Prices for Anthem Summer 2016 are through the roof!!

[Overtyme]

Really inflated prices for Anthem Summer 2016, and a not so great itinerary may have me booking somewhere else.

Is it just me?:confused:

[parrotfeathers]

Which itinerary?

What were they before?

[Yorkvillain]

I just booked a 9-nighter on the Anthem for October 20, 2016. The prices were not bad at all, I was shocked. Much less than what I paid for my 9-night Quantum cruise.

[Dave85]

Prices are not only good but GREAT for the shoulder season... I didn't check any height of summer -- wouldn't travel then anyway -- but I was very pleased with they pricing I saw.

[Yorkvillain]

Prices are not only good but GREAT for the shoulder season... I didn't check any height of summer -- wouldn't travel then anyway -- but I was very pleased with they pricing I saw.

 

Dave, I like each of our 3 upcoming cruises.

[Dave85]

Dave, I like each of our 3 upcoming cruises.

 

HA! Too funny. I'd say you have pretty good taste in upcoming cruises... :p

[gaylemh]

I booked the 10/20/16 & 5/5/16. I was surprised they weren't higher. I'm still confused with the Bermuda Boston cruise. That's weird.

[Overtyme]

Prices are not only good but GREAT for the shoulder season... I didn't check any height of summer -- wouldn't travel then anyway -- but I was very pleased with they pricing I saw.

 

Unfortunately, we're tied to the Summer season. We're traveling with some friends of ours who are teachers, so no choice there.

 

Check out the price during July/August 2016.

I'd expect them to be higher than non-Summer months, but Oh My!!!

[Ourusualbeach]

Unfortunately, we're tied to the Summer season. We're traveling with some friends of ours who are teachers, so no choice there.

 

Check out the price during July/August 2016.

I'd expect them to be higher than non-Summer months, but Oh My!!!

 

Those 5 night Bermuda cruises are priced higher than my 8 night Christmas cruise on Anthem this Christmas.:eek:

[red devil]

I just booked a 9-nighter on the Anthem for October 20, 2016. The prices were not bad at all, I was shocked. Much less than what I paid for my 9-night Quantum cruise.

 

2015 Liberty New England & Bermuda inside L 14 days $3000.

2016 Anthem New England & Bermuda inside L 14 days $4200.

Same time frame.

[Life is Good Cruising]

I booked the 10/20/16 & 5/5/16. I was surprised they weren't higher. I'm still confused with the Bermuda Boston cruise. That's weird.

 

 

I just booked a 9-nighter on the Anthem for October 20, 2016. The prices were not bad at all, I was shocked. Much less than what I paid for my 9-night Quantum cruise.

 

I'm in agreement and felt the 10/20/16 cabin prices were not bad at all, we also booked that sailing :)

 

The 5/14/16 Anthem sailing had me question Royal also, does Boston belong on that sailing with Bermuda? They said they will look into it and advise me by email.

[Dave85]

Those 5 night Bermuda cruises are priced higher than my 8 night Christmas cruise on Anthem this Christmas.:eek:

 

 

That's insane. There must be (or they must anticipate) off the charts demand for those sailings. I wonder how they'll get that pricing while competing with 7 night Bermuda options on X and NCL, but what do I know.

[Life is Good Cruising]

I'm in agreement and felt the 10/20/16 cabin prices were not bad at all, we also booked that sailing :)

 

The 5/14/16 Anthem sailing had me question Royal also, does Boston belong on that sailing with Bermuda? They said they will look into it and advise me by email.

 

Just received confirmation below from Royal concerning the 5/14/16 sailing on Anthem as I was questioning why is Boston on the same itinerary as Bermuda.

 

*I have confirmed with my supervisor that the itinerary for the Anthem of

the Seas 05/14/16 is correct.*

[Nabalab]

I just booked a D8 on a 9-night on Anthem in Sept 2016 - Canada and New England. $1349, which I didn't think was that bad.

 

Then again, I was comparing it to the first week of Quantum sales, when I booked a D8 on an 8-night Caribbean (which sails next week, finally) for $1319.

 

Both ended up being a similar price because taxes and fees for Canada and New England are higher.

[Ourusualbeach]

That's insane. There must be (or they must anticipate) off the charts demand for those sailings. I wonder how they'll get that pricing while competing with 7 night Bermuda options on X and NCL, but what do I know.

 

Even for my sailing the week of Christmas they are over $500pp more than NCL doing the same basic Bahamas itinerary. I am having some serious second thoughts about our cruise. Over $7500 for the 4 of us for the crappy Bahamas itinerary. Timing won't work for anything else and the kids really want to sail on her.

 

I haven't seen too many price drops on the sailings out of Bayonne. I wonder if they are actually sailing full or reaps they are content to sail at less than 100% capacity and not drop the prices just to fill the ship?

[Yorkvillain]

2015 Liberty New England & Bermuda inside L 14 days $3000.

2016 Anthem New England & Bermuda inside L 14 days $4200.

Same time frame.

 

Ugh. Brutal.

[parrotfeathers]

I also believe the 5 nighters are very popular. That's about as long as I can be gone at this point in my life. For the Oct. 16, 2016 5 nite a regular GS was $1969 before C&A benefits.

[Dave85]

Even for my sailing the week of Christmas they are over $500pp more than NCL doing the same basic Bahamas itinerary. I am having some serious second thoughts about our cruise.

 

The same is actually true, almost to the dollar, for comparable balcony accommodations for my November 2015 12-night Anthem cruise. Breakaway is doing substantially the same 12-night itinerary a couple of weeks later for approximately $500pp less than Anthem.

 

The reality though is that we're doing that cruise to experience Anthem and the Quantum Class generally (we did not / will not catch Quantum before she leaves), and the itinerary, while great, is merely a secondary consideration. Otherwise we wouldn't have hesitated to jump ship to the Breakaway and save some cash.

Edited March 12, 2015 by Dave85

[Aggravation]

Looking at the big picture, rather than focusing on a specific cruise, a different picture emerges. Cruise prices reflect supply and demand - more so than some other products we buy, because stateroom days are essentially, perishable items. RCCL practices Yield Management - they realize they can only sell a room once - so base pricing os Supply/Demand. The only thing worse than sailing with an empty room is giving away a room they could sell twice.

 

When Quantum was announced I immediately booked for the 12/12/14, 8-night cruise as an anniversary trip. As an analyst (occupational hazard) I took a closer look by building an Excel spread sheet, listing the base rate, balcony rate, and OBC for each sailing, then converting it to a night/pp basis.

 

The range for the Quantum season was $127-214 pp/night base rate, $146 - $278 pp/night for a balcony. The original 8-nighter I booked was $160/pp/night.

 

I switched my original booking to the 11-night 2/2/15 sailing at a bargain $146 pp/night balcony - and added a second cruise, the 3/21 sailing, for $172 night balcony, paying a bit of premium to fit our kids schedule. Supply/Demand 101.

 

If you're locked into peak demand times, and want to sail the latest and greatest - as many do, expect to pay a premium. If you're flexible, it only costs a little more to go first class. The cruise lines would go broke selling boat rides - they make their money selling options such as travel dates, port convenience, gaming, etc.

 

My plan was to book Anthem while on our 2/2 cruise but the dates we wanted were not yet available. The new 2016 schedule is now available, so after doing my homework, we'll be booking Anthem for 2016 at very attractive rates.

 

To those who missed sailing Quantum - my condolences - it's a GREAT ship and this was likely our only opportunity to sail it. The future for Anthem isn't known yet, but if you love cruising, don't dismiss the opportunity to sail Anthem because someone thinks the cost is through the roof. Do your homework and you may find a memorable experience is very competitive and affordable.

[roe2ship]

Really inflated prices for Anthem Summer 2016, and a not so great itinerary may have me booking somewhere else.

Is it just me?:confused:

Cruising during Summer or any major holidays is always a killer. I agree that the prices are high but believe it or not I expected them to be even higher. When Liberty prices came out last Spring (2014) the prices for this summer (2015) were insane...a 9 day cruise in August, balcony for 3 people was about $7,300.00. Prices did drop from that but still very expensive. The 5 day Bermuda cruises are VERY expensive, year after year. These are actually more $$ per day than the 9 day cruises. I priced the Anthem 5 day cruise in August (again 3 pax / balcony) slightly over 4K.:rolleyes: The Breakaway same time frame is a 7 day Bermuda for about the same price.

[Dave85]

Cruising during Summer or any major holidays is always a killer. I agree that the prices are high but believe it or not I expected them to be even higher. When Liberty prices came out last Spring (2014) the prices for this summer (2015) were insane...a 9 day cruise in August, balcony for 3 people was about $7,300.00. Prices did drop from that but still very expensive. The 5 day Bermuda cruises are VERY expensive, year after year. These are actually more $$ per day than the 9 day cruises. I priced the Anthem 5 day cruise in August (again 3 pax / balcony) slightly over 4K.:rolleyes: The Breakaway same time frame is a 7 day Bermuda for about the same price.

 

 

The amazing thing IMO was how ridiculous the Liberty pricing was for shoulder season summer 2015. It was very, very high, and is one of the things that drove us to book Oasis instead of taking Liberty out of Bayonne. Looking at the Anthem pricing, it does look like RCI figured out that they overshot a bit for this summer and is much more reasonable for the shoulder season.

 

Of course, peak summer pricing will always be through the roof -- especially during the coveted warm weather months from a northeast drive up port when the kids are out of school.

[vickisteve]

We have booked the 10/20/16 cruise too.