World cruise 🚢

[d9704011]

44 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

A couple of years ago I did post a detailed cost comparison showing the differences.

I believe I may have seen that.  Does Viking require 'early' fare payment?

[At7Seas]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

When considering a World Cruise, you need to consider the total cost upon return home, rather than the posted brochure fare.

 

This is very true of course. But this should be done narrowly and I did it for my upcoming world cruise. Forgive me that I didn’t look-up a Viking price now. But if I regard the 2025 starting price of 64,788.29 € Azamara charges and compare that to the grand total of my own booking the result is very different from yours. My calculation is of course the cruise fare including all transportation, nights at a hotel, speciality restaurant pre-bookings, in every single port an excursion - and there I was only cost sensitive if the excursion I wanted to do was offered by several suppliers - included is laundry service, wifi, beverage package, mineral water to take ashore, service charge, short everything that can be planned from leaving my house until opening my front door again. Even if I break it down to daily costs (the cruise plus one day hotel by Azamara is a few days longer than my journey and this has to be paid of course) Azamara remains 83.54 % more expensive than my cruise. Some differences I didn’t add to the Azamara price, for example that not everything might be covered by Azamara OBC, that in my calculation insurance is included, I didn’t see port fees and other taxes on the Azamara cruise, while included in my calculation, that I am not sailing in the cheapest available cabin and so on. I know the ship I will sail on, I already had a cabin a few doors down the same corridor, and I am very comfortable with that ship. I am convinced by the itinerary. For paying nearly twice the price the difference would need to be gigantic.

 

48 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

- Encouraged to bring beer/wines or any other refreshment onboard.

 - No corkage or service charges to serve your own wine/beer in the restaurant or bars

 

If everybody on a ship has as many drinks as he wants included in the price it is in economic interest of the cruise line to encourage the guests to buy their wine ashore and drink during the cruise. Viking wasn’t kind, but cheap in this context…

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

I believe I may have seen that.  Does Viking require 'early' fare payment?

 

Both Viking WC's were 6 months payment in full. For the 2023 WC, they provided an offer of 5% discount if paid 8 months before the normal PIF date.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, At7Seas said:

 

This is very true of course. But this should be done narrowly and I did it for my upcoming world cruise. Forgive me that I didn’t look-up a Viking price now. But if I regard the 2025 starting price of 64,788.29 € Azamara charges and compare that to the grand total of my own booking the result is very different from yours. My calculation is of course the cruise fare including all transportation, nights at a hotel, speciality restaurant pre-bookings, in every single port an excursion - and there I was only cost sensitive if the excursion I wanted to do was offered by several suppliers - included is laundry service, wifi, beverage package, mineral water to take ashore, service charge, short everything that can be planned from leaving my house until opening my front door again. Even if I break it down to daily costs (the cruise plus one day hotel by Azamara is a few days longer than my journey and this has to be paid of course) Azamara remains 83.54 % more expensive than my cruise. Some differences I didn’t add to the Azamara price, for example that not everything might be covered by Azamara OBC, that in my calculation insurance is included, I didn’t see port fees and other taxes on the Azamara cruise, while included in my calculation, that I am not sailing in the cheapest available cabin and so on. I know the ship I will sail on, I already had a cabin a few doors down the same corridor, and I am very comfortable with that ship. I am convinced by the itinerary. For paying nearly twice the price the difference would need to be gigantic.

 

 

If everybody on a ship has as many drinks as he wants included in the price it is in economic interest of the cruise line to encourage the guests to buy their wine ashore and drink during the cruise. Viking wasn’t kind, but cheap in this context…

 

The result will vary based on everybody's needs and usage. For some people, the cost difference may favour the lower cost mega ship. However, I note your numbers are based on projections. My numbers were based on factual costs having completed 2 World Cruises on 2 different cruise lines.

 

In addition to cost factors, you also have to consider the quality of the cruise, especially since you are aboard the ship for 4-months. a World Cruise is not a short holiday, similar to 7 to 14 night cruises. A World Cruise is your home away from home. Our Princess ship was more akin to a Greek tramp ship with leaks everywhere, the food quality was well below average and the shows 2nd rate.

 

I spent too many years working on old rust buckets, so am more than happy to pay a premium for higher standards. The Viking cruise was vastly superior to Princess in all aspects, but I was pleasantly surprised when the final costs determined the per diem was virtually the same. Those are real costs, not budget.

 

For similar cabins, Viking was about $65,000 whereas Princess was about $33,000.

 

With respect to bringing wines, beers & spirits aboard - the drinks package only provides wines by the glass. The best wines are only sold by the bottle (extra cost), so when pax want quality wines, Viking are missing out on sales. Same situation with beers, as Viking only had a couple dark beers and IPA's, but certainly not an abundant selection. Personally, I don't drink any American or European yellow beers/lagers, so when I bring beer onboard Viking really don't make savings. Viking's corkage policy is not to save them money, as only World Cruises have complimentary drinks packages, it is because they treat pax like responsible adults and valued customers.

 

I note many cruise lines sell drinks packages, but still ban bringing aboard any beverages or charge excessive corkage fees.

[At7Seas]

I have no doubt that there exist huge differences between cruise lines. What I experienced as terrible I didn’t choose for my world cruise. So I reduced the choice from hostel and five star hotel to that between four and five stars. Yes, there are still differences. And whether you go for the little more or not is your decision. But I doubt that as general rule paying several times more would result in a lower grand total. As long as I won’t loose more than 30,000 € in the casino it simply can’t happen. And I don’t gamble at all.
 
Yes, I made projections when booking. But at the stage I am now in I have facts based on contracts or even payments I already made. Projection was that I would spend an average of 100 € per excursion. Contractual commitment remains 11.14 % below this projection. And I visit every port as it would be the last time I would ever be there. At least if I have not the next booking for this port already. The factual price range for excursions is between included in the fare and 335.08 € per day. I admit I could have spent the day at the beach nearby instead of spending 335.08 €, but this is not what I wanted. And where I was not convinced by an included excursion I simply decided to do something else. Since I know by experience that the food will taste great I could have decided to dine in the MDR only, but my calculations include speciality restaurant visits for having some more variation aboard. Not just projections but confirmed bookings. I could go on. The largest variable left is for drinks and meal ashore, but these costs are completely independent from the cruise line I am sailing with. I promise you to put my numbers here after the cruise.
 
I assure you that the ship I will sail on is no rusty bucket, last year I was on this vessel and the ship was top maintained, which is simply the standard on this line. Earlier this year I was on a rusty bucket of another company for 30 days, because I wanted to sail back home and there was only one line going the route I wanted to do. It was unpleasant from the very first day, you really don’t need one month to stay on a bad ship as I did to experience that, for sure not five.
 
Of course I won’t sail on a mega ship, none of them do world cruises. Just to mention it, I never saw remarkable low prices on this kind of ships. Whatever the savings per passenger are regarding the size of a ship we customers definitely pay for the “innovations” to fill a day brought aboard the recent years. Personally I don’t need them.
 
Back to the ship I will actually sail on. Not only the maintenance was spotless as mentioned, also service, food and entertainment I enjoyed a lot. Professional and fast reacting service as well as friendliness is no question of the price tag of a cruise. It is simply a basic every guest may expect - not only aboard a cruise ship.
 
Sure, regarding food a lot depends on what we are used to, on our personal likes and dislikes. In this case my likes are fit and even more important the preparation is done highly professionally. I'm not snobbish, if cheap ingredients are combined to a sensational taste this meal is a success, regardless the price. But if an expensive piece of meat is badly prepared it is simply not eatable, regardless the price of the meat.
 
I am cruising solo, bottles of wine is nothing I want to order. A lot of wines are no longer very tasty the second day already, let alone a third. Usually I’ll have the choice between each three quite good red and white wines and one rosé by the glass. This is for me the better alternative compared to a daily decline of quality just to try to top the open wine the first day of a bottle. Of course in this context it doesn’t matter whether a bottle is purchased aboard or ashore. Chances that I won’t drink a single beer aboard are pretty large. The included variety of drinks included in the beverage package is so huge that on this cruise line I never had a single drink on my account and still I haven’t tried everything offered. I only paid for taking bottled water ashore and for this I bought water packages already. Surprisingly enough I know already how often I plan to go ashore.
 
And entertainment was especially on longer sailings really good, because additionally to the noteworthy own ensemble aboard great guest artists were flown in, so the entertainment became much more diverse. And I go for cultural events, I have the opportunity to visit three ashore as well, most well known venue I will visit is Sydney Opera House. Since I have bought my ticket already it is no longer a projection, but I know exactly the amount I paid.

 

[d9704011]

2 hours ago, At7Seas said:

I assure you that the ship I will sail on is no rusty bucket, last year I was on this vessel and the ship was top maintained, which is simply the standard on this line. Earlier this year I was on a rusty bucket of another company for 30 days, because I wanted to sail back home and there was only one line going the route I wanted to do. It was unpleasant from the very first day, you really don’t need one month to stay on a bad ship as I did to experience that, for sure not five.

It's difficult to fully appreciate your comparison/analysis without knowing which cruise line/ship you're sailing on.  We have to have a lot of faith in your opinion(s) without the benefit of being able to draw any of our own due to lack of basic detail.

[At7Seas]

1 hour ago, d9704011 said:

It's difficult to fully appreciate your comparison/analysis without knowing which cruise line/ship you're sailing on.  We have to have a lot of faith in your opinion(s) without the benefit of being able to draw any of our own due to lack of basic detail.

 

Honestly, you can’t challenge either data. My cruise is fully booked since beginning this year and the 2025 edition has also 100% single supplement now, which is a clear sign that not too many cabins are left - and it’s still more than a year to go. Still, the starting price for double occupancy is as today 15,499 € per person. The same happened short before my own cruise was sold out. When I was searching I found quite a number of cruise lines with a comparable price based on double occupancy. Differences started for me as solo cruiser. So who doesn’t want to start the cruise in Europe has alternatives, who doesn’t like Italian food as well. There were shorter and longer world cruises - and still no huge difference broken down to the daily price. But it is no secret, I’ll sail on Costa Deliziosa for 127 days from January 6th, 2024. Much more interesting should be how the question about the additional costs - and how it still beats the price of Azamara so much, while the other statement is that paying inflated prices makes a cruise cheap.

 

[At7Seas]

18 hours ago, d9704011 said:

I believe I may have seen that.  Does Viking require 'early' fare payment?

 

And as European I have to pay my cruise 30 days in advance.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, At7Seas said:

But I doubt that as general rule paying several times more would result in a lower grand total. As long as I won’t loose more than 30,000 € in the casino it simply can’t happen. And I don’t gamble at all.
 

 

The difference in fares is quickly equalised when you add the following to the Princess fare

 - Port taxes - $2,500

 - OBC - $5,750

 - Business flights - $12,000

 

As always, when reviewing cruises their is no "General Rule" determining which cruise may have the lowest total cost, you must consider what is included with each cruise line, and how that compares to your personal needs.

 

In your particular case, assuming you reside in Germany, your flights for a Costa cruise will be significantly less than one starting/ending in North America or Australia. Therefore, when removing the value of business flights, the Costa cruise should be cheaper, unless the onboard spend was huge. 

[At7Seas]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The difference in fares is quickly equalised when you add the following to the Princess fare

 - Port taxes - $2,500

 - OBC - $5,750

 - Business flights - $12,000

 

Booking in Europe means all taxes must be included. Customer’s rights. Bookings with Costa’s German branch require even the service charge being included in the fare. I booked with the Dutch Costa office, since there the full beverage package was included during a sale. After adding the service charge I will be at exactly the German price, but have the better conditions.
 
I live on about 660 km distance from Venice (on the street). I won’t even fly, since there are no direct flights and I’ll take the train to Venice. Same total time from home to hotel, but easier. And I book for the longest part of the distance business seats in a ÖBB Railjet, they are like first class seats in a plane. ÖBB charges me 168.30 € one way to Venice, relative expensive regarding the high demand during the holidays. Back I might go for 116.50 € already. Even the water taxi transfer within Venice is more expensive. Business class return flights would start for my travel dates at 520.11 €, but with very uncomfortable long stops. No way to save 12,000 US$. On the other side business flight tickets are not falling down from the Viking sky, they are financed through selling cruise tickets. And I with 520 € would simply co-finance the one who flies for 12,000 US$. I am a social human being, but this goes a bit too far.

 

[Janet&Carl]

On 10/26/2023 at 5:10 AM, At7Seas said:

Azamara remains 83.54 % more expensive than my cruise. Some differences I didn’t add to the Azamara price, for example that not everything might be covered by Azamara OBC, that in my calculation insurance is included, I didn’t see port fees and other taxes on the Azamara cruise, while included in my calculation, that I am not sailing in the cheapest available cabin and so on. I know the ship I will sail on, I already had a cabin a few doors down the same corridor, and I am very comfortable with that ship. I am convinced by the itinerary. For paying nearly twice the price the difference would need to be gigantic.

 

 

 

Who are you sailing with  At7Seas ?

[At7Seas]

4 hours ago, Janet&Carl said:

 

 

Who are you sailing with  At7Seas ?

 

I am booked on Costa Deliziosa.