Cruises need to drop prices!
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 55
Cruises need to drop prices!
Just an observation. Was just surfing web for a Winter cruise, perhaps the Panama canal. WOW on the prices...So an open letter to the Cruise industry. Listen up!
If you want passengers to return, to keep part of your crews employed and part of your fleet sailing...YOU NEED TO REDUCE YOUR PRICES.
Econ 101. A reduction in price leads to an increase in demand. End of rant.
If you want passengers to return, to keep part of your crews employed and part of your fleet sailing...YOU NEED TO REDUCE YOUR PRICES.
Econ 101. A reduction in price leads to an increase in demand. End of rant.
#2
Suspended
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Canada, USA, Europe
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 31,446
Not always. It depends on on many other factors, including the elasticity of demand. If it is close to zero (at the moment no one is getting on a cruise ship) changing prices does not move the demand needle. My guess is that those afraid to get on a boat won't do it at $$$$ and won't do it at $$ either.
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS
Posts: 15,027
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 55
Wait it out??? NCL may go belly-up. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/05/norw...g-concern.html
#6
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: GRR
Programs: Delta Plat & Million Miler
Posts: 1,385
Depends
Wait it out??? NCL may go belly-up. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/05/norw...g-concern.html
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,261
Just because travel demand -- including for cruises -- is low, does not mean that dropping fares will bring back the business.
Given the awful role played by cruise lines in spreading Covid-19 and then dealing with onboard issues, many travel analysts believe that it will take years before business recovers and that cheap prices won't generate demand.
As others note, keeping prices high also helps to get rid of those credits which are a liability on the books.
Given the awful role played by cruise lines in spreading Covid-19 and then dealing with onboard issues, many travel analysts believe that it will take years before business recovers and that cheap prices won't generate demand.
As others note, keeping prices high also helps to get rid of those credits which are a liability on the books.
#8
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,258
I'm also expecting cruise lines to lower capacity, so that's another reason for no price reductions.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,880
Just an observation. Was just surfing web for a Winter cruise, perhaps the Panama canal. WOW on the prices...So an open letter to the Cruise industry. Listen up!
If you want passengers to return, to keep part of your crews employed and part of your fleet sailing...YOU NEED TO REDUCE YOUR PRICES.
Econ 101. A reduction in price leads to an increase in demand. End of rant.
If you want passengers to return, to keep part of your crews employed and part of your fleet sailing...YOU NEED TO REDUCE YOUR PRICES.
Econ 101. A reduction in price leads to an increase in demand. End of rant.
Cruise is NOT a business that like selling gadgets - it has its devoted customers, many of them are very eager to return to cruising, plus many of them have large FCC to use due to the gigantic number of canceled cruises - we are talking about a full 4 months worth of sailings completely wiped out - over 50% of them are already paid for when canceled... Those are captive customers that would provide a high floor of the prices.
On top of that, gone would be the day that a ship will sail in full capacity, (hence those bargains showed up after final payment deadline). Hence the operation cost would be higher.
Time will tell when we get into 2021 / 2022 but right now many cruises in the first 9 months of 2021 are seeing a lot of bookings. Whether these early bookings with fully refundable deposits will turn into final bookings, we wont know until months later. However for the time being when the cruiselines see such demand, that is exactly what they "listen up" - the waves of bookings are crashing up their ships... why would they lower the fares?
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: jfk area
Programs: AA platinum; 2MM AA, Delta Diamond, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 10,291
Pre-virus, from casino promos I've gotten cruise offers at least once a month. I wonder how much of the increase in bookings for 2021 are "real = passenger" bookings vs casinos (and other entities) posturing for space for their promos?
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,727
At this point the percentage of avid, habitual cruise passengers willing to risk COVID exposure by sailing is probably trivial. The rest of the addressable market currently equates cruising with getting sick and maybe dying, and no amount of discounting will get them packing bags.
It does not help the cruise lines that investigative reporting is starting to emerge on their shameful decisions and actions in February and March -- lying to passengers, health ministers, the CDC, etc. -- which makes them extremely difficult to trust now if they claim they're doing extra sanitizing, etc. The business appears to have gotten hundred of people killed during high transmission periods, including many of its own customers and crew.
Remember that the industry was already overprovisioned relative to demand before all this broke out -- too many ships and cabins chasing too few customers -- and if half a dozen major brands are destroyed by coronavirus it would give the remainder a fighting chance in the very long run.
It does not help the cruise lines that investigative reporting is starting to emerge on their shameful decisions and actions in February and March -- lying to passengers, health ministers, the CDC, etc. -- which makes them extremely difficult to trust now if they claim they're doing extra sanitizing, etc. The business appears to have gotten hundred of people killed during high transmission periods, including many of its own customers and crew.
Remember that the industry was already overprovisioned relative to demand before all this broke out -- too many ships and cabins chasing too few customers -- and if half a dozen major brands are destroyed by coronavirus it would give the remainder a fighting chance in the very long run.
#12
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: GVA (Greater Vancouver Area)
Programs: DREAD Gold; UA 1.035MM; Bonvoy Au-197; PCC Elite+; CCC Elite+; MSC C-12; CWC Au-197; WoH Dis
Posts: 52,258
#13
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Redondo Beach, CA USA
Programs: UA 1KMM, Bonvoy LTE+A, HH D, Nat'l EE, Hertz Plat, Avis PC
Posts: 3,759
At this point the percentage of avid, habitual cruise passengers willing to risk COVID exposure by sailing is probably trivial. The rest of the addressable market currently equates cruising with getting sick and maybe dying, and no amount of discounting will get them packing bags.
#14
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Westchester Co, NY or Rio Grande Valley, TX or ???
Programs: BAEC G, WN A-, Hyatt G, HH G, MAR T, Hz PC, was [UA2P, FL A+Elite, BD G]
Posts: 2,278
Summer 2010, Azamara Quest (former R-ship) 12-day cruise Istanbul-<Black Sea ports>-Ephesus-Athens(Piraeus). 395 passengers, slightly over 400 crew. That ship's capacity was around 700 IIRC.
I have also been on a couple mass market cruises where the top prize on first day of bingo was to move into the top suite onboard, so those cruises may have been close to 100% full but clearly weren't absolutely at 100%...
#15
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: SF CA USA. I love large faceless corporations. And they cherish me in return (sometimes). ;)
Programs: UA Premier Gold/disappointed 1MM, HH Gold, IHG Plat, MB lifetime Gold, BW Diam Sel
Posts: 17,626
....Except that cruisers (statistically) tend to be middle-aged or older, and that brings medical vulnerability into the picture.