GRALISTAIR

I have not noticed any pricing changes - I would have thought they should drop but perhaps people see cruising as "safer" than air travel.

DaveBlaine

I see tv commercials for cruise lines all the time. Now granted, that's on the Travel Channel.

Seems like Carnival has a "sale" just about everyday.

I suppose with all these cabins, they need to be filled every 3-4-5-7-15 whatever days virtually year round.

Still, I don't get why you would rather a cabin go unfilled. Would a cruise line really lose money with a cheap interior cabin sold at last minute prices?

Maybe so.

Randyk47

Carnival Corporation which includes several lines like Carnival, Holland America, Princess, and others has not as of yet joined the lines that have supposedly stopped last minute deals. Certainly the cruise lines don't want empty cabins and that's why there still are sales. The real money makers for cruise lines are on board spending so it's about butts on board drinking, gambling, in the spa, buying t-shirts, going on ship sponsored shore tours, and paying up-charges for specialty restaurants. Cruise lines are torn, though I'm not sure how much, between filling cabins at whatever fare and not aggravating the loyalists. I'd venture if the present scares, whether rational or not, like those of ISIS attacks, Zika, and the most recent downturn in the stock market continue and bookings drop off sales of all types will be back in force across all the lines.

pseudoswede

Exactly. I imagine the majority of the "last-minute deal seekers" spend very little on-board.

Randyk47

Certainly a lot of the last minute deal seekers travel on tight budgets. Some brag about being able to get off a cruise with basically nothing more than the auto tips/gratuities on their accounts and even a smaller percentage even remove those charges. I guess the cruise lines see it as a gamble. An unfilled cabin isn't going to generate a nickel of revenue whereas there's at least some chance that even a bargain shopper passenger will buy a beer or two.

Hoyaheel

Eh, I'm a frugal traveler but not cheap - I like a deal but won't go crazy over finding "the best". And when I cruise, I'm not in the casino, buying photographs or specialty dinners either. That's not why I cruise (also, I don't cruise often, so....YMMV)

What I'm trying to say is that I don't know that early bookers spend any more or less than a last minute purchaser. Maybe I'm just odd? I've booked cruises a couple years in advance and a month in advance.....

Randyk47

I'm sure cruise lines track spending versus the cabin category booked, including when and how the cabin was booked, so they know the statistics. Lacking their data it's hard to draw anything other than a generalization, which typically degenerates into a debate, about who spends more or less. Again a generalization but on the surface it would seem that regardless of the cabin category the more experienced and frequent cruisers probably spend less on average than the "trip of a lifetime" type passenger.

Hoyaheel

I would argue that is true for most vacation travel, cruise or otherwise....Unless you're Paul Allen on the Octopus (or other with "unlimited" funds) you're not splurging out EVERY time you travel or you wouldn't be able to travel as often as you'd like. Right? (just me?)

[saw Octopus docked next to us in Barbados many years back. So cool]

YVR Cockroach

On CC, the saying is it isn't the trip-of-a-lifetime crowd but those new to cruising who get suckered in and often face a disembarkation bill that is more than their cruise cost. Was on a repo and met a reasonably-but-modestly-affluent couple on their first cruise. They managed to get suckered into a beverage card "deal" (>USD50 pppd + 18% gratuity, every adult in the cabin has to buy one) for 22 days - and he couldn't even drink alcohol for medical reasons! They admitted they were getting whatever sealed drinks they could get their hands on to take off the ship.

As for me, HAL has marked me as cheap. Don't get the private deal offerings I used to. All this after only 2 cruises.

Randeman

I blame the higher fares on the new builds. You'd be hard pressed to find a line out there that doesn't currently have at least one new ship under construction or fresh from the shipyard.

Also, as with the rest of the travel industry, cruise lines have to suffer through bad economic times. Airlines aren't dropping fares the way most people have expected in oil prices have plummeted. For years they have lost billions. It's only recently that they are experiencing record profits. I don't know if the cruise lines are making boat loads (pun intended) of money nowadays, but I am understanding if they are.

I seem to recall watching something on YouTube in the last couple of years about a particular cruise and how much money it made. If I recall correctly, while the line executive would not mention specifics it was astonishing how little money a line makes per cruise, and if it wasn't for discretionary spending that particular cruise would have operated at a loss.

YVR Cockroach

I think cruise lines are trying to change consumer expectation to higher fares. Not sure if they can hold this line or if they'll reduce fares to fill cabins. It'll be interesting to see if consumers or cruise lines will yield first.

Then again, there used to be more big airlines in the U.S. and hence more competition. Now down to 3 large(r) legacies from 6+. A tighter and more-disciplined oligopoly has emerged.

I posted something a few months back about a RCCI (IIRC) exec saying that if each cruise pax spent $2/day more, it'd double bottom line over 5 or so years. Was rather surprised such a small delta (albeit over thousands per cruise) would make sure a large difference.

Randeman

That is remarkable!

jww947

Another reason they keep building ships is to please those people who do nothing but take cruises. I was on a Disney Cruise ship and the couple that we ate dinner with had been on 8 trips on an older ship and the newer ship we were on was their 5 trip. They switched because they wanted to be on the newer ship. We ran into a lot of couples like that. It is like living in Hawaii, once the "new-ness" wears off you get bored of it and that is lost revenue for the cruising industry.

galuzyaki

that's what I've noticed

thanks

mules

I just booked an Athens to Venice cruise and paid more than I wanted for late August 2016 departure.

HOWEVER I also booked business class air on American for $2600 which offsets the higher cruise price. Thanks to Flyertalk premium fare forum I knew how to look for the airfare.