Have cruise fares hit bottom?

We all know that with the economy in the tank, since the beginning of the
year cruise fares have dropped like a stone and many of you who had already
booked cruises found that your reservations could be re-booked at lower
fares. I would say that 80% of the open reservations I had on file
qualified for lower prices.

But recently, that seems to have stopped. While I spent most of February
doing fare reductions, I haven't had a single one in the past two weeks!

On top of that, some fares are now starting to go up. I had booked a HAL
Alaska cruise and found the fare had gone down $300 pp and got the booking
adjusted. By final payment date... the fare had gone back up $100 pp.

To be sure, there are still some outrageously good deals out there...
especially last minute sales on shorter cruises, or inside cabins on Alaska
cruises going for $399.

Overall, I think the market has stabilized a bit and perhaps is starting to
drift back to normal.

One other point. For the most part, the ships are still going out full. In
fact, some of the cruise lines are reporting good increases in cruise sales
(10% for Carnival, 6% for Princess, etc) in January and February... but at
the lower rates. Carnival is going to release it's first quarter results
this Tuesday and it will be interesting to see how the dollars are adding
up... and how advance reservations are looking.


George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

May 10, 2009 ALASKA http://www.cruisemaster.com/moagc4.htm
January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

On Mar 22, 7:57*am, "George Leppla" wrote:
We all know that with the economy in the tank, since the beginning of the
year cruise fares have dropped like a stone and many of you who had already
booked cruises found that your reservations could be re-booked at lower
fares. *I would say that 80% of the open reservations I had on file
qualified for lower prices.

But recently, that seems to have stopped. *While I spent most of February
doing fare reductions, I haven't had a single one in the past two weeks!

On top of that, some fares are now starting to go up. *I had booked a HAL
Alaska cruise and found the fare had gone down $300 pp and got the booking
adjusted. *By final payment date... the fare had gone back up $100 pp.

To be sure, there are still some outrageously good deals out there...
especially last minute sales on shorter cruises, or inside cabins on Alaska
cruises going for $399.

Overall, I think the market has stabilized a bit and perhaps is starting to
drift back to normal.

One other point. *For the most part, the ships are still going out full.. *In
fact, some of the cruise lines are reporting good increases in cruise sales
(10% for Carnival, 6% for Princess, etc) in January and February... but at
the lower rates. *Carnival is going to release it's first quarter results
this Tuesday and it will be interesting to see how the dollars are adding
up... and how advance reservations are looking.

George Leppla * *http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Webloghttp://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

May 10, 2009 *ALASKA *http://www.cruisemaster.com/moagc4.htm
January 10, 2009 *Southern Caribbeanhttp://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 *OASIShttp://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

I think the price of oil probably has something to do with the prices
holding firm right now also. I believe the lines see the trend and
feel the movement in the oil business that prices are going up and
they won't be coming down for a little while at the very least.
Here's the difference from
March 2nd: $40.15 to
March 19 : $51.61

One of the biggest 2 week jumps in a while and with OPEC lowering the
amount they are putting out per day, the greed everyone has seen
profoundly recently of the American businessman and 'storm' season
fast approaching it looks like I may actually have to worry about the
dreaded fuel supplement being reapplied to my late July cruise.

wrote in message
...
On Mar 22, 7:57 am, "George Leppla" wrote:
We all know that with the economy in the tank, since the beginning of the
year cruise fares have dropped like a stone and many of you who had
already
booked cruises found that your reservations could be re-booked at lower
fares. I would say that 80% of the open reservations I had on file
qualified for lower prices.

But recently, that seems to have stopped. While I spent most of February
doing fare reductions, I haven't had a single one in the past two weeks!

On top of that, some fares are now starting to go up. I had booked a HAL
Alaska cruise and found the fare had gone down $300 pp and got the booking
adjusted. By final payment date... the fare had gone back up $100 pp.

To be sure, there are still some outrageously good deals out there...
especially last minute sales on shorter cruises, or inside cabins on
Alaska
cruises going for $399.

Overall, I think the market has stabilized a bit and perhaps is starting
to
drift back to normal.

One other point. For the most part, the ships are still going out full. In
fact, some of the cruise lines are reporting good increases in cruise
sales
(10% for Carnival, 6% for Princess, etc) in January and February... but at
the lower rates. Carnival is going to release it's first quarter results
this Tuesday and it will be interesting to see how the dollars are adding
up... and how advance reservations are looking.

George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Webloghttp://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

May 10, 2009 ALASKA http://www.cruisemaster.com/moagc4.htm
January 10, 2009 Southern
Caribbeanhttp://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIShttp://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

I think the price of oil probably has something to do with the prices
holding firm right now also. I believe the lines see the trend and
feel the movement in the oil business that prices are going up and
they won't be coming down for a little while at the very least.
Here's the difference from
March 2nd: $40.15 to
March 19 : $51.61

One of the biggest 2 week jumps in a while and with OPEC lowering the
amount they are putting out per day, the greed everyone has seen
profoundly recently of the American businessman and 'storm' season
fast approaching it looks like I may actually have to worry about the
dreaded fuel supplement being reapplied to my late July cruise.


For the most part, the fuel supplements won't be reinstated unless the cost
of oil hits $70 per barrel.

Here is a good article about oil prices:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...&refer=germany
This one claims that it would be hard to get prices over $60 a bbl, but who
knows.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

May 10, 2009 ALASKA http://www.cruisemaster.com/moagc4.htm
January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

Could it be that they've saturated some markets with too many
lines and new megaships competiting for a limited number
of customers? I want to do Alaska once; since I prefer sunning
myself on a warm rock in the Caribbean vs. watching ice in the
North Pacific. Airfares have a long way to fall to hit the pre-
140 dollar a barrel days too.

I could have sworn I saw a RCI 14-day transoceanic cruise
for $299 last week (gone the next day, sold out..) Oh, to
be retired and able to jump on those deals!

On Sun, 22 Mar 2009 11:31:24 -0400, "Unca Pete"
wrote:

Could it be that they've saturated some markets with too many
lines and new megaships competiting for a limited number
of customers? I want to do Alaska once; since I prefer sunning
myself on a warm rock in the Caribbean vs. watching ice in the
North Pacific. Airfares have a long way to fall to hit the pre-
140 dollar a barrel days too.

I could have sworn I saw a RCI 14-day transoceanic cruise
for $299 last week (gone the next day, sold out..) Oh, to
be retired and able to jump on those deals!

It couldn't possibly be that it was "sold out" before the ad ran,
could it?
Thumper

The cruise lines have some very good prices,but oh my god those air
fares,





cruise lover(~~~~~)






..

One can indeed find some pretty good cruise prices right now, but as someone
pointed out, the air fares tend to cancel out any cruise bargains. However,
here on the West Coast, we are booking more and more 3, 4 and 7 day cruises
for the locals not needing airfare.

In fact, we were down at the Queen Mary (Carnival Cruise Line Terminal) last
Friday to see some clients off on Carnival's Paradise. Carnival didn't seem
to have any problem filling that ship. Likewise, we are going to be on her
ourselves in a few weeks, just for a quick get-away.

Incidentally, it was good to see some actual restoration work on the Queen
Mary itself. The smoke stacks and the white part of the hull has been
repainted so far, along with some work talking place onboard. It was nice to
see that such an historic ship will not be allow to deteriorate any longer.

Happy sailing,
John

The cruise prices are good from florida and the west coast,but here on
the east coast if you want a cruise from a port you do not have to fly
to they raise the price of the cruise where there is not that much of a
saving's





cruise lover(~~~~~)






..

"Surfer E2468" wrote in message
...
The cruise prices are good from florida and the west coast,but here on
the east coast if you want a cruise from a port you do not have to fly
to they raise the price of the cruise where there is not that much of a
saving's

That is a function of supply and demand and always has been. Cruises from
NY, Philadelphia and Baltimore have traditionally been higher because they
serve a huge population area that can drive to the port. One fifth of the
US population lives in the corridor between Boston and Washington, DC... and
most of those people can drive to a port within a few hours.

The more flying becomes a PITA, the more demand for cruises from these
ports... and the higher the fares.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com

Cruise Specials Weblog http://cruisemaster.typepad.com/my_weblog/

May 10, 2009 ALASKA http://www.cruisemaster.com/moagc4.htm
January 10, 2009 Southern Caribbean
http://www.cruisemaster.com/caribprin.htm
October 16, 2010 OASIS http://www.motherofallgroupcruises.com

"George Leppla" wrote in message
...

"Surfer That is a function of supply and demand and always has been.
Cruises from NY, Philadelphia and Baltimore have traditionally been higher
because they serve a huge population area that can drive to the port. One
fifth of the US population lives in the corridor between Boston and
Washington, DC... and most of those people can drive to a port within a
few hours.


--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com


And there are DARN few cruises from those ports too.