Occupancy Rates these days??

[GeeAtl]

I can tell by the discounts that the business is slack....i am curious as to how occupied recent cruises have been. thanks for the insights!

[cruiseyguy]

By its own admission, Seabourn uses a variety of tricks (targeted discounts, onboard credits, etc.) to try to fill the ships so that few go out at significant lower occupancy. What will be interesting will be the effect of the added capacity of the new ships on overall occupancy. If it's hard to fill three very small ships, it will be much harder to fill those same three plus two significantly larger ones.

[GeeAtl]

you are right...also...a lot of the trips since the crunch were pre-booked many months in advance. it will be very interesting to see what happens from this summer forward...they are surely cutting the pricing on Europe this summer and even South America for winter, 2010

[flag fan]

There was an article in USAToday's cruise blog (online edition of the newspaper) that mentioned the downturn in tourism in Greece but the Seabourn may save the day because its bookings are actually up. It seems that Seabourn is doing well. The predictions are that ships sailing this summer will be 100% full.

[cruiseyguy]

Seabourn is "full" because it is making itself "full"--doing whatever it takes. Not a good indicator of "net" however.

[Naveron]

What happens to those folks who paid a year in advance to get the early booking savings, but then the price has been even further reduced. Would they perhaps get an upgrade or credit?

[wripro]

If their TA contacts SB they should get the difference back.

[wardz]

What happens to those folks who paid a year in advance to get the early booking savings, but then the price has been even further reduced. Would they perhaps get an upgrade or credit?

 

Our TA called yesterday and our confirmed price is about 50% of what we originally were quoted.

[clarky]

Wripro is right. This was the case with our advance booking. We contacted the TA and they in turn contacted Seabourn. We were offered an upgrade or the difference in price. I think in these times it pays to keep your eyes on the discounts offered and make sure you have not been penalized for booking in advance. I will be weary of making a booking for 2010 too far in advance.

[Naveron]

Thanks for the advice. We booked for March 2010 and in the past month, the price has dropped almost $800 per person!! So much for EBS!!

[seapenarth]

From the middle of June Seabourn needs 870 passengers to fill it`s 3 ships in the Med as opposed to the 420 at the moment. The Spirit and Odyssey will sail within the same areas and even dock/anchor together at times. I would think the majority on the Odyssey will be cruisers who before would have used one of the two sisters available. Unless without exceptional offers where will the extra cruisers come from in these difficult times ? :confused:

[cruiseyguy]

You would think that with the billions of people on Earth they would have no trouble selling a few hundred berths. But apparently only a tiny sliver of the world's population is either able or willing to pay their prices. Sorta puts it all in perspective.

[wripro]

Hopefully, the Odyssey will attract passengers from other luxury lines who insisted on having true balconies. This might help somewhat, even in this economy.

[SusanNJ]

I had asked my TA to check on my fare for the Spirit since Crystal and the Regent are giving so much away. Seabourn's reply was that I got a really good price and I would be paying $400 more if I booked it now. As I booked with a big volume agency, I was amazed.

[jschutz]

Apparently SB is filling it's ships pretty good. I am on the Legend 11/11 from Lisbon to Ft. Lauderdale - and was looking into making it a B2B and continue on to Costa Rica - however the second leg does not seem to be discounted to the point I would be interested. I simply told my TA to check the Legend 11/23 cruise on a regular basis and it they come down another 10-15% I would seriously consider it. Keeping my fingers crossed! :)