Holland America Cruise Pricing

[mcrcruiser]

 Lately we are ffinding that the prices which were reasonable have gone up so much . We try to book into a lower category & use Club Orange to upgrade ,yet we are seeing prices close to $300 per day per person fpr a balcony cabin / 

[FlorenceItaly]

I think this can be said for most cruise lines.  Supply and demand.

[terrydtx]

As long as the mainstream cruise lines have record bookings the prices will continue to rise. Over the last two years we saw Celebrity prices rising by 40% so we came back to HAL which seem to be much more reasonable. Our Vista Suite on the Volendam with CO and the early booking HIA in two weeks was 30% less than a similar Celebrity cruise itinerary.

Edited August 9 by terrydtx

[shandryl]

Agree! I have been priced out on the cruises I want to go on. I called my TA to help me find one that was within my price range.  

[0106]

@mcrcruiserAre you aware that taxes and port fees are now included in the price you are quoted?

[ECCruise]

Yes.

 

We are fully booked 2024 through May of 2026 (11 different sailings on 3 lines).

 

When the Europe 2026 was announced, we dove right in, looking for mid to later 2026.  Big "nope, due to pricing." 

 

Understand supply/demand, etc. but if those prices are maintained, it's sayonara, likely to cruising in general but definitely to MSM sailings.

[mcrcruiser]

We understand that Carnival corp looks at land trip pricing  &all they want to do is to be some what lower to attract cruisers  .However ,with a weakening economy how long can this demand & higher pricing last ?

[FlorenceItaly]

1 minute ago, mcrcruiser said:

  .However ,with a weakening economy how long can this demand & higher pricing last ?

I have been saying this for a few years about everything.  People keep spending!

Edited August 9 by FlorenceItaly

[cbr663]

I am Canadian.  $300 pp/pd for a balcony cabin would be cheap for us.

[foodsvcmgr]

I’ve said this repeatedly on these boards,

do not fall into Depression era thinking!

For the middle class and above, cruising as well as vacations in general are now ingrained and considered almost an entitlement and necessity.

Post Covid it seems like booking as soon as itineraries are released gets the best pricing.

Also inclusions like HIA may drive up the price but offer extra value.

[mcrcruiser]

Obviously the cruise lines can keep these higher prices in effect or even raise them because of the demand  , That is todays world  . We are now looking at the differences between taking a land vacation vs a cruise vacation . 

 

We never take the Have It all promotion  because we are not drinkers of evwen wine at dinner . For those that can make good use of it then it works for them .

 

 We still have 3 cruises already booked but chances of adding any more  is not in the cards 

 

 

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

2 hours ago, FlorenceItaly said:

I think this can be said for most cruise lines.  Supply and demand.

Correct.

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

I’ve said this repeatedly on these boards,

do not fall into Depression era thinking!

For the middle class and above, cruising as well as vacations in general are now ingrained and considered almost an entitlement and necessity.

Post Covid it seems like booking as soon as itineraries are released gets the best pricing.

Also inclusions like HIA may drive up the price but offer extra value.

Keep in mind that even during the recession of 2008/2009 cruise lines continued to expand. Except for Covid when the cruise line were shutdown, that was the last recession.

 

Prices might soften a bit whenever the next recession happens, but cruiselines so far are fairly resistant to economic downturn. Probably because they are considered to be a cheaper alternative to other vacations.

 

Prior to covid cruising was considered to be about a 15% discount to an equivalent land vacation. Since covid that grew as high as 45%. The cruiselines have been working to get their price structure back to the old 15% level, but it still is sitting at 20-25%, but hotel prices are starting to soften so the old 15% range might happen without any more cruise price increases.

[oakridger]

6 minutes ago, TRLD said:

but hotel prices are starting to soften

 

Is this true? I wonder what the data will report for last two quarters of 2024.   I have been land traveling most of this summer and I still "feel like" hotel prices are what I consider pretty "high" compared to the per day cruise prices on HAL. Restaurant prices are way up as well.  On a cruise, besides a room, I get all the food, entertainment and with HIA the drinks!  Then of course, I also put a large added value on just being on the ocean every day.

 

~Nancy

[LAFFNVEGAS]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

As long as the mainstream cruise lines have record bookings the prices will continue to rise. Over the last two years we saw Celebrity prices rising by 40% so we came back to HAL which seem to be much more reasonable. Our Vista Suite on the Volendam with CO and the early booking HIA in two weeks was 30% less than a similar Celebrity cruise itinerary.

Terry, I agree, I am finding recent pricing with Celebrity to be by far the highest, it is crazy high. Yes HAL has gone up but then again so has Princess and even Carnival. It truly is supply and demand. The best prices are a few of the last minutes or say 4 weeks prior to sailing prices drop but not all some are just plain sold out.

[terrydtx]

20 minutes ago, LAFFNVEGAS said:

Terry, I agree, I am finding recent pricing with Celebrity to be by far the highest, it is crazy high. Yes HAL has gone up but then again so has Princess and even Carnival. It truly is supply and demand. The best prices are a few of the last minutes or say 4 weeks prior to sailing prices drop but not all some are just plain sold out.

Celebrity got just ridiculous on their pricing specially in the Retreat Suites. We had booked a Feb 2025 South American cruise for 14 days in a Sky Suite. Then after we booked, they canceled their 2024-25 SA cruise season. We then looked at Oceania and found an 18 day SA cruise with almost the same itinerary but 4 more ports and 4 more days. This was on one of their newer larger ships, the Marina. We booked a Concierge class Verandah cabin for $200pp less than the 14 night Celebrity cruise.

[TRLD]

46 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

Is this true? I wonder what the data will report for last two quarters of 2024.   I have been land traveling most of this summer and I still "feel like" hotel prices are what I consider pretty "high" compared to the per day cruise prices on HAL. Restaurant prices are way up as well.  On a cruise, besides a room, I get all the food, entertainment and with HIA the drinks!  Then of course, I also put a large added value on just being on the ocean every day.

 

~Nancy

According to the analyst calls several of the travel companies are reporting softening. Hilton is reporting softening in the US being made up  for by overseas demand. AirBNB took a major hit due to their revenue dropping.

 

At this point the softening is showing in anticipated occupancy numbers, pricing may follow.

 

Keep in mind that a 5% or even 10% drop in average hotel prices may not show up to us depending upon where we happen to be looking and booking.

 

Considering that they went up 45 - 50% on average after covid a 5 to 10 % average may not be impressive.

Edited August 9 by TRLD

[sunviking90]

46 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

Is this true? I wonder what the data will report for last two quarters of 2024.   I have been land traveling most of this summer and I still "feel like" hotel prices are what I consider pretty "high" compared to the per day cruise prices on HAL. Restaurant prices are way up as well.  On a cruise, besides a room, I get all the food, entertainment and with HIA the drinks!  Then of course, I also put a large added value on just being on the ocean every day.

 

~Nancy

You’re right. I just read an article on a reputable site that says Airbnb reported second-quarter earnings that missed expectations, while Marriott reported earnings that surpassed expectations. Marriott expects that to continue. Some parts of the travel industry are softening, particularly Disney Parks as they seem to have over complicated and overpriced their vacations. 
We usually add about a week or more of land vacation to a cruise (Europe, Japan, etc) unless it’s the US. With the painful exchange rate and high hotel prices it’s just not good value right now.

We also don’t do HIA, don’t drink, enjoy having no wifi for a few days, etc so “some” cruises are still pretty good value. 

Edited August 9 by sunviking90

[TRLD]

6 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

You’re right. I just read an article on a reputable site that says Airbnb reported second-quarter earnings that missed expectations, while Marriott reported earnings that surpassed expectations. Marriott expects that to continue. Some parts of the travel industry are softening, particularly Disney Parks as they seem to have over complicated and overpriced their vacations. 
We usually add about a week or more of land vacation to a cruise (Europe, Japan, etc) unless it’s the US. With the painful exchange rate and high hotel prices it’s just not good value right now.

We also don’t do HIA, don’t drink, enjoy having no wifi for a few days, etc so “some” cruises are still pretty good value. 

In their last quarter release Mariott also said that they expect their RevPar growth to narrow in Q3 and the rest of the year and that their business is getting marginally softer in the US and Canada.

[Shippy]

I think this might play into it a little bit.......

  We play in the casino quite a bit. Although they might call them the Holland casino, Princess Casino, Carnival Casino, etc.    They are all the same company and NOT owned by the cruise lines. It is a franchise

 This has really become big time in the last few years and the main thing they do for you is give you a free room. Anything from an inside cabin to a suite. We have not paid for a cabin in the last few years yet cruise frequently.

  You might notice the casinos are much more crowded than they used to be......

Perhaps that has jacked up the price by the cruise lines for their regular guests....

just a thought...

 

 

[Laminator]

2 hours ago, Shippy said:

I think this might play into it a little bit.......

  We play in the casino quite a bit. Although they might call them the Holland casino, Princess Casino, Carnival Casino, etc.    They are all the same company and NOT owned by the cruise lines. It is a franchise

 This has really become big time in the last few years and the main thing they do for you is give you a free room. Anything from an inside cabin to a suite. We have not paid for a cabin in the last few years yet cruise frequently.

  You might notice the casinos are much more crowded than they used to be......

Perhaps that has jacked up the price by the cruise lines for their regular guests....

just a thought...

 

 

Carnival owns the Global Casino Operations across their brands, The casino division pays whatever brand you sail on for your free suite. As best as I can tell it is somewhere between 70 to 75% of the website rate. You may have been taking casino cruises for the last few years but I have been doing them since 2007 so I have acquired quite a bit of knowledge regarding casino cruises.

[mcrcruiser]

29 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Carnival owns the Global Casino Operations across their brands, The casino division pays whatever brand you sail on for your free suite. As best as I can tell it is somewhere between 70 to 75% of the website rate. You may have been taking casino cruises for the last few years but I have been doing them since 2007 so I have acquired quite a bit of knowledge regarding casino cruises.

did not know that number of Casino players . interesting

[Laminator]

2 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

did not know that number of Casino players . interesting

Years ago HAL had VIP casino cruises where the attendance was 25 to 30 players. Now there are 300 to 400 attendees. 

[Shippy]

35 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Carnival owns the Global Casino Operations across their brands, The casino division pays whatever brand you sail on for your free suite. As best as I can tell it is somewhere between 70 to 75% of the website rate. You may have been taking casino cruises for the last few years but I have been doing them since 2007 so I have acquired quite a bit of knowledge regarding casino cruises.

The whole point of my post was...

LOTS of cabins are doled out this way which I assume means higher prices for those that are left.

[mcrcruiser]

13 minutes ago, Laminator said:

Years ago HAL had VIP casino cruises where the attendance was 25 to 30 players. Now there are 300 to 400 attendees. 

That  is quite a increase n Casino play