Why such a difference?

[Szekhely]

I'm looking at a Jan 19 cruise from syd to tthe South Pacific and I'm looking at 3 alternatives:

3rd -  Royal Caribbean 9 nights $4616 pp

4th -  Carnival 8 nights $1286pp

6th -  P&O 8 nights $699pp

 

we're fairly new to cruising but I don't understand where there is such a difference

[GUT2407]

Umm I’d need to know if you are comparing the same category cabin, that Royal Carries price looks crazy unless it’s a suite

 

[Szekhely]

good point, didn't think of that - I just looked at the prices on the ozcruising page (Cruisecritic doesn't show all the cruises) I just looked and the 1st 2 are mostly sold out so it looks like the P&O is the one. 

 

[mr walker]

2 hours ago, Szekhely said:

good point, didn't think of that - I just looked at the prices on the ozcruising page (Cruisecritic doesn't show all the cruises) I just looked and the 1st 2 are mostly sold out so it looks like the P&O is the one. 

 

as GUT2407 says, make sure you are comparing similar cabin categories, and convert prices to per night for comparison. And just because some options are mostly sold out, doesn't mean you can't get a cabin on that ship - if there's one available you can get it. All ships (and cruiselines) have their plusses and minuses, but there is a big difference between say Royal Caribbean Ovation and perhaps P&O Dawn

[iancal]

Another consideration might be the on board currency.   A few years ago we did two cruises-a few weeks apart. A Sun Princess cruise to the Pacific Islands and an RCI cruise AUS/NZ.

 

One glaring difference was that AUD was the on board currency for Sun Princess.    USD was the onboard difference on RCI and the prices were higher.

 

We calculated that for us (CAD), the RCI on board costs were about 35 percent highter on the RCI 21 day cruise.  It was not an issue since it was a heavily discounted last minute cruise. It was about 30 percent less expensive to book the cruise in Australia than it would have been to book it in North America.

Edited December 4, 2018 by iancal

[Cruise___master]

On 12/5/2018 at 3:38 AM, iancal said:

Another consideration might be the on board currency.   A few years ago we did two cruises-a few weeks apart. A Sun Princess cruise to the Pacific Islands and an RCI cruise AUS/NZ.

 

One glaring difference was that AUD was the on board currency for Sun Princess.    USD was the onboard difference on RCI and the prices were higher.

 

We calculated that for us (CAD), the RCI on board costs were about 35 percent highter on the RCI 21 day cruise.  It was not an issue since it was a heavily discounted last minute cruise. It was about 30 percent less expensive to book the cruise in Australia than it would have been to book it in North America.

 Wow, that’s weird. Normally things are much cheaper to buy in USA than Australia. Must be the trump effect 🤣 

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, Cruise___master said:

 Wow, that’s weird. Normally things are much cheaper to buy in USA than Australia. Must be the trump effect 🤣 

 

All depends what you buy and where.

 

Electronic or US brands in the burbs... probably cheaper in the US. Food or accommodation in the cities... probably cheaper in Australia.

[roothy123]

I look at the number of days at sea for each cruise, as I don't like a lot, and some cruise lines have more than others, even for a very similar itinerary.  I   also look at how many actual days we're talking about.  Some cruise lines count both the arrival (embarkation) and departure (disembarkation) days in their count of the number of days of the cruise. Others count both days as one.  Unfortunately, unless you go to the embarkation port early and stay late at the disembarkation city, you won't see much of those two cities.  I always keep that in mind when looking at itineraries.  I also look at the size (in number of passengers), since I don't like huge ships, so unless there's a really big price difference, I won't book a cruise on a very large ship. Unfortunately, with prices, you have to look at what's included - any excursions?  alcohol? sodas? gratuities? air fare?  internet?  Some of the better cruise lines look really expensive until you realize their prices often include things you would pay extra for on other lines.