Why Is This Cruise So Expensive?

[Rick&Jeannie]

14-Day Search for the Northern Lights

 

https://www.princess.com/search-cruise/details/?voyageCode=2218

 

Can anybody explain why this particular itinerary is so much more expensive than the other Northern Europe sailings?

[dog]

That is expensive. 14 days, Island Princess—- prices are higher, but that one is way overt.

try another cruise line & compare.

[CineGraphic]

The usual answer is supply & demand, but I'm too lazy to see how many cabins are left.

[MJSailors]

   Looking at the itinerary, it is basically a cruise from England to Norway. Perhaps the port fees are expensive for Norway compared to,for example,  some of the Caribbean Islands. Those port fees could help to escalate the cruise price.

   It is also a 14 night cruise. The interior price is approximately $2110. At that rate, a 7 night cruise fare would be over $1000. I have seen interiors go for close to that amount since the restart post-Covid.

    Do the fares include gratuities, drinks package and a specialty dinner package?

There are a number of things that could affect the pricing for this particular cruise.

      A good suggestion was made to compare a similar cruise on other lines to check if Princess’ pricing is extravagant.

      You could also call Princess and ask for a breakdown of the cruise fare to understand the cost of the cruise.

MJ

[dreaminofcruisin]

This cruise is always more expensive than many. I think it's because it is only offered twice a year, once in July and once in the late summer or early fall. We originally had it scheduled for August of 2021....but you know....

I suspect there is a lot of pent up demand for all of us who have kept re-booking it. It looks like it is pretty full. I compared it to what I was going to pay in 2021 and it is about $1500 more now than the balcony I had booked. However, when I booked, I did it right after it came out, which at the time was 2 1/2 years out. That seems to be the best time to book this as it is one of those that does tend to just keep going up in price. Our Canary Islands cruise was the same way. 

If you don't want to pay that much, but want to go on the cruise, you could join us on the 8/19/2023 cruise. It is cheaper and on the Sky which is a better ship than the Island IMO.

😊

[JF - retired RRT]

30 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

The usual answer is supply & demand, but I'm too lazy to see how many cabins are left.

I'm not lazy ...at least today. I checked inside, OV and balconies before ennui took over and they're almost fully booked.

That's why the prices are so high.

[Thrak]

The Search for the Northern Lights cruise is always expensive. We did it in 2019 - it was only 12 days -  and it came to $6,977.04.

 

Once you get to Norway be prepared for major sticker shock. We had a couple of beers - not in a tourist place - and the were somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 apiece. People on the ship were warned that if the went ashore and got lunch at someplace like McDonald's it would be extremely expensive. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 or so for a Big Mac, Fries, and a Soda.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Thrak

[memoak]

48 minutes ago, Thrak said:

The Search for the Northern Lights cruise is always expensive. We did it in 2019 - it was only 12 days -  and it came to $6,977.04.

 

Once you get to Norway be prepared for major sticker shock. We had a couple of beers - not in a tourist place - and the were somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 apiece. People on the ship were warned that if the went ashore and got lunch at someplace like McDonald's it would be extremely expensive. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $25 or so for a Big Mac, Fries, and a Soda.

Yes restaurants in Norway are super super pricey. I call it the land of $25 burgers fries extra

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

14-Day Search for the Northern Lights

 

https://www.princess.com/search-cruise/details/?voyageCode=2218

 

Can anybody explain why this particular itinerary is so much more expensive than the other Northern Europe sailings?

My guess is because it's the Oct 2022 itinerary. Here's the October 2023 itinerary. Much cheaper for verandas and higher on the 2023 itinerary.

 

Cruise Details - 14-Day Search for the Northern Lights - Princess Cruises

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[dreaminofcruisin]

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

This cruise is always more expensive than many. I think it's because it is only offered twice a year, once in July and once in the late summer or early fall. We originally had it scheduled for August of 2021....but you know....

I suspect there is a lot of pent up demand for all of us who have kept re-booking it. It looks like it is pretty full. I compared it to what I was going to pay in 2021 and it is about $1500 more now than the balcony I had booked. However, when I booked, I did it right after it came out, which at the time was 2 1/2 years out. That seems to be the best time to book this as it is one of those that does tend to just keep going up in price. Our Canary Islands cruise was the same way. 

If you don't want to pay that much, but want to go on the cruise, you could join us on the 8/19/2023 cruise. It is cheaper and on the Sky which is a better ship than the Island IMO.

😊

Quoting myself....I mixed it up with the other cruise that goes up to the Arctic Circle.....

 

[donaldsc]

I also noted that 7 of the 14 days were sea days. Not a cruise that I would want to take even if it were cheaper.

 

DON

[Thrak]

35 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

I also noted that 7 of the 14 days were sea days. Not a cruise that I would want to take even if it were cheaper.

 

DON

 

We love sea days. We've only done one Caribbean cruise - 14 day Circle Caribbean - and found so many port stops exhausting. We're considering a 16 day cruise this December that has 9 sea days and only 5 port stops (other than embarkation and disembarkation ports). Sounds pretty relaxing to us.

[wowzz]

I know it is difficult for non-Brits, but booking a similar cruise on P&O (UK) woukd be much cheaper.

[Tedferg]

47 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I know it is difficult for non-Brits, but booking a similar cruise on P&O (UK) woukd be much cheaper.

Curious, is it harder for a non-Brit to book P&O?

[wowzz]

Obviously,  as a Brit, I can't easily answer your question, but I believe that only certain US TAs xan sell P&O cruises.  AFAIK, you cannot book direct if you do not live in the  UK.

Seems as if Carnival are deliberately "ring fencing" P&O from the rest of the world.  

[azbirdmom]

We booked that cruise quite a while ago and web prices were expensive when we booked.  But we used a casino freebie (plus paid for an upgrade) to make it a deal.  Unfortunately we had to cancel but it's for a happy event - the wedding of the daughter of a very good friend.  The unique itineraries are always more expensive than the ones that run multiple times a year.

[geoherb]

Wow! I just booked the 16-day Greenland cruise for August for a lot less per day.

[Alcairns]

We just cancelled this cruise - it was just too expensive for what you were getting. It is an older ship with less dining choices.  There are only 4 ports of call in 14 days. To top it all the  price if shore trips was also very expensive. We rebooked for the Canary Islands on the Sky  - 10 days with 5 ports of call for less than half the price of the Norway cruise (same cabin grade). In addition we have paid the same price for shore trips for two people than we did for one on the Norway trip! 

[insidecabin]

I track the UK offering 

 

Island princess has always been more expensive on UK sailings agains something similar on one of the other ships.

 

That one is inside P+ £2559pp UK ,  $2962pp US so similar 

 

for comparison when Enchanted moved to Southampton the Norway Iceland, 14n  was £1,400pp balcony P+ (now £1,595 inside P+)

 

 

 

 

[mvaldes140]

5 hours ago, insidecabin said:

I track the UK offering 

 

Island princess has always been more expensive on UK sailings agains something similar on one of the other ships.

 

That one is inside P+ £2559pp UK ,  $2962pp US so similar 

 

for comparison when Enchanted moved to Southampton the Norway Iceland, 14n  was £1,400pp balcony P+ (now £1,595 inside P+)

 

 

 

 

Not sure if the Enchanted is a good comparison because I think they just drastically lowered the prices to make sure it was sold. We were able to snag a full suite for $2.2k/person and then the third was just $300. They changed it last minute so they probably just wanted to make sure it didn't go empty. We initially booked the island doing the iceland and norway cruise and in 2 oceanview cabins it cost double what we're paying for the suite on Enchanted

[Gettingwarmer]

22 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

14-Day Search for the Northern Lights

 

https://www.princess.com/search-cruise/details/?voyageCode=2218

 

Can anybody explain why this particular itinerary is so much more expensive than the other Northern Europe sailings?

Because it is the best time to see the Northern Lights and that is what the cruise is all about, not visiting ports.

You go way up north. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Gettingwarmer

[insidecabin]

59 minutes ago, mvaldes140 said:

Not sure if the Enchanted is a good comparison because I think they just drastically lowered the prices to make sure it was sold. We were able to snag a full suite for $2.2k/person and then the third was just $300. They changed it last minute so they probably just wanted to make sure it didn't go empty. We initially booked the island doing the iceland and norway cruise and in 2 oceanview cabins it cost double what we're paying for the suite on Enchanted

Agreed but once they snagged enough pax in the few weeks with only balcony and above on sale cheap  they opened the insides and they are relatively normal prices for ex UK.

 

Sky and Emerald are better comparison. Also cheaper than the Island offerings.

 

Wishing we changed our Emerald to a Enchanted when we had the chance.

[caribill]

On 6/10/2022 at 11:49 AM, Rick&Jeannie said:

14-Day Search for the Northern Lights

 

https://www.princess.com/search-cruise/details/?voyageCode=2218

 

Can anybody explain why this particular itinerary is so much more expensive than the other Northern Europe sailings?

 

An entry level balcony cabin price at $335/person/day is very expensive for Princess.

 

I am on a (different itinerary) Norway cruise on the Island Princess next spring where the current entry level balcony cost is $200/person/day. A couple of months ago it was listed as $247/person.day.

 

I looked at entry level balcony availability on your cruise and there seem to be a couple of dozen such cabins still available. However, I do not know what type cabin you were looking at.

 

(All prices above are "standard" pricing. No Plus or Premier package included.)

[Gettingwarmer]

16 hours ago, caribill said:

 

An entry level balcony cabin price at $335/person/day is very expensive for Princess.

 

I am on a (different itinerary) Norway cruise on the Island Princess next spring where the current entry level balcony cost is $200/person/day. A couple of months ago it was listed as $247/person.day.

The reason is the Northern Lights itinerary. It is special and very popular. If you don’t want to see the Northern Lights you pick a different cruise. The dates and how far north it goes makes it more likely to see the Aurora Borealis.