AI Price Rise

[Jim The Scot]

Was dabbling about on the Thomson website doing a few mock bookings and noticed the top price for AI package prices have risen from £210 per party(used to be £198)for one week and £420 per party(used to be £389).That will also mean once the free AI has gone on a specific cruises the increment payment will rise before reaching the above top whack prices

[Little Nell]

Pricing themselves out the game. With all the exclusions it isn't worth it any more. " years ago I would never have said that.

[topsey130]

I think (but can not be sure) that £210 was the price they were offering the package at to purchase on board (June 2013 - Celebration).......Perhaps enough took it up on board and they thought, Hey ho, people are willing to buy at this price......will be interesting to see if the price is the same to purchase on board as it is in advance? :confused:

[kruzseeka]

And it's made worse by the reduced options and surcharges which have crept into the AI package too. :rolleyes:

[geomagot]

begs the question??...wonder if they are planning on putting the bar prices up (payg):(

[Iain1873]

Changed days indeed since i last crusied with Thomsons , AI included everything bar a couple of cocktails and for some reason bottled water , wouldn't even consider buying it now unless FOC or at considerable reduced rate

[mtt]

Was £225 to buy onboard the celebration the other week

[Jim The Scot]

begs the question??...wonder if they are planning on putting the bar prices up (payg):(

 

Good shout geo and suspect so

[SandraDJ]

I haven't cruised with Thomson before, but have been considering booking Spirit in October. The AI price quoted on the website was £69 for a 7day cruise. That seems reasonable to me. I don't normally buy a drinks package, but at that price I will if I do book.

[kruzseeka]

I haven't cruised with Thomson before, but have been considering booking Spirit in October. The AI price quoted on the website was £69 for a 7day cruise. That seems reasonable to me. I don't normally buy a drinks package, but at that price I will if I do book.

 

 

If you have the chance to get the AI for £69 - grab it. That is excellent value and as you can read since the full price is now £210 p.w. clearly you are being offered an early booking incentive. If you are interested, I'd make the booking asap as it's obviously a bargain and it could be withdrawn at any time.

[mtt]

I haven't cruised with Thomson before, but have been considering booking Spirit in October. The AI price quoted on the website was £69 for a 7day cruise. That seems reasonable to me. I don't normally buy a drinks package, but at that price I will if I do book.

 

£69 is good thats the most we've paid, £10 a day

[Julessmiles]

The problem is, Thomson are starting to price themselves out of the market - a lot of lines are now doing inclusive drinks packages & including a lot of things in their basic price such as safes etc......

[shellsailor]

H i Jim the Scot, How are you ? Talked to you last year when we were booked on Spirit October through Med. We had to cancel due to family sudden death. On Celebration this Friday. Not bothered about AI as we

saved £1,000 by booking late. We are thinking about booking for Thomson through David Urqhuart next time as they advertise AI on most of Thomson cruises, up till now that is. It may be worth thinking about.

Regards, Shellsailor.

[okavango]

I haven't cruised with Thomson before, but have been considering booking Spirit in October. The AI price quoted on the website was £69 for a 7day cruise. That seems reasonable to me. I don't normally buy a drinks package, but at that price I will if I do book.

 

looking at the present prices for october the cheap ai is well covered

[norfolklad]

If you have the chance to get the AI for £69 - grab it. That is excellent value and as you can read since the full price is now £210 p.w. clearly you are being offered an early booking incentive. If you are interested, I'd make the booking asap as it's obviously a bargain and it could be withdrawn at any time.

Great if you can get cheap deal on drinks package, we asked the snotty person who is the future cruise salesperson on the Dream if we booked one year ahead would we get a deal on the drinks package , we were told " we never offer reduced drinks packages on Caribbean cruises " We asked why you are doing free or reduced packages on the Med she replied" different type of people on the Caribbean, so offer on board credit " forget the amount but it was peanut's compared with the £ 900 per couple on board price for the drinks package Bye Bye TUI cruises .

[Little Nell]

Great if you can get cheap deal on drinks package, we asked the snotty person who is the future cruise salesperson on the Dream if we booked one year ahead would we get a deal on the drinks package , we were told " we never offer reduced drinks packages on Caribbean cruises " We asked why you are doing free or reduced packages on the Med she replied" different type of people on the Caribbean, so offer on board credit " forget the amount but it was peanut's compared with the £ 900 per couple on board price for the drinks package Bye Bye TUI cruises .

 

She doesn't know her job either as it is £10 a day on the Celebration next year, for how long I don't know, but that's what it was when we booked.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Little Nell

[gillhalfpint]

Was £225 to buy onboard the celebration the other week

 

Believe that was the on board price on the Dream January too. Wouldn't have it unless around the £10 a day offer or free!!

[Jim The Scot]

H i Jim the Scot, How are you ? Talked to you last year when we were booked on Spirit October through Med. We had to cancel due to family sudden death. On Celebration this Friday. Not bothered about AI as we

saved £1,000 by booking late. We are thinking about booking for Thomson through David Urqhuart next time as they advertise AI on most of Thomson cruises, up till now that is. It may be worth thinking about.

Regards, Shellsailor.

 

Hi Shellsailor,

 

Were fine how are you?Sorry to hear of your family bereavement.Already booked for this year(AI included :D)but will bear Urquart travel in mind,however unlikely to beat the prices I get...Urqhuart travel like most TA`s will have limited amount of inclusive AI,once they are gone is when the charges come into play in increments

 

Have a great time on the Celenration

[WeeCountyMan]

I haven't cruised with Thomson before, but have been considering booking Spirit in October. The AI price quoted on the website was £69 for a 7day cruise. That seems reasonable to me. I don't normally buy a drinks package, but at that price I will if I do book.

 

The more experienced price watchers here can confirm (or refute) - but is it not the case that the free/low price drinks packages are tightly linked to higher initial booking prices for cruises ?

 

When these offers end, full price AI prices kick in, and the cost of the cruise falls ?

 

Is an either or scenario - you won't get free/low price AI and reduced cabin deals ?

Edited February 26, 2014 by WeeCountyMan
grammar

[kruzseeka]

The more experienced price watchers here can confirm (or refute) - but is it not the case that the free/low price drinks packages are tightly linked to higher initial booking prices for cruises ?

 

When these offers end, full price AI prices kick in, and the cost of the cruise falls ?

 

Is an either or scenario - you won't get free/low price AI and reduced cabin deals ?

 

Your reasoning is what I've always believed to be the case WCM. I tend to think that the best prices are either at the beginning if you want to take advantage of AI deals or free parking, obc etc. or late deals when there may be big price cuts (although not always!).

 

But as you say you either win out in one respect eg no bar bill or in another ie paying a lot less for your cruise or get higher grade cabins at what had previously been the cost of basic ones. The worst time to book imo is just after the freebies disappear but before prices start falling. (But as we know there are always exceptions and for very popular dates/itineraries price drops may not happen!)

[okavango]

Your reasoning is what I've always believed to be the case WCM. I tend to think that the best prices are either at the beginning if you want to take advantage of AI deals or free parking, obc etc. or late deals when there may be big price cuts (although not always!).

 

But as you say you either win out in one respect eg no bar bill or in another ie paying a lot less for your cruise or get higher grade cabins at what had previously been the cost of basic ones. The worst time to book imo is just after the freebies disappear but before prices start falling. (But as we know there are always exceptions and for very popular dates/itineraries price drops may not happen!)

 

the only thing you can be sure of is NOTHING IS FREE ,theres always an angle to it somewhere.

 

ps: just thought of one instance where AI was as near to being free as possible, last year the 15night repo up to newcastle cost me about £600 cruise only with free AI included ,i reckon somebody made a right cockup, 15 night cruise for under £200

[gillhalfpint]

the only thing you can be sure of is NOTHING IS FREE ,theres always an angle to it somewhere.

 

ps: just thought of one instance where AI was as near to being free as possible, last year the 15night repo up to newcastle cost me about £600 cruise only with free AI included ,i reckon somebody made a right cockup, 15 night cruise for under £200

 

Just checked current prices on the 3 cruises we have booked on like for like basis, and the all in is making a large difference.

 

Majesty we gain by £908 due mainly to the AI free for us and £420 chargeable now. Cabin confusing as they say inside plus included now, but pricing has £140 for it. We are in the included standard cabin.

 

Spirit we lose £208.

 

Dream we gain by £654 again due to the AI package. We got it for £280 and the current charge is £796.

[gillhalfpint]

Just checked current prices on the 3 cruises we have booked on like for like basis, and the all in is making a large difference.

 

Majesty we gain by £908 due mainly to the AI free for us and £420 chargeable now. Cabin confusing as they say inside plus included now, but pricing has £140 for it. We are in the included standard cabin.

 

Spirit we lose £208.

 

Dream we gain by £654 again due to the AI package. We got it for £280 and the current charge is £796.

 

Sorry this is on the wrong thread so copied over to the right one.

[flemtagg]

Hi all regarding Ai deals I have been on thomsons a few times now and I have paid full and discounted price for AI , also done late deals , in my experience and I watch the price changes with and without AI , if you like a drink on holiday and I don't mean getting smashed every night but just normal eg a few beers in the afternoon, wine with dinner a drink during the show you all know what I mean then the AI package would prob be best. So if you get it free or reduced then go for it. Once the free or reduced AI ends you might get around 100 pounds off the cruise but that would never cancel out the AI deals, for example I booked the Caribbean I think it's called Caribbean Quest for nov 2014 I booked it almost a year in advanced I fly from Manchester it cost 1235 each with free all inclusive the price now is 1488 and AI cost 300 pounds mind this is for 15 nights so both the cruise price and the AI price have increased, in my experience the best deals are usually the first ones that come out. However at the moment from London you can get this cruise for just over 1100 pounds and AI will cost you 300 I still think that is not a bad deal. You might get the cruise a bit cheaper but bet if it does the AI will be withdrawn. But I will keep a eye on it and let you know .

[sweby]

The problem is, Thomson are starting to price themselves out of the market - a lot of lines are now doing inclusive drinks packages & including a lot of things in their basic price such as safes etc......

 

Got to admit we are paying loads of money for a Thomson cruise next year, but the itinerary is better than many going out of the likes of Miami. We could have cruised on a five star (or even better) for the same amount, but with 5 sea days instead of just 2 with Thomson. We did do the so called AI package at £10 a day, so just hope that works out.

Sweby