Highest Prices We Have Seen

[mcrcruiser]

We were speaking to HAL today ,With regards to a March 23 ,2024 Mexican Riviera cruise on koningsdam .Shocked to learn that a refundable deposit on a VH cat handicap with Club Orange for upgrade was $2988  for 2 refundable  deposit  cruise fares .The Club Orange added a total of $350 to the over all cost . Port taxes are $135 per pax included in the dare above. No on board credit

 

 In 2019  that cruise would have been about $1700 for 2 people .Taking off Club Orange at $25 per day per person ,the fare comes down to $2638 . $ 938,00 more than we once paid.That is a rather substantial increase in a cruise  fare

[doone]

Unfortunately everything has gone up……

[mcrcruiser]

7 minutes ago, doone said:

Unfortunately everything has gone up……

That means a 55% increase over 2019 prices .Even inflation is no where close to that kind of increase .How many people can afford to take multiple cruises at a 55% increase ?

[ChinaShrek]

6 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

That means a 55% increase over 2019 prices .Even inflation is no where close to that kind of increase .How many people can afford to take multiple cruises at a 55% increase ?

I am still convinced that many people are receiving free or discounted cruises. For example, did you receive the 20-25% casino discount? I receive that off of all cruises that I book.

[Florida_gal_50]

Hal is famous for sky high prices out of the gate then they give away the farm closer to the cruise date.  I’m hearing that from a lot of cruise lines.  I’m still working so I’m stuck for now.  Can’t wait for the day I can cherry pick closer to the cruise date.  Unfortunately air usually is high so that takes away savings.

[Florida_gal_50]

3 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

I am still convinced that many people are receiving free or discounted cruises. For example, did you receive the 20-25% casino discount? I receive that off of all cruises that I book.

Not everyone gets those.  Hopefully there will be less freebies so they don’t have to up charge the rest of the prices.

[kangforpres]

Bookings are up, so prices are up. they were giving away cruises with the restart in the last part of 2021 and going into 2022. So this the new reality, airfares and hotels are also up way above the inflation rate.

[mcrcruiser]

20 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

I am still convinced that many people are receiving free or discounted cruises. For example, did you receive the 20-25% casino discount? I receive that off of all cruises that I book.

No we do not get a casino discount on HAL .

[mcrcruiser]

8 minutes ago, kangforpres said:

Bookings are up, so prices are up. they were giving away cruises with the restart in the last part of 2021 and going into 2022. So this the new reality, airfares and hotels are also up way above the inflation rate.

The magic question is how many people & for how long can people continue to afford vacations at such higher rates .when I was actively  marketing  25 years ago I could tell you exactly the duration .Higher airfares means most people except those close enough to drive to the cruise ports have to fly & today need to rake a hotel   more likely now for 2 nights because of air delays & or cancellations .so candidly even a family with a income of $100,000  will have it  hard to justify  these higher & higher costs  .The necessities must come first

 

PS add  vacation insurance & port spending to the above

Edited April 3, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[kangforpres]

Well right now the entire hospitality industry is hoping the golden calf stays fat long enough to recover from the pandemic crash. Will things stabilize if demand goes down? I don't know I think consumer debt is currently at all time highs so it might take a recession for people to stop spending on travel.

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by kangforpres

[sunviking90]

57 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

We were speaking to HAL today ,With regards to a March 23 ,2024 Mexican Riviera cruise on koningsdam .Shocked to learn that a refundable deposit on a VH cat handicap with Club Orange for upgrade was $2988  for 2 refundable  deposit  cruise fares .The Club Orange added a total of $350 to the over all cost . Port taxes are $135 per pax included in the dare above. No on board credit

 

 In 2019  that cruise would have been about $1700 for 2 people .Taking off Club Orange at $25 per day per person ,the fare comes down to $2638 . $ 938,00 more than we once paid.That is a rather substantial increase in a cruise  fare

That’s a lot of money to pay for Mexico. We are newly retired and have decided for this year to see what we can do kind of last minute when the deals come up. I see that you need a handicap cabin which makes thing more difficult of course. Konigsdam also seems to have higher prices overall. I’ve noticed that on this years Alaska itineraries.

 

[mcrcruiser]

27 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Hal is famous for sky high prices out of the gate then they give away the farm closer to the cruise date.  I’m hearing that from a lot of cruise lines.  I’m still working so I’m stuck for now.  Can’t wait for the day I can cherry pick closer to the cruise date.  Unfortunately air usually is high so that takes away savings.

We will look at the 7 night cruise if what we need is avaible when we are on Koningsdam for  the Jan 30 ,2024 Hawaii cruise .Perhaps we can then steal one of those close to the cruise date at a much lower cost ,if they have any decent cabin selection remaining 

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, kangforpres said:

Well right now the entire hospitality industry is hoping the golden calf stays fat long enough to recover from the pandemic crash. Will things stabilize if demand goes down? I don't know I think consumer debt is currently at all time highs so it might take a recession for people to stop spending on travel.

 

Yes ,consumer debt is at record levels .Can people keep paying those high credit card interest rates ??

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

That’s a lot of money to pay for Mexico. We are newly retired and have decided for this year to see what we can do kind of last minute when the deals come up. I see that you need a handicap cabin which makes thing more difficult of course. Konigsdam also seems to have higher prices overall. I’ve noticed that on this years Alaska itineraries.

 

That is why we did not jump at the booking .Best to book close in to a cruise date  if you are already on a HAL ship for the extra OBC  & the use of buying 2 FCCs while there at the  new cruise booking desk 

[aliaschief]

Evidently so, as I read the other day that Carnival Corporation, as a whole,  has exceeded a record high pre Covid bookings.

Edited April 3, 2023 by aliaschief

[mcrcruiser]

CCL stock is not going gangbusters   ,still under $10 per share .To me that projects that all things are not that rosy 

[kangforpres]

Mcrcruiser you ask the magic financial question that keeps the house of cards upright. Can people afford the payments? Can businesses afford to continue to finance their debt? Can governments keep selling bonds to finance their debt?

 

In the short term most likely, but in the long term......

[mcrcruiser]

Just now, aliaschief said:

Evidently so, as I read the other day that Carnival Corporation, as a whole has exceeded record pre Covid bookings. 

How many FCCs did they cash in to get those numbers. Also wave season just ended .Now they have 3 more quarters to contend .All these things plus  very high consumer debt  has to take a toll .There is no magic wand in the cruise business

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, kangforpres said:

Mcrcruiser you ask the magic financial question that keeps the house of cards upright. Can people afford the payments? Can businesses afford to continue to finance their debt? Can governments keep selling bonds to finance their debt?

 

In the short term most likely, but in the long term......

  1000% on target

[kangforpres]

As a Californian who likes the Mexico cruise option I wish HAL offered Californian Resident specials the way some lines offer State resident specials to our friends who live in some South Eastern state that has the 3 busiest cruise terminals

[aliaschief]

1 minute ago, mcrcruiser said:

How many FCCs did they cash in to get those numbers. Also wave season just ended .Now they have 3 more quarters to contend .All these things plus  very high consumer debt  has to take a toll .There is no magic wand in the cruise business

Like you I do not constantly stress over what the status of what the Hal industry is doing. We go on cruises and enjoy ourselves and in our case many cruises booked on Azamara and on Hal next week. 
Either you want to cruise or not. We cruise.

[NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

We were speaking to HAL today ,With regards to a March 23 ,2024 Mexican Riviera cruise on koningsdam .Shocked to learn that a refundable deposit on a VH cat handicap with Club Orange for upgrade was $2988  for 2 refundable  deposit  cruise fares .The Club Orange added a total of $350 to the over all cost . Port taxes are $135 per pax included in the dare above. No on board credit

 

 In 2019  that cruise would have been about $1700 for 2 people .Taking off Club Orange at $25 per day per person ,the fare comes down to $2638 . $ 938,00 more than we once paid.That is a rather substantial increase in a cruise  fare

The refundable deposit makes me think that this includes  "Have It All" You may be comparing apples to oranges.

 

[Florida_gal_50]

5 minutes ago, NotLikeBelleRosen,IHope said:

The refundable deposit makes me think that this includes  "Have It All" You may be comparing apples to oranges.

 

No, not really.  You can get the advantage fare that is refundable without hia.   But it’s super secret pricing.  It’s so secret they don’t put it on the website. 

[wdw1972]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Hal is famous for sky high prices out of the gate then they give away the farm closer to the cruise date.  I’m hearing that from a lot of cruise lines.  I’m still working so I’m stuck for now.  Can’t wait for the day I can cherry pick closer to the cruise date.  Unfortunately air usually is high so that takes away savings.

I'm also still working, plus I insist on having a Retreat cabana - lately one of the two family cabanas onboard.  In order to get that I can't wait for fares to drop - I need to book early.  Even when I retire I'll still have the cabana issue, unless I'm doing Alaska or somewhere that cabanas are either not practical or not popular.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[mcrcruiser]

1 minute ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

No, not really.  You can get the advantage fare that is refundable without hia.   But it’s super secret pricing.  It’s so secret they don’t put it on the website. 

Yes absolutely correct . HAL leaves off the Advantage Fares(refundable deposit fares ) ;but we see them with refundable deposits   on a TA  web site