Is it my imagination?

[lysolqn]

Have been cruising several times a year for 25+ years, mostly on X. Clearly, today's ships cost more to build, are bigger, better and offer more options than older ships ever did but of late I've noticed that prices keep inching up, particularly on X. That's not to say cruising isn't still a very reasonably priced way to vacation and there aren't still good deals out there but in general, prices seem noticeably higher than they were even five years ago - even taking into consideration the normal rise in cost of just about everything. I'm guessing part of the increase is the result of offering "free" options like drink packages, gratuities, internet, etc. and since nothing is free, those options are being built into the base fare. Anyone?

[CruisingChick]

Have been cruising several times a year for 25+ years, mostly on X. Clearly, today's ships cost more to build, are bigger, better and offer more options than older ships ever did but of late I've noticed that prices keep inching up, particularly on X. That's not to say cruising isn't still a very reasonably priced way to vacation and there aren't still good deals out there but in general, prices seem noticeably higher than they were even five years ago - even taking into consideration the normal rise in cost of just about everything. I'm guessing part of the increase is the result of offering "free" options like drink packages, gratuities, internet, etc. and since nothing is free, those options are being built into the base fare. Anyone?

 

While we have only been cruising 16 years, I tend to agree with you. The prices of Outside Staterooms and above seem to have risen more now that they are including all these "perks". Which are not really included, you are paying extra.

 

We usually book inside cabins and so far those have stayed pretty constant in the past few years since they don't include any of the perks.

 

Except for next year. They want $1,849 or $1,899 for an inside cabin for a 2 week Canada/New England cruise. No - I don't think so. I almost passed out when I saw those prices.

[jelayne]

While we have only been cruising 16 years, I tend to agree with you. The prices of Outside Staterooms and above seem to have risen more now that they are including all these "perks". Which are not really included, you are paying extra.

 

We usually book inside cabins and so far those have stayed pretty constant in the past few years since they don't include any of the perks.

 

Except for next year. They want $1,849 or $1,899 for an inside cabin for a 2 week Canada/New England cruise. No - I don't think so. I almost passed out when I saw those prices.

 

This itinerary is always pricey particularly for the late Sept early Oct sailing; guess everyone wants to go when the colors are changing.

[CruisingChick]

This itinerary is always pricey particularly for the late Sept early Oct sailing; guess everyone wants to go when the colors are changing.

 

We have done this cruise 8 times. The most we ever paid for an inside category 9 was $1,617 and that was back in 2012. 2013, 2014 and 2015 we paid $1,499 for inside guarantee.

[FlorenceItaly]

We have done this cruise 8 times. The most we ever paid for an inside category 9 was $1,617 and that was back in 2012. 2013, 2014 and 2015 we paid $1,499 for inside guarantee.

 

CC - last September we got a $599 inside with Princess, 10 day, NY to Quebec. Just a thought. It was about 2-3 months out, I believe.

 

 

 

Marie

[CruisingChick]

CC - last September we got a $599 inside with Princess, 10 day, NY to Quebec. Just a thought. It was about 2-3 months out, I believe.

 

 

 

Marie

 

Thank you. I will keep my eye out for it.

[Bruin Steve]

I've been cruising since the 1980s ...

In my experience, cruise prices go up and down...depending on all sorts of factors:

How new the ship is...

What season you are cruising in...

The desirability of the itinerary...

The status of world politics...

 

It is all really based on the laws of supply and demand...

For example, when 9/11 hit and the war in Iraq started, prices went down...People were reluctant to cruise to, say, the Eastern Mediterranean or to fly anywhere to meet a cruise for fear of terrorism...

Things like various disease epidemics have impacted cruise prices as well...

And, of course, so has the economy...When unemployment is high, fewer people travel...and cruise prices drop--lack of demand...

 

Right now, as opposed to several years ago, the economy is in better shape...we are closer to full employment (no matter what the political party on the outs is telling people), world conflict, despite still existing, is at least a little more stable--as people seem to have just become more used to it...

Plus, the American cruise lines have marketed well and opened up new markets among Asian and European markets--thereby increasing demand...

New routes have opened meaning ships have been deployed to those routes leaving other traditional cruise itineraries with fewer ships and, therefore less competition (Like from here in SoCal, for example, where RCCL/Celebrity has pretty much abandoned the Baja and Mexican Riviera routes to Carnival/Princess...Less competition means higher prices).

 

Also note that the newer ships all have a much higher percentage of balcony and suite cabins--meaning not only higher average prices but also fewer inside and OV cabins--meaning lower supply for the demand, raising the prices for those cabins.

 

On the whole, though, cruising is still a value...Compare your typical cruise to the cost of staying in a nice hotel, eating out breakfast, lunch and dinner and providing yourself with any form of nighttime entertainment...

 

And, of course, cruise prices to vary depending on WHEN you book...again due to supply and demand...

 

I always book early, then monitor prices...For next June/July, I've already booked a 14 night back-to-back on RCCL in the med...and my Deck 7 hump balcony is only costing me a net $4325 (Both cruises with taxes and fees after OBC) ...under $155 per person per night--not bad for a high season Mediterranean cruise in a prime balcony cabin. Of course, since I booked three months ago, the price for that same trip has already increased by over $1000...even with the recent "sales"...If you can cruise in "shoulder season", you can find even better prices...

 

But, the point is, bargains are still to be had...as always...if you are diligent in finding and booking your cruises.

[4774Papa]

Have been cruising several times a year for 25+ years, mostly on X. Clearly, today's ships cost more to build, are bigger, better and offer more options than older ships ever did but of late I've noticed that prices keep inching up, particularly on X. That's not to say cruising isn't still a very reasonably priced way to vacation and there aren't still good deals out there but in general, prices seem noticeably higher than they were even five years ago - even taking into consideration the normal rise in cost of just about everything. I'm guessing part of the increase is the result of offering "free" options like drink packages, gratuities, internet, etc. and since nothing is free, those options are being built into the base fare. Anyone?

 

Agree, I dislike the bundling of pricing that most of the cruise lines seem to have adopted. However, you can still book a transatlantic without the bundling. Although, those prices are up as well (some increase may be due to the fact that TAs now seem to include a lot more ports and are longer).

[El Crucero]

It is all really based on the laws of supply and demand..................

But, the point is, bargains are still to be had...as always...if you are diligent in finding and booking your cruises.

 

Correct and to the point. On our recent X cruises, some of the itineraries have gone up, some have gone down - regardless of whatever promotions are being offered at the time. So, "it depends."

[wallie5446]

.... but of late I've noticed that prices keep inching up, particularly on X.

 

I'm a keeper of stuff :o much to the wifesters dismay.:D

 

We thought the same, so I went and pulled all that 'stuff' I kept from our first on the Zenith in 1994, from a Thanksgiving sailing on the Century in 1998, and form the Horizon for our DD's HS gradation cruise in Dec 2000.

Every penny we spent. Our last 3 Novembers on X have cost us less out of pocket, per day average, than we were paying in the 1990'ties, and our tally up sheet at the end of the cruise has been 7-8-9 pages of zero's, where as it was 2-3 pages with and amount due not in the hundreds, but higher.

 

Oh and that other pesky item, our take home pay was conservable LESS back then.

Edited June 9, 2016 by wallie5446

[ptrpanpens]

If anyone is interested, RCCL has some very good itineraries to NE on Vision of the Seas for September and October 2017. I think the ship was just redeployed. Cabins are much less than X right now due to one of the promotions on Royal.

[Bo1953]

Yes, rates are going up all over...

 

I also take into consideration the size of the ship too... I do not care for much more than 2,200 on any ship, regardless of price.

 

bon voyage

[Sandy1975]

I always see comments like "The Perks are not free, you are paying for them" or cruises are more expensive today. I have only been cruising since 2012 so no much long term history but I can speak of whether perks are free or just an add on to the base price.

 

My first 4 cruises came with no perks and my last 5 with perks. In the ones without perk, we would still buy beverages on board but we would watch our spend and it would avg about 300 for the 2 of us on a 7 day cruise. So when I compare on a per day/per person basis and with everything monetary included (OBC given by TA and/or Celebrity) my per person/per day spend is maybe 5 to 10 dollars more for comparable cabins.

 

Our perk is the Beverage Package and when you put that against our conservative beverage spend in the no perks days, we are way ahead. So we are paying more to add the Beverage package but it ends up been a lot less because now we can enjoy as much coffee/smoothies/drinks as we want and not be tied to a daily budget. It might not work for everyone but for us cruising now is cheaper than 4 years ago.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Sandy1975

[cruisingdelt]

Here is some info that gives a little perspective. First let me be fair and say that cruising has changed a great deal since we started in 2001. A great deal of the formality and elegance has passed. the MDRs of today cannot come close to what they were 15 years ago. Here is a comparison of similar cruises separated by almost exactly 15 years:

 

July 2001 Zenith outside room for 2 adults with a 13 year old and a 10 year old in tow (hey, first cruise and all I could afford back then)

Total cost $4985 with no perks at all so we had to pay for all gratuities, drinks and everything else. Great cruise which got us hooked.

 

June 2016 Summit C1 cabin with veranda for 2 people

Total cost $4443 including gratuities, drinks (classic) and a $300 credit.

 

Considering that the 3rd and 4th guest back in 2001 were probably not too much money the prices are very comparable. I wish I could say the same about everything I buy. With that said, we will keep cruising until we feel we are no longer getting good value or until we physically cannot. May neither of these two events occur any time soon. Hope you all enjoy your future cruises.

[El Crucero]

We started cruising and traveling a lot in 2010, after I retired. The cruises that I look at have shown more increases in prices upon the advent of the bundling of beverage packages, etc.

 

That is a conclusion that is not supported by facts. Even some of the TransAtlantics and TransPacifics have gone up in cost even though they do not include Beverage Packages, etc. on those itineraries and popular cruise lines.

 

I maintain that prices have gone up because more baby boomers are retiring, like you and I, and are choosing to spend their retirement dollars on cruising. It is a matter of supply and demand, the more people who are cruising and competing for a relatively finite number of staterooms, the prices are bound to go up on some of the more popular itineraries.

 

If you are flexible with your itinerary, you can find some itineraries that are less cost than one or even five years ago, when there were no beverage packages, etc.

Edited June 10, 2016 by El Crucero

[casper106]

Of course the prices have gone up. There is no such thing as a free OBC or perk. They have to make the money somewhere. Or shop around for a better deal. We did this past winter and had a really great experience on HAL. After our X cruise next winter which we booked in 2015,we will doing more price comparisons than in the past. As long as the Canadian dollar stays at lower levels,this will be the norm for those of us here.

[4774Papa]

That is a conclusion that is not supported by facts. Even some of the TransAtlantics and TransPacifics have gone up in cost even though they do not include Beverage Packages, etc. on those itineraries and popular cruise lines.

 

I maintain that prices have gone up because more baby boomers are retiring, like you and I, and are choosing to spend their retirement dollars on cruising. It is a matter of supply and demand, the more people who are cruising and competing for a relatively finite number of staterooms, the prices are bound to go up on some of the more popular itineraries.

 

If you are flexible with your itinerary, you can find some itineraries that are less cost than one or even five years ago, when there were no beverage packages, etc.

 

Of course, I have not done a comprehensive survey of prices of the past six years, and I suspect that you have not done so either.

 

However, I can say that for the cruises that I have been interested in since the new bundle pricing, that the prices are up. Frankly, it has caused me to not book some cruises.

 

I have been following cruises from Australia to NZ and have not found those cruise prices to have increased significantly. Not sure what that is the case?

[Straughn]

I'm a keeper of stuff :o much to the wifesters dismay.:D

 

We thought the same, so I went and pulled all that 'stuff' I kept from our first on the Zenith in 1994, from a Thanksgiving sailing on the Century in 1998, and form the Horizon for our DD's HS gradation cruise in Dec 2000.

Every penny we spent. Our last 3 Novembers on X have cost us less out of pocket, per day average, than we were paying in the 1990'ties, and our tally up sheet at the end of the cruise has been 7-8-9 pages of zero's, where as it was 2-3 pages with and amount due not in the hundreds, but higher.

 

Oh and that other pesky item, our take home pay was conservable LESS back then.

 

Couldn't agree more. I just looked at the invoice from our first cruise, 7-night, Eastern Caribbean, on Sovereign of the Seas, in Oct. 1993. We had a Grand Suite at $2800 per person which did not include gratuities, beverages, an on board credit or Wi-Fi. The on board bill at the end of the cruise was $853.72. Gratuities were paid in cash, so not included in that amount.

 

I can book a Sky Suite today, for a comparable cruise, and pay approx. the same amount (+/- $100 price difference) and get all the above named benefits. Yes a SS2 is slightly smaller than GS, but still very comfortable.

 

And yes, our take home pay was a lot less and our day-to-day expenses a lot greater. No mortgage or car payment now.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Straughn

[grandgeezer]

I always see comments like "The Perks are not free, you are paying for them" or cruises are more expensive today. I have only been cruising since 2012 so no much long term history but I can speak of whether perks are free or just an add on to the base price.

 

My first 4 cruises came with no perks and my last 5 with perks. In the ones without perk, we would still buy beverages on board but we would watch our spend and it would avg about 300 for the 2 of us on a 7 day cruise. So when I compare on a per day/per person basis and with everything monetary included (OBC given by TA and/or Celebrity) my per person/per day spend is maybe 5 to 10 dollars more for comparable cabins.

 

Our perk is the Beverage Package and when you put that against our conservative beverage spend in the no perks days, we are way ahead. So we are paying more to add the Beverage package but it ends up been a lot less because now we can enjoy as much coffee/smoothies/drinks as we want and not be tied to a daily budget. It might not work for everyone but for us cruising now is cheaper than 4 years ago.

 

Your definition of free must be different than mine.

I'm looking at doing a 10 day Caribbean on the Equinox, leaving November 18. When I go to Celebrity's website it initially tells me it's $1249 p.p. for a balcony. When I click on it, it asks me to pick my perk. The price for one perk (drink package) jumps to $1599 for a difference of $350 p.p. It then asks me if I want to go back to the initial price and when I click yes, it takes me back to the $1249 price. I don't consider that free.

[El Crucero]

I'm looking at doing a 10 day Caribbean on the Equinox, leaving November 18. When I go to Celebrity's website it initially tells me it's $1249 p.p. for a balcony. When I click on it, it asks me to pick my perk. The price for one perk (drink package) jumps to $1599 for a difference of $350 p.p. It then asks me if I want to go back to the initial price and when I click yes, it takes me back to the $1249 price. I don't consider that free.

 

The Classic Beverage Package for a 10 day cruise is $580 p/p (including the mandatory tip). Celebrity is selling you that $580 package for $350. No, it is not "free" but there is some value there, about $230 "free."

 

Many of us received the Classic package included with our fare as a promotion. In my case my fare including the beverage package was less than my fare on the same cruise a year prior with no beverage package. Was my beverage package "free?" It depends on what your definition of "free" is.

 

Nothing is ever "free" but there may be extra value in a product depending on what your priorities are.

[wallie5446]

Couldn't agree more. I just looked at the invoice from our first cruise, 7-night, Eastern Caribbean, on Sovereign of the Seas, in Oct. 1993. We had a Grand Suite at $2800 per person which did not include gratuities, beverages, an on board credit or Wi-Fi. The on board bill at the end of the cruise was $853.72. Gratuities were paid in cash, so not included in that amount.

 

I can book a Sky Suite today, for a comparable cruise, and pay approx. the same amount (+/- $100 price difference) and get all the above named benefits. Yes a SS2 is slightly smaller than GS, but still very comfortable.

 

And yes, our take home pay was a lot less and our day-to-day expenses a lot greater. No mortgage or car payment now.

 

Mr. Santos, give em a drink!

[wallie5446]

The Classic Beverage Package for a 10 day cruise is $580 p/p (including the mandatory tip). Celebrity is selling you that $580 package for $350. No, it is not "free" but there is some value there, about $230 "free."

 

Many of us received the Classic package included with our fare as a promotion. In my case my fare including the beverage package was less than my fare on the same cruise a year prior with no beverage package. Was my beverage package "free?" It depends on what your definition of "free" is.

 

Nothing is ever "free" but there may be extra value in a product depending on what your priorities are.

 

Looks like a round is in order!

[grandgeezer]

The Classic Beverage Package for a 10 day cruise is $580 p/p (including the mandatory tip). Celebrity is selling you that $580 package for $350. No, it is not "free" but there is some value there, about $230 "free."

 

Many of us received the Classic package included with our fare as a promotion. In my case my fare including the beverage package was less than my fare on the same cruise a year prior with no beverage package. Was my beverage package "free?" It depends on what your definition of "free" is.

 

Nothing is ever "free" but there may be extra value in a product depending on what your priorities are.

 

My definition of free is without cost, either added on or built in to the total cost. If they sold that cruise for $1249, with the beverage package, then it would indeed be free. I agree, there is some value to this deal but not for everyone.

You can't accurately compare prices you paid in the past to what you paid now, too many variables. Supply and demand being a big one. I paid $600 p.p. for an A1 balcony on the 13 day transatlantic, on the Silhouette, in April. It would be awful foolish to compare that to next years cruise.

[Baron Barracuda]

I'm a keeper of stuff :o much to the wifesters dismay.:D

 

We thought the same, so I went and pulled all that 'stuff' I kept from our first on the Zenith in 1994, from a Thanksgiving sailing on the Century in 1998, and form the Horizon for our DD's HS gradation cruise in Dec 2000.

Every penny we spent. Our last 3 Novembers on X have cost us less out of pocket, per day average, than we were paying in the 1990'ties, and our tally up sheet at the end of the cruise has been 7-8-9 pages of zero's, where as it was 2-3 pages with and amount due not in the hundreds, but higher.

 

Oh and that other pesky item, our take home pay was conservable LESS back then.

 

Also keep my old confirms. Zenith 6/93 outside cabin and Century '6/00 balcony both cost over $200/night. My recent Infinity and Eclipse and upcoming Equinox sailings all in C3's were around $170/night (including all three 123 perks and $350 onboard booking credits). Experience is nowhere near as grand, but still very good.

[El Crucero]

You can't accurately compare prices you paid in the past to what you paid now, too many variables. Supply and demand being a big one. I paid $600 p.p. for an A1 balcony on the 13 day transatlantic, on the Silhouette, in April. It would be awful foolish to compare that to next years cruise.

 

Then apparently we agree.......................the very premise of this thread, "Is it my imagination" is bogus because "you can't accurately compare prices paid in the past to what you paid now, to many variables. Supply and demand being a big one."

 

Complaining about Celebrity pricing is just complaining. If one is not happy with Celebrity pricing they can spend their cruise dollars on another line. I have talked to a few people that think that Oceania is a better deal than Celebrity. I have shopped Oceania and it is going to cost me 2 to 3 times per day what I spend on Celebrity. That "free" beverage package on Oceania is going to cost me a lot more than the "free" beverage package on Celebrity.

 

Celebrity still represents the best value for the type of cruising we do.