Has the cost of cruising increased over the past 5 years?

[gone_cruisin]

I think they have gone up.

 

My first cruise in 2002 I paid $299 for an interior empress deck August 7 day cruise. I haven't seen this price even on off peak season.

[MrPete]

I think they have gone up.

 

My first cruise in 2002 I paid $299 for an interior empress deck August 7 day cruise. I haven't seen this price even on off peak season.

 

I remember Paying $299 a person for a 5 day cruise, WITH AIRFARE.

 

Now all that gets you is a 3 day cruise.

[N7786W Flyer]

How about a bigger span of time? We sailed on the Elation back in '99, OV for four for $2600. We then did the 8 day (yeah, I know, one day longer cruise) Freedom the same time of year last summer for $3600 for an inside, obviously, on a per day basis, the Freedom last summer cost more, don't know how that would work out on the cost of inflation index as that wouldn't be relevent.

Elation had assigned seating in mdr for all meals, not just dinner, three guest entertainers (only got one on Freedom), lots of higher quality food items than the cheerleaders like to ignore or forget (like president butter, quality beef, fresh oj, prime rib in the lido deck, etc), cheaper drinks, rum swizzle parties, formal night cocktails, better service, etc.

It is really naive to think that these cutbacks were done out of CCL generosity to keep prices low- they were NOT! They were done to improve profits. Prices are set to what the market will bear. CCL cabin prices are usually (but not always) the lowest because that is what the market thinks of CCL- it is a low quality cruise and the price reflects that. If the market thought better, the cabin prices would average higher. Yeah, hard as is it is to believe for some, replacing professional entertainers with passenger acts, and dumping more expensive food items with ham, mac n cheese, meatloaf and fried chicken doesn't exactly class the ship experience up.

Back in the day, CCL was a great cruise. With all the cutbacks, they are just a cheap way of going from island to island. Going to the theater to see a good professional entertainer has been replaced with watching a movie on the lido deck, the four piece band at the pool has been replaced with a guy putting on mp3 recordings.

 

 

Not so sure I agree with everything posted above, but some valid points are made.

 

Relative to a "bigger span of time", I just dug out my tickets from NCL's MS Skyward from 1980. On that 7 day cruise, we had an outside stateroom on Biscayne Deck (much smaller than you would find on current Carnival ship). Also, the ship was 16,000 tons (compared with at least 70,000+ on an average modern ship). The price did include meals, but there was no room service (that I remember) and the scale/level of entertainment (and venues) were several tiers below what is currently offered in my opinion.

 

Granted, the meals were more elaborate (5 courses at lunch, 7 at dinner), but there was no buffet and you literally could get hungry (God forbid!) between meals...it was not food 24/7 in those days on the NCL "white ships".

 

...and all the above was for the bargain price of $899/person (cruise only)...I'd hate to think (with inflation factored in) what that $899 would be in today's dollars.

 

In my opinion, cruising is one of those rare instances where a product (overall) has gotten much better over the years accompanied by some significant price DEcreases.

 

Garnett

[jayscore]

First, let's leave air fare out of the math.

If you're a "tea totaling", don't buy a thing, and don't do excursions type, the prices have been quite stable over the past few years.:rolleyes:

Now, if you include air fare, drinks, day trips, and on board purchases, you are gonna pay a bit more than ,let's say, five years ago. Can you expect anything less?

My point is: Cruising is still a GREAT value!;)

[DGP1111]

Has the cost of cruising increased over the past 5 years?

 

For some of us solo passengers who formerly cruised on CCL it certainly did increase.

.

[BULLOCH12]

Yes

[mitsguy2001]

yes, but it's now all on your sail and sign card.

 

you want the good food? it's up here now, for a charge.

 

you want some good coffee? it's over here, for a charge.

 

you want some good sweets? it's down there, for a charge.

 

you want to tip entertainment, guest services, and hotel staff so we can give them a raise, and not increase your fare. it's right here, buried in your service tips.

 

you want to use the spa on this new ship? sure, let me swipe your card.

 

you want to buy a drink that costs $1. sign here, and we'll charge you $8.

 

you want to smoke on your balcony and drink bon voyage liquor. let us increase the price by 100%.

 

To be honest, that might not be such a bad thing. It keeps cruising within the budget of many people if they are willing to forgo some of the extras. But it allows people to pay extra for those extras that you mention if they are willind and able to. Seems reasonable to me.

[snoodel]

My wife and I have been cruising with Carnival specifically since 2007.

Every September. It's our anniversery "thing to do".

Since 07' on the Glory, We have noticed the prices remaining relatively the same. With the exception of the Facination which was a 5 day. And the Miracle which was an 8 day. But when compairing a per day cost, they were all about the same. Really can't complain about that. :)

 

So, if you want the "Extras", go pay for them.

My wife and I have never gone away from the MDR hungry, or even un-satisfied with our meal. We have never had bad room stewards, Rude waiters, and we have never had anything but a wonderful time on any of our cruises. This is not to say we didnt find some things that could have been done better, or even nicer, it's just we are the "Glass is half full" type personallities. And we are thankfull we are able to get our 1 week vacations together every year.

 

There are others, who as you see, who H8 everything about Carnival, or so you would guess. But they are the minority, in MHO..

[jints07]

Comsidering the number of passengers has over tripled sine 2000 I would certainly hope that prices remained flat in terms of dollars because you can be certain inflation in the same timeframe has not tripled. Revenue per passenger is all that matters.....trust me, the lines are not somehow keeping prices flat because they're just swell folks.....classic supply and demand.

 

Here's what appears to be a students research to back the passenger figure but of course it is a somewhat commonly understood number anyhow.

 

http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch7en/appl7en/global_cruise_passengers.html

[jints07]

Comsidering the number of passengers has over tripled sine 2000 I would certainly hope that prices remained flat in terms of dollars because you can be certain inflation in the same timeframe has not tripled. Revenue per passenger is all that matters.....trust me, the lines are not somehow keeping prices flat because they're just swell folks.....classic supply and demand.

 

Here's what appears to be a students research to back the passenger figure but of course it is a somewhat commonly understood number anyhow.

 

http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch7en/appl7en/global_cruise_passengers.html

 

Of course I meant profit per passenger, not revenue.

[jints07]

Of course the other thing I forgot to mention is that the labor costs for the service staff are mostly paid by the passengers in the form of the service charge....tips have certainly increased in the comparative timeframe.

[nbsjcruiser]

Last Carnival Cruise I went on was almost 5 years ago. If I remember right, we are paying the exact same price we paid 5 years ago. It seems like the price of cruising has stayed consistent (on the other lines we have gone on also) over the past few years.

 

Is this what others have noticed also?

 

(All the post complaining about the food and certain services going down hill got me thinking about this. The price of everything around us had risen in the past 5 years (some items significantly) so it makes me realize that the cruise companies would have to cut somewhere to keep the price the same.)

 

What I have found is that the price for the older ships has remained somewhat stable. Perhaps its gone up a bit but if it has it isn't noticeable to me. What I do find though is that the new ships that come out are much more expensive than the "experienced" ships. For example we booked the NCL Pearl for next year, 3 people in a balcony, $2100. Not bad. Wanna go on the Allure or Oasis around the same time? Cough up $3900 please. We booked the Majesty of the Seas for a little 4 day cruise in the fall - $600. How about a 4 day on the Liberty of the Seas instead - $900. Its not just a RCI thing either. The NCL Epic for March of next year is $2755. Carnival hasn't had any new ships for a while so they haven't fallen into that routine yet but I fully expect them to if and when a new ship is added to the list.

[elcuchio24]

About the same if not less for us, as I think I've gotten better through the years getting the best deals, and booking ES. We're not heavy drinkers, don't gamble, spa, etc, so our S&S bills are always about the same.

 

Airfares higher though:mad:

[brooklynfc]

I'll be going on a beach trip with my family in about mid-July..........I bet you the cost will be way more than I would spend on a 7 day cruise and the food will be way less in quality except for maybe one night at a seafood place b/c it would be way too expensive to eat at 5 star restr. for a whole week, even just for dinner. So, I'll stick with my cruise vacation (for the most part), with whatever line gives me the best deal.:D