Travel pricing psychology

[OldShooter]

It's really right there - sign up early. Perhaps they get a better rate on hotel rooms, transportation or whatever if they can book the stuff early. Or maybe they just want to lock in a non-refundable deposit. ...

Well, the main reason is that the sooner they can get the trip filled up the less likely it is that they will have to offer big discounts to fill slots near the departure date or, God forbid, not fill all the slots.

 

[HGTVFanatic]

Probably 7 years ago. I was on the Oceania site asking a few questions about a South America cruise...we ended up not booking anything with them.

To this day we get mailings at least twice a week and it's impossible to figure the best deal. I've tried to get off the list, but can't seem to make it happen. Some weeks half our mail is from these knobs. I've emailed, I've used the online please don't send me S%^t option and still it comes. It's really starting to tick me off.

Just write on the mailing: Return to Sender. When they keep getting their crap returned, they will take you off the list.

 

[ivinsfan]

Just write on the mailing: Return to Sender. When they keep getting their crap returned, they will take you off the list.

I think that would just tick off my mailman as I don't think bulk mail is returnable....Just Friday I got the biggest mailing every from them promoting all the 2019 sailings it's been 6 weeks since I asked yet again to get off the bulk mail list. Next time I am in a bad mood I'm going dig around for and phone a give a real person an earful.

 

[athena53]

I think that would just tick off my mailman as I don't think bulk mail is returnable....Just Friday I got the biggest mailing every from them promoting all the 2019 sailings it's been 6 weeks since I asked yet again to get off the bulk mail list. Next time I am in a bad mood I'm going dig around for and phone a give a real person an earful.

Do they give you a postage-paid return envelope? If so, rip up as much as you can, stuff it back in the envelope with a note telling them to take you off the list, and put it in the mail.

 

[sengsational]

Just so others have a price reference.
Last year in June we went on a cruise with Viking.
Free air, free tip gratuities, and the cheapest cabin was $4900 ea, so $9,800 in total.
This was for the 14 day Grand European Tour along the Rhine/Danube.

I felt it was cheaper than the previous number of years of offers they mailed us.

Building on the "price reference" for others discussion...

$350, all in, including air, is a great nightly rate, I think. We went in early August of 2015 and it came to $410/night for a 7 day. Do the per-night prices drop for longer cruises? That would be easy to check, but I haven't done it. And I have no clue if prices for river cruises have been pushed up or down between 2015 and 2017, or how currency valuations have changed, in that time etc. For me, though, river cruises aren't worth it; once you net out the differences, it's 3 times more for a river cruise as compared to a "good port selection" large vessel ocean cruise.

 

[dtbach]

Building on the "price reference" for others discussion...

$350, all in, including air, is a great nightly rate, I think. We went in early August of 2015 and it came to $410/night for a 7 day. Do the per-night prices drop for longer cruises? That would be easy to check, but I haven't done it. And I have no clue if prices for river cruises have been pushed up or down between 2015 and 2017, or how currency valuations have changed, in that time etc. For me, though, river cruises aren't worth it; once you net out the differences, it's 3 times more for a river cruise as compared to a "good port selection" large vessel ocean cruise.

The only thing is, places like Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Paris, etc, etc are hard to get on a "large vessel ocean cruise". So you can either do a bus trip, river cruise or rent a car and do it on your own for those. I like to do all of the above depending on the tour company.

 

[Teacher Terry]

When we go to Europe we don't want to take a cruise but like to do it ourselves. We save the cruising for other destinations.

 

[Nemo2]

Sitting in a Lisbon library........killing time until our flight to Bucharest.......noticed that VTG, on our Florida to Copenhagen jaunt next April, is showing $2,391 p.p. base price.....we paid $830 p.p.

 

[sengsational]

Interesting that.the price went up so much. Might be they only have the best rooms left? Or maybe just getting a lot of interest on a dwindling supply. I used to think some of these cruises went with blocks of rooms empty, but I think they're pretty good at filling up the ships. I hope they don't go to the annoying airline pricing model where the prices spike as the departure date nears....it's kind of fun to grab a last minute deal.

 

[Bamaman]

We just got off the Norwegian Breakaway in Southampton this a.m. We spent less for 12 days than on a 7 day Caribbean cruise. Norwegian has really improved in the last couple of years. Cleanest ship and best service we have ever seen in our last 18 cruises.
We are in London for a weekend before heading to SW Ireland driving trip.
Only ER allows for the time to take such trips that are bargains.