OCD? I Think Not!

[truckmaker]

Does anyone understand Princess' logic when it comes to pricing? I have been tracking the price for our upcoming cruise in February 2014 on the Royal in particlular and it just doesn't seem right to me:

Original Booking Date & Price - May 23 - MA for $1569 per person

 

July 5 price - $1849

 

September 1 price - $1459 (we were granted a price reduction)

 

September 8 price - $1749

 

October 11 price - $1269 (we were granted a price reduction)

 

On the Princess site just now the price is showing at $1749 again.

 

These fares are for a mini on Dolphin and I am surprised that the price jumps around so much. Any thoughts? Has this happened to others?

 

Oh, and I don't think I am OCD just frugal.

[Bogof1]

Seems quite common. Our cruise to the med and Adriatic in September did the same. The final price before being sold out was more than we paid and we too had two price drops. It pays to keep watching.

[Coral]

Consider it like airline fares...... It can change by the minute.

[bhopal21]

Consider it like airline fares...... It can change by the minute.

 

Exactly. No different than airline fares which change everyday and sometimes more often than that.;)

 

Mike:)

[thinfool]

Any thoughts? Has this happened to others?

 

 

Happens all the time. Welcome to the club. It may happen again before your cruise.

 

The closer to sailing and the pace of bookings has a lot to do with pricing.

 

As mentioned, like the airlines, cruise lines have algorithms that estimate demand and then price accordingly. (usually subject to human approval)

[DeltaOne]

These fares are for a mini on Dolphin and I am surprised that the price jumps around so much. Any thoughts? Has this happened to others?

 

As mentioned above, supply and demand. The goal is for the ship to sail full with every room occupied. When sales are slow -- prices go down. When sales are fast -- prices go up.

[kdkmilwaukee]

This has happened to us as well - by watching prices like a hawk, we've saved over $300/person for our January 2014 cruise on Royal. Initially, the price went up by over $100/person after we booked, but has been going down ever since. It's been holding steady for the past three weeks or so, though.

[teecee60]

Imagine a rectangular chart with "% of cabins booked" on the vertical axis and "calendar date" on the horizontal axis. (there's actually a separate chart for every subcategory of cabin available)

 

The lower left corner represents 0% of cabins booked on the day the cruise is released, and the upper right hand corner represents 100% of cabins booked on the day of departure, with a line connecting those corners. (not EXACTLY but close enough)

 

That line is the projected GOAL of % of cabins booked on every day.

 

If ACTUAL bookings are BELOW that line, prices will probably drop until bookings meet the line again. If ACTUAL bookings are ABOVE that line, prices will probably go UP.

 

The situation changes daily for every cabin, on every ship, for every sail date.

 

That's why prices can fluctuate (wildly?) each and every time the "actual" line gets too far off from the "projected/goal" line.

 

That's why 8 weeks, 4 weeks, and 2 weeks prior to departure, prices can PLUMMET if they're significantly short of the line to a "full ship."

 

That's why waiting to book until then can either get you the LOWEST *F*I*R*E* *S*A*L*E* prices, **OR** a "sorry Charlie, the ship is full!"