Originally Posted by
freecia
Prices had gone up around April 2020 quite a bit on mass market lines. Have prices come down for new bookings? There's also a lot of OBC which cruisers have to use or lose. Some of the prices for mass market mini suite or basic suite class were edging into premium small/medium size ship lower category prices. If you're a frugal cost performance oriented cruiser, mass market per day value might not be there for a while.
Cruiseplum.com helps filter by ship size, build year, price per day, and total trip price. There's also a large online travel agency which has an impressive search engine.
Maybe start researching island vacations? Not quite the same thing as a cruise but some people just like being near the water and most islands will have day trip options on small boats. Some people who like cruises also like all inclusive resorts.
I will take my wife’s reluctance as a plus for now. Yes, I’ve seen the increase in mass market cruises. Hopefully that will level out over time.
If I just want a beach day, it’s a 90 minute drive. But we don’t do multiple days in a row due to my wife’s skin cancer history. There’s lots to see and do within the state of Florida. We have an 11 day Air BnB booking in June at Panama City Beach. Mostly that’s just to spend time with our grandchildren. I guess my love of cruising is the whole package involving nightlife, dining, sightseeing with minimal effort. I love waking up to the sound of the anchor dropping in a new port. Some of that is missing in an all-inclusive resort.
I’ll wait it out and thank my wife for her hesitation. Meanwhile I will keep my eye on prices for 2022-2023 with fingers crossed. There’s no more just showing up at the dock to occupy empty cabins. But I can drive to multiple ports in under 5 hours so if down the road something goes on sale within the current month, I should be able to jump on it.