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deep1

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Venturing off the normal topics of when will we sail, whats the latest from CDC... With more and more time available as I nudge closer to retirement, I and my Fiance' have a hunger for long duration trips.  We are fired up to do trans Atlantic and trans Pacific trips. RCCL has good pricing.  Lets use inside cabin for even playing field on pricing. Throughout their  cruises it seems that 70-100 per night  seems to be the common range be it 3 or 18 night.  We are loyal to Royal but they end at 18 nights. So...... We look at brand XY and Z.  On similar length 12-18nights they seem to price in roughly with RCL. The when we get to 25 and up the prices per night start sky rocketing.  If we get up toward a 100 night cruise that same inside cabin that was 70-100 a night is suddenly looking at close to 500. Ok I get some of these little ships  are the champagne and caviar crowd . Lets set them aside. Take something a little more like RCL. Say Holland America. I have sailed them before. Nothing spectacular or special. Not up to RCL standards even. How do they command insane prices on the long stuff?  We often discuss supply and demand here when RCL prices go up some. In their case though its 5X normal.  There can't be that much demand. Thoughts??? 

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I think supply and demand concepts don't track well once you get away from mass market in any market.  Specialty or boutique anything can have their own pricing dynamics.

A significant amount of revenue comes from onboard purchases but on super long voyages who is going to buy the 245 night drink package?  At the current sale price that would be around $17k per person.  ? 

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The reason I brought up the DX is to illustrate the things people on world voyages don't buy on board.  With these types of revenue missing they have to adjust cruise fares higher to cover all costs.

Keep an eye out when ships move between regions.  When Mariner came back from Asia she had several inter-region cruises to get here from there.  The danger is when Royal cancels one in the middle leaving a gap in your well laid out plans.  

For now the Australia to Hawaii to Vancouver (or reverse) is a popular choice for a longer voyage.

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3 hours ago, deep1 said:

We often discuss supply and demand here when RCL prices go up some. In their case though its 5X normal.  There can't be that much demand. Thoughts??? 

I met a gentlemen on a Celebrity cruise - I think it was aboard Summit - that actually "lived" on that ship. At the time he'd been "living there" for close to a year. The way he did it was to book inside cabins b2b2b..... at the going fare never booking more than a block of 3 at a time. IOW, you won't expereince that price increase as you get outside of 30d or so trying to book it all at once. Do it in segments. No single booking was longer than 10n (Southern Caribbean) most were 7n itineraries that Summit was doing out of PR. So, the longest individual booking was 24n. after the first 14d or so, he'd go to Future Cruises and book the next three legs and on and on and on.

The ship did get chartered or went into a repair cycle over the time he was aboard. He had an apartment in Boston and he'd stay there for the short time he couldn't book his always low demand inside cabins.  He was always glad to get back aboard. He was elderly when we met him. Hope he will still be at it when the lockout ends. Perhaps on another ship. I think that sort of thing is entirely doable. Just need an escape plan when the unexpected cancellation or non-availability happens.  

BTW, he was Zenith on Celebrity with something like 109 cruises a lot of them credited before Celebrity changed their Captain's Club rewards.

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15 minutes ago, JeffB said:

I met a gentlemen on a Celebrity cruise - I think it was aboard Summit - that actually "lived" on that ship. At the time he'd been "living there" for close to a year. The way he did it was to book inside cabins b2b2b..... at the going fare never booking more than a block of 3 at a time. IOW, you won't expereince that price increase as you get outside of 30d or so trying to book it all at once. Do it in segments. No single booking was longer than 10n (Southern Caribbean) most were 7n itineraries that Summit was doing out of PR. So, the longest individual booking was 24n. after the first 14d or so, he'd go to Future Cruises and book the next three legs and on and on and on.

The ship did get chartered or went into a repair cycle over the time he was aboard. He had an apartment in Boston and he'd stay there for the short time he couldn't book his always low demand inside cabins.  He was always glad to get back aboard. He was elderly when we met him. Hope he will still be at it when the lockout ends. Perhaps on another ship. I think that sort of thing is entirely doable. Just need an escape plan when the unexpected cancellation or non-availability happens.  

BTW, he was Zenith on Celebrity with something like 109 cruises a lot of them credited before Celebrity changed their Captain's Club rewards.

I wonder how that would price out now with Always Included?

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58 minutes ago, twangster said:

I wonder how that would price out now with Always Included?

Good question. Of course he was getting the usual "free" 3 drinks perk associated with his Captains' Club status. He was quite happy with that as he always gathered at the Captain's Club event in the Sky Club. That perk has been watered down with the "Always Included" pricing. Hard to say by how much. 

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A lot will depend on how my meeting with "loyalty desk" goes on my November sailing (I do hope it happens). After three years of  tossing bits and pieces of proof at them  they have finally started to listen. They even "found me"  in a couple missing cruises but as yet haven't adjusted the points.  If we get my points status relatively close to where it should be it will go a long way to reinforcing my loyalty and cementing a pile of bookings. My Fiance' is relatively new to cruising but loves it to death> She's a bit "refined" while I can be a tad "earthy"... Still I want to run her through a lot of itineraries.  Some I have done : Western/ Bahamas (she and I have done a few times) Eastern, Southern, Alaskan (I've done without here)  Canal, Trans A+ P,  Med, northern Europe neither of us has done. We want to get serious and knock those ones off our bucket lists then make a plan based on what we find  we like, spend as much time as humanly possible on board. 

 

 

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