3rd person booking question

[matymil]

Im in the process of booking my first friends cruise. In the past whenever i would book myself and my family, the 3rd guest was always at a reduced rate. Im looking at sailings leaving out of NYC in July right now. For some reason when i go to book a 3rd guest not only is it at a reduced rate but our price per person goes up. For example it would be about $548 split down the middle between my buddy and i but when i add the 3rd person it averages out to $588 per person ($40 more per person). Am i doing something wrong here? Anyone know what it would jump that much for a 3rd person?

[firefly333]

Since restart the 3rd rate is often higher as they are trying to discourage families imo who might have unvaxxed kids.

 

The higher rate you see might be because the cabin for 3 people is a higher category than the first one you saw that only holds 2? Idk ..but it's not unusual.

 

You might compare to 2 cabins. See if it's worth booking 2 cabins.

 

PS even pre covid it wasnt altogether unusual for rates for cabins that held more than 2 to have higher rates for 3/4 during the summer. July will have more kids. Expect higher 3rd rates. Its summer when kids are out of school. Try another month. Just to compare? 

Edited March 13, 2022 by firefly333

[ncovert]

To add to the discussion, our Panorama cruise we took in December had us saving about a third the cost by booking a third cabin (so instead of 3 and 3 we did 2,2,2).  However our coming Miracle cruise in May, it was far less to do the 3 and 3 than 2,2,2.   It seems to be dependent on the particular sailing and as firefly mentioned, feels like they are trying to lower capacity a bit.

 

The difference is annoying, but negligible if you have only 3 in your group.  Do you have a fourth that you could try firefly's idea for 2 cabins?

[matymil]

18 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Since restart the 3rd rate is often higher as they are trying to discourage families imo who might have unvaxxed kids.

 

The higher rate you see might be because the cabin for 3 people is a higher category than the first one you saw that only holds 2? Idk ..but it's not unusual.

 

You might compare to 2 cabins. See if it's worth booking 2 cabins.

 

PS even pre covid it wasnt altogether unusual for rates for cabins that held more than 2 to have higher rates for 3/4 during the summer. July will have more kids. Expect higher 3rd rates. Its summer when kids are out of school. Try another month. Just to compare? 

Thanks we checked about booking 2 cabins and since I can't use my vifp # twice the second cabin is about 3 times more money. That's weird because we've booked our toddler son post pandemic and he was much much cheaper. 

[cruisingguy007]

18 hours ago, ncovert said:

To add to the discussion, our Panorama cruise we took in December had us saving about a third the cost by booking a third cabin (so instead of 3 and 3 we did 2,2,2).  However our coming Miracle cruise in May, it was far less to do the 3 and 3 than 2,2,2.   It seems to be dependent on the particular sailing and as firefly mentioned, feels like they are trying to lower capacity a bit.

 

The difference is annoying, but negligible if you have only 3 in your group.  Do you have a fourth that you could try firefly's idea for 2 cabins?

 

This! Found this to be true for us as well. 

[Jareds_mommytoo]

We just booked the panorama, and it was cheaper all in for three of us to book a ocean view then an interior, the interior third person price was more then the first two passengers, but went down for the ocean view. I think it was about $17 cheaper for the total.

[Auralee]

Ya can’t trust prices till you get to the final price screen. Best way I found to compare is to make sure the room number is the same otherwise it’s most likely moving you to a higher category to fit 3 people. Plus some lines average the price between all guests and sometimes they keep the prices individually priced making it hard to compare til you get that last total cost screen before payment. 

[mondello]

I've noticed it to be pretty much supply and demand pricing. Summer and holiday cruises bring the higher third guest fares. We booked 3 pax for 12/26 and the third pax fare was $1000+ on Horizon. Booked son and I on casino rate and wife in an upper/lower cabin on RU2/Cheers fare at $400+ savings and Cheers was only $15/day.

[x lindsay x]

I've been keeping my eye on some of the NYC sailings and noticed that the 3rd person rates have jumped up quite a bit over the past few weeks, I saw third person rates around $169 two weeks ago now over $400. As the posters above have mentioned, it is all supply and demand, if lots of families are sailing they will push up the price of the 3/4 person cabins. School gets out in late June in New York so the beginning of July is when families can really start taking trips together. If you check the sailings mid-end of June the 3rd person rate is way lower. 

 

[matymil]

On 3/14/2022 at 6:30 AM, x lindsay x said:

I've been keeping my eye on some of the NYC sailings and noticed that the 3rd person rates have jumped up quite a bit over the past few weeks, I saw third person rates around $169 two weeks ago now over $400. As the posters above have mentioned, it is all supply and demand, if lots of families are sailing they will push up the price of the 3/4 person cabins. School gets out in late June in New York so the beginning of July is when families can really start taking trips together. If you check the sailings mid-end of June the 3rd person rate is way lower. 

 

Yeah thats exactly what happened with us. So i found out what happened. My rate code was only good for two people and if i booked a 3rd/4th they would not fall under that code. Im not complaining, after taxes it was $540 each for a balcony on a 8day.

[CookieShip]

The fine print of many promo offers will say only 1st & 2nd guests and just one cabin eligible.