Prices!

[jeanlyon]

October 2023 - 14 nights for £799?  December 2023 7 nights for £499?  Iona, Arvia and Azura.

 

They must be getting desperate.    Meanwhile my 19 nights on Aurora is almost sold out.

Edited December 26, 2022 by jeanlyon

[zap99]

1 hour ago, jeanlyon said:

October 2023 - 14 nights for £799?  December 2023 7 nights for £499?  Iona, Arvia and Azura.

 

They must be getting desperate.    Meanwhile my 19 nights on Aurora is almost sold out.

My 14 nights on Iona in October is well over £2,000pp. That is select balcony. I guess you can always go cheap and book an Inside saver.

[Fionboard]

7 minutes ago, zap99 said:

My 14 nights on Iona in October is well over £2,000pp. That is select balcony. I guess you can always go cheap and book an Inside saver.

My 14 nights last month select balcony on Iona was £1000 with £375 obc. Desperate to fill the big ones. As you say, Jeanlyon,  smaller ships sell out.  

[Megabear2]

36 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

My 14 nights last month select balcony on Iona was £1000 with £375 obc. Desperate to fill the big ones. As you say, Jeanlyon,  smaller ships sell out.  

But don't make money according to the sales guy on Britannia at present.

 

I've just booked Iona March 18th with single select balcony for £1299 plus OBC.  The desk is very busy. He told me they are instructed to push the Azura fly cruises, it's not size that's her problem rather the flights.

[jeanlyon]

Those prices are ludicrous.  I've never seen prices that low on P&O.  We paid £1700 pp for our 19 nighter, now it's £2600pp  They are quite obviously not selling the big ships.

Edited December 26, 2022 by jeanlyon

[JDB78]

Surely it's just the dates and who the bigger ships are aimed at? I don't think there's many families or young working couples who would be able to just take off in December?

 

Guess it's the main problem in building the massive ships, targeting a younger audience and then trying to fill them all year round. Arvia for example, in 14 days in August for 2 adults 2 kids for a balcony is 6k. For a lot of people, it's not really the price that's the issue, is just circumstances of work and kids etc. 

[jeanlyon]

3 minutes ago, JDB78 said:

Surely it's just the dates and who the bigger ships are aimed at? I don't think there's many families or young working couples who would be able to just take off in December?

 

Guess it's the main problem in building the massive ships, targeting a younger audience and then trying to fill them all year round. Arvia for example, in 14 days in August for 2 adults 2 kids for a balcony is 6k. For a lot of people, it's not really the price that's the issue, is just circumstances of work and kids etc. 

Well you could be right but there is also a cheap August one.  Mind you how many kids want to go to the Fjords?  Anyway, surely they need to fill these monsters all year round to make a profit?

Edited December 26, 2022 by jeanlyon

[Gettingwarmer]

31 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Those prices are ludicrous.  I've never seen prices that low on P&O.  We paid £1700 pp for our 19 nighter, now it's £2600pp  They are quite obviously not selling the big ships.

I think they can’t sell insides on the big ships. People want balconies. 

[Megabear2]

42 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Those prices are ludicrous.  I've never seen prices that low on P&O.  We paid £1700 pp for our 19 nighter, now it's £2600pp  They are quite obviously not selling the big ships.

We have a lot of younger people on here at present and 600 children.  Many of them are late bookings since October on cheap prices and are trying Christmas away for the first time.  October and November cruises are pretty useless to families and as a solo cruiser it has always been the case that these months on most ships have the lower prices and offers for singles. Weather is vital to some groups.

 

Not only is there the term time issue but if you are taking a main holiday families want warmer weather.

 

I've just had heavily reduced offers from Princess as well so all lines are trying to encourage commitment before the recession really hits home.

 

A lot of people have been taking the Norway cruises with children and the bigger ships offer plenty for the children.  Really a case of each to his own.  My family have all just returned from 12 nights on Aurora to Norway with temperatures of -30 on a daily basis.  Wild horses wouldn't drag me there but they loved it.

 

Smaller ships are appearing to be filling faster because not only are there less cabins to sell but those who like them worry they won't get a cabin of choice so book earlier to ensure they do. Looking at Britannia, Iona and Arbia from April through September they are selling well - I've actually gone through availability on quite a few cruises whilst on-board here and cabins in some grades and places were surprisingly limited.  Those who are happy to just stick with their favourite small ships will always pay a premium.  On other lines the older ships tend to come cheaper while the new ones carry the premium.  I'm told that Celebrity and RCI for instance mark up their prices on the ships which are newer. If P&O are doing otherwise it is most likely due to the different clientele demographic not much else.

[jeanlyon]

Actually Aurora's prices for april and October 2024 are still reasonable, so not a case of paying a premium.

[Windsurfboy]

I think on big ships have mix of cabins wrong.

 

Very few suites  less than 1% , all sold out.

 

Standard cabins and insides not selling in relation to number of cabins (2475)

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Well you could be right but there is also a cheap August one.  Mind you how many kids want to go to the Fjords?  Anyway, surely they need to fill these monsters all year round to make a profit?

They don't need to fill the monsters to make a profit, because the break even point is much lower on the big newer ships. So once past that point every single pound is profit on the bottom line, which is why they can afford to sell the unsold cabins at very low prices.

However on the 2 tiddlers, they need high prices for a much higher percentage of the capacity, and they are therefore reluctant to reduce prices for fear of upsetting all the traditional cruisers who have paid these higher prices. But please do continue to sail these old ladies as it is helping to ensure that the bigger ships continue to offer such good deals to the rest of us.

[zap99]

46 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

They don't need to fill the monsters to make a profit, because the break even point is much lower on the big newer ships. So once past that point every single pound is profit on the bottom line, which is why they can afford to sell the unsold cabins at very low prices.

However on the 2 tiddlers, they need high prices for a much higher percentage of the capacity, and they are therefore reluctant to reduce prices for fear of upsetting all the traditional cruisers who have paid these higher prices. But please do continue to sail these old ladies as it is helping to ensure that the bigger ships continue to offer such good deals to the rest of us.

Turning this around, some, us included view the prices on Britannia, Iona and Arvia as ' about right' to compete with land hotels. We will pay a bit of a premium to cruise.  What we won't do is pay a lot more to cruise on the smaller, older ships. Some will and good luck to them. 

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Turning this around, some, us included view the prices on Britannia, Iona and Arvia as ' about right' to compete with land hotels. We will pay a bit of a premium to cruise.  What we won't do is pay a lot more to cruise on the smaller, older ships. Some will and good luck to them. 

I agree. It's all very well cruising on Arcadia, but a room in a Premier Inn is far superior to an Arcadia cabin.

[Windsurfboy]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

I agree. It's all very well cruising on Arcadia, but a room in a Premier Inn is far superior to an Arcadia cabin.

 

Yes but the view of the petrol station over the road let's it down

[zap99]

10 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Yes but the view of the petrol station over the road let's it down

Similarly, when the floating hotel reaches port, it parks in the dock area with a wonderful view of the shipping containers and the background noise. Beep,beep,beep,beep....... 

[majortom10]

24 minutes ago, Windsurfboy said:

 

Yes but the view of the petrol station over the road let's it down

Yes and the food at Brewers Fayre is crap.

[Selbourne]

17 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

October 2023 - 14 nights for £799?  December 2023 7 nights for £499?  Iona, Arvia and Azura.

 

They must be getting desperate.    Meanwhile my 19 nights on Aurora is almost sold out.

Whilst some of us will cruise both the large and smaller ships, in the main they are targeted at very different audiences with equally different budgets and spending habits. On our cruises on Aurora and Arcadia, the overwhelming majority of passengers have been retired (average age 75) with high disposable incomes (no mortgages, no dependents etc) who are prepared to pay a high price for the cruise, especially if the itinerary is different to the norm,  but will spend very little whilst on board. 
 

Conversely, the new mega ships are generally targeted at much younger passengers and first time cruisers. These folk are really being squeezed at present with the cost of living challenges, so P&O will need to be offering very low fares to just get ‘bums on seats’. However, once on board, these passengers will generally have a much higher average on board spend. It’s a clever move IMHO. 
 

As I say, we cruise on all the ships and whilst we have some reservations about Iona, we were tempted to give her a go on one of the very cheap cruises that I read about on this forum. Sadly, as we have to have an accessible cabin, we couldn’t book as they are all sold out. I might keep trying though, just in case there are any cancellations!

[P&O SUE]

I’ve seen these ‘cheap’ prices, go and look and it’s not a select price of course. By the time I add on the premium so I can choose my cabin the price isn’t much different to what I normally pay. I agree the 14 night ones in January seem good value but that’s not a  time husband and I can get off work.

[Fionboard]

2 minutes ago, P&O SUE said:

I’ve seen these ‘cheap’ prices, go and look and it’s not a select price of course. By the time I add on the premium so I can choose my cabin the price isn’t much different to what I normally pay. I agree the 14 night ones in January seem good value but that’s not a  time husband and I can get off work.

Mine was select.

[zap99]

15 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Those prices are ludicrous.  I've never seen prices that low on P&O.  We paid £1700 pp for our 19 nighter, now it's £2600pp  They are quite obviously not selling the big ships.

Perhaps having Wallace and Gromit on board may tempt you.

[Solent Richard]

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

I agree. It's all very well cruising on Arcadia, but a room in a Premier Inn is far superior to an Arcadia cabin.

Well here's my room on Arcadia @wowzz, lets see your comparative Premier Inn room 😁...

 

 

*******

 

 

 ...lets see your comparative Premier Inn room 😁...

 

??

[zap99]

14 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

Well here's my room on Arcadia @wowzz, lets see your comparative Premier Inn room 😁...

 

 

*******

 

 

 ...lets see your comparative Premier Inn room 😁...

 

??

This was the view from ours. I think it was Weymouth.🤣

[kalos]

20 minutes ago, Solent Richard said:

...lets see your comparative Premier Inn room

 

Will this one do you Richard ? 😆😆

[Solent Richard]

6 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Will this one do you Richard ? 😆😆

 

Well its certainly on the water. 😂😂