Christmas cruising...3rd/4th passenger rip-off?

[Agocruisin]

Maybe someone can help...

 

We usually cruise three in our room, with friends who are four. The rate for passengers 3-4 are always significantly lower than the first two...usually around $200-300 when the first two pay around $600-900.

 

When I tried to price the conquest on December 23rd, imagine my surprise when I see that pricing for these 3/4th passengers in a room paying over $600 each?

 

Is this a special holiday price? I have asked my pvp but since it is the Easter holidays understandably she has not answered.

 

Talk about forgetting about EVER doing a holiday cruise...

 

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment...

[soccersharon]

The Carnival site has been very glitchy the past couple of days. I would wait a couple of days, and check again.

 

 

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[fuddrules]

Are your normal cruises around Christmas and/or New Year's?

 

If not, you'll have to pay quite a bit more to cruise that time of year compared to a non-holiday time of year.

[Agocruisin]

Ok about the glitch...

 

And about holiday cruising, I do expect to pay more, understandable. But to have to pay as much for passenger 3 and 4 in a cabin, that seems wrong.

 

We shall see! Thanks everyone

[fuddrules]

Ok about the glitch...

 

And about holiday cruising, I do expect to pay more, understandable. But to have to pay as much for passenger 3 and 4 in a cabin, that seems wrong.

 

We shall see! Thanks everyone

 

Don't count on it being wrong. It's the most expensive time to vacation. Given so many families like to vacation at this time of year Carnival has no incentive to give much of any discounts for the 3rd/4th person. They fill their ships at this time with high prices. Consider your other cruises were subsidized by those sailing during the Christmas/New Year's holiday.

[Agocruisin]

I tried a few more websites and that's what I'm seeing...3rd and 4th passenger on any other sailing is around $200, but $800-900 at Christmas.

 

It would actually be cheaper to book two rooms with one parent and one child in each room than to book a quad...

 

Oh well!

 

Christmas in a ship can't be THAT. Much fun, right...lol

[Markmom18]

Hi,

Just to throw in....Resorts from Vegas, Mexico and Hawaii all charge significantly more during that Christmas to New Years Holiday too!

OP, we cruised the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year (3 to a cabin, Inside) and it wasn't the Holiday Pricing. So, if you could be a bit flexible in your sail dates...

:). Bobbi

[Markmom18]

Oh, forgot to say that the ship was decorated for the Holidays, with Mr. Grinch and snow too!:D

[SadieN]

.......

 

 

 

It would actually be cheaper to book two rooms with one parent and one child in each room than to book a quad...

 

 

 

........

 

 

We've actually done this on a last minute Spring Break cruise because it was way cheaper to book two doubles than one quad.

 

 

 

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[vwrestler171]

When they know they are going to get more people sailing during the holiday and summer season, they do up the prices because more people are sailing. Supply and Demand at work.

[pe4all]

Due to work schedules, we usually cruise Christmas week - definitely not by choice!! If we could cruise even the week before, the price would be almost 1/2 of what we pay. Christmas/NYE cruises are "premium" cruise times, and the lines squeeze you for every penny they can. The only thing I can tell you - we book Early Saver, and have gotten some price drops before sailing, which helped a bit with the "ouch" of the price-tag for that week.

[KatieCharlotte]

How much you save on the third, fourth, or fifth guest in a cabin varies a lot based on expected demand. On holiday sailings, cruise lines know people are sailing in families, often extended families. They don't need to offer discounts to fill the upper bunks and trundle beds. In fact, they may have more trouble filling the rooms designed only for two. This is very different from times of year when kids are in school and most people want a room for two.

[Je Souhaite]

Maybe someone can help...

 

We usually cruise three in our room, with friends who are four. The rate for passengers 3-4 are always significantly lower than the first two...usually around $200-300 when the first two pay around $600-900.

 

When I tried to price the conquest on December 23rd, imagine my surprise when I see that pricing for these 3/4th passengers in a room paying over $600 each?

 

Is this a special holiday price? I have asked my pvp but since it is the Easter holidays understandably she has not answered.

 

Talk about forgetting about EVER doing a holiday cruise...

 

Thanks in advance for any enlightenment...

 

I always wondered if Carnival would start screwing around with the fare for passenger number 3, and how long it would take.

 

But they CAN'T take advantage of passenger number 3 AND 4, making the fares equal to or more than passengers 1 and 2, simply because you would just book another room, gaining all that extra space and a bathroom.

 

But passenger number 3 is tricky. You can't just get another room, due to the single supplement. Splitting of passenger 3 fare from the 4th fare is tricky though, simply because historically they were the same. And they can't start messing with the 3rd fare different form the 4th fare for a quad, cause that will just show greed, as well as possibly making the passenger book an additional room. They certainly won't do well if they have a lot of triples and quads going as doubles just because they got greedy.

 

I'll be curious to see if this is a glitch, or a calculated pricing ploy.

[CJHAN]

Ok about the glitch...

 

And about holiday cruising, I do expect to pay more, understandable. But to have to pay as much for passenger 3 and 4 in a cabin, that seems wrong.

 

We shall see! Thanks everyone

 

Sounds wrong to me also. If the fare is the same for one and two as it is for three and four it would be a better idea to just book an extra cabin rather then stack 4 people in one.

[DanishJourney]

I'm cruising with my son this Christmas and I just made a mock booking as if we were 4 persons. The booking engine will give you the price per person. The price for the third person is much lower and for the fourth a bit higher.

 

Guest 1 - $1,129

Guest 2 - $1,129

Guest 3 - $479

Guest 4 - $859

 

So still $230 cheaper per person.

 

This is for the Breeze sailing on Dec 18.

[dawnjam1]

It all has to do with the cabin category you are booking. Also, I don't understand why the price for the 3rd or 4th would matter. You aren't going to charge that third person less to share your space. Look at it as it is X amount for the 3 to cruise. Divide it in 3! Why make such a fuss over that last number?

[Homosassa]

The pricing for the holiday sailing is accurate and has been happening for a long time. Keep in mind that cruise line is a for profit business.

 

As someone else has said, it is supply and demand.

 

Second, it is simply economics for the cruise line. The ship has only a certain capacity for passengers. If all the rooms that can hold three and four are booked at that capacity, rooms for two may not be able to be sold because the passenger load for that lifeboat station has been reached.

 

The economics come into play for those third and fourth passengers. For holiday sailings, those passengers are most likely to be children. This means for the cruise line's bottom line, other on board revenue sources such as alcohol, casino, spa and other "adult" type revenue, will not be generated by those passengers and that profit will be made up by the higher fares paid upfront for the third and fourth passengers.

 

By booking two cabins for two vs one cabin for four, the higher priced first and second passenger fares are paid by everyone and the passenger load per cabin (and lifeboat station limits) are spread evenly around the ship and does not leave empty cabins that can not be sold.

 

It is not just the holiday sailings where certain passengers fares are higher to make up for for potential profit on board. Check the fares for any special deal being offered. For any cruise line that offers s "kids sail free" or deep discount for the third and fourth passengers, the fares for the first and second passenger will be higher than for a comparable cruise without the special pricing. Disney is a good cruise line to see this pricing in action. Any adult that cruises on Disney is paying a much higher fare compared to a similar cruise on a different line because the adult fares are subsidizing the children's fares.

[RuthlessBoss]

Besides being higher priced for the holiday, prices will be the same in the end even if 1 and 2 are higher than 3 and 4 because the final bill is averaged out per person. So it looks like 1 and 2 are lower and 3 and 4 are higher.

[WendyVF]

We've cruised mostly during Easter week and New Year's eve for the last 10 years due to our family's schedule. They are the 2 most expensive times of the year to cruise in the Caribbean. It usually ends up only costing $100-$200 more to have 2 cabins instead of putting all of us in one.