What is a Good Price?

[Sparky74]

OK, so this is a "how long is a piece of string" question but what do YOU consider to be a good price for a cruise NOW. 

 

DW & I don’t have kids and still work full time for modest incomes. (I'm nearly 50.) Pre-C we’d search for inside guarantee cabins for less than $100/person/night. We now typically spend more than that but everything’s gone up in price. Fortunately our income has also. 😁
I prefer to pay a bit extra for oceanview if the cruise is more than a couple of days. And in the last 18 months we’ve sprung for balconies when the price difference hasn’t been excessive. 😱
 

What are YOUR magic numbers? What do YOU consider a good deal? 

[arxcards]

Inside guarantee of $100pp twin per night is still a line in the sand price. Dropping below that is only going to happen on cruises that aren't selling quickly, or open loop flights that also require the added cost of flights and potentially a pre-cruise hotel as well.

 

You say NOW, and that is leading into the summer months. More ships, but more demand too. From what I am seeing, there is less demand in Brisbane, so there will be cheaper prices there. Looking at next March, Luminosa has a few cruises with sub-$100 insides, but also has balconies from $120 per night twin. For P&O out of Brisbane, it seems the locals only like doing short cruises. Longer PNG or NZ cruises tend to have sub-$100 insides and sub-$150 balconies.

 

A couple of days ago, we decided to book a pre-cruise night in Sydney, and I was flabbergasted at the recent jump in prices. I found a deal, but it is still much dearer than earlier this year.

[Cruisers47]

10 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Inside guarantee of $100pp twin per night is still a line in the sand price. Dropping below that is only going to happen on cruises that aren't selling quickly, or open loop flights that also require the added cost of flights and potentially a pre-cruise hotel as well.

 

You say NOW, and that is leading into the summer months. More ships, but more demand too. From what I am seeing, there is less demand in Brisbane, so there will be cheaper prices there. Looking at next March, Luminosa has a few cruises with sub-$100 insides, but also has balconies from $120 per night twin. For P&O out of Brisbane, it seems the locals only like doing short cruises. Longer PNG or NZ cruises tend to have sub-$100 insides and sub-$150 balconies.

 

A couple of days ago, we decided to book a pre-cruise night in Sydney, and I was flabbergasted at the recent jump in prices. I found a deal, but it is still much dearer than earlier this year.

Hi Geoff,

 

we have been booking overnight in Sydney before a cruise, whereas prior to Covid we just used to fly up on the day.

 

i have taken a chance for a Carnival cruise in June to fly up on an early morning flight which is not school holidays and am hoping we get there ok,   We have another cruise with Carnival at the end of July but as it is from Sydney to Singapore I think we will book a flight the day before.   A fair bit of extra expense!

 

Eileen

 

 

[Jean C]

Hi, you East Coast Aussies don't know how lucky you are, having so many cruises from your ports, and so cheap too! I can understand why you go on frequent short break cruise holidays as the price for two people is often less than a hotel/motel room and you get good food and entertainment thrown in to boot [envious sigh].

 

Back to the original question, we choose cruises primarily for destination and usually regard around $200 per person per night for a balcony (sorry, have been spoilt and couldn't do inside) as a good price.

 

For a bit of perspective, we're planning a few days in Honolulu prior to a Honolulu to Auckland cruise and our preferred reasonably priced condo will cost USD661 for the two of us for 3 nights - a shade under NZD1,000 🤯 

[MicCanberra]

I think what also needs to be considered is the extras, base fares are fine albeit generally more expensive than prior to covid especially for balconies but if you like a drink as well as other things like internet, dining and such, the price can really escalate whether you get a package or not. Some lines include some extras in the fare which makes them seem much more expensive I.e $250+ for a balcony but if you want the extras than that is relatively well priced.

 

I still think that cruising is the best value for money compared to many other types of destination vacations.

[arxcards]

A couple of extra inflationary bits for the base bargain price:

- Fuel price

- Even on the $AU ships, the underlying currency for wages & corporate profit is $US

 

The $100 per day price is getting to be more of a bargain every day. 

[yarramar]

If you take a look on a certain website which I can't name, there are plenty of sub $100 AUD per day cruises. many out of Australia also.

[Jean C]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

For a bit of perspective, we're planning a few days in Honolulu prior to a Honolulu to Auckland cruise and our preferred reasonably priced condo will cost USD661 for the two of us for 3 nights - a shade under NZD1,000 🤯 

Hahaha, I'd never get top marks for maths! I can spot other people's spelling mistakes/typos from a mile away but my maths leaves a lot to be desired.

 

3 nights in an Ilikai, Honolulu, condo comes to USD844.87, including taxes and cleaning fee - a whopping NZD800-odd per person - for just 3 nights!!! 🤣

[Blackduck59]

2 hours ago, Jean C said:

Hahaha, I'd never get top marks for maths! I can spot other people's spelling mistakes/typos from a mile away but my maths leaves a lot to be desired.

 

3 nights in an Ilikai, Honolulu, condo comes to USD844.87, including taxes and cleaning fee - a whopping NZD800-odd per person - for just 3 nights!!! 🤣

The Ilikai is a great place to stay in Waikiki. We are definitely not bargain cruisers. We like at least a balcony and we spring for the perks package. Our down under cruise is in a "signature suite" with the perks package and it is close to $500.00 CAD per person per day.

[Relaxing Robbies]

We have booked a couple of Grand Princess cruises out of Melbourne in obstructed oceanview cabins for $110-$120 per night with some onboard credit and specialty dining thrown in. We much prefer to have some view out the window, and carefully chose cabins with some view between the lifeboats outside.

[Jean C]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

The Ilikai is a great place to stay in Waikiki. We are definitely not bargain cruisers. We like at least a balcony and we spring for the perks package. Our down under cruise is in a "signature suite" with the perks package and it is close to $500.00 CAD per person per day.

Wow, that's a lot. We can take or leave alcohol, I'm such a lightweight that I doubt I could stay upright after 2 drinks, I no longer work so I don't need to stay connected to the office so don't need internet, so the standard fare works best for us.

 

We like the Ilikai, we get a marina ocean view room - a stunning view - and it's very reasonably priced, by comparison, for what we get.

[Sparky74]

32 minutes ago, Jean C said:

Wow, that's a lot. We can take or leave alcohol, I'm such a lightweight that I doubt I could stay upright after 2 drinks, I no longer work so I don't need to stay connected to the office so don't need internet, so the standard fare works best for us.

 

We like the Ilikai, we get a marina ocean view room - a stunning view - and it's very reasonably priced, by comparison, for what we get.

 

I think that’s where we stayed back in 2013. 

[2022cruisey]

My good price is $200 per night including drinks/wifi in a balcony/mini suite.

[Hogbay]

Port taxes and fees ...😁

Lomanosa Brisbane to Seattle 

Splendor   Sydney to Singapore 

[Sparky74]

@Hogbay My in-laws live in Coffs and we’re at Grafton. 

[MMDown Under]

A price too good to resist is a Casino Price!  Was just reading roll calls where Americans were saying "Casino offer on cruise to Australia" too good to resist.  Do many Australians get bargain Casino offers?  

[arxcards]

4 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

A price too good to resist is a Casino Price!  Was just reading roll calls where Americans were saying "Casino offer on cruise to Australia" too good to resist.  Do many Australians get bargain Casino offers?  

Yes.

You need a history of playing in casinos though. There are various players clubs linked to many of the cruise lines. the cheap offers are usually only for cruises that are being undersold.

[possum52]

24 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

A price too good to resist is a Casino Price!  Was just reading roll calls where Americans were saying "Casino offer on cruise to Australia" too good to resist.  Do many Australians get bargain Casino offers?  

Our friend and her daughter do. In fact, they are booked on a RCCL cruise next month for which my friend paid more for travel insurance than the cost of the cruise.

[MMDown Under]

1 minute ago, possum52 said:

Our friend and her daughter do. In fact, they are booked on a RCCL cruise next month for which my friend paid more for travel insurance than the cost of the cruise.

WOW Good to hear.  I knew of someone in the US who had a free casino offer  You can't beat that price.  

[shireboi]

On 10/17/2023 at 6:25 AM, Sparky74 said:

OK, so this is a "how long is a piece of string" question but what do YOU consider to be a good price for a cruise NOW. 

 

What are YOUR magic numbers? What do YOU consider a good deal? 

 

A 'good deal' IMO depends on what you will get on your cruise - if its a cruise only, a packaged deal etc, where it goes etc. If $100 per night is having the basics (food, buffet, free drinks) then it's a reasonable deal.  If you then taken into consideration that you are on a 'holiday' and you would need to pay for drinks, maybe wifi or just to use some of the gym equipment (eg bikes) - then is your cruise just too 'basic' ??

 

Just grabbed a packaged deal for Virgin's Resilient Lady in March where if I was to include (and reduced the cost) to the added drink deal ($1400+) my cruise, accomm, flight works out to be $150/ day - with all of those added 'extras' that other ships charge for.  To me this is a great deal (better would be doing this ship on the Athens to Freemantle 'deal' for Oct24 (that a few are advertising for $9999 - but I don't have anyone to that with 😞 ) 

 

Compared to a hotel city stay where you are sometimes getting slugged $200++ for just a room per night.

 

[Sparky74]

13 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Our friend and her daughter do. In fact, they are booked on a RCCL cruise next month for which my friend paid more for travel insurance than the cost of the cruise.

 

38 minutes ago, MMDown Under said:

A price too good to resist is a Casino Price!  Was just reading roll calls where Americans were saying "Casino offer on cruise to Australia" too good to resist.  Do many Australians get bargain Casino offers?  

 

32 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Yes.

You need a history of playing in casinos though. There are various players clubs linked to many of the cruise lines. the cheap offers are usually only for cruises that are being undersold.

Last year there were lots of Americans who were offered casino deals on our trans-Pacific on the Carnival Splendor. So many had on the Roll Call taken up the offer of a very cheap cruise, in some cases paying only port fees and taxes, only to be shocked to learn that they had to get a passport and a visa. More than a few cancelled when they researched the price of a flight home to the USA. 
 

I'm not always a good sleeper and I was surprised to see people still hard at it in front of the pokies (“slot machines") when I wandered through the casino at 4am. 

[ceeceeDee]

36 minutes ago, arxcards said:

Yes.

You need a history of playing in casinos though. There are various players clubs linked to many of the cruise lines. the cheap offers are usually only for cruises that are being undersold.

On our last cruise we were talking to a couple who scored a free room for a 7 day cruise via the players' club. I don't think that particular cruise was undersold as it appeared to be 'sold out' around a month or six weeks prior to sailing. Either way, a free room is pretty impressive.🙂

[Sparky74]

11 minutes ago, shireboi said:

Compared to a hotel city stay where you are sometimes getting slugged $200++ for just a room per night.

 

I hear you; cruising is still the best valued holiday for DW and me. 

[Sparky74]

7 minutes ago, ceeceeDee said:

On our last cruise we were talking to a couple who scored a free room for a 7 day cruise via the players' club. I don't think that particular cruise was undersold as it appeared to be 'sold out' around a month or six weeks prior to sailing. Either way, a free room is pretty impressive.🙂

I often wonder how much these "free rooms" actually end up costing them. I’m sure that neither the cruiseline nor the casino will be loosing money on them. 💸

[ceeceeDee]

7 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

I often wonder how much these "free rooms" actually end up costing them. I’m sure that neither the cruiseline nor the casino will be loosing money on them. 💸

Actually, that was my thought too.