2015 European Cruises - Expensive and Booked Up?!

[VirtualRain]

Every princess cruise I've booked has been done within a few months of departure at a great price - usually an interior cabin under $100/pp/night...

 

- Caribbean 2012 (booked 1 month in advance - 7 nights for $599)

- Greek Isles 2012 (booked 4 months in advance - 12 nights for $999)

- Baltic 2013 (booked 2 months in advance - 14 nights for $799)

- British Isles 2014 (booked 2 months in advance - 12 nights for $799)

 

For the first time, I'm looking way ahead... this time at another Medi cruise on Princess, and as you might expect, the prices are ridiculous this far out (almost $200/pp/night for interior cabin - $2500 for 14 nights) but the strange thing is that many of the cabins appear booked. I mean, if you go and try to choose a cabin, there are only a few left. This is unlike past cruises where there were a few dozen interior cabins left up until a month prior.

 

Is this normal? Is limited cabin availability this far in advance real or is it some game that's going on?

Edited August 25, 2014 by VirtualRain

[Cruise Junky]

Well there's less capacity in the med. there's a smaller ship doing the grand med route , so less cabins to sell and they have Emerald doing. 7,14,21 & 28 day sailings with different cabins on hold for all segments. Lots of stuff going on to affect availability.

 

 

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Edited August 25, 2014 by Cruise Junky

[VirtualRain]

Well there's less capacity in the med. there's a smaller ship doing the grand med route , so less cabins to sell and they have Emerald doing. 7,14,21 & 28 day sailings with different cabins on hold for all segments. Lots of stuff going on to affect availability.

 

 

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Hmm... yeah, I noticed that they pretty much only have the Emerald Princess doing cruises and they are marketing it as you say in a variety of 7, 14, 21, and 28 day segments. I guess next year is not the year to do the Medi. Now I'm wondering were all the other Princess ships are going to be next summer? :confused:

[Cruise Junky]

We sailed last minute on Ruby in 2012 and got a killer deal. Those days maybe gone for a while. Check out the competition. Celebrity has some great itineraries.

 

 

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Edited August 25, 2014 by Cruise Junky

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Additionally many large agency consortiums block off group space which affect inventory. I'm not sure if Princess still allocates specific cabins when groups are booked or if they just block off chunks of rooms to allow sufficient space. This would be in addition to the rooms that are blocked in-house by Princess for sale on b2b cruises or multi segment cruises.

 

Prices will often go down after final payment date and unsold group inventory is released and individual booking options are not taken up for various reasons. If you are flexible in ship/date/itinerary you will most likely find better pricing close in, but it may not be as cheap as in the past due to less overall capacity.

 

My best suggestion is book your "ideal" cruise and room now, watch prices on multiple sailings and closer to your final payment date decide whether to stay with that cruise or switch to another or cancel and play last minute roulette. If the price on your booked cruise goes down before final payment date you can always ask Princess to lower your fare.

[Pam in CA]

I was checking availability on the Royal T/A on 9/10 and the cabin next to mine is available at 2x what I paid. It all comes down to supply and demand. Princess moves ships around so they can charge maximum pricing whenever they can. The Diamond and Sapphire have gone to Asia which reduces capacity by the thousands on the West Coast. Ships that sailed on the East Coast are now on the West Coast. All the ships are being shuffled around.

[Skai]

It seems like Princess is yielding the Med to its competitors -- At least when it comes to the volume of offerings.

 

I've been looking at 10-14 day Eastern itineraries(primarily Dalmation Coast/Greek isles combos sailing from Venice/Rome) and Princess' listings are slim pickings and/or already heavily booked/overpriced -- For the nearer term or longer term IMHO.

 

It's understandable that with less availability, demand for these cruises are higher.

 

Perhaps Princess is focusing more on the GBR crowd (and Western/Northern Europe itineraries) or other parts of the World altogether?

[lovevacadays]

I was excited when I heard that Princess would be doing a lot of 7 day cruises in Europe next Fall. I was shocked when I looked at the prices!:eek::eek::eek: And, it seems they are selling well.

[Posaune]

It seems that because of airline prices to Europe, many of the lines have dropped capacity this year and next.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

It seems like Princess is yielding the Med to its competitors -- At least when it comes to the volume of offerings.

 

I've been looking at 10-14 day Eastern itineraries(primarily Dalmation Coast/Greek isles combos sailing from Venice/Rome) and Princess' listings are slim pickings and/or already heavily booked/overpriced -- For the nearer term or longer term IMHO.

 

It's understandable that with less availability, demand for these cruises are higher.

 

Perhaps Princess is focusing more on the GBR crowd (and Western/Northern Europe itineraries) or other parts of the World altogether?

 

The port restrictions in Venice make life hard for Princess. They have very few ships available that meet the tonnage requirement AND can be competitive with ships from HAL, RCCL and Celebrity. With the Sun, Dawn and Sea pretty much out of the picture only the Island/Coral and Pcific/Ocean can call on Venice. By contrast RCCL has 11 ships in their fleet that meet the restrictions and Celebrity 4 ships.

 

Princess is doing a hefty reshuffling of ships for 2015/16 and I expect more for 2016/17.

 

There will be 7 ships positioned in Alaska summer 2015 (Grand, Golden, Star, Crown, Ruby, Coral And Pacific). By contrast there are 6 ships deployed to Europe for the same period - only 2 ships deployed to the Mediterranean for the entire summer season (Island and Emerald) and 3 ships deployed to Northern Europe for the entire season (Royal, Regal and Ocean), and the Caribbean Princess will be UK based and split it's time between Northern Europe and the Med. During the same time period Princess will have the Diamond, Sapphire, Sun, Dawn, and Sea Princess' deployed in Australia/South Pacific, Asia or World cruises originating "Down Under" which is well over 30% of their total available berths fleet wide.

 

Alaskan cruises tend to be highly profitable for Princess with cruise tours and shore excursions bringing in quite a bit of revenue. My guess is that those same revenue amounts per passenger, per day are lower in Europe where fewer people tend to do cruise tours and more people explore the port cities on their own.

 

Caribbean Princess fares this summer in the Caribbean were in the toilet so I'm not surprised to see them retrench (yet again) in this market. Going up against the Oasis/Allure and the two new NCL ships for passengers is not easy in a market driven primarily by first time cruisers and families, especially when your only ship in the region lacks any connecting rooms.

 

In the end it's all about revenue and where they are able to drive up demand/fares while still earning ancillary revenues that meet their forecasts. I personally feel that reducing capacity (for all the cruise lines) in over saturated markets like the Caribbean and Mediterranean, or in markets where ancillary revenues are lower, is the smart thing to do. Higher profits allow the cruise lines to stop cutting back on product and instead reinvest and enhance it.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I was excited when I heard that Princess would be doing a lot of 7 day cruises in Europe next Fall. I was shocked when I looked at the prices!:eek::eek::eek: And, it seems they are selling well.

 

Princess is smartly selling what are actually longer cruises in shorter segments. You can realistically do 7, 14, 21 or 28 days on the Emerald next year without repeating hardly any ports. Revenue management has allocated certain cabins to each cruise length/segment which is why we see less availability than if it was just a series of seven day only cruises or 14 day only cruises. The hope is that by segmenting the voyage that each cruise, whether it be 7 or 28 days, will command a higher rate per day as supply will be restricted.

 

As we get closer to sailing and Princess' revenue management department sees booking trends for each segment/cruise length there will be an increase in cabin availability on certain portions that are selling well and a decrease in the ones that aren't selling as well. The overall goal is to keep yields high and avoid deep discounting, while at the same time offering cruisers more flexibility with their Mediterranean vacations.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

It seems that because of airline prices to Europe, many of the lines have dropped capacity this year and next.

 

Increased competition for European based cruise lines isn't helping either. MSC and Costa are the heavy hitters in the Med with large fleets of fairly new ships.

 

Airfares are not looking to go down either, not as long as fuel prices stay where they are. Think about how much we pay at the pump to fill our gas tanks, then think about the fact that an average wide bodied jet may cost upwards of $25000 just to fuel, not to mention high landing fees at most European airports, high catering costs, etc, etc

[Go-Bucks!]

Check out the competition. Celebrity has some great itineraries.

 

 

As much as we love Princess, we're finding new, exciting itineraries on Celebrity. And Celebrity's prices are lower than Princess. In Oct, 2015 we're doing 14 nights r/t Rome, stopping in Naples, 2-day Jerusalem, Haifa, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Athens, and Valletta. Price was good for the Med and flights to/from Rome are easy and not as expensive as some European or Med cities.

 

Celebrity's product is similar to Princess, so if Princess' Med prices are looking too high, check out Celebrity.

[Skai]

As much as we love Princess, we're finding new, exciting itineraries on Celebrity. And Celebrity's prices are lower than Princess. In Oct, 2015 we're doing 14 nights r/t Rome, stopping in Naples, 2-day Jerusalem, Haifa, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Athens, and Valletta. Price was good for the Med and flights to/from Rome are easy and not as expensive as some European or Med cities.

 

Celebrity's product is similar to Princess, so if Princess' Med prices are looking too high, check out Celebrity.

 

Both Celebrity and even HAL(which I would consider for such a port heavy itinerary) have some good looking upcoming itineraries for the E. Med.

 

I've come to like the Princess product after the few cruises I've taken, but considering that for me, the ports are the destination (as much if not more than the ship itself), I'm willing to make the jump to other lines that can provide the itineraries that are the most appealing.

 

Princess seems to pride themselves and claim to have the best overall itineraries, but I've often found that other similar lines seem to have more exotic varieties/combinations along the more popular routes.

 

It also seems that Princess seems to be moving more towards competing with the mega ship crowd at the expense of perhaps alienating the small/medium-size ship crowd along the way.

 

Certain itineraries are better served by smaller ships. It really seems like Princess is only offering a few Eastern Med. cruises because they're expected to, but they'd rather be trying to corner the expanding Asia market as their primary focus.

[Host Jazzbeau]

On the other hand, for those of us that love Coral/Island the new Venice restrictions are pure gold. I'm definitely planning on a Grand Med cruise now, which I wouldn't have done if it meant sailing on Royal/Regal.

[Cruise Junky]

On the other hand, for those of us that love Coral/Island the new Venice restrictions are pure gold. I'm definitely planning on a Grand Med cruise now, which I wouldn't have done if it meant sailing on Royal/Regal.

 

It's a fantastic itinerary. We've done it twice. But now I want new and different ports. Really looking forward to the Spain intense itinerary on X. Princess does nothing like it :(

[Host Jazzbeau]

It's a fantastic itinerary. We've done it twice. But now I want new and different ports. Really looking forward to the Spain intense itinerary on X. Princess does nothing like it :(

 

Yes, that's a great itinerary too. But we're off next week to walk the Camino, so we're experiencing Spain intensively another way... ;)

[Cruise Junky]

Yes, that's a great itinerary too. But we're off next week to walk the Camino, so we're experiencing Spain intensively another way... ;)

 

Are you really? How far are you going? That would be bucket list for DH.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Are you really? How far are you going? That would be bucket list for DH.

 

As a Host [on the River Cruises forum] I really shouldn't be hijacking this thread [slaps self ;)]. Please email me [see my signature] and we can continue this off line. Your DH may be very pleased.

[Lady Arwen]

We booked RCL Allure for the Med October 2015, during their half off for second pax sale. We really wanted to sail with Princess, but the prices are so high. Got a great price on Allure and we picked up Diamond status from our Celebrity Elite, so free evening cocktails and other perks. Great itinerary R/T Barcelona.

[bcnvcanada]

We booked a 21 days on MSC in their Y club (suite) status a cheaper

price than Princess. balcony. We are excited as we love the Med. We do speak

several of the languages on board and are really excited to try sometime

other than the cruise lines of the big U.S. operators. It is a large ship also,

but the Y club is a small area within the ship.

[latebloomer56]

We had no problem booking RT London on Princess. The Mediterranean Adventurer trip next May fits the bill for us on the Caribbean. It will have 7 stops 4 of these are new for us and we will be in Rome for 12 hours this trip which will be perfect as we only plan on the Vatican this time around. Also by booking early we have the cabin we wanted and TD 1st. seating we wanted. Cost was not outlandish nothing is cheap. RT air will be the kicker Boston/London is never a good deal. We shall see in March about that and Princess hotels before the cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

As stated the European cruises fill up and can demand those prices.

[silverwillow]

We have found the same and are now considering Hal. I also don't like the itinerary changes made that have the Emerald going to the Ukraine bad timing or what?

[VirtualRain]

Wow. Glad I posted this. What an eye opener. Princess is definitely doing some strange things... 7 ships for Alaska vs 2 for the Med? Seriously?! I can only conclude that too many Princess customers on the all inclusive drink package have been booking future cruises while drunk... Don't drink and book people! :p

 

Anyway, after a few great years, they are losing me as a customer if they think I'm going to pay nearly $200/pp/night for an inside. Some other suckers can pay that. Just glad to hear none of them are on this forum ;)

 

I'm going to check out Celebrity and Carnival then I guess.

 

 

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Edited August 27, 2014 by VirtualRain