Pricing?

[PCruzer]

Anyone booked or contemplating booking a winter 2007 cruise, are you finding the prices to be MUCH higher than last year? Comparing last year's winter cruise on the Veendam in an S-Category, for the same time this coming year, it is $700+ pp more! That seems like a huge increase per person. Anyone else coming up against this? I'm not sure if I should wait it out to see if there is a drop in price (last year the prices dropped the 1st week in August for February) I'm getting a little nervous that maybe they are not going to drop this year. What do you think?

[Navy_Chief]

Depending on how you book it, you could book early then get any price breaks that come along; you could book directly with HAL then transfer it to a TA at a later date for price breaks or cancel and rebook it if something comes up. There are a dozen ways to play it this far out.

[jhannah]

Prices were up for 2006 over 2005. I'm guessing we'll see this trend continue for a few years as commodity prices (including fuel) continue to escalate.

[RedmondCruiser]

The low years were 2002 and 2003. The reason was 9/11 and a glut of new ships coming on line. During this period the lowest I saw was an Alaska cruise for $380. Now it cost more to stay at a motel six and eat at McDonalds at that price. Obviously the lines lost money and they are not in the business to loose money.

Now with fewer new ships coming on line and with the drastically higher fuel prices -- the cost of your cruise is going to go up. At the same time the lines are trying to generate new income streams to make up for the shortfalls. It does appear that more ships will be coming on line, which will create more competition but with the higher fuel prices I doubt that we will ever see the prices of 2002 again.

Prices reflect what the market will bear. If the ships are all leaving with full capacity then prices can be increased until this no longer holds true.

[CateW]

We are looking at a February cruise (11 days) out of NYC on the Noordam. The prices are the lowest I've seen on one of the discounted websites - defnitely lower than this year. I think it might have something to do with the fact that some just don't want to cruise out of NY in the winter since you lose at least 1 1/2 days each way. For us it doesn't matter so much; I'm so frantic after our year end at work that I just want to crash the first day anyway.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have booked 2007 cruises on a couple of different lines. Both have prices higher than last year. I try to keep track of these things.

[PCruzer]

Thanks for the replies. I do realize that prices usually go up somewhat every year. This year, though, they seem to be going up so much more than in previous years. We always go on a cruise in February, and the prices almost always have gone down considerably in August. Maybe the cruise lines are also playing the "waiting game!" :(

[SueOverend]

Hang in there. We discounted HAL for our Jan 07 Mexican Riveria cruise as an S suite was over double what we'd paid for the Caribbean in Dec 05. We booked RCI instead. However, the price fell dramatically and we cancelled RCI yesterday and booked the Oosterdam. Totally delighted we were able to do this, as I really wanted to sail on HAL again.

[Schplinky]

Actually, cruise lines are reporting soft bookings for the Caribbean this winter. I see the earnings calls for most cruise lines report strong bookings in Europe and Alaska and a really soft fall and early winter in the Caribbean. Our price on Westerdam actually went down. We moved form a VF to a VA and actually got $50 back, too. Keep watching the prices.

[iceman93]

We looked at booking an Antarctic cruise either in December 2006 or 2007. The prices were virtually identical, and in some cabin categories were exactly the same.

[Alexborngal]

Anyone booked or contemplating booking a winter 2007 cruise, are you finding the prices to be MUCH higher than last year? Comparing last year's winter cruise on the Veendam in an S-Category, for the same time this coming year, it is $700+ pp more! That seems like a huge increase per person. Anyone else coming up against this? I'm not sure if I should wait it out to see if there is a drop in price (last year the prices dropped the 1st week in August for February) I'm getting a little nervous that maybe they are not going to drop this year. What do you think?

I booked a category E - outside - on the Zaandam for December 2007 - 15 days Circle Hawaii for $2,040 total price. Last December Amsterdam was $1799. The $2,040 seemed to have been a one week price as ever since then all discount TAs are quoting $2700 to $2900 so I feel I got a good deal.

Hope this helps.

Happy shopping.

[PCruzer]

Thanks all! I might just hang in there a while and watch the S-category inventory and the pricing. Maybe it will still come down. Wow, booking a cruise at a great price is becoming a full-time job!! Thanks again!