Bad news this week for cruisers and agents trying to sell cruises. Hot on the heels of Royal Caribbean's decision to hike its surcharges, there's news of a similar move by deluxe line Oceania Cruises.
Anyone booking Oceania from May 1 will pay an extra $10 per person per day, which as anyone with basic maths will know is $70 a week and $100 for a 10-night cruise. Not an insignificant extra when you consider that passengers will also be forking out a similar amount at the end of their cruise in gratuities, not to mention what they have to pay for drinks, shore excursions, spa treatments and all the other extras that make cruising so enjoyable.
Clients booking with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises or Azamara Cruises are now paying £4 per person per day, but no more than £56 per cruise.
In the Telegraph this week, I note that senior management is amazingly calm about the amount of new tonnage being launched against a credit-crunching background of rising prices.
But I wonder how much higher these supplements can go before clients start to feel enough is enough. And what then happens to all this extra capacity? Discounting?
Lower prices might be great for clients and help fill the ships, but at what price? It's a dangerous one-way street road where none but the very skilled can manage a u-turn.
Jane Archer
