NCL pricing going up up and away?

[radzer0]

Ive been watching all the cruises going up during the off season. I just find it really weird being its after all kids go back to school and the holidays are completely over. Also NCL says for the new orleans ship the whole month of jan has a low booking rate currently. Ive seen before they have a promotion giving you something extra (or in this case i saw there doing free upgrades from lowest rooms) that they will up the lowest price.

[debnjoe1438]

Basic answer, supply and demand. The when the demand is high and the supply is low, the price goes up. The closer to full the ship is the higher the price may/will go.

 

There are lot's of folks with grown kids and no kids who cruise in the "off" season. :D

[sweetride]

i would normally agree with the supply and demand idea, however, a few previous cruises i have watched the prices increase as almost nothing was booked for over a month, then they would drop drastically for a week and then shoot back up. there doesnt seem to be much of a formula to it. its like a monkey is just hitting keys at the computer :confused:

[decemberpsyche]

i would normally agree with the supply and demand idea, however, a few previous cruises i have watched the prices increase as almost nothing was booked for over a month, then they would drop drastically for a week and then shoot back up. there doesn't seem to be much of a formula to it. its like a monkey is just hitting keys at the computer :confused:

 

I agree 100%. I'm going on the Jade in 3 weeks and keep watching and mock booking my cruise (that is already booked) looking for price drops, etc, And there are still tons of open cabins and the price isn't dropping at all. All but 2 of the haven cabins are open just to give you an idea. Hopefully one of these days before we leave I'll get my miracle and can call get an upgrade for cheap or free. (I am actually will to pay for it, if the price is right)

[gra2172]

i would normally agree with the supply and demand idea, however, a few previous cruises i have watched the prices increase as almost nothing was booked for over a month, then they would drop drastically for a week and then shoot back up. there doesnt seem to be much of a formula to it. its like a monkey is just hitting keys at the computer :confused:

 

Ive noticed that too, and I suspect its based off previous bookings and what they expect the pax count to be.

 

Another reason for example is spring break. You will see the prices being reasonable at the end of February, then all of a sudden they shoot up for a week in march when breakers are booking.. or expected to book.

 

Someone posted on another thread about cruise themes. While a theme may not charter the entire ship, if its a recurring yearly thing with lots of people on for the theme, the price may jump. Themes can be as simple as antique lovers, or wine tasters. So a couple hundred people may be expected to book, raising the expected price.

 

So supply and demand is at play, but its an expected demand.

[kollegekreed]

The drops in prices over the last few years were tied to the economy....no one had money to vacation, so those of us who did got to vacation cheaper. Now that things are turning around....prices on all lines will go up.

 

Vegas is a good example....last december i stayed free for 5 nights, this year i have to pay, nothing free.

[sweetride]

The drops in prices over the last few years were tied to the economy....no one had money to vacation, so those of us who did got to vacation cheaper. Now that things are turning around....prices on all lines will go up.

 

Vegas is a good example....last december i stayed free for 5 nights, this year i have to pay, nothing free.

 

i agree, prices are def increasing with the economy. you need better comps in vegas or you need to go to cheaper places haha. i just booked for the end of sept in a new room at flamingo for free for 5 nights. some things are still free, cesears just isn't one of them anymore :(

 

i know some weeks will be higher than others and prices overall will increase. the thing i dont get is, using a repo i was on from this past april, after final payment a handful of suites opened up. leaving suites in general half full, both villas empty. the prices continued to increase every couple weeks. then they dropped a little for two weeks and then went right back up. in the end, they gave the suites away (thats a rant for another day. DOSs to people with guaranteed inside rooms even though some of us had requested the rooms for upgrades if they were available and gave them a significant amount we would be willing to pay. in the end they upgraded a handful of rooms instead of bumping everyone a category. i guess their upgrade fairy is another thing i dont get). you would think that if the suites aren't selling, the prices would go down instead of up. on the same cruise inside rooms were booking quick because they were dirt cheap and the prices continued to drop and they were fully booked a few weeks out, but continued to sell guaranteed insides :confused:

[GUEST080219]

They should be able to connect the data they get from their website and probably from how the travel agents do searches. So they are aware how many people look at the prices for specific cabins at specific dates. When you and hundreds of others look every day for a specific sailing and a price drop they know that there is a huge interest, some may even have already booked flights, so there is less need for NCL to reduce the price early.

 

As we know how to make good deals when we are flexible the cruise lines know that as well and I am sure they do sometimes fight back just to make us less comfortable to wait until the last day.

[realtorlady42]

Basic answer, supply and demand. The when the demand is high and the supply is low, the price goes up. The closer to full the ship is the higher the price may/will go.

 

There are lot's of folks with grown kids and no kids who cruise in the "off" season. :D

 

We ONLY cruise in Off season....our kids are grown, when we are on holiday we want the least amount of kid noise as possible...we have paid our dues! :-)

[sweetride]

We ONLY cruise in Off season....our kids are grown, when we are on holiday we want the least amount of kid noise as possible...we have paid our dues! :-)

 

we also only cruise in the off season. i would rather chop a limb off than go anywhere kids are going to be on vacation.

[realtorlady42]

we also only cruise in the off season. i would rather chop a limb off than go anywhere kids are going to be on vacation.

 

 

HAHAHA EXACTLY!!! Like kids, love a few but nothing worse than trying to have a nice meal and have a screamer whiner or runner next to you.

 

That's one thing I prefer on Princess over NCL They have a Proper adult pool and lots of proper adult only spaces Our cruise to Alaska we saw maybe 3 kids the entire 2 weeks (1 cruise 1 land) NCL's "adult" pools, are sadly quite disappointing.

We sailed Epic last Feb and there were kids EVERYWHERE, thankfully we had a balcony so we could escape.

This time we are sailing the Jewel...hoping it attracts a few less kids as it is a more traditional ship..however the adult pool is next to the family pool, so I doubt we will be spending much time there!

[terrydtx]

We ONLY cruise in Off season....our kids are grown, when we are on holiday we want the least amount of kid noise as possible...we have paid our dues! :-)

 

Same for us, no summer or holiday cruises for us ever again. We did a big family Hal Xmas cruise a few years ago and we were told 40% of the passengers were under 18, it was a nightmare for us. Our Dec 1 Jewel cruise Balcony cabin is almost $400pp less in cost than Mid January through March sailings. Our last three cruises have been in the week after Thanksgiving less cost and way less kids on board.:D

[sweetride]

we're booking disney next to try to avoid the kids and get better service and food. this seems counter intuitive but they have adult only everything on the ships and their island. our last repo on the dawn (in april) and a handful of people who have sailed it to bermuda since we were off it have given it bad to horrible reviews. so we are hoping that our next cruise on breakaway is great, but if its not, we'll be jumping ship and disney sounds like the best bet to us. anyways, we messed up and booked a last minute cruise once, didnt check a calendar. :( it turned out to not be spring break by us, but it was in florida :mad:. we now thoroughly check every school break in the country before we book :o

[rbrugler]

I have 10 day cruises booked on NCL for Feb 2014 and 2015. One is on the Sun, the other on the Pearl. Both are balcony mini Suites. I got the 2015 cruise for 300 less than the 2014.

[bob brown]

I do a New England/Canada every autumn. I've noticed that the prices have not fallen to the very low levels of a few years ago, for those waiting for last minute bargains, so business must be much better. An interesting development this year....usuallly NCL has the lowest prices for the 7 day cruise out of NYC, but this year both Carnival and Princess are lower. We are already booked on the Gem, with no regret's....:)

[kollegekreed]

i agree, prices are def increasing with the economy. you need better comps in vegas or you need to go to cheaper places haha. i just booked for the end of sept in a new room at flamingo for free for 5 nights. some things are still free, cesears just isn't one of them anymore :(

 

i know some weeks will be higher than others and prices overall will increase. the thing i dont get is, using a repo i was on from this past april, after final payment a handful of suites opened up. leaving suites in general half full, both villas empty. the prices continued to increase every couple weeks. then they dropped a little for two weeks and then went right back up. in the end, they gave the suites away (thats a rant for another day. DOSs to people with guaranteed inside rooms even though some of us had requested the rooms for upgrades if they were available and gave them a significant amount we would be willing to pay. in the end they upgraded a handful of rooms instead of bumping everyone a category. i guess their upgrade fairy is another thing i dont get). you would think that if the suites aren't selling, the prices would go down instead of up. on the same cruise inside rooms were booking quick because they were dirt cheap and the prices continued to drop and they were fully booked a few weeks out, but continued to sell guaranteed insides :confused:

 

Exactly where i got comped last year! Love my Flamingo...,hoping it gets down to almost free around christmas again this year.

[insidecabin]

I agree 100%. I'm going on the Jade in 3 weeks and keep watching and mock booking my cruise (that is already booked) looking for price drops, etc, And there are still tons of open cabins and the price isn't dropping at all. All but 2 of the haven cabins are open just to give you an idea. Hopefully one of these days before we leave I'll get my miracle and can call get an upgrade for cheap or free. (I am actually will to pay for it, if the price is right)

 

The 7th Sept Jade cruise had selected price drops during Aug eg: $150 off the OS on the 7th down to $2699 this was over $4000 till the 22May so a good drop since then.

 

With the ships in Europe you have to monitor UK and EU pricing as well as US

Lower grades are often cheaper in the UK and the suites cheaper in the US.

(Although insides on the 7th jade are about the same)

 

There had been sale in the UK for the last week(wed-Tue) on Sprit, Jade and Star.

[cruisecritiquer]

There is one factor I didnt' see mentioned. We are looking for "empty" rooms. NCL, from what i understand, is looking at 100% capacity. 100% capacity is double occupancy for every cabin. But, if you have 4 people in one room and 0 in another...that could still technically be 100% occupancy. On the Epic, the price has steadily gone up since I booked (price difference of $584 for a family of four) but there are plenty of cabins still available and on my sailing probably more will become available on the pay in full date (10 days away). However, I think that sometimes once they hit their 100% occupancy goal or close, they decide to raise the prices because in their view, the cruise ship is selling well even if we superficially see empty rooms. I think someone has to determine whether to bring the prices down to fill the ship or whether they can raise their prices because anything extra they bring in at this point is icing on their 100% occupancy goal. :confused:

[sweetride]

Exactly where i got comped last year! Love my Flamingo...,hoping it gets down to almost free around christmas again this year.

 

 

we've never stayed there, only walked through all the public areas. we love margaritaville and there is one bank of slots my wife will play there (the only ones shes found on the strip she likes) so we couldn't beat the price or the locations. should be a great time.

 

we booked our repo for april 2014 while on the april 2013 repo and it was $500 cheaper than the 2013 but since a may the prices only on suites has steadily increased with very few sales of suites after that time. i'm sure its part of some corporate strategy that probably makes no sense to most of us (because we're logical ;) )

[Bars7816]

We're about to pay the balance due on our Breakaway cruise for Nov 2013. So you can count on the price going down!! I can do the same thing to any stock you might mention!:D:D

[graphicguy]

Interesting, given that the OASIS and Allure on RCCL are going down in price (particularly for single supplements at about 110%). If I would have known, I could have booked a balcony cabin on the Oasis for Sept, with the single supplement and saved about $600 over what I paid for a Studio Cabin on the Breakaway last June.