January through June at a given price. Some people have booked and, as far as I know, will keep their reservations at the given price. However, the remaining, unbooked, cabins in the block have been pulled and anybody reserving now does so at a higher price. No booked reservations have been cancelled.

 

By the way, of course they can cancel an existing reservation. Especially this far out. If they charter the ship to a large group, anybody who had a reservation on that cruise is bumped. Cruises get cancelled for other reasons as well.

 

Art

 

Well, I don't know who you're booking with, but I've never had a block of rooms guaranteed for that long a period. Sounds to me like something of a misunderstanding.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I'm calling BS on the reason for the cancellation. There is no way any RCI rep told anyone they are bumping prices and pulling cabins because they anticipate people bailing on Costa and Carnival. MAYBE in some marketing strategy meeting they would speculate about that, but NO WAY are they having their customer support staff publicizing that.

 

I would have to agree that it would be exceedingly unlikely to have a rep say such a thing.

[Freecall]

I'm calling BS on the reason for the cancellation. There is no way any RCI rep told anyone they are bumping prices and pulling cabins because they anticipate people bailing on Costa and Carnival. MAYBE in some marketing strategy meeting they would speculate about that, but NO WAY are they having their customer support staff publicizing that.

 

I can't even see why they would speculate. At the end of the day Costa has lost about 8.5% of its capacity by not having the Concordia available. Those passengers spread across the cruise industry would be absolutely negligible to any other company.

 

That's without factoring in that in general the most likely places these people will go will be the other Italian lines.

 

.

[Nukesailor]

I would have to agree that it would be exceedingly unlikely to have a rep say such a thing.

 

Just reporting what I was told by the person organizing the group cruise. We've been doing this group cruise for at least 11 years that I know of, on both Celebrity and HAL, and have never had this happen.

 

Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding. On the other hand, according to the general theory, cruise prices should be going down to counteract a decrease in trust in the cruise industry in general due to the Concordia disaster. Are they?

 

Art

[wisteria1019]

My TA is 83 days away. I was hoping for a price drop so that I could upgrade to Aqua. All categories have gone up in price. Plenty of availability. So, it doesn't seem that the rule of supply and demand are relevant here.

[Nukesailor]

I can't even see why they would speculate. At the end of the day Costa has lost about 8.5% of its capacity by not having the Concordia available. Those passengers spread across the cruise industry would be absolutely negligible to any other company.

 

That's without factoring in that in general the most likely places these people will go will be the other Italian lines.

 

.

 

It isn't just the loss of capacity of the Concordia. People now mistrust Costa and, to a degree, Carnival, due to safety program concerns.

 

Costa also does Caribbean, Africa and the Far East in addition to the Mediterranean cruises.

 

Art

[macruisefan]

Just reporting what I was told by the person organizing the group cruise. We've been doing this group cruise for at least 11 years that I know of, on both Celebrity and HAL, and have never had this happen.

 

Perhaps it was just a misunderstanding. On the other hand, according to the general theory, cruise prices should be going down to counteract a decrease in trust in the cruise industry in general due to the Concordia disaster. Are they?

 

Art

 

That may be what the person organizing the group cruise told you. But I GUARANTEE that is NOT what the rep told them!:rolleyes:

[kitty9]

It isn't just the loss of capacity of the Concordia. People now mistrust Costa and, to a degree, Carnival, due to safety program concerns.

 

Costa also does Caribbean, Africa and the Far East in addition to the Mediterranean cruises.

 

Art

 

The reason people cruise Costa is basically the cheap fares, and if people are budget conscience, they will continue to book that line. According to the Wall Street Journal, cruise bookings were up over 3% on the day after the Concordia tragedy.

 

I've never heard of a cruise line taking away blocked rooms. I've been on a number of group cruises, and even when the prices have risen, the cruise lines never pulled the blocked cabins just to increase the price. Something isn't right here, and I suspect it's the travel agency and not the cruise line.

[Freecall]

According to the Wall Street Journal, cruise bookings were up over 3% on the day after the Concordia tragedy.

 

 

I saw this figure as well. There is a huge PR effort focussing blame on a rogue captain for the Concordia incident which I think is being successful.

 

I doubt that there will be any serious mistrust of Costa when the whole thing calms down.

 

Even if there is, Carnival will re-brand the line and life will go on.

 

Don't expect too many bargain cruises as a result of this. As I said before, I suspect other issues such as oil prices, the new EU labor laws and the general state of the world economy will swamp any differences anyway.

 

.