Book a Carnival Cruise Now?

[Paul Motter]

Book a Carnival Cruise Now?
by Paul Motter

I have been getting a number of media inquiries as to whether the recent incident will affect cruise prices.

2.18.13

You aren't likely to find
a better bargain than what
we see right now

I have been getting a number of media inquiries as to whether the recent incident will affect cruise prices.

My answer is that I can only guess, and that guess is "yes, but not for long." There is a saying in the cruise industry that it is a lot harder to raise prices than to drop them.

The old rationale was that cruise lines would do anything to fill a cruise ship, including dropping prices as far as they must go. But recently there has come a point where the lines have decided they would rather keep prices higher and break even, than reduce prices and break even. That way when the economy recovers, they won't have to fight the pricing battle.

Read more: Book Your Carnival Cruise Now

[flowers]

CNN or FOX reported that cruise bookings were up the week after the fire. Maybe it made people think .. hey I have not cruised in a while .. or made them think about booking? I dont think bookings being up would cause prices to drop. I Hope so, since I live in TX .. bring it on.

Im also thinking with one less ship out of Galveston, only Magic is left that that will not exactly help pricing for us Texans.

Im always up for a cheap cruise though. I hope you are correct.

PS do you think the window where the cruise prices might have dropped is already over? For every person I hear saying wow did you hear .... there is someone else saying, man look at all that compensation, they got their onboard expenses comped, a free cruise, a free 7 day future cruise, $500 which would buy a inside cabin on a 4/5 day cruise (I only paid $169 pp January last year for a inside pack n go gty and they put me on Lido deck .. on Triumph). They even opened the bar for free drinks for a while. Now you hear about a bunch of lawsuits .. people are going to think, man I could have really raked it in. Even if you and I would not have wanted to be onboard .. Carnival reported booking were UP last week, so clearly it did not discourage people from booking?

I guarantee you there are people who are saying, man I wish it was me on Triumph with all those freebies.

[Paul Motter]

I agree there are people saying "I wish I had been there"

I was just interviewed for WBAL radio (Baltimore) and I told them I think we will see any discounts (if there are any) AFTER the news cycle ends - based on whether or not they need to fill ships, but I do not think they will make a decision to drop prices as a reaction to the news cycle. They would be reactionary and foolish.

[Snoozeman]

Originally Posted by flowers

Im also thinking with one less ship out of Galveston, only Magic is left that that will not exactly help pricing for us Texans.

Even with Triumph out there are still more berths than this time last year with the Disney Magic and Crown Princess both sailing. That will change later in the year, but Triumph should be back in service by then.

[ruthlessboss]

I think there are going to be factors as to why there might not be price drops. One will be Carnival loyalists booking "anyway". This year will have those booking to be "platinum" by the end of this year. I'm one of those. I may never get to use the platinum status, but there's something in me that wants it.

[krunch]

I just wanted to post a link to another, similar thread here in which I just posted what appears to be a price drop on the "Early Saver" rate on a cruise I, and 7 other rooms are currently booked on.

Take a look

Carnival to reduce fares to attract business?

Krunch

[Mike M]

If it's the right itinerary I would book a Carnival cruise in a heartbeat. We are looking at Alaska and Australia right now and if the price points hit I'll be booking.

Take care,
Mike

[Snoozeman]

I have three lady friends who were booked on the Triumph for April, still scheduled as of now. They are all experienced cruisers, but have never sailed Carnival. Yesterday, they did cancel the Triumph, but they rebooked for the Carnival Magic in April. I guess they lost confidence in the Triumph, but it did not scare them away from the brand.

[Paul Motter]

Strangely - Dream and Magic seem to be the ships I get more complaints about. I think they are a bit too crowded.

People seem to like Breeze however - it has the full FunShip 2.0 on it.

[Snoozeman]

Originally Posted by Paul Motter

Strangely - Dream and Magic seem to be the ships I get more complaints about. I think they are a bit too crowded.

People seem to like Breeze however - it has the full FunShip 2.0 on it.

I agree with that 100%. Dream too crowded....made changes to Magic that helped (more sea day food venues)....then Breeze with 2.0 can handle the crowd. Primarily due to Guy's. They can feed a lot of people fast through the express line...especially on port days when everyone returns at once.

[airforce95]

I have sailed on the Triumph before and would do it again. I just need to make sure that I have a balcony room.