The cruise lines themselves, and nearly a dozen cruise brokers, are offering discounts of as much as 30 percent and more on nearly 200 Mediterranean/ Adriatic cruises for this summer, and the same reductions on more than 150 sailings in the waters of Northern Europe (North Sea and Baltic). And therein lies a tale.
In preparing for this year’s high season of European cruising (June through August), the conventional wisdom among cruise professionals was that Americans were desperate to avoid the high costs of European land travel and would therefore book the Europe-based cruise ships in unprecedented numbers. They proceeded to place a remarkable number of ships (their largest and most modern vessels) in European waters and to charge full tariffs for them.
Well, either because they listed too many such sailings or priced them beyond the public’s willingness to pay, the result has been a sudden reduction in price almost across the board. Even the fanciest ships charging from $5,000 to $10,000 and more per person for a 12- day (and longer) sailing are suddenly on sale for thousands of dollars less, representing discounts of 40 to 50 percent. Go to the website of the Texas discounter called Vacations to Go (vacationstogo.com), and you’ll be surprised to find listings filling page after page of luxury for less.
Online discounts
Remarkable discounts are beginning to appear on the Internet listings of the cruise lines themselves. Go to the website of Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com), click on “specials,” and you’ll find a surprising number of high-season European cruises selling for just slightly more than $120 a day. You’ll see 12-day cruises of the Baltic Sea on board the Norwegian Dream in June, July and August selling for $1,499 for an inside cabin – that’s about $125 a day. You’ll find a July 9 seven-day sailing of the Western Mediterranean aboard the Norwegian Jewel for $849 – that’s $120 a day. (Discounter Eleisurelink.com, 1-888-801-8808, is promoting successive sailings of the Norwegian Jewel from Barcelona for as little as $799 for a one- week cruise.) For the bargain of all time, you’ll find a 17-day sailing of the Norwegian Dream on Sept. 20 from Dover, England, across the Atlantic and through the Caribbean to Houston for $999 for an inside cabin – that’s less than $60 a day.
(The prices I’ve cited do not include airfare to and from the embarkation port).
The bargains are even greater from the many independent cruise brokers selling the upscale ships. From White Travel Service (800-547-4790), you’ll want to consider the 10-night sailing of the Mediterranean and Greek Islands departing July 14 from Rome aboard the Galaxy of the upscale Celebrity Cruises, selling for $904 per person for an inside cabin – that’s $90 a day. A similar sailing on the same ship leaves Aug. 14 and sails from Rome to Naples, Mykonos, Santorini, Messina (Sicily), Nice and Pisa, among other stops, also for $904 for an inside cabin. Or choose an 11-night Greek Isles, Greece and Turkey cruise aboard the Galaxy for $1,100, leaving July 24.
I am told by several observers that the very newest of the ships – the giant, just-launched vessels with the latest play areas and entertainment – are booking very well and discounting less. But the fickle public is not attracted to the “older” ships – like those that entered service more than two years ago! And the smaller ships – infinitely more pleasant for a European cruise that stops at many ports – are not booking as well as the larger ships.
It is typical of the travel industry that companies become overenthusiastic about a particular destination, assign too much capacity to it and then must frantically discount the product to sell it. Something like that is happening this summer.
Arthur Frommer, who first published “Europe on $5 a Day” in 1956, is an authority on budget travel.
