Ocean Medallion equals higher prices

[58Piano]

It seems princess had to raise prices when they introduced this ocean medallion nonsense

[geoherb]

I look at cruises on different cruise lines. Prices are up generally.

[Pam in CA]

Huh? Higher prices for what? Fares? Onboard expenses? How does the Medallion equal higher prices?

[jasbo49]

It seems princess had to raise prices when they introduced this ocean medallion nonsense

Can you elaborate? What you've said so far doesn't really demonstrate your point.

 

Jim

[paul929207]

Carnival Corp and Royal both said at their last earnings report that prices are up from a year ago. It is not just Princess. Business is good for the cruise industry.

[lovevacadays]

It is a supply and demand thing. Improved economy equal more disposable income for people which means some are spending more on vacations.

[satxdiver]

In the entire US cruise industry prices are up this year. This should not come as a shock in that they have increased year to year for some time since the 2008 recession. The medallion has nothing to do with it and in the long run will reduce expenses for Princess.

[Bill B]

The medallion has nothing to do with it and in the long run will reduce expenses for Princess.

 

Perhaps, but if true it doesn't mean they'll pass on the savings as lower fares.

[caribill]

The medallion has nothing to do with it and in the long run will reduce expenses for Princess.

 

The Medallion is a means for selling to passengers. For example, The Ocean Medallion technology on Princess sends you personalized shore excursion recommendations for your next port of call.

[jagoffee]

Perhaps, but if true it doesn't mean they'll pass on the savings as lower fares.

 

Of course not. But you are not agreeing with the OP's bizarre/ unexplained title/comment that the implementation of the Medallion program equals higher prices?

 

Perhaps it will result in some passengers spending more money on board.

[skynight]

It seems princess had to raise prices when they introduced this ocean medallion nonsense

Don’t agree with your inference that there is a correlation between the Medallion and increased fares. Also,don’t agree that the Medallion is nonsense. Believe many passengers will feel it is a nice thing.

[greenie082756]

I disagree. I have been tracking pricing since we started our first cruise with Princess in 2013.

 

Way before the medallion was even mentioned I noticed an increase of 4 - 9% each year just for the base price.

 

I'm hoping that once we retire that I will be able to save a little bit on last minute bookings.

 

I honestly think the medallion will help them save money and hopefully will be continued in the passing of these savings to the stockholders. :D

 

Supply and demand is the basics of any business.

[floridalover5623]

 

I'm hoping that once we retire that I will be able to save a little bit on last minute bookings.

 

Good luck with that idea. I've been waiting for years now and the cruises from Florida are always fully booked.

I've never seen any discounts for the Caribbean.

[Thrak]

I'm hoping that once we retire that I will be able to save a little bit on last minute bookings.

 

 

That's what we thought as well but... We ended up booking waaaaaaaaaaaaaay in advance when we saw cruises we wanted under the Sip and Sail. I retired last year and ended up booking our upcoming cruise under the Sip and Sail in September of 2016. We also booked our March 2018 cruise at that time. Now we've booked the 49 day (as a 19 day and a 30 day) South America cruise for February 2019 under the most recent Sip and Sail. Kind of hard to snag those last minute deals when you have already booked "normal" cruises. Maybe someday we will actually score a drop and go cruise but, so far, it hasn't been working out for us.

 

Now if we could find a drop and go cruisetour to Alaska that did Copper River and Kenai we might scramble to fit that in somewhere but the likelihood of that happening seems pretty remote.

[Cruise-Crazzy]

The reason for price increases is inflation. Costs are going up for Princess and they pass it along to their passengers.

 

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Forums mobile app

[beg3yrs]

The reason for price increases is inflation. Costs are going up for Princess and they pass it along to their passengers.

 

Sent from my GT-P5113 using Forums mobile app

 

Don't think so. A cruise line's biggest cost, fuel, has gone down significantly over the last few years. Inflation itself is well under control and is much less than the rate of increase in fares. It isn't the driver for increased fares.

 

 

As others have said, more demand, higher price. It's simple economics.

[coolcruiser777]

They actually had a sale for the ocean medallion back in June... and the cabins are still around the same prices. It was actually cheaper (for us, at least) because of the ocean medallion. We were able to switch from balcony rooms to mini-suites while saving a couple hundred bucks.

[easyboy]

It seems princess had to raise prices when they introduced this ocean medallion nonsense

Can not see the relation.

[caribill]

Don't think so. A cruise line's biggest cost, fuel, has gone down significantly over the last few years. Inflation itself is well under control and is much less than the rate of increase in fares. It isn't the driver for increased fares.

 

 

As others have said, more demand, higher price. It's simple economics.

 

Higher prices because:

o Less ships in the North American market. Less ships even with equal demand means higher pricing.

o A marketing goal of increasing overall passenger capacity less than the rate of increasing demand.

o Marketing programs such as Sip n' Sail and 3-for-one, aimed at cruises a year in the future, means bookings are higher earlier in the booking process for announced itineraries. Higher earlier bookings means less incentive to discount pricing as you get closer to final payment deadline and actual embarkation.