Promo Cruise Pricing:Help me figure this one out!

[kingcruiser1]

I have been thinking about a summer cruise. That link that was provided recently(http://www.creative.rccl.com/Sales/promowave/) has been helpful. I have watched it for the last three updates. New one came out this morning, but now I am frustrated. If I lived in another state (just 50 miles away) or were at senior age status, I could take that same cruise for hundreds less than the price that is available to me. I've refrained from booking in hope that my state would show up in the resident special list, but no luck yet. I would like to have access to the same bargains, but short of moving, it seems I am going to have to pay more for the same product.:( Now I am curious. Anyone know the rhyme or reason in how certain states get selected for the resident special or why certain sailings have reduced rates for senior citizens?

[usha]

Wish I knew... This sounds like a question for ocngypz!

[C 2 C]

I looked at the Celebrity offering this morning. I am "lucky" enough to be in the senior citizen rate group because I never could figure out why one state is given a special rate and others were not. I am also surprised that the Celebrity website has no field for giving these rates if your home or age matches the criteria when booking a cruise.

[tarheelmjfan]

I've been wondering the same thing about residency discounts. There has been a few cruises I've checked that leave from FL ports. They had resident rates for GA & AL, but not FL. I'd love to know how they decide who to give the discount.

[chessbriar]

My guess it is has to due with X air. They probaly have commitments with certain airlines flying from given cities. When they aren't filling up fast enough, they cut cruise fare to get people from those areas to book hoping they will fill out their commitment.

 

I have seen reduced air specials pop up from time to time. Once I watched them drop airfare to $100/pp from PIT to FLL for a Century cruise a couple years back.

 

Senior citizens have to due with filling up a ship. They also look at the demographics of whose booking on both these discounts. IF these specials don't do enough, they can become Happy Hours about 4-5 weeks out.

 

If your state isn't there, it's unlikely to pop up. As for port states, it's unlikely you will ever see a Resident special. It's rare that NY, PA, NJ, Del, MD, CON, RI or Mass, ever pop up for cruises from NY, NJ, or Philadelphia.

[cruiseco]

My guess it is has to due with X air. They probaly have commitments with certain airlines flying from given cities. When they aren't filling up fast enough, they cut cruise fare to get people from those areas to book hoping they will fill out their commitment.

.

 

I've been told a number of reasons and the air situation is one of them. They apy for those seats whether they fill them or not so if they have to discount the cruise by a $100 to not have to throw away $300 in airfare they'll do it.

 

Another rep told me that year in and year out the cruise lines' best advertising is still word-of-mouth. They know a happy guest will spread the word among dozens of friends and families. So it's not a bad idea to "prime the pump" a little in those regions where sales have been slower than the marketing people think it should be. Get a few hundred happy past cruisers into Idaho to spread the word and the discounts will be very cheap advertising.

[RLM77]

I'm sure that the previous posters are correct in some instances. In other cases, though, the resident discounts seem larger than what X would have paid for the airline seats. We recently were able to lower our fare on an October Summit Hawaii cruise by $840 due to a resident discount. Airfare from CLE to LAX at that time of year runs about $650 for two people, and that's retail pricing. X almost certainly paid less for their blocks of seats. So in this case it would have been cheaper for them to eat the empty seat than to offer the discount.

 

Which brings us to my theory. We know that the cruise lines collect addresses at time of booking from all prospective pax. We also know that whenever a fare is reduced, those already holding reservations can call their TA's (or the cruise line if a direct booking) and obtain the lower fare. That translates directly into lost revenue. Finally, we know that the Internet has made it fast and easy to closely monitor cruise fares and jump on any discounts that may appear after original booking.

 

I don't manage fares for a cruise line, but if I did, why wouldn't I offer resident discounts in states in which I didn't have many existing reservations? In the words of a previous poster, that "primes the [marketing] pump". It also generates new reservations and possibly fills some already-purchased airline seats, all while minimizing the number of previously booked pax who can take advantage of the lower fare. Seems like the best strategy for selling additional cabins while protecting the (probable) revenue from older reservations. It's the same logic as applies to Xciting Deals/Happy Hour which are almost always restricted to new reservations only.

 

I can't prove any of this, but I strongly suspect that it's a factor in determining those states in which residency discounts are offered.