Cruises This Summer Up To 10% Cheaper Than Last Year

An extensive study from cruise price monitoring service CruiseWatch.com found stable average prices for interior cabins and price reductions between 6% for balcony cabins and up to 10% for oceanview staterooms. The bad news: suites are getting more expensive with an average increase of 2% on all watched cruises. And the price changes are highly variable per line.

The website compared price changes for 4.383 cruises in 2016, departing in the summer period of May to September, with 4.884 sailings leaving in the same period this year. To get comparable data, the study then compared the price per day at a locked in fixed point on May 1st for both years.

Average Cruise Price For Summer Per Cabin

Average Cruise Price For Summer Per Cabin

Stable cruise prices for interior cabins

Interior cabins show a mostly stable trend. The amount of price discounts (compared to the initially published price) also was stable. Interior cabins traded around 94% of the initial price both years. There are markedly differences on a line by line basis, though. The top three lines increasing prices were Azamara with an average increase per day of a whopping 24%, Costa with +22% and Disney with +11%. Amongst the lines dropping prices where Celebrity Cruises (-13%), Holland America (-10%) and Princess Cruises (-10%).

Highest cruise price drops for oceanview cabins

Oveanview cabins showed the most visible decline in average. While these porthole cabins traded slightly above initial price last year, lines were giving an average of 7% discount this year. However, this again was highly variable by cruise line. This time Norwegian Cruise Line leads the camp of lines raising prices with an increase of +27% on average, followed by Costa (+24%) and Azamara (+19%). Regent Seven Seas lowered their prices by 26% followed by Holland American (-16%) and Royal Caribbean (-10%).

Balcony staterooms are cheaper than cruises last year

Balcony cabins also saw price reductions, going from $358 to $336. This reduction mostly came from lowered initial prices, as the number of price drops is mostly unchanged versus last year. Azamara (+33%), Costa (+18%) and NCL (+16%) are again raising prices significantly, while Holland America (-20%), Regent Seven Seas (-20%) and Royal Caribbean (-15%) are reducing.

Suites are getting more expensive over time

Lastly, on suites the prices remained mostly stable with a slight upward notion, increasing to $629 per day versus $615 last year. Viking, Azamara and Crystal Cruises are the top price increasers. Regent Seven Seas, MSC Cruises and Holland America are reducing their prices. Due to highly variable cabins and limited inventory, this category is the most difficult to draw valid conclusions from.

Britta Bernhard, founder of CruiseWatch.com said: “Our study shows that there are still good savings to be found for a summer cruise vacation this year. While some lines raise prices across the board, other are reducing. This might be a good year to utilize some next generation cruise price drop services on the web to identify the best deals.”.

Next generation cruise search with Cruisewatch.com

The search engine Cruisewatch.com offers consumers free price drop monitoring. The website processes massive amounts of data using intuitive software that will help consumers find the perfect cruise: at the right time, at the best price. Users can receive automatic alerts when prices are reduced or when good deals are on the horizon. A price forecast is built into the website. “Cruise lines invest massive amounts of resources into revenue optimization. We are leveling the playing field and offering consumers up-to-date technology to make the right decisions,” says Cruisewatch.com’s co-founder.

We live up to our motto… RIGHT CRUISE. RIGHT TIME. RIGHT PRICE.

Further analysis:

You can find more valuable resources on our website. For instance, have you ever wondered if it is cheaper to go on a cruise than to have a stay-at-home vacation? You can find the answer here. Consumers often wonder how far in advance to book their cruises. We answered that question in this blog post. Surprisingly, there is one day of the week when you can find the best prices on cruise tickets. Find out which day it is by reading this post. You are interested in getting up to 65% cruise price reduction by choosing the right cruise line? See more. And click here to know when to book which cruise line.

 

See all current price drops per cabin type over here:

Interior Oceanview Balcony Suites

Should You Book Your Cruise Early Or Wait To Get The Best Cruise Deals?

Ever wondered what is the best time to book? We did, and looked at more than 4 million price changes to find out. According to our new comprehensive study, there are many factors at play when it comes to price. The cruise line, the actual cruise, and the time you book. During 2016 we analyzed 3,000 cruises on a cabin level. And focussed especially on how many days before departure the best prices could be found.

Continue reading “Should You Book Your Cruise Early Or Wait To Get The Best Cruise Deals?”

Historic Cruise Pricing Overview

Looking at the past can tell us quite a bit about the future. For example about the best time to book that cruise.

Thistoric cruise pricinghe chart on the right hand side shows you the historic pricing for oceanview cabins on Celebrity Eclipse. You can see how the pricing changes over time with the left hand side of the graph showing 600 days before departure and the right hand side being departure day.

We have normalized all pricing at 100 so that you can see price drops and hikes. The orange line is the average pricing line with the other lines showing statistical boundaries.

In this example, the pricing trend is generally upwards in the beginning with moderate increases of about 3%. Price reductions start about 60 days before departure with the lowest pricing around 40 days.

Of course, this is just the average. Cruise pricing will always be impacted by individual demand and supply. As you can see, there are sailings that have significant price increases fairly early. Such sailings are typically in high demand seasons (such as public holidays). And there is also a very active last minute season with strong pricing drops about 90 to 25 days before departure (red line).

Keep this in mind when looking at current cruise prices and check out the pricing history of the ship you are interested in. To do this, browse through the cruise lines, pick a ship, click on “analytics” and then choose a cabin type. Happy savings!

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