Are cut price cruises hurting TAs bottom lines?

[Selbourne]

Quite an interesting article in the Travel Trade Gazette about the impact that the current pricing strategy of lines such as P&O (designed to attract the ‘new to cruising market’) is having on cruise specialists and TAs. 
 

https://www.ttgmedia.com/news/discounting-dilemma-are-cut-price-cruises-hurting-agents-bottom-lines-41181

[Harry Peterson]

Certainly an interesting article. I’m a bit out of touch on prices at the moment, but the suggestion is that there’s a lot of discounting going on, and some unusually aggressive pricing.

 

Is that the reality?

[yorkshirephil]

7 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Certainly an interesting article. I’m a bit out of touch on prices at the moment, but the suggestion is that there’s a lot of discounting going on, and some unusually aggressive pricing.

 

Is that the reality?

Since starting cruising again last June I have never seen prices so low, there have always been bargains but few to match this year. We have had several cruises at around £50 pp/night and only yesterday booked another. Even some of the more expensive lines have had good deals. Looking at pricing going forward it is clear that cruise lines are trying to push up prices, I don't think the more canny of us will fall for it. Plenty on here stating that they will wait for deals rather than book at release as they have in the past unless they need accessible cabins, etc. I get the point where cruise lines and agents are tempting new cruises with discounted prices but once prices start climbing will those cruisers stick with cruising? 

[Windsurfboy]

5 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Certainly an interesting article. I’m a bit out of touch on prices at the moment, but the suggestion is that there’s a lot of discounting going on, and some unusually aggressive pricing.

 

Is that the reality?

 

I think it varies, Cunard seems to be full and not discounting.  P&O are discounting to  fill up mega ships only suites seem to sell out at launch.. I expect other mega ships are discounting . Others like Ambassador it's hard to tell,  as  their list prices don't mean a thing. The premium lines out of UK aren't discounting. On other hand see big bargains on fly cruises.

 

What next year will be like hard to tell, family market will be hit by mortgage inflation. Those with substantial savings will see an income boost.

 

I think those travel agents specialising in premium cruises will be fine. 

 

I have always wondered why  cruise lines don't push direct selling even more and keep agents commission for themselves. Perhaps they now relise giving away 8% or more doesn't add up.

[molecrochip]

The bargains are being made in the extra cabins on the bigger ships. With the odd exception, your Arcadia’s and Aurora’s are still commanding a fairly high price.

 

Iona and Arvia is where you £50pppn bath is are because they’ve already sold enough to cover the costs of the cruise.

 

That 7 day cruise at £350, 6 months out, is £50 taxes and £300 profit. Once on board people spend money, which is largely profit.

 

Hook people in and next year they’ll spend £800 on a balcony. Still £50 taxes but now £750 profit. They’ll still spend on board!

 

General likelihood also that this years £350 bargains will be £400 or £450 next year.

 

If you put every fare on each Iona cruise up by £10pppn next year, you’d increase revenue by £19m. About £89m across the P&O fleet. 

[Selbourne]

24 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Certainly an interesting article. I’m a bit out of touch on prices at the moment, but the suggestion is that there’s a lot of discounting going on, and some unusually aggressive pricing.

 

Is that the reality?

From our experience, yes. As we have some reservations as to whether the post-Covid P&O will still be for us, we self imposed a price cap of £100 pppn for a balcony cabin on a Select basis, plus free parking. We have managed to book 3 x 14 night cruises over the next 9 months for well under that (one on Britannia and two on Ventura). Iona and Arvia are even cheaper, but we aren’t interested in making any other bookings on those until we have tried Iona in August (which was booked at launch and is in peak school holidays, so cost considerably more).

 

Away from P&O, we have started using Cunard after a fantastic cruise a few months back. We booked one cruise at launch for Britannia Club and the price was significantly more, but less than we used to pay for a suite on P&O (we won’t book suites on P&O any more, as we no longer feel that they are worth the price premium). However, we have recently booked another 14 night Cunard cruise, also in Britannia Club, for £200 a night less than the one we booked at launch. At less than £50 pppn more than P&O (where we won’t have any of the benefits that you get with Cunard’s Britannia Club) that makes Cunard an even better bargain in our eyes. 
 

Unfortunately we have yet to see Saga offer any big discounts, as we are very keen to try them, but as their policy is to apply any discounts retrospectively to those who have already booked, I doubt that real bargains are to be had there. 

[Windsurfboy]

Saga prices go up with time as discounts sell out. They have a price promise to refund drop in price.

 

Saga can and do get around this price promise by offering guaranteed grade cabins , which have different conditions to earlier select cabins, so don't trigger price promise. 

 

However, As lots of Saga regulars book early by preregisterng at a price. Saga don't seem to drop prices below those at launch, as this would create a lot of ill will. These guarantee fare offers are 5 to 10% above launch. However those that buy a bit later say at 15% above launch price do get undercut and are not recompensed. So if you want a  standard Saga cabin, buy at launch (best) or get bargain at end. Never any reduction in deluxe or suites.

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, Windsurfboy said:

Saga prices go up with time as discounts sell out. They have a price promise to refund drop in price.

 

Saga can and do get around this price promise by offering guaranteed grade cabins , which have different conditions to earlier select cabins, so don't trigger price promise. 

 

However, As lots of Saga regulars book early by preregisterng at a price. Saga don't seem to drop prices below those at launch, as this would create a lot of ill will. These guarantee fare offers are 5 to 10% above launch. However those that buy a bit later say at 15% above launch price do get undercut and are not recompensed. So if you want a  standard Saga cabin, buy at launch (best) or get bargain at end. Never any reduction in deluxe or suites.

Yes, thanks to advice from Wowzz (where is he BTW?), I have pre-registered for the next 2 Saga launches. We were registered for the last launch, but felt that the prices were a bit steep and the cruises that we might have been interested in clashed or were too close to others we had already booked with P&O and Cunard. That’s the problem with Saga - they don’t release until much later than the other ex-U.K. operators. 

[Windsurfboy]

Unless you are really prone to sea sickness and must be in middle, there are no bad cabins on Saga so guarantee are worth looking at for last minute cruise.

[Sussexboy]

We just booked a cruise in September with NCL at a very aggressive price (comparatively) over a similar priced P&O offering. We only have experience of P&O so far so it will be an interesting experience. We still have Arvia booked for next May.

[Selbourne]

28 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

Unless you are really prone to sea sickness and must be in middle, there are no bad cabins on Saga so guarantee are worth looking at for last minute cruise.

Unfortunately, as we have to have an accessible cabin our options are extremely limited with Saga. Even allowing for the size difference, the provision of accessible cabins is quite poor with Saga compared to P&O.

[Cathygh]

A local TA told me that MSC are giving P&O a run for their money in ex Southampton cruises, lots of locals are trying MSC, including myself. Not having to queue outside is a bonus.

[Windsurfboy]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Unfortunately, as we have to have an accessible cabin our options are extremely limited with Saga. Even allowing for the size difference, the provision of accessible cabins is quite poor with Saga compared to P&O.

 

Reading Saga forum,  preregistering is only way to get accessible  cabins on Saga, good luck.

 

10 adapted on Saga , 55 on Iona ,  exactly same % , but demand must be relatively higher on Saga, as expected given age profile. 

 

Are there any rules about the % accessible cabins on a cruise ship.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Windsurfboy

[Selbourne]

11 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Reading Saga forum,  preregistering is only way to get accessible  cabins on Saga, good luck.

Thanks

 

11 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

10 adapted on Saga , 55 on Iona ,  exactly same % , but demand must be relatively higher on Saga, as expected given age profile.

Exactly. I should imagine that the proportion of customers requiring an adapted cabin on Saga would be several times what it would be on Iona. Also, Aurora has 8 accessible standard balcony cabins. The two new Saga ships have 2, so even allowing for the fact that Aurora is twice the size, Saga are proportionally still below par. 
 

11 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Are there any rules about the % accessible cabins on a cruise ship.

I doubt it, as they aren’t governed by U.K. law, but I must commend P&O on the improvements that they have made to the accessible facilities on their new ships. 

Edited July 5, 2023 by Selbourne

[Splice the mainbrace]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Yes, thanks to advice from Wowzz (where is he BTW?), I have pre-registered for the next 2 Saga launches. We were registered for the last launch, but felt that the prices were a bit steep and the cruises that we might have been interested in clashed or were too close to others we had already booked with P&O and Cunard. That’s the problem with Saga - they don’t release until much later than the other ex-U.K. operators. 

Wowzz last posted on May 10th multiple times on the P&O and Princess forums then nothing. One of his last posts on the Princess one was that he was going on Sky Princess in July. I’m surprised that he hasn’t posted since then.

[Selbourne]

22 minutes ago, Splice the mainbrace said:

Wowzz last posted on May 10th multiple times on the P&O and Princess forums then nothing. One of his last posts on the Princess one was that he was going on Sky Princess in July. I’m surprised that he hasn’t posted since then.

Thanks. I hope he’s OK. 

[ann141]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. I hope he’s OK. 

I think he is ok as I have seen him post elsewhere, just not on C C

[sweep2907]

I've seen P&O pushing cruises at under £40pppn which is unheard of. I remember discussing on here during covid 2020, how we all expected prices to go through the roof upon resumption to claw losses back. P&O are giving cruises away and you wonder if it is to attract 1000s of new customers in an ever more competitive market. I think going forward, the new breed of cruisers will show less loyalty to any one brand and will choose the ship or itinerary that they like or a good offer. I'm looking to try NCL and Princess in the coming year having put P&O to one side for a while. My first decade of cruising was solely P&O. Sadly for me they are sliding towards the bottom of the pile for experience and wow factor and it isn't surprising when they charge so little.