I am finding it hard to remain positive about our return to cruising as lines continue to cancel their itineraries month by month into the future. As of the writing of this article the suspension of sailings are now in effect until the end of June, and the CDC out of the United States has confirmed that the travel restrictions for cruising will remain in place until November 1, 2021 as originally stated. What does make the wait easier it that vaccines are rolling out and incidents are dropping despite the advent of numerous variants. This is truly a case of the glass being half full, I’m just not sure if it is a fine chardonnay, or urine.
Planning is still an essential element of all future travel and as the news evolves and circumstances change it is important to pay attention to items that influence your plans. One of the most volatile areas seems to be the cost of future travel, hence this installment will focus on money issues.
On March 6th Cruise Industry News published an article entitled, “Cruise lines under pressure to significantly raise ticket prices”. The pressure is coming from investors in light of the intensified demand for future cruise bookings. This reinforces the basic economic concept wherein an increase in demand will result in the supplier increasing the price until it balances with what the purchaser is willing to pay. Right now the demand is increasing exponentially to the supply, signaling that it is okay to increase the price until you reach the point where most buyers are unwilling to pay more.
This is supported by such reporting as Royal Caribbean seeing a 30% increase in bookings over the last quarter of 2020 and Oceania Cruise Lines selling out a January 2023 world cruise in just one day. It is no secret that there is tons of demand for cruising. Pricing is still very competitive for 2021 itineraries as uncertainty continues as to when we will be able to hit the open water, however the same is not true for 2022 and into 2023.
To give you an example, we booked a 12 Night Baltic Cruise for June of 2022 in May of 2020 just after our pending cruise was cancelled and because I needed something, anything to look forward to. The itinerary had just been released and many sources will confirm that is when you get the best price. However since then we were able to reprice the cruise twice, and get more perks, in August and again in September when times were at their bleakest. I checked the price about a week ago and found that our cruise, even on sale, is now close to C$2,700 more.
I am sure that you, like us, have saved so much money in the past year not being able to travel. Even still I don’t want to spend it all at once.
Many cruise lines have released itineraries far into the future and avid cruisers, and the not so sure but can’t wait to do anything first timers, are snatching up the bookings. Reports have been quick to note that much of the bookings are cash sales and not future cruise credits being used. This indicates new sales and not just recycling previously cancelled ones. Having said that there are a number of folks sitting on future cruise credits that will need to use them sooner rather than later.
If you are the least hesitant about committing to a vacation that far into the future take some time to read up on your cruise lines cancellation policies, including their refund of deposit policies. Trust me when I say that are not created equal and will vary significantly even across a single line. This is a great topic of discussion with your travel professional.
On another but related note, the carrier we usually deal with for travel insurance recently announced that for those who purchase an annual multi-trip policy by September will get 15 months of coverage for the price of 12. Not a bad deal, if you need it. Coverage for Covid-19 related issues and exclusions or limitations dependent on government travel advisories are still constantly being updated so do your research carefully, or contact a travel insurance professional for advice.