Free 3rd Person

[meanmom08]

I have been on 2 previous cruises with my 2 daughters that I paid for 2 and was only charged port fees and tax for the extra person, besides the service charge.  1 cruise was on a Celebrity and 1 was on a Carnival just last year.  I am trying to find another cruise for Jan - March for 3 in 1 cabin and am looking at all all the cruise lines and am having no luck at all.  I am finding that cruises that claim to have the 3rd person free do not.  The charge for the first 2 is simply jacked up.  So, my question is:  does anyone know if one of the cruise lines doesn’t charge an extra base fair for a 3rd person, or is there a time of year or some way to predict when a cruise line will offer such a promotion?

[CDNPolar]

I personally have never heard of this and I know a lot of families that cruise as three and four and have always had to pay for all passengers.  They have never had a "free" person.

 

It does not surprise me that the price for a third when they say it is free is jacked up for the two people that you are paying for. 

 

The cabin does not cost - in principal - more for three people to live and sleep in other than a bit more water.  The food and ship facilities however are impacted and this is where they will experience greater cost and to me this is why the price for two with a third free would be jacked up.

 

Just my thoughts, but ready and waiting for someone to share where this is available so I can spread the word to my friends that cruise with kids.

[CruiserBruce]

HAL has occasionally done a "3rd person in the cabin free" promotion. I don't know many details as we only travel as a couple. HAL's third person fare is usually much less than the first two people.

[sparks1093]

The only sure way to know if the third person is really "free" is to do a faux booking for two, then one for three and note the difference in price. If the difference is only additional port taxes and fees then it's a true promotion. Given that most lines are trying to recover from COVID they may not want to run this promotion too often, so it's hard to say when they will. 

[navybankerteacher]

Sort of academic question, isn’t it?  Why not just price the cruises you are interested in?  Who cares if two pay $1,500 each and the third sails “free”, or if each pays $1,000?    It’s the total that the line wants, as well as the cost per person which the customer pays.

[sanger727]

Norwegian offers this promotion often. 

 

Norwegian's Free at Sea Cruise Deals: Free Open Bar & More (ncl.com)

 

[cruisemom42]

10 hours ago, meanmom08 said:

I have been on 2 previous cruises with my 2 daughters that I paid for 2 and was only charged port fees and tax for the extra person, besides the service charge.  1 cruise was on a Celebrity and 1 was on a Carnival just last year.  I am trying to find another cruise for Jan - March for 3 in 1 cabin and am looking at all all the cruise lines and am having no luck at all.  I am finding that cruises that claim to have the 3rd person free do not.  The charge for the first 2 is simply jacked up.  So, my question is:  does anyone know if one of the cruise lines doesn’t charge an extra base fair for a 3rd person, or is there a time of year or some way to predict when a cruise line will offer such a promotion?

 

I know a few lines do offer "kids sail free" or "3rd and/or 4th person free" sailings. However, if you're looking at the Caribbean, Jan-Mar is peak season and you're probably less likely to find this particular deal then. 

 

HAL has offered it to Alaska in the summer sometimes, and this year I just read on the HAL forum that some European cruises have a "kids sail free" offer attached. 

 

I think you'd just have to keep monitoring the lines you're interested in. Some have a tab on their website that list special offers by category. On others, you just have to look through the cruises on offer and see what pops up.

[Mum2Mercury]

In the casino the house always wins.  

In purchasing room tickets, the house always charges.  They may jiggle the numbers around, but you're never going to get a 3rd person truly free.

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

In the casino the house always wins.  

In purchasing room tickets, the house always charges.  They may jiggle the numbers around, but you're never going to get a 3rd person truly free.

The lines are going to try to attract as many passengers as possible - meaning that they will make varying offers aimed at all sorts of consumers.  A reasonably intelligent consumer will ignore the hype and explore various options. A more intelligent consumer will only focus on itineraries he/she really wants (only a penny-pinching fool will book the cheapest - just because it is cheapest). The truly intelligent consumer will ignore the patently absurd come-ons like “free drinks” (free only because they are built into the package they are looking at).  How many auto purchasers are taken in by a “free wheels” pitch when the are considering buying a car?  There are a lot of posters on these threads who refer to the “free drinks” that they get —- all that means is that they are more gullible than the average person who buys a car.

[sparks1093]

6 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

The lines are going to try to attract as many passengers as possible - meaning that they will make varying offers aimed at all sorts of consumers.  A reasonably intelligent consumer will ignore the hype and explore various options. A more intelligent consumer will only focus on itineraries he/she really wants (only a penny-pinching fool will book the cheapest - just because it is cheapest). The truly intelligent consumer will ignore the patently absurd come-ons like “free drinks” (free only because they are built into the package they are looking at).  How many auto purchasers are taken in by a “free wheels” pitch when the are considering buying a car?  There are a lot of posters on these threads who refer to the “free drinks” that they get —- all that means is that they are more gullible than the average person who buys a car.

In a nutshell marketing works.

[navybankerteacher]

4 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

In a nutshell marketing works.

Yes - in large part due to the ignorance/gullibility  of much of the market at which the marketing is aimed.

[fruitmachine]

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

In a nutshell marketing works.

Just remember that - in marketing & advertising - there are brans specifically aimed at people that think they're not influenced by marketing & advertising!

[cruisemom42]

16 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

They may jiggle the numbers around, but you're never going to get a 3rd person truly free.

 

There actually have been promotions where there is no "real" additional charge for 3rd and/or 4th passengers.

 

Cruise lines consider "full occupancy" to be two souls per cabin. When they can get 3 or 4 people per cabin, they sometimes are willing to forego a fare in anticipation for increased onboard spending from two passengers who might not otherwise be on board at all -- for example four passengers taking a shore excursion rather than two, or perhaps sales of photos as a family might spring for a "family portrait" if all together...

 

Many people get hung up on food costs -- overall, food costs per passenger are a small percentage of overall costs for the cruise line. You'd probably be surprised to learn how much (or how little) cruise lines spend per passenger per day on food. 

[ldubs]

Way back we booked cruises that had significantly reduced fares for 3rd & 4th persons.  Don't know about know because the kids are no longer kids and that last thing they probably want is to share a cabin with us oldsters.  haha.  

[sanger727]

On 11/4/2023 at 8:39 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

In the casino the house always wins.  

In purchasing room tickets, the house always charges.  They may jiggle the numbers around, but you're never going to get a 3rd person truly free.

 

That's not always true. NCL does truly offer 3rd and 4th guest free sometimes. So the price for 2 is the same as the price for 4, plus port fees and taxes obviously.

[BruceMuzz]

It always makes sense to follow the money.

When a cruise ship is offering “kids free” or “3rd person free, there is a hidden message.

They cannot fill the ship. They are forced to bribe passengers to cruise.

Maybe the ship is very old, or the itinerary is not the best, or maybe the ship is not performing well against the competition.

Whatever the reason, it is best to avoid situations like this if you really want to get your money’s worth.

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, BruceMuzz said:

It always makes sense to follow the money.

When a cruise ship is offering “kids free” or “3rd person free, there is a hidden message.

They cannot fill the ship. They are forced to bribe passengers to cruise.

Maybe the ship is very old, or the itinerary is not the best, or maybe the ship is not performing well against the competition.

Whatever the reason, it is best to avoid situations like this if you really want to get your money’s worth.

Better instead to go with the cruise line that shows their fares like this:

 

By your logic since this cruise line has a brochure fare that is twice what they will actually sell it for they must not be performing well against the competition. 😉 

[ldubs]

5 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Better instead to go with the cruise line that shows their fares like this:

 

By your logic since this cruise line has a brochure fare that is twice what they will actually sell it for they must not be performing well against the competition. 😉 

 

Those kind of discounts, they must be having an issue with filling the ships!  😀

 

Drats, I missed getting that owner's suite again!  😀😀

 

 

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

 

Those kind of discounts, they must be having an issue with filling the ships!  😀

 

Drats, I missed getting that owner's suite again!  😀😀

 

 

 

But the value is incomparable!!!!

 

[BruceMuzz]

8 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Better instead to go with the cruise line that shows their fares like this:

 

By your logic since this cruise line has a brochure fare that is twice what they will actually sell it for they must not be performing well against the competition. 😉 

That is not my logic, but if it was, then every American Car Dealer that has a sticker price that is double what they will actually sell it for must not be performing well against the competition.

My logic is this: If a cruise line feels forced to give away beds to a third passenger or to children in order to fill a ship, then they have a problem. If you decide to take the deal, you may be inheriting that problem.

[sparks1093]

24 minutes ago, BruceMuzz said:

That is not my logic, but if it was, then every American Car Dealer that has a sticker price that is double what they will actually sell it for must not be performing well against the competition.

My logic is this: If a cruise line feels forced to give away beds to a third passenger or to children in order to fill a ship, then they have a problem. If you decide to take the deal, you may be inheriting that problem.

Actually I think what they are doing is attempting to fill the ship to 110% capacity, since most of those deals are put out long before the sailing date and the only way to get above 100% is to increase triple and quadruple occupancy.