Price Surprise

[Roz]

I booked another cruise 2 days ago :D , and was surprised by the price (in a good way) compared to last year's cruise. Due to rising fuel prices, I was expecting to pay substantially more, but that wasn't the case.

Last December I did a 10-day itinerary on the Veendam. I booked an outside porthole guarantee (Cat. H, I think). This year's cruise is a 10-day on the Volendam in November, and it's only $11 more. Plus, I was able to book an HH guarantee (obstructed window).

Based on what I've read on these boards, I was pleasantly surprised. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Roz

[kryos]

I booked another cruise 2 days ago :D , and was surprised by the price (in a good way) compared to last year's cruise. Due to rising fuel prices, I was expecting to pay substantially more, but that wasn't the case.

Last December I did a 10-day itinerary on the Veendam. I booked an outside porthole guarantee (Cat. H, I think). This year's cruise is a 10-day on the Volendam in November, and it's only $11 more. Plus, I was able to book an HH guarantee (obstructed window).

Based on what I've read on these boards, I was pleasantly surprised. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Roz
My Veendam repositioning cruise has already dropped $300 per person. My TA found that out when she went to put our deposits down.

I think there was a thread on this board earlier this week stating that some of the lines were dropping prices ... especially in the Caribbean ... because of slower demand. Maybe with the higher cost of gasoline, people are feeling the squeeze and cancelling their vacations? Personally, I think the reason prices are dropping is because too many new builds ... mega ships ... are flooding the market. All those cabins to fill now ... not enough people to fill them. The price has to drop.

So, hey ... keep building the mega ships, I say ... just leave our "R" and "S" class HAL ships alone. If HAL wants to build all those Vista and Signature Class ships ... the ones that accommodate over 2,000 passengers ... go for it. I'll enjoy the price breaks too when HAL has too many berths to fill ... and not enough people interested in filling them. :)

I think the cruise lines are gonna see over the next five to ten years that they've expanded way too fast and shot themselves in the foot. Capacity will far, far exceed demand ... especially with all these large ships. Prices almost have to go down ... on all lines.

Just my humble opinion ...

Blue skies ...

--rita

[twinkletoes4445]

When we booked our cruise, the prince was $350 per person less than on HAL's website. I was very happy. :)

[Roz]

Sounds like folks are getting some good deals. That's great. Last year on the Veendam, the Hotel Manager told us HAL was already 60% booked for 2006. I wonder if demand went down, or people canceled?

In the past I booked a year or more out in order to get a good price. This is the first time I've booked only 6 months ahead.

I get free tickets on Southwest thru their rewards program, so I'll use one of those for my airfare. I'll also get a free hotel room thru one of the hotel rewards programs. There's just me, but for a family having to pay higher airfares or gas prices, I can see where it starts to get prohibitive.

BTW, I've never sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, and I've noticed that hotel rooms are much more expensive, and airfare is more too. Guess that part of Florida is more popular in Nov. and Dec. than Tampa.

Roz

[Krazy Kruizers]

I keep checking prices for our future cruises and so far they have all gone up.

[Roz]

KK,

When you say future, are you talking 2007? I've found them to be noticeably more expensive. I booked my 2007 Hawaiian cruise late last year (2005) and I'm glad I did.

Roz