Summit Med 2008 prices

[iandjm]

Hi,

 

As with past years with Millennium I have booked the Mediterranian next year on Summit. Looking again at prices they seem to have jumped dramatically. This year an inside in October on Millennium came to about £800 and next year on Summit, at the same time of year its coming out at £1300+. When you add on air fares, which have doubled this year,and a hotel in Venice, its suddenly getting pretty expensive.

 

I am on the verge of cancelling the cruise and going back to P&O cruises new Ventura, from the UK, as the fares for 14 nights come out a lot cheaper, and I don't have the additional cost of the flights.

 

Does anyone think that the Summit prices will drop soon? Or are the raised fares a sign of things to come

 

Ian :D

[Rev22:17]

Ian,

 

Hi,

 

As with past years with Millennium I have booked the Mediterranian next year on Summit. Looking again at prices they seem to have jumped dramatically. This year an inside in October on Millennium came to about £800 and next year on Summit, at the same time of year its coming out at £1300+. When you add on air fares, which have doubled this year,and a hotel in Venice, its suddenly getting pretty expensive.

 

I am on the verge of cancelling the cruise and going back to P&O cruises new Ventura, from the UK, as the fares for 14 nights come out a lot cheaper, and I don't have the additional cost of the flights.

 

Does anyone think that the Summit prices will drop soon? Or are the raised fares a sign of things to come

 

It's hard to say. The major cruise lines use sophisticated software that adjusts prices according to demand in order to maximize their revenues. Basically, there's a target rate of sales as a function of time, which is not necessarily uniform, to fill the ship by the end of teh booking period. The program recursively raises fares on cruises that exceed the target rate of sales and lowers fares on cruises that fall short of the target rate of sales throughout the booking season. Of course, there's a companion piece to this, too. Cruises that the cruise line's headquarters staff predicts to be more popular start out at higher fares than cruises that the headquarters staff predicts to be less popular, which start out at lower fares. When the staff's predictions of demand are accurate, the prices don't change at all. If the staff's predictions of demand are too low, fares rise. If the staff's predictions are too high, fares drop.

 

Factually, cruises in Europe have been very popular this year so it's not surprising that the major cruise lines are starting next year's European cruises at somewhat higher fares. There's no real way to predict which way those fares will go on specific itineraries. Realistically, though, it's extremely rare for the staff's predictions of demand to be on target all of the time. Rather, it's inevitable that some are too high while others are too low. If you have flexibility in your dates of travel, it's likely that the fares will come down on some of the cruises.

 

Norm.

[Bruin Steve]

Sure the prices have gone up over the past few years...at least in general...

 

Gee, when we cruised the Med on the Millie back in 2003, we paid around $5000 TOTAL for two people including Air from Los Angeles on a 13-night itinerary...

 

Pricing similar cruises today, we're looking at over $7500...

 

Of course, from when we first booked our 2003 Millie cruise, our price dropped over $1500...Things were happening in the world...War was breaking out in Iraq...people were reluctant to travel...

 

...and it's all a matter of supply and demand...So, our cruise price went drastically LOW...

 

The market has picked up now and cruise prices have gone up with it...

 

But, will they stay up? Or will they go down?

I play this game every year now...I book EARLY...sort of like making a hedge play on cruise futures...Then I watch the fares...if they go up, I am happy that I got in when I did...If they go down, I call my TA and take advantage of the decreased price...

 

Would I flee Celebrity to go to a cheaper cruise line if the fares went high enough? I doubt it...those cheap lines have gone up in price as well...All of the cruise fares are relative...they all play to the same market pressures...and you get what you pay for...

 

Of course, my next two cruises aren't with Celebrity--but that's for other reasons...

 

I'm looking at a Baltic on either Century or Constellation for July/August 2008 right now...and I'll be glad to be back...