Prices up?

[socaljo]

On 3/21/2020 at 7:55 PM, lesnpatty said:

I agree prices fro the same itinerary have gone way up.  We had a 7 day Alaska booked for July, that we have decided to cancel. Next year's price has gone way up in the past week.  We still have a Search for the Northern Lights booked for October. The same cruise next year is about 2 grand more.  

We did the Northen lights tour this past October! It was amazing!!  Cold, but worth it! 

[ckb104]

We are booked on an Alaska cruise on May 24th and while I know it will be cancelled, it's still open for booking.  The prices have technically gone down, but there are no perks included.  If you add on the cost of what we got for the 3 for 3 promo, it's essentially the same price.  I'm curious to see what next year's rates are.  

[13cheermom]

2 hours ago, ckb104 said:

We are booked on an Alaska cruise on May 24th and while I know it will be cancelled, it's still open for booking.  The prices have technically gone down, but there are no perks included.  If you add on the cost of what we got for the 3 for 3 promo, it's essentially the same price.  I'm curious to see what next year's rates are.  

We have already been looking since we cancelled our 5/16/20 Alaskan cruise.  The same time next year is much higher than what we had booked for this year and without any of the perks we had on our sailing.  It's a lot of work checking prices and refarring throughout the course of a year to just have to cancel and start all over again. 😂  We are going to wait and see what happens before we re-book, as well as won't do anything until we get refunded for this years cancellation.

[TravelingEA]

Eggs have more than doubled in price. Most things have gone up with exception of gas.

[PurpleHays]

I've been watching an October sailing (for grad school graduation celebration). The price has not changed. We might wait and see if it drops after final payment date. However, it might be a moot point if I lose all my PTO because my work is closed. If/when it reopens, it will be reduced hours (ambulatory surgery center/elective cases) and only for fractures to keep those patients out of hospital beds.

 

[neverbeenhere]

Please raise the prices.

Bring back better service (Yes, longtime cruiser's dream) and spread the cost of the needed ship rehabs.

[StuartP]

My guess is that travel as a whole is going to be more expensive next year - due to simple supply and demand economics, and the cold hard financial reality companies like Carnival will be facing.

 

Take the Alaskan cruise season for example.

 

Lots of people who have booked this year are unable/unwilling to go, and many will rebook for next year with FCCs. Add to that all the other people who weren't going this year, but who were already planning to go next year anyway - demand is going to be much greater than it ever has been before.

 

There will no incentive for the cruise lines to offer the normal early booking discounts (unless the covid-19 situation is still playing out and there is uncertainty) or even the same prices. In fact to recoup the enormous losses they will be making this year they will push their prices up to the point where they balance with demand.

 

From an international air travel perspective it could be even worse as supply could be further curtailed by some airlines having gone under during the current crisis, and demand will have boomed (again assuming the uncertainty has gone).

 

This is why we'll be looking to get actual refunds (have a cruise tour booked to depart Vancouver on July 1st) rather than future credits that have to be redeemed within 12 months.

 

The graph below shows the basics of how supply and demand interact - there will be a new demand curve (existing plus new customers) moved out to the right, and it will intersect with the supply curve (for cruises this probably stays the same - they can't really increase capacity) higher up along the Price axis.

[bearette]

I was loo!ing at Alaska for July and the price has gone down, but the price is still about the same if you want a balcony and cheaper if you take an inside, with no perks.  I had twins 8 years ago and I haven't been on a princess cruise since because their prices were always super high for 3/4 in the room.  Right now, the price for 3/4 in a room is cheaper because they are trying to get bodies on baord.  I'll help the economy and cruise if we can in July.  I would cruise in June too if they were still running, but my kids will hopefully be in school then.

Edited March 29, 2020 by bearette

[c-boy]

19 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

Please raise the prices.

Bring back better service (Yes, longtime cruiser's dream) and spread the cost of the needed ship rehabs.

now hold on there  

 

Leave some room fro the value minded vacationers 

[neverbeenhere]

45 minutes ago, c-boy said:

now hold on there  

 

Leave some room fro the value minded vacationers 

Back to your old buckaroo days. 😁

[hobbyfarmer2]

Just re-fared a b2b on the Sky next March.  Saved almost $900.  Prices went down since we booked in Dec.  First booking was under BSE, this one was Princess Plus.

Edited March 31, 2020 by hobbyfarmer2

[Roberto256]

On 3/28/2020 at 6:49 PM, StuartP said:

Lots of people who have booked this year are unable/unwilling to go, and many will rebook for next year with FCCs. Add to that all the other people who weren't going this year, but who were already planning to go next year anyway - demand is going to be much greater than it ever has been before.

 

 

You have not factored in some huge percentage of the population that is now (literally) deathly afraid of cruise ships.

 

I don't think cruise demand will return to previous levels, until there is a coronavirus vaccine.

 

[StuartP]

12 hours ago, Roberto256 said:

 

 

You have not factored in some huge percentage of the population that is now (literally) deathly afraid of cruise ships.

 

I don't think cruise demand will return to previous levels, until there is a coronavirus vaccine.

 

yes, demand will be low so long as the uncertainty continues - and even after covid is "over" the world is going to be a different place and a big unknown will be attitudes to cruising in general

 

the other thing I haven't factored in is the number of people who will impacted financially through losing income and/or the value of their investments - we're heading for a global recession the likes of which none of us have experienced before, so less people will be able to afford to cruise for the next couple of years

 

another big unknown is how far the cruise lines can go in terms of lowering prices to fill their ships - I'm guessing they will initially respond to decreased demand by offering fewer cruises (maybe even mothballing less economically viable ships), I don't think they can afford to take the big financial hit that's happening right now without trying to recoup some of those loses when operations are back to normal

 

in the short term there may be some very good deals for those with a higher risk appetite, but in the medium term cruising could be more expensive

Edited April 1, 2020 by StuartP