Where are the deals?

[conversationalphrase]

It seems the travel industry will be offering some smoking hot deals to get everyone going again. It seems now is the time to plan to save some serious money after the hysteria fades. I still remember the great travel deals of 2008/2009.

What is everyone finding?

The best I've seen so far is a 15 night cruise on Royal Caribbean, from Rome to Galveston for $742 in November. That's $49 per night for a balcony cabin. I've never seen anything nearly this good before.

PS: Please focus on travel deals. Not the safety of future travel. Thanks.

 

[CoolRich59]

I just booked a flight to Fargo, ND for $137. Flights are usually in the $300-350 range.

North Dakota is not the most desirable destination, but it's on my bucket list as one of the remaining states I have not been to. I'm going for a long weekend and plan on checking out some of the historic sites related to the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

I also saw some great discounts on flights to Alaska (another bucket list state and a place I'd really like to visit). Unfortunately, I'm time limited and, after doing some initial planning, realized that Alaska is just too big a place to do any justice to on a long weekend. So, I'm putting off Alaska until I can dedicate at least a couple of weeks for a visit.

 

[ckelly78z]

This would assume that whatever travel company/cruise line/airlines that you choose will still be operating, and not in chapter 13....this might be a real issue in a few months.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

The best I've seen so far is a 15 night cruise on Royal Caribbean, from Rome to Galveston for $742 in November. That's $49 per night for a balcony cabin. I've never seen anything nearly this good before.

PS: Please focus on travel deals. Not the safety of future travel. Thanks.

THis is the same rate we paid on a 2 week panama canal unassigned inside cabin back in fall/winter 2017. For reference. Ended up being a HUGE beautiful handicap cabin but we could have gambled and lost bigtime.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

We saw one the other night that was essentially a 7 day cruise (don't recall cabin) leaving immediately that was like $50 for the entire cruise plus the port taxes. Not worth it. Cruising stopped shortly thereafter.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I wouldn’t travel even for free at this point.

 

[Ronstar]

I booked an August flight Chicago- Boston for $79 to, $89 return

 

[skipro33]

Maui from Sacramento; $99 per person each way. Alaskan Airlines. Departing in April.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Not seeing a lot of deals.

There are a few really cheap Pacific coast itinerary cruises on X in April, May timeframe.
Some of their Alaska and Hawaii itineraries are relatively cheap but not giving it away.

I've seen some flight deals out of YVR to various parts of the US good for a number of dates for sub $300 return which is a great price for YVR.

A few travel blogs I follow talk about really cheap rooms in the nicer brands in SE Asia.

 

[Scrapr]

Not seeing a lot of deals.

There are a few really cheap Pacific coast itinerary cruises on X in April, May timeframe.
Some of their Alaska and Hawaii itineraries are relatively cheap but not giving it away.

I've seen some flight deals out of YVR to various parts of the US good for a number of dates for sub $300 return which is a great price for YVR.

A few travel blogs I follow talk about really cheap rooms in the nicer brands in SE Asia.

I agree. Not anything as a screaming deal. I'm looking to rebook a trip to London Paris originally scheduled last month. Virgin hasn't canceled my flight but I "can" rebook at no charge. So I'm looking to September. I got a very good deal when I purchased last October. Everything I see now (same route) is about $500-1000 higher. There are a couple of routes that are equivalent pricing on different metal/airline. And the rate is pretty much the same for several weeks. Which makes me think they pre populated the schedule a while ago. I thought airlines were the kings of surge pricing. Not so far

 

[foxfirev5]

Spring break DTW to MCO $96 on Delta. Who care's?

 

[IMATERP]

Expedia - Raleigh to Vegas in late March 4 nights with r/t air for $98 each.

NOT ME!

 

[CaliKid]

Maui from Sacramento; $99 per person each way. Alaskan Airlines. Departing in April.

I had my eye on that as well but the hotels were, for the most part, the normal prices. I checked as recently as yesterday and couldn't find any hotels that came anywhere near matching the great flight prices. Hawaiian Air also has cheap flights. I think $250+ RT from Nor Cal.

 

[CaliKid]

Where are the deals? Summer? Fall? Anything great? Domestic? International? I'd love to hear about incredible deals you have seen.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Where are the deals? Summer? Fall? Anything great? Domestic? International? I'd love to hear about incredible deals you have seen.

This is gone now but:
YVR to SIN: $586CDN/$403USD return, tax included.
On Delta (connect in SEA and ICN) or ANA (connect in HND).
Travel July 2020 thru February 2021.

I would be all over this if there were more certainty around entry restrictions and virus trending.
I love the street food in the hawker centres in Singapore. And I would convert the connection in Tokyo to a multi-day stopover flying on ANA. I love visiting Japan. ANA is a fantastic airline too.

 

[gcgang]

Maui from Sacramento; $99 per person each way. Alaskan Airlines. Departing in April.

Were you aware Hawaii has a 14 day quarantine in effect for all arriving travelers? No indication when they’ll lift it. Hopefully soon or there won’t be an economy left out here.

There are thousands of rental cars parked in fields and along some roads here on Maui. Very eerie.

 

[jollystomper]

Personally I am wary of of booking any travel occurring in the next 3-4 months... there could be high possibility of cancelling/rescheduling to a less convenient time.

Even further out, interesting things may occur. I heard that folks who had booked hotels in Augusta in October, when the rates were low, were finding that the hotels started cancelling their reservations. Why? While the Masters has not officially announced a new date, it seems word is getting out locally that October is likely, so hotels are now jacking up their prices for that month.

So... many major events might be postponed to the September/October timeframe, on those places there likely will not be bargains.

 

[CaliKid]

This is gone now but:
YVR to SIN: $586CDN/$403USD return, tax included.
On Delta (connect in SEA and ICN) or ANA (connect in HND).
Travel July 2020 thru February 2021.

I would be all over this if there were more certainty around entry restrictions and virus trending.
I love the street food in the hawker centres in Singapore. And I would convert the connection in Tokyo to a multi-day stopover flying on ANA. I love visiting Japan. ANA is a fantastic airline too.

Yes. Good one!

Were you aware Hawaii has a 14 day quarantine in effect for all arriving travelers? No indication when they’ll lift it. Hopefully soon or there won’t be an economy left out here.

There are thousands of rental cars parked in fields and along some roads here on Maui. Very eerie.

When Southwest posted those fares Hawaii didn't have the quarantine. Now their quarantine is so strict they supposedly could check on you during the 14 days and $5k fine. Yikes!

Personally I am wary of of booking any travel occurring in the next 3-4 months... there could be high possibility of cancelling/rescheduling to a less convenient time.

Even further out, interesting things may occur. I heard that folks who had booked hotels in Augusta in October, when the rates were low, were finding that the hotels started cancelling their reservations. Why? While the Masters has not officially announced a new date, it seems word is getting out locally that October is likely, so hotels are now jacking up their prices for that month.

So... many major events might be postponed to the September/October timeframe, on those places there likely will not be bargains.

Yes, agreed. Any travel plans made for the rest of this year is going to be a bit of a gamble. Paying attention to refund policies is more important than ever!

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

On Royal Caribbean's Q1 analyst call at the 41 min mark, their CFO answered a question that basically described the load factor required to break even (from an EBITDA) perspective. For newer ships it's around 30% and for older ships it's around 50%. With break even points like 30%, I can see less of a need for heavy discounting for the cruising industry. So, I'm not sure I'd expect crazy cruise deals as part of a strategy for the industry to get out of their current plight.

 

[conversationalphrase]

On Royal Caribbean's Q1 analyst call at the 41 min mark, their CFO answered a question that basically described the load factor required to break even (from an EBITDA) perspective. For newer ships it's around 30% and for older ships it's around 50%. With break even points like 30%, I can see less of a need for heavy discounting for the cruising industry. So, I'm not sure I'd expect crazy cruise deals as part of a strategy for the industry to get out of their current plight.

Good info. Thank you.

 

[brett]

We travel frequently and we do take advantage of special offers-often last minute. We are not even shopping at the moment. Not even considering a cruise and probably won’t until 2022.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

It looks like once local restrictions are eased off (whenever that is...), Sicily's tourism arm is planning incentives like subsidized flights, discounted attractions, and stay 3 nights and get the 4th night free promos. And it looks like Japan is going to do something similar.

I'm guessing more national, regional, and local tourism bureaus will follow suit.
I'm intrigued but the missus isn't sure if she wants to take advantage of such deals unless we can clarify what insurance coverage parameters.

 

[2017ish]

....

I also saw some great discounts on flights to Alaska (another bucket list state and a place I'd really like to visit). Unfortunately, I'm time limited and, after doing some initial planning, realized that Alaska is just too big a place to do any justice to on a long weekend. So, I'm putting off Alaska until I can dedicate at least a couple of weeks for a visit.

Yeah, we are planning for 6-7 weeks in Alaska right after we get back from our week in Colorado (first week of June). The airfare to both places shocked us. Colorado we'd normally drive to, but with a motel stay each way and meals, flights were essentially the same price, if not cheaper (esp. since DW's sister is going to lend us her car for the week).

And Air Alaska was offering truly affordable round trips. As for the costs once we get there, I dunno--but we are hoping that it will be less crowded than usual.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

And it looks like Japan is going to do something similar.

Correction!
It looks like there may have been a misinterpretation of the potential Japanese travel subsidy. It appears to be for domestic travel versus for international travelers considering a trip to Japan.

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Royal Caribbean just report Q2 results today and one interesting line from their news release was "Pricing for 2021 bookings is relatively flat year-over-year when including the negative yield impact of bookings made with future cruise credits; it is slightly up year-over-year when excluding them."

At this point, it doesn't sound like one should expect to see a lot of discounting for the RCL lines in 2021. It seems like there's a lot of pent up demand for cruising with regular cruisers willing to buck up for their sailings.

I was looking at cruises on X (which is part of RCL) for 2021 and 2022 and the prices are not cheap.