Cruise Prices to Go Up?

I suppose that with 3 ships occupied with evacuees (providing that finally happens) space aboard the active ships will become even more scarce.

Law of supply and demand will make those available cabins even more expensive.

Do you think the other lines will raise prices too? Is there any sign of it yet?

The price of fuel won't help either. :(

ive been asking this in other threads and no one seems to answer...hope you have better luck!

I know I'm trying to help a friend who got cancelled on the Holiday and prices have gone up and the rooms are scarce. I suppose it is basic economics.

I suppose that with 3 ships occupied with evacuees (providing that finally happens) space aboard the active ships will become even more scarce.

Law of supply and demand will make those available cabins even more expensive.

Do you think the other lines will raise prices too? Is there any sign of it yet?

Yes I am sure the other lines will jump on the gravy train when prices start to go up!

Any sign of it yet? Our 8A is $965(group rate) it was listed as $999 on Carnival,, it is $1049 now,, the $999 is a GTY.

This is Economics 101, supply and demand theory. How long do you think those ships will be out of service? Not long. Regardless of the fact that fuel prices will go up, less people will be cruising because of the economy, and as cruiseships don't fill, prices will go down.

I sure as heck wouldn't book now, I'd wait for the inevitable sales and take my chances.

It probably depends on where you are sailing from. Those of us that sail from the South and "had" Galveston, NOLA, and even Mobile to choose from now have only Galveston, and only 2 ships instead of 5. Our prices have gone way up and the other lines that sail out of Galveston are jumping on the bandwagon. This makes me wonder why Carnival didn't take a ship from say Florida, a ship from California, and a ship from NOLA instead. That would have given so many of us more options. Houston has a port so the deployed ships could have gone to Houston where they would have been more useful due to the city of Houston's infrastructure (jobs, housing, transportation). That would have opened up space for at least one more Carnival ship to come in and take up the slack..

Cruise prices may indeed rise, but I don't think fuel costs will have much of an impact. Here is an excerpt from a newspaper article of a week or so ago by a high official of Carnival Cruise Lines. "Carnival profits were up 25% over last year and the increase more than offsets fuel costs. Fuel costs typically don't affect cruise lines as much as airlines because they are a smaller expense as a percentage of revenue. In spite of fuel increases, we're going to have a very good year". So if that guy is telling the truth, prices will not be going up due to fuel costs. According to today's newspapers, the damage to the refineries was not as bad as anticipated and fuel costs should be coming down very soon. Of course, the greedy fuel companies won't reduce the prices as quickly as they raised them. So what else is new???:rolleyes:

Yes, they went up, at least on the Inspiration. I booked Monday for 10/20/05, and when I was looking at my reservation today on Carnival's site I noticed that the flat rate for all future dates on Inspiration are up. 10/20/05 by $50 11/03/05 by $70.

Prices on the Conquest have leaped since the Elation cancelled 7 day cruises. for example, Xmas went from $900 to $1129.

Three ships have been taken out and that will boost prices. Evideintly, the market feels the same as both CCL and RCCL have finally sustained the first consecutive two day gains in weeks.

FWIW, CCL will release their quarterly results next week.

Alot of the 2006 prices had risen from '05 levels, mostly due to increased popularity (and alot of them are close to full). Now that we have had unforseen events - that increases the likelihood of prices rising even more.

Still, if you book last minute, good prices can be found. But if you have to fly or work around certain dates, that might not be possible.

We made reservations this May for next May on Disney Wonder and in June for next March on HAL Volendam, so the prices are as low as I expect them to be.

I would suggest if you have anything in particular in mind, reserve it now. If the price goes down before final pymt you still get it. But by reserving early, you get choice of cabins and dining times. MaryAnn

How long do you think those ships will be out of service? Not long.

My understanding was that the FEMA leases were for 6 months and they had the option to entend if they wanted to.

I called Carnival this morning to see about a last minute booking for later this month since DW and I finally found a few days at the same time we could be together.

Everything out of Galveston for our time was already booked. Guess it's gonna be land vacations for us for a while.

Carnival Liberty 07/18/06 went up 100.00 a person from what I paid.

Howard, in fact gas prices here have already dropped 12-18 cents as of today, from their high last week.

The answer.. in a word.. yes. The only port you'll see some major deals from is Miami.

This is Economics 101, supply and demand theory. How long do you think those ships will be out of service? Not long. Regardless of the fact that fuel prices will go up, less people will be cruising because of the economy, and as cruiseships don't fill, prices will go down.

 

 

I sure as heck wouldn't book now, I'd wait for the inevitable sales and take my chances.

I agree I think initially prices will go up because of the frenzy around rebooking but give it a little time. Not as many people will be traveling and the prices will go down. I personally can't wait for the price drop. We were cancelled off of the Elation and were told we could pay more for the Conquest:mad: ! ($200 per person more (family of 4)) Yeah right. Pay more for a lesser category but we get a bigger ship. I don't care about the bigger ship, I care about my bottom line! Anyway here's to waiting patiently for the prices to go down.:D Maybe when the prices fall I can finally afford that balcony/Suite!

I post this every time the "hand-wringing" starts over pricing issues:

In 1986 my then wife and I cruised the Mexican Riviera along with a dozen friends on the TROPICALE for around $700 per person inside cabin.

Nearly 20 years later, the pricing has in NO WAY kept up with inflation.

I would expect that when 3 ships are essentially removed from the fleet this is going to produce momentary price pressure, but one must realize that there are many people over a wide area of the country that are financially removed as prospective cruisers at this time, both from the disaster itself and the general economy of the nation.

As a previous poster pointed out, fuel costs don't represent a sizeable % of the overhead with cruise ships as it does for, example, an airline or a trucking firm.

I'm guessing [operative word], many cruisers today have experienced only post 9/11 pricing, where the cruiselines have frantically been trying to recover their price point before this national tragedy while still bringing online new builds at an incredible rate. Four years have passed since 9/11, the new builds (rate) has slowed, and cruising is as popular as ever. This all drives prices up and, of course, that budget traveler with, say, a couple of children that can't afford an additional $100 per person ($400) will find other vacation venues like land-based, camping, etc. (Hell, during my younger more financially-challenged days I used to backpack for a week through the local San Jacinto Mountains - had the time of my life for pennies ! ! :) ).

Our cruise on the Inspiration with military discount cost us about $275 a person. Now the same cruise with military discount is $563 a person! Big difference in prices for sure!