Onboard Pricing down due to recession?

[KenP]

We all have seen plenty of downward movement in Princess cruise fares in 2008-2009 due to the recession. But what about onboard pricing of tours, gift shop items, bar drinks, photo gallery, spa etc. ?

 

Is it business as usual or have there been changes to pricing here as well?

 

What has been your experience?

[Colo Cruiser]

We all have seen plenty of downward movement in Princess cruise fares in 2008-2009 due to the recession. But what about onboard pricing of tours, gift shop items, bar drinks, photo gallery, spa etc. ?

 

Is it business as usual or have there been changes to pricing here as well?

 

What has been your experience?

 

 

Business as usual. :)

[WeBeGone]

We all have seen plenty of downward movement in Princess cruise fares in 2008-2009 due to the recession. But what about onboard pricing of tours, gift shop items, bar drinks, photo gallery, spa etc. ?

 

Is it business as usual or have there been changes to pricing here as well?

 

What has been your experience?

 

Haven't noticed any changes.

[paul929207]

I wuld not expect the onboard prices to go down. People on the ship have decided to go knowing the onboard prices and expecting to pay them.

[caribill]

Once you are onboard, where else can you buy?

[Pia1913]

On the contrary, prices are going UP. Especially the photos. :mad:

[Sandytoes]

I am sure they will remain the same or increase to balance out the lower price fares. :rolleyes:

Passengers are looking for bargains these days, wouldn't hurt if they also had better sales on board.

Who could resist a really good bargain while on a cruise? ;)

[TonyFred]

Keep the booking costs down and increase the optional items if you must, but I think they could charge less for the photos and make much more profit.

For Heaven's Sake, they are already printed! Just charge me a reasonable price and I will buy many more than I do. I hate to see the photos of us go in the garbage as the cruise ends, but the prices are just too high. I usually get the embarkation package and one more 5 x 7 but that's about it.

[Pia1913]

Keep the booking costs down and increase the optional items if you must, but I think they could charge less for the photos and make much more profit.

For Heaven's Sake, they are already printed! Just charge me a reasonable price and I will buy many more than I do. I hate to see the photos of us go in the garbage as the cruise ends, but the prices are just too high. I usually get the embarkation package and one more 5 x 7 but that's about it.

 

The major photo problem is they don't do 5 x 7 at all. They switched a while back to 6 x 8 or 6 x 9; try getting a frame for that. Last cruise, all they were selling were 8 x 10 @12.95/per. Ridiculous!

[Bucky3]

I can't remember EVER seeing an 8 x 10 for $12.95! On all our cruises for the past couple of years at least, this size is at least $20 on the ships we've been on.

[rcacace]

The only cutbacks I saw in the last few months were the numbers of people shopping. In Dec on the Emerald they were probably 200 line up waiting to get into the DR for the big sale. Last week on the Crown the amount of items for sale was almost nothing & there were no people even looking at the stuff. My wife didn't notice that they were giving anything away either.

Tour prices haven't changed form what I see- Possibly even an increase on the Alaska tours.

[rpach10115]

I can't remember EVER seeing an 8 x 10 for $12.95! On all our cruises for the past couple of years at least, this size is at least $20 on the ships we've been on.

 

Ditto. I think they were $ 19.95 each.

 

We always get sucked into buying at least 2 of them.(Formal Night) usually.

[Pia1913]

Sorry..........you are correct. It was $19.95 on the Ruby in November. I had to buy 4 of them; family photo for each family.

[A&L_Ont]

On the Crown last week they had a "Price Line" idea for a sea day where you would write down a price for a spa treatment and if you had the right price they would call and let you get the service at that price. It had to be at least 40% of the normal price. Who knows how that would really turn out??? I'm sure even if you won, you'd still get pimped all the extras though.

 

It was a new idea to me from our October 2008 cruise.

 

Andrew

[NSWP]

I am sure more pax will be bringing their own wine on board, me for one. I do not like the thought of paying 45 Aussie dollars (25 USD) for a bottle of vino on board.

 

Would be interesting to know if Princess shorex are down.

[Coolmama_1]

Once you are onboard, where else can you buy?

 

 

Good point!

[dennbr9]

Just off the Emerald. Drink prices also seem to be up although did not feel Wine Prices were much higher. Photos prices are up for sure.

[chipmaster]

We all have seen plenty of downward movement in Princess cruise fares in 2008-2009 due to the recession. But what about onboard pricing of tours, gift shop items, bar drinks, photo gallery, spa etc. ?

 

Is it business as usual or have there been changes to pricing here as well?

 

What has been your experience?

 

 

My expectation is once they got you on board and sailed they got ya and will work to maximize profit from you onboard. Since people can only eat, drink and consume so much I figure price will be flat to higher to make up revenue lost getting you on ;)

[Bucky3]

Pia - Yes, we did too on our Christmas cruise with the family. Plus numerous ones of our two granddaughters 18 and 21 ! Our whole family is picture crazy!! And they all have digital cameras as well! I bet the onboard photographers have a tough selling job now that everyone has digitals as those cameras really take great pictures.

[rcacace]

On the Crown last week they had a "Price Line" idea for a sea day where you would write down a price for a spa treatment and if you had the right price they would call and let you get the service at that price. It had to be at least 40% of the normal price. Who knows how that would really turn out??? I'm sure even if you won, you'd still get pimped all the extras though.

 

It was a new idea to me from our October 2008 cruise.

 

Andrew

 

I saw that also.... They must have a tough time selling the spa treatments these days. I've never see them push as hard to get people to sigh up for their service.

[magicpanda]

Photos ($24.95 last week on Ruby), drinks - over £5 sterling for pint equivalent of lager, items in the souvenier shop, saw some poorer quality t shirts up to $38.99!! We won't even get into the debate over some of the tour prices. And it's not just on the ship, poor prices in a lot of the ports, some made us laugh.

 

Beware British passengers, check out your aftershaves/perfumes in uK first so you know the price back home - I just paid $64 dollars for an aftershave last week (over £50) that was selling here in UK for £33 on our return!!! In fact all our aftershaves/perfumes were more expensive in port and on ship than back here in UK - an expensive lesson learnt.

 

Yes, you are a 'captive market' and yes, we have always just accepted what things cost on ship - bar prices etc but it really is getting silly. With the current poor exchange rate sterling to dollar it's becoming an overly expensive holiday for a lot of UK passengers.

 

Last of our cruises for a while.