MSC Divina unlisted New Year's cruise offer - suspiciously low price

[dadb]

Today in our local newspaper I have found an advertisement from local tour operator offering the MSC Divina New Year's 11 nights cruise starting at December 28th in Genoa. The veranda(balcony) cabins are listed at 27.900 CZK i.e about 896 GPB including the round trip flight from Prague to Genoa, airport transfers etc.

 

Being a bit suspicious I have just two questions:

 

1) This cruise is not listed on MSC website, with just two cuises before and after this one being listed (i.e. starting Dec 17th 2012 and Jan 8th 2013). Does it mean this New Year's one was just sold exclusively to tour operators?

 

2) The price offered directly by MSC for the other two cruises and the same cabin type start at 1100 GBP or 900 GPB respectively (without a flight ticket). I do understand that bulk sales to tour operators are always at lower price, on the other hand the Christmas and New Year cruises are often most wanted and even more expensive...

 

All your opinions are welcome.

 

Thank you

 

PS: you can find the cruise here: http://www.pttours.cz/zajezd-1000030/exoticke-a-romanticke-novorocni-plavba

[Alex71]

The cruise does show up on the German MSC site for 1798 EUR including flight.

 

http://www.msc-kreuzfahrten.de/de_de/Kreuzfahrten/Kreuzfahrtdetails-MSC-Divina.aspx?cruise_id=DI20121228GOAGOA&ship_code=DI

 

In the past, I noticed that prices can vary depending on the country you book through. We once booked through an American site at a a price that was quite a bit lower in USD than what we were able to find in EUR on any German site. Our last two cruises were cheaper through a German site though.

 

Also, prices can fluctuate quite a bit over time. For our own New Year's cruise on the Splendida, the price all the sudden fell to a third. We booked right away and as soon as our booking was completed, the price tripled again. So the price you are seing in the paper may have been valid when the ad was placed, but may be sold out now. In any case, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll be able to get that price.

[Alex71]

deleted

[cruisingcanadian]

Today in our local newspaper I have found an advertisement from local tour operator offering the MSC Divina New Year's 11 nights cruise starting at December 28th in Genoa. The veranda(balcony) cabins are listed at 27.900 CZK i.e about 896 GPB including the round trip flight from Prague to Genoa, airport transfers etc.

 

Being a bit suspicious I have just two questions:

 

1) This cruise is not listed on MSC website, with just two cuises before and after this one being listed (i.e. starting Dec 17th 2012 and Jan 8th 2013). Does it mean this New Year's one was just sold exclusively to tour operators?

 

2) The price offered directly by MSC for the other two cruises and the same cabin type start at 1100 GBP or 900 GPB respectively (without a flight ticket). I do understand that bulk sales to tour operators are always at lower price, on the other hand the Christmas and New Year cruises are often most wanted and even more expensive...

 

All your opinions are welcome.

 

Thank you

 

PS: you can find the cruise here: http://www.pttours.cz/zajezd-1000030/exoticke-a-romanticke-novorocni-plavba

Hi,I just looked at the prices,and the balcony cabin is listed now for 30900.- CZK-3000.00 more than when you posted it. As other poster said,prices can fluctuate dramatically in a short time. I think it is still pretty good price for a holiday 11-night cruise including flights,transfers and even insurance. I am familiar with CZK,and I would say "go for it before it goes more up"!:D

[Skier52]

It's listed on the UK web site albeit with embarkation on 27th or 29th.

 

Not cheap though!!

 

 

 

The cabins available are Aurea Suites ONLY so maybe the price isn't so bad

 

 

 

Pete

[MuddyPuddles]

This cruise is also on the Irish website, starting from Barcelona on 29th. Balcony cabins are posted as starting from €1699, so you are getting a great price if it is still available. We have a sailing booked from Rio next March through an Irish tour operator and the cost of flights and cruise was lower than the scheduled airfare alone! I'm not complaining ...