Sail of the Year pricing increase?

[Sunprince]

14 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

Are you sure about the $7500 price before the sale?  That seems awfully low for a Med cruise, even in October/November.

I follow/research prices and itineraries using a popular online TA website, rather than on Seabourn’s website (which we all know is not user friendly).  This online TA often has lower prices than on the Seabourn website, so that is where I was getting my pricing from.  For that Sojourn cruise, Seabourn’s website price might have been higher at that time.  Once I research using the online TA site, I go back to my full service TA and get them to match the online TA price if I’m ready to book the cruise.  

[markandjie]

On 3/15/2024 at 9:09 AM, Sunprince said:

Once I research using the online TA site, I go back to my full service TA and get them to match the online TA price if I’m ready to book the cruise.

 

This is the way.

[markandjie]

On 3/13/2024 at 5:36 PM, PrincessTraveller said:

Although we really enjoy SB, TA highly encouraged us to consider Regent.  Hadn't planned to but broke down.  Glad we did.  Found a very enticing price on itinerary of interest.  

 

Please do share your experiences and compare/contrast here. We've switched over to SS before based on making dates work. Several great cruise lines and love to hear from others what they think.

[PrincessTraveller]

We are also considering Oceania for a different trip.  Have not cruised with them yet.  I know they are not in the same category as SB, Regent, or SS, but have friends that swear by Oceania and prices look pretty darn good as do their ships and some of the itineraries.  My concern is the amount of negative comments about Oceania on Cruise Critic, but I am willing to trust our friends' opinions ... I think lol.

[Vineyard View]

2 hours ago, PrincessTraveller said:

We are also considering Oceania for a different trip.  Have not cruised with them yet.  I know they are not in the same category as SB, Regent, or SS, but have friends that swear by Oceania and prices look pretty darn good as do their ships and some of the itineraries.  My concern is the amount of negative comments about Oceania on Cruise Critic, but I am willing to trust our friends' opinions ... I think lol.

I am in the same category. I hope that these SB inflated prices on this latest ‘sale’ go back down. I haven’t followed SB long enough to understand their pricing trends. Or sales trends. I realize that it may be rare that pricing goes back down with them. I only know that having sailed on them, I like their product. I however do not know about if we will bite on these current prices, at least on the itineraries we are looking at for next year. DH and I were discussing this evening a land trip in the British Isles next year as a back up plan. 

Edited March 17 by Vineyard View

[2SailingNomads]

7 hours ago, markandjie said:

 

Please do share your experiences and compare/contrast here. We've switched over to SS before based on making dates work. Several great cruise lines and love to hear from others what they think.

We have sailed on Seabourn 20 times, but in the last year only once but 3 times on Regent.  Both are very good, some things much better on Regent others better on Seabourn.  

[robertmartha]

2SailingNomads - curious what you thought was better on Regent? - better on Seabourn?

Keep looking at prices and sailings for next year on Seabourn - and they really are seriously inflated from just a few weeks ago.

[QuestionEverything]

I am certainly not purchasing at this price.

While I respect the ridiculous inflation is causing cost increases, I do not participate in price gouging.

Presume that SB and other lines presume there is an endless supply of consumers willing to pay these prices - well not for my household. While I can afford it, I refuse to do it.

I am turned off all the cruise lines at the moment. Consumers saying no will return sanity to pricing.

[robertmartha]

So glad its not just me feeling this way....

Was planning on a cruise with our adult daughters and their SO's (so yes 3 cabins).... should have booked with the prior promo. Will wait and see once this promo ends where the pricing ends up. We were looking at several different sailings (have to when you are trying to coordinate 6 schedules) and each ones price increase was more ridiculous then the other....and this for sailings in 2025.

[Vineyard View]

Feeling exactly the same way. The four itineraries we are considering for 2025 are ridiculous right now with this latest increase. We won’t book at these prices, if they are the same, when we are medical cleared. As a result, the post about cruising the British Isles vs land trip, spurred an often discussed over the years discussion with DH yesterday. I might start putting some teeth into that concept and see where it leads me. 
I sincerely hope that this latest sale has everyone thinking the same, resulting in very low bookings so that SB redirects its course. I think we would prefer to cruise next year. 
I too am glad that I am not the only one feeling this way. A 25% price increase on one of the itineraries is just too much to justify. 
Regent looks great, but we don’t use ship excursions, so that price multiplier is not of value to us. Oceania is another possibility that we have never sailed on. All I know is that after our BI land dialogue yesterday, will travel someplace wonderful next year, by land or by sea. 

Edited March 17 by Vineyard View

[QuestionEverything]

Greetings everyone.

Regarding the land vacation option, I have been participating in this most interesting thread indeed.

There is life beyond cruising!

Enjoy

 

 

[PrincessTraveller]

QuestionEverything - Thanks for posting this thread.

 

I too have been following that one.  Great feedback by posters on cities/towns to visit.  Much appreciated!

 

As we do both land and cruise trips, depending on what we are looking for on a specific trip, this thread is very helpful for British Isles.  Having us ponder BI land trip in 2025 😀.

[robertmartha]

Question Everything - had to laugh 😂. My DW said to me yesterday "we could do a land vacation you know"...to which I did not respond 😆 except with a deep exhale.

 

[Isr45]

Obviously there are large price increases but Seabourn has actually been ridicously lower priced than Silversea for the last 2 years.

 

A cousin of mine booked a first Seabourn cruise and said not much difference in price to her last HAL cruise with a drinks package. People moan about deterioration in Seabourn and that Silverea are maintaining better standards but actually only want to pay for a cheap product. 
 

It is each to their own if they book a Seabourn cruise but although you may decide not to book another, there are many that will. On a Seabourn cruise in January, Hotel Director told me 55 % of passengers onboard were first time Seabourn cruisers.

[stan01]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

As a result, the post about cruising the British Isles vs land trip, spurred an often discussed over the years discussion with DH yesterday. I might start putting some teeth into that concept and see where it leads me. 

 

You may want to check out the prices on hotels before you get too far.  We've seen 400-500 pound and much higher whether booking a year in advance, or a few weeks in advance.  Hotel room inflation may be worse than cruise inflation from what we've seen.

[Vineyard View]

6 hours ago, stan01 said:

 

You may want to check out the prices on hotels before you get too far.  We've seen 400-500 pound and much higher whether booking a year in advance, or a few weeks in advance.  Hotel room inflation may be worse than cruise inflation from what we've seen.

Good to know. Thank you. I haven’t even started looking. I think I am just so surprised at the level of price increase that it has thrown me for a loop! 

[Vineyard View]

8 hours ago, QuestionEverything said:

Greetings everyone.

Regarding the land vacation option, I have been participating in this most interesting thread indeed.

There is life beyond cruising!

Enjoy

 

 

Thank you. I will take a look at this tomorrow. I really appreciate this information. 

[Vineyard View]

7 hours ago, Isr45 said:

Obviously there are large price increases but Seabourn has actually been ridicously lower priced than Silversea for the last 2 years.

 

A cousin of mine booked a first Seabourn cruise and said not much difference in price to her last HAL cruise with a drinks package. People moan about deterioration in Seabourn and that Silverea are maintaining better standards but actually only want to pay for a cheap product. 
 

It is each to their own if they book a Seabourn cruise but although you may decide not to book another, there are many that will. On a Seabourn cruise in January, Hotel Director told me 55 % of passengers onboard were first time Seabourn cruisers.

Seabourn does not have excursions baked into the price that SS does. For some that has merit, and for others it does not. I havelooked at both Regent and SS.  That excursion up charge is not worth it to us as we do not partake

. 
Your cousin must have been sailing in the Pinnacle Suite on HAL.  I have looked recently, including a drinks package, and unless you are in the highest suites on HAL there is not a competitive price point to SB. At least not in Europe. Not Spring 2025.  And the size of the ships, quality of food, etc are a significant difference between the two. 

 

As you say, and I agree completely, to each their own. We all have our travel preferences, and individual differences in what matters changes with the person. A few people on CC will not change the trajectory of any cruise line. But….a 25% price increase overnight, is a significant consideration in the decision. 

[Isr45]

20 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Seabourn does not have excursions baked into the price that SS does. For some that has merit, and for others it does not. I havelooked at both Regent and SS.  That excursion up charge is not worth it to us as we do not partake

. 
Your cousin must have been sailing in the Pinnacle Suite on HAL.  I have looked recently, including a drinks package, and unless you are in the highest suites on HAL there is not a competitive price point to SB. At least not in Europe. Not Spring 2025.  And the size of the ships, quality of food, etc are a significant difference between the two. 

 

As you say, and I agree completely, to each their own. We all have our travel preferences, and individual differences in what matters changes with the person. A few people on CC will not change the trajectory of any cruise line. But….a 25% price increase overnight, is a significant consideration in the decision. 

My cousin does not travel in high grade suites. The Seabourn cruise was in the Caribbean in December 23 - paid $2200 pp for 14 nights with a well known online agent and was given OBC by them (based on cruise pp price). I looked on their website and another well known discount one when she rang me and was frankly shocked at how low the price was. I personally don’t think it helps the brand going forward to be selling low cost cruises as Carnival as a company is looking to make a profit. If Seabourn is sold - the buyer surely would not be looking to maintain the product at low prices.

 

I note that Silversea and some others have excursions which don’t interest me but even factoring that in, in my opinion Seabourn prices have been absurdly low in comparison for a 6 star cruise line looking to maintain standards.

 

As has been noted the price of many excellent hotels have increased greatly - my usual hotel suite has increased 40% this year. If someone isn’t happy with Seabourn pricing there are many alternatives but I don’t believe they will be booking a 6 star cruise line cheaper than Seabourn 😀

[labonnevie]

In the past 20 years, we have cruised on Seabourn five times, Regent 11 and Oceania once (in 2011). Also HAL and Windstar multiple times. 
While YMMV, that clearly shows that O did not win us over, despite a great itinerary. 

[Vineyard View]

Can’t argue with you Isr45. I haven’t looked at Caribbean itineraries. It sounds like your cousin had a great opportunity. I would have jumped on that as well. . 

[2SailingNomads]

16 hours ago, robertmartha said:

2SailingNomads - curious what you thought was better on Regent? - better on Seabourn?

Keep looking at prices and sailings for next year on Seabourn - and they really are seriously inflated from just a few weeks ago.

We like Regent, have done 3 so far with 2 more booked although might cancel one of them.  Very nice ships (have been on Splendor 2x and Grandeur 1x) and in particular we like the outdoor space on deck 12 with a walking track, driving net, mini-golf, pickleball court, Bago, and bocce ball court. A true walking area unlike the small ones on Seabourn where you have to navigate around chairs, etc.  We like the choices of dining venues on Regent and find the food to be pretty good, always available options at Compass Rose much larger than Seabourn MDR choices, and service for the most part is very good.  Never have a problem getting a seat in the Observation Bar and plenty of space between tables in the bars on Regent, unlike the sitting on top of each other in the Seabourn Observation bar, if you can find a seat unless you get there by 6:15. 

 

I agree the prices on Regent are higher (but now Seabourn is getting pretty expensive on a per diem), although they periodically have some decent sales, 2 category upgrades help, and you can opt out of the airfare (so far we have never taken the air as we could do better) and from the 1^st day you sail on Regent you get included laundry services (last cruise if laundry was out before 9 a.m. it was back the same day!) and Wi-Fi, but do not like paying for the “included” excursions, some of which are pretty good others not good at all and we prefer to book private tours but you are paying for it you at least try a few…  We almost never do ship tours so Seabourn comes out ahead there if they are less expensive.  I think Seabourn has a better revenue wine list (and with the Diamond discount there are some very good values).

 

With 20 Seabourn cruises to date and 2 more booked, I do prefer the Regent (newer ones as from what I’ve heard would not sail on the older ones) ships and dining options.  Seabourn wins in a lot of other areas, no forward facing open deck on Regent, lack on interaction on Regent with officers even the CD never spoke to us, Earth & Ocean is a nice outside dining option for dinner, although Setti Mari has outside dining.  Regent has MANY more tables in the shade for dining outside at their pool grill than Seabourn does for the Patio Grill and offers a menu with multiple sandwiches at lunch in addition to a buffet and standard burgers / dogs, etc. plus they have sweet potato fries.  Seabourn pizza (from someone who makes their own pizza) is much better…   Seabourn definitely has more outside events, on our recent 17 day cruise we had one sail away party and one night time outside event, friends currently on Seabourn had 2 sail away parties in 3 nights.  Theater layout on Regent is much better as is the entertainment.  Seabourn Colonnade venue has more choices at lunch than the Regent Veranda restaurant. 

 

No always available caviar on Regent nor events where they focus on caviar. No last night epicurean equal on Regent.

 

On port days always one of the specialty restaurants are open for lunch for sit down service and on sea days 2 are open, unlike on Seabourn when maybe the MDR will be open for lunch from just an hour.

[intel]

Received yesterday "Sail of the Year" brochure. Expired 29 February in Au $. Liked the look of one went onto their site. As advised above prices up. Brochure price Au$9k+ web price AU$13k+ for 17 days.

The lateness of receipt and the price increase does not impress me.

Another day another dollar but they won't get mine.

[kahuna21]

Seabourn is disingenuous regarding pricing. I’ve seen this for a few years. I’ve experienced this: book a cruise. Then shortly thereafter, SB promotes, say, a $1000 shipboard credit. But check the price, it has increased by more than $1000. So the “promotion” is a price increase. 
 

A good strategy seems to be to book ASAP after the cruise is released, then watch for a price decrease, then rebook at the lower price. This has sometimes worked for me. 
 

Seabourn sometimes has excellent discounts when booking onboard. Bigger discounts than their advertised policy. 

[robertmartha]

kahuna21 - agree with you about booking once sailings are released..... kicking myself that I did not book our sailing prior to this latest "promotion"....$1500 increase per cabin. Hoping that on May 1st when this current promo ends the prices will return to what they were