Has prices gone up the last year?

[Ljunggren]

I went for a Cruise 2013 with the Epic.

I paid approx 1000 Euros per person for a balcony cabin.

I was thinking of booking the same cruise for 2015. Now the price is 1500 Euros for the same cabin and Cruise!

Any thoughts on this?

[roger001]

Prices constantly go up and down, and sometimes in opposite directions depending on the ship, cruise, and dates. There is no way to predict them. All you can do is monitor them and when you see a price you can live with and be happy with, book it. Then of course if it goes down before final payment, you can get the new lower price. We've had some prices go down slightly after booking, but some that have gone up tremendously after booking. No way to guess really.

[Ljunggren]

This i understand. But i doubt there will be a pricedrop of 50% any time soon.

I paid full price in 2013 and, say, inflation is 3% per year i will come nowhere near 1500 Euros.

[mugtech]

Probably the usual supply and demand factors involved.

I don't know about the Epic, but other European cruises I have monitored are up about $300 for an inside or outside cabin with little or no drop in price before sailing, no last minute bargains.

[roger001]

There is no constant like inflation that controls these cruise prices. It is all supply and demand (with some additional issues such as fuel prices at any given time). NCL, or any cruise line, will generally initially advertise a cruise at the maximum price they think will sell. As the cruise approaches, it will go up or down again according to how the cruise has sold at that point. As I said, you really can't guess prices with any accuracy.

[russianmom]

I booked a suite in May of 2013 for February of 2015. Cost for 4 ppl $4200. Same suite now $7900... :eek: :eek: :eek:

[cliffd64]

European cruises are really hot right now... This is why the prices are rising slightly...

 

Caribbean prices have not moved much...

 

Not certain about Alaska prices...

[negc]

The rate of inflation has little or no effect on prices. It pretty much depends on supply and demand and as the economy continues to improve and more people are now deciding to book a cruise after having deferred doing so for the past few years, you can expect prices to be much higher than they were when the economy was tanking. As long as ships continue to sail full or nearly full, expect to be paying premium prices.

[Vyhanek]

Something other than the law of supply and demand is going on with the suite prices right now. I've never seen these prices before for non peak sailing. It's not normal.

[cliffd64]

Interesting... the suite cabin we booked for Nov 2015 is the same price as it was when we booked it several months ago... I am not seeing any difference... (The ship is the Star if that matters)

[littlelulu01]

It seems like the suites are quite a lot more cost and this cost increase also noted with land based hotel suites, first class tickets, the easiest flights. I was used to getting some incredible deals on suites for cruises, hotels, mileage first class bookings etc but seems like these upgrades and deals are all but non existent the last year for Europe, Alaska, Hawaii especially when looking to book the nicest places and rooms. Hoping that the Europe cruise cost will potentially decrease at the last min but judging by prices this year does not seem too likely for spring/summer Europe 2015 cruises.

[sfaaa]

Save $ and cruise during the low season.

[dexddd]

Something other than the law of supply and demand is going on with the suite prices right now. I've never seen these prices before for non peak sailing. It's not normal.

 

That is what it seems to me as well.

[sfaaa]

Works kind of like the local gas stations. No one would lower the listed price until a competitor on a similar route makes its move. Then the price matching war begins.

[Cloudyrain]

I do agree that there have been dramatic increases - so much so that we have had to go with other companies this year.

 

We went on the Spirit in the last week of November (booked in the middle of October) and it was about £400pp for a Balcony (cruise only) whereas now it's £549pp for an inside room and no balconies are appearing as being available :eek:

 

I'm hoping that next year with the year-round Epic we will see some better prices because there will be more availability due to the increase of room numbers. I just wonder if it's because it's the last Spirit winter in Europe and it's quite a well liked ship/route that there has been an increased demand and therefore an increased price?

[negc]

Something other than the law of supply and demand is going on with the suite prices right now. I've never seen these prices before for non peak sailing. It's not normal.

 

What do you attribute the prices to? If everyone agrees that they are too high, are they still booking them and if they aren't, why hasn't the line dropped the prices. What is "normal" is that they charge only what they believe the market will bear and the fact that we haven't seen these prices before is pretty much irrelevant. If prices are unrealistically high they will either lower those prices or risk going out of business. I wouldn't arrange any funeral services for NCL at this point.

[meglet]

I wonder if the new policy set to go into effect next month has anything to do with it. I really lucked out in my opinion with a Dawn aft suite on deck 10 booked in April 2014 for July 2014. Prices on that cabin now for the same sailing dates are about a thousand dollars higher. I don't know if I'll ever cruise on NCL again, but I certainly won't for a thousand dollars more.

[welove2cruise2014]

We booked an aft penthouse in July 2014 for our recent Dawn cruise and paid ~$3600... Same cabin class, same week next yr is $4300... It's one of those things where I *hope* the fares go down but by the same token think I'm better off booking now since there aren't that many!!!