why does princes charge more than carnival

[jzagar65]

i been looking at cruises for feb 2011 i been on princess for 7 days princess charges almost 2 times more than a lot of carnival cruises
i was wondering why they would charge so much more
you would think since they are all own by the same they would try and make sure a lot of people could afford it
what i do like about princess is there deposit compare to carnival they ask for a percentage compare to 250 a person

[Bruce Chafkin1]

Why does Nordstrom charge more than Target?

Why does Cadillac charge more than Chevrolet?

Why does Ritz-Carlton charge more than Motel 6?

Why does Morton's Steak House charge more than McDonalds?

The answers are all the same.
Quality costs money.
If you want better quality, you need to pay for it.

If Princess and Carnival have the same owner, why don't they charge the same price for both?
That would be the same as Cadillac and Chevrolet (both owned by General Motors) charging the same prices. That would put Cadillac and Chevrolet into direct competition with each other. GM would be competing with itself. That doesn't make any sense in the business world.

Princess manages to fill all it's ships every week with higher prices. Why would they be so dumb to lower those prices?

[Donna]

Hi Bruce,
I love those comparisions :-) I always say, you get what you pay for....same in cruising.

[john_galt]

I've been on Carnival four times and Princess twice. I've been able to get into nice rooms on Carnival at the last minute (120-90 days). The best rooms book up much more quickly on Princess. I booked a year in advance to get a particular mini-suite on the Crown for next year.

[green_rd]

While Princess and Carnival are owned by the same parent company - they are required by law to operate separately, hence different pricing models. Prices on some of Princess's newer larger ships are closer to Carnival's but they also have some smaller more intimate ships that cost more. Fewer passengers to spread fixed cost across = higher prices.

[lhp]

It appears that Carnival Corporation has allowed each cruise line to retain some of their individual "product" while all being under the Carnival umbrella.

Carnival Corporation offers something for everyone.

[green_rd]

Got thinking about this again. Perhaps a better analogy would be General Motors who made the Chevette and the Cadillac