Cruise prices

[sowhat]

Just priced a cruise for 7 days  to the Norwegian  Fjords on Anthem of the Seas in a normal  balcony  room
The  price was amazing,  not in a good way
£6958.24 ($8790)  for two people
That's approximately  £500 per person per day.
Decided  to keep our money and look for more realistic  prices  for vacations.

Royal Caribbean  needs money more than I need to spend it.

[Tree_skier]

I suspect that Norwegian fjord cruises are going to get higher and higher for the next couple of years.  With Norway banning cruise ships except zero emissions ships in the Fjords after 2025 the next two years are going to see a big big premium from those that want to check that bucket list item off before it goes away.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Tree_skier

[Another_Critic]

And the other extreme.  Paid $942 for two in a balcony for 11 night Anthem transatlantic.  Cheaper than flying across the pond.  🙂

[Ourusualbeach]

18 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

And the other extreme.  Paid $942 for two in a balcony for 11 night Anthem transatlantic.  Cheaper than flying across the pond.  🙂

Too bad you have to fly back.

[NCMtnBoys]

We're booked on Anthem for July 12, 2024 out of Southampton, 7-night Norwegian Fjords in a 2D balcony for $3216 total for both of us including gratuities. 

[Another_Critic]

10 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Too bad you have to fly back.

Yeah.  😞

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, Tree_skier said:

I suspect that Norwegian fjord cruises are going to get higher and higher for the next couple of years.  With Norway banning cruise ships except zero emissions ships in the Fjords after 2025 the next two years are going to see a big big premium from those that want to check that bucket list item off before it goes away.

Not sure that has anything to do with it. The OPs numbers probably have more to do with the ship, departure port and the market in which they are buying. Jewel sailings in that direction are somewhat cheap in comparison. 

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, sowhat said:

Just priced a cruise for 7 days  to the Norwegian  Fjords on Anthem of the Seas in a normal  balcony  room
The  price was amazing,  not in a good way
£6958.24 ($8790)  for two people
That's approximately  £500 per person per day.
Decided  to keep our money and look for more realistic  prices  for vacations.

Royal Caribbean  needs money more than I need to spend it.

Did you check for a GTY. The online TA we use shows a balcony price of $3997 for that sailing, that includes taxes and fees. + a $385 gift card is given after the cruise.  Non GTY balcony on deck 13 is $8998. ship looks 99% full.

[sgmn]

7 hours ago, sowhat said:

Just priced a cruise for 7 days  to the Norwegian  Fjords on Anthem of the Seas in a normal  balcony  room
The  price was amazing,  not in a good way
£6958.24 ($8790)  for two people
That's approximately  £500 per person per day.
Decided  to keep our money and look for more realistic  prices  for vacations.

Royal Caribbean  needs money more than I need to spend it.

The guarantee balcony is showing £1837 total for two (plus gratuities). This is on UK RC website. Still expensive, but everything seems more expensive these days and it's probably pretty full this close to departure 

The choose your specific room option is more expensive 

Edited April 20, 2023 by sgmn

[sowhat]

3 hours ago, sgmn said:

The guarantee balcony is showing £1837 total for two (plus gratuities). This is on UK RC website. Still expensive, but everything seems more expensive these days and it's probably pretty full this close to departure 

The choose your specific room option is more expensive 

What's CAS balcony suite discount  and how do you obtain  it 

[OCSC Mike]

40 minutes ago, sowhat said:

What's CAS balcony suite discount  and how do you obtain  it 

CAS = Crown & Anchor Society

 

Diamond and above receive discounts on Balconies & Suites.

[sgmn]

59 minutes ago, sowhat said:

What's CAS balcony suite discount  and how do you obtain  it 

I think it's Crown and Anchor discount.  Once you get to Diamond level there's a discount for balcony and above cabins. In the interests of accuracy I didn't add it but my phone must of automatically added it. 

[Mick B]

Hi,

Being UK based, I can tell you this much, for some reason (whether it be blamed on the weak UK pound verses the Dollar or the war in Ukraine and/or just extremely high port costs at Southampton), it is actually cheaper for us to fly to Europe and board a ship in Italy or Spain than sail anywhere out of the UK at the moment - and that is what we are doing this year!  A cruise in May/June on the Enchantment from Italy and a cruise in October on the Symphony from Spain.

 

The other thing to bear in mind at the moment is that it looks like all cruises out of the UK are on the Anthem. Now she is a fairly newish ship and is one of the larger ships too. But apart from Dodgems, Flo Rider and the flight sim which all seem to be aimed more at the young (as try finding older people with no medical issues that can get insurance cover to use them), plus there is no golf, no ice skating or ice skating shows, so jumping on ships like the Symphony is a better choice both financially and entertainingly too. Plus the weather is normally better the further south you go from the UK, but not always!

 

I had actually booked a Norwegian Fjords cruise on the Anthem back in 2021 but this got swapped for a UK only cruise due to covid restrictions in Norway.

This brings me onto something else now... Tourism, I know some places are overrun with tourists like Venice which doesn't need ships coming and going, but Norway, can they really afford to ban cruise ships if the tourists to those places only come via ship. What next! will Alaska ban ships too?, Key West was on about it too not long back IIRC.

In a world where so may people are constantly on TV news saying they don't have the money for things anymore, would they really want to risk the loss of any further revenue from lack of cruise ship tourists if that's the main (or only) income they are likely to receive?

Of course, the other option (and it is starting), is for new cruise ships to run on renewable energy. problem is where do the old ships then go? (Caribbean I suppose!), and who pays for the new ships, sorry how much more will I have to pay for a voyage on a newer ship?

 

Finally, if countries are thinking Climate change issues with ships, then surely with it being cheaper and a possible better cruise for me to fly from the UK to ports in Europe to sail as opposed to sailing out of my own country, then what is that saying about my carbon footprint?

Hell, its even cheaper for me to fly from the UK to the Caribbean and then do a B2B cruise out of Florida (have you seen how cheap some of those cruises are?) than sail from Southampton to the Canneries.  

I am not made of money, so what money I have will be spent on things like ports of call and class of ship/entertainment etc.

 

BTW I am D+ and not an alcoholic, so at least I don't have to spend  money on drink packages, but just think about the cost to people that do? And think about the cost for restaurants like Chops Grill?. If you are not careful (unless you have enough money not to care), cruising can and is starting to become something the average working class person is not going to be able to afford to do on a regular basis if you want all the trimmings.

 

Mick.

 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Mick B
spelling

[RD64]

@Mick B - are you inferring that people who purchase drink packages are alcoholics?

[kernow]

We are doing 7 night Fjords on MSC Virtuosa next month. Yesterday a couple of the big UK TAs were offering it and the following similar one from £367 for inside,( £643 balcony). We've done both Anthem and Virtuosa over the last couple of years and I think they are just as good as one another so no idea why Anthem is so expensive.

[pghflyer]

IMO (not worth much), I have found all the cruise prices (other than last minute vacancies per normal) high for the last 12 months and into the future compared to the past. I suspect we will be feeling the post-COVID lockdown, global travel frenzy through 2025/2026.

[Mick B]

Hi,

Sorry, no, not all are alcoholics, but if you look at what you have to drink in order to break even with a drinks package over the course of a cruise, then you must surely start to look like heading that way and I bet there are some onboard who when they spend that amount of money on a package are going to want to get either their monies worth or more or are at least going to use the package as a way to try out some new drinks.

 

And this brings us to a possible reason why the Anthem (or any other RCI ship for that matter) is more expensive than other cruise lines offering similar itineries and/or similar ships - the fact that the C&A perks on RCI ships (4 free drinks per day @ $14 a drink for Diamond, 5 for D+ and 6 for Pinnacle) means that the cruise line has to recoup these costs somewhere and I bet I know where!. I have sailed on ships that have more than 50% Diamond members on board where they had to seal off other bars on the ships to act as overspills as the Diamond lounge was practically impossible to get into.

Also, in the past I had worked out that they had given me back more $$$s in drinks than I paid for the cruise. I remember saying to my wife at the time that this surely cannot continue as a business model.

As far as I know RCI is the only cruise line to offer these perks, hell, last October we were on the Anthem doing a TA from Southampton to Bayonne when we got an invite to a C&A meeting in the solarium where they came round with glasses of sparkling wine as we left port. They were still coming round 13 glasses later and the Isle of Wight had vanished from view. I don't remember much about the next day except there was another get together in the 270 and more drinks galore! This is all before we started using our 5 free drinks vouchers - and I am sure I am not an alcoholic (not on land anyway!).

 

Mick.

 

[lovesthebeach2]

13 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Too bad you have to fly back.

Ive tried to tell DH that if we just stayed there and did the reverse TA later we would save so much money.  He doesn’t buy that theory though .😁

[Cruise a holic]

We will stay on this side of the pond for now.  What about a good land tour?  While I love cruising, sometimes you can get a great deal for a seasoned tour company.

[erby2283]

May want to check with Celebrity.  Had a cruise friend book a May 2023 Norwegian Fjords from Southampton cruise with them today and it was $799 GBP for a Veranda. Great price for booking so close to sailing.   

[ONECRUISER]

17 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Too bad you have to fly back.

I know right?! ...Pre-CV was trying plan it where went by Ship both ways. Rare but once in while can time it right when 1-2 are going opposite direction within Days of first crossing. 

[sgmn]

7 hours ago, Mick B said:

 And think about the cost for restaurants like Chops Grill?. If you are not careful (unless you have enough money not to care), cruising can and is starting to become something the average working class person is not going to be able to afford to do on a regular basis if you want all the trimmings.

 

Mick.

 

 

I am shocked how much Chops is on Symphony . £58 in the planner, more if purchased on board. 

Yet Chops on Serenade is £10 cheaper for the same restaurant and menu. 

Doesn't seem that long ago the upcharge was £25 for specialised restaurants 🙄 

 

BTW the Diamond drinks don't cost RC $14 per drink. Probably a couple of dollars with their bulk buying . You could argue they are losing money by c&a members not buying DP because of the perk, but it keeps loyalty strong and I for  one wouldn't ever pay for  DP even if I didn't have my Diamond drinks. Especially on the port intensive cruises we usually go on. A couple of beers in port and PAYG for the couple of drinks I have a day on board.

Edited April 20, 2023 by sgmn