or has someone at head office done a typo?

Best,

quote:

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Originally posted by r.fiebig:
Fares are even lower for the German market, starting at € 98,- for a five-night cruise!

Best,

Raoul

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quote:

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Originally posted by r.fiebig:
Fares are even lower for the German market, starting at € 98,- for a five-night cruise!

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total about gbp 280 pp
not bad & well under malcolms gbp 100 per day rule
also even better if 5 nighter

Best,

Interior Oceanview Balcony Deluxe & Suite
99.00 139.00 149.00 357.00

The fuel supplement is £4 pppd.

Gaz hants.. where can you find a hotel in Barcelona for that price? It is usually a lot more than that.

Also RCI are masters of the on board 'hard sell', so even if the cabins were free you would still need to budget for travel to the port, onboard drinks, excusions, photographs, shopping, alternative dining, travel insurance etc.

Still good deals, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

[ 05-04-2008: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Cruise Vacation Summary
7 Night Eastern Mediterranean Cruise Departs: Sun, 03-Aug-2008 Rome (civitavecchia), Italy
Returns: Sun, 10-Aug-2008 Rome (civitavecchia), Italy

Number of Guest(s): 2 Adults
Ship Name: Navigator Of The Seas
Stateroom Category: Z Interior Stateroom Guarantee Stateroom Number: Guarantee

Price Breakdown
Guest 1 Cruise Fare 51,482.00 GBP
Guest 2 Cruise Fare 51,482.00 GBP
Air Fare 960.00 GBP
Prepay Gratuities: 73.70 GBP
Fuel Supplement: 56.00 GBP
Taxes/Fees 70.00 GBP


Package Total 104,123.70 GBP

[ 05-04-2008: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Price Breakdown
Guest 1 Cruise Fare 99.00 GBP
Guest 2 Cruise Fare 59.00 GBP
Prepay Gratuities: 42.12 GBP
Fuel Supplement: 32.00 GBP
Taxes/Fees 60.00 GBP


Package Total 292.12 GBP

£150 each inc tips, must be desperate. What's a one way flight to Stockholm..

Pam

[ 05-04-2008: Message edited by: PamM ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Also RCI are masters of the on board 'hard sell', so even if the cabins were free you would still need to budget for travel to the port, onboard drinks, excusions, photographs, shopping, alternative dining, travel insurance etc.

---

And how is RCI different than any other mass-market line? NCL, Carnival, Princess, Holland America ..... they are all masters of onboard revenue. Regardless of the line, you would need to budget for all those things you mention except perhaps a luxury all-inclusive line.

quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:
This must be over-capacity.

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Personally I think there is an overcapacity in Europe. It's becoming another Caribbean and Alaska, and prices will drop accordingly. Just about every cruise line has sent a large portion of their fleet to Europe, and they are beginning to feel the crunch. Some cruise line executives have already admitted seeing some softness in yields for 2008. I have a feeling prices will drop further in 2009, and after that we may not see quite as many ships relocated to Europe.

quote:

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Originally posted by eroller:

I have a feeling prices will drop further in 2009, and after that we may not see quite as many ships relocated to Europe.

Ernie

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quote:

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Originally posted by eroller:
Regardless of the line, you would need to budget for all those things you mention except perhaps a luxury all-inclusive line.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:

Agreed, however if I cruise Cunard I do not feel so exposed to the 'hard sell' as I do RCI etc.

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And you shouldn't expect to. Cunard is not a mass-market line and is priced accordingly. It's not fair to compare the two.

quote:

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Originally posted by Pascal:

Overcapacity in the Caribbean and very low fares don't keep cruise lines from sending plenty of ships there. More over, most euopean markets are expanding quite quickly, the ships are now full of European pax, Northern American guest being a minority on most lines. Of course the fares are dropping, but there are still on average much higher than those in the States, not even mentionning that earning 1 € is now much more interesting than earning 1 $.

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*Some* lines are "full of European pax", but certainly not all. There are still quite a few lines where North Americans make up the vast majority of passengers and the revenue. Princess, Carnival, Holland America, Celebrity, and even Royal Caribbean (on certain ships) rely on North Americans almost exclusively.

All these cruise lines sell their product (and onboard revenue) based on the US dollar. In one aspect this makes cruising in Europe a bargain for US passengers as they don't have to pay in Euros. The downside is they still have to get to Europe (fares are going up), and the minute they step off the ship their buying power is diluted. Europe is no bargain for US citizens right now.

I don't know about Europe, but the US is in the midst of some serious economic turmoil. People are still taking vacations, but the high spend vacations such as Europe are being rethought. I think 2008 is still ok as people have already committed to plans. If the economy continues on it's current course 2009 could be a different story. Believe me, all the North American lines cannot fill their capacity with mostly Europeans. Simply put, while the European market is certainly expanding, it's not large enough to fill all the capacity that is sent to Europe each Spring.

No one really knows what will happen to the economy in the US. Will it rebound or will it get worse? The cruise lines are taking the risk it will get better. Lets hope so. If it doesn't, in 2009 you may see some very cheap fares marketed to Europeans on cruise lines you don't normally see.

quote:

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Originally posted by jsea:
On Celebrity's Galaxy in July of last year (Eastern Med), I'd say at least half of the passengers were from parts other than North America (mainly Europe -- lots of Spaniards). In fact, to cater to this crowd, late dining was pushed back to 9:15.

I've also been on a couple other Celebrity sailings in Europe where the passenger compliment was decidedly not-North American.

---

I've sailed on Celebrity, Silversea, Premier, NCL, Royal Caribbean, and Princess in Europe and in every case except for Royal Caribbean the majority of passengers were Americans. I do think Celebrity and Royal Caribbean market much more so to Europeans then Carnival, HAL, and Princess. This is because Celebrity and RCI are much more "one size fits all brands" where are Carnival Corp. is much more market niche segmented.

My point is not that Europeans don't cruise on N. American ships ..... they do, but generally speaking for the lines I mentioned earlier in the thread Europeans do not make up the majority of the passengers. Most of the N. American based cruise lines expect to fill their European cruises with N. Americans and supplement the the rest with Europeans. It's just the opposite for the European based lines like MSC Cruises and Costa.

Bottom line, N. American based cruise lines will have their work cut out for them if they are faced with filling the majority of their European based fleet with Europeans. Loads will be low and so will yields. I won't even get into the onboard revenue which generally is less from Europeans. This scenario would last about one year and then you would see a vast reduction in the amount of ships being sent to Europe until the economy improves.

The above may never happen, but it's quite possible if the economy in the US continues to decline and people reduce discretionary spending such as vacations. People may still take vacations, but closer to home and spend less. This is when Carnival Cruise Lines will do quite well as their primary strategy is still home port cruising from the US.

Ernie

[ 05-05-2008: Message edited by: eroller ]

quote:

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Originally posted by PamM:
If you book Q grade on 19 May Jewel of the Seas, Stockholm to Harwich, the first guest is £99 and the second £59......

£150 each inc tips, must be desperate. What's a one way flight to Stockholm..

Pam

[ 05-04-2008: Message edited by: PamM ]

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On the other hand, the two 4-nighters out of Stockholm on 11 and 15 May (to St Petersberg and Talinn) sold out months ago.

We are on the 11 May sailing and were one of those approached in January to 'move' our booking - we were away at the time so don't know what the offer entailed, but we ended up being bumped up to a Junior Suite from a balcony on the same sailing.

Maybe its only the less 'popular' itineraries that are so price sensitive - but isn't this good news for us in Europe??? We have been hankering after the sort of late deals available in the Caribbean for years .... bring it on I say!

Ken

[ 05-06-2008: Message edited by: KenC ]

[ 05-06-2008: Message edited by: KenC ]

quote:

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Originally posted by eroller:

The above may never happen, but it's quite possible if the economy in the US continues to decline and people reduce discretionary spending such as vacations. People may still take vacations, but closer to home and spend less. This is when Carnival Cruise Lines will do quite well as their primary strategy is still home port cruising from the US.
Ernie
[ 05-05-2008: Message edited by: eroller ]

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Another concern of mine (because this industry is my livelihood) is any kind of 'terrorist' incident somewhere in Europe. You will suddenly see a near-complete termination of North Americans willing to fly or cruise anywhere overseas. We've seen this before on two or three occasions. Even an 'incident' in Istanbul or Athens will have people afraid to go near someplace like London or Stockholm!

That event, coupled with the economy, would be a very gloomy time for the cruise industry, which seems to be putting most of its eggs in one basket lately.