Time to vent

 

Our 2009 cruise schedule – as we have already posted here – will consist of a couples cruise aboard the new Celebrity Solstice in February and a family vacation on the Caribbean Princess in June out of New York.  While we eagerly await both cruises (especially with no cruises scheduled for us in ’08), the original plan was not the 9-day cruise with Princess.  Rather, as our website name might suggest, our original plan was for a family vacation aboard Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas out of Miami.

Wasn’t meant to be.

We are based in Pennsylvania and although the Liberty cruise would have been for two days less than the Caribbean Princess cruise, thanks to oil prices, it was cheaper to drive to New York City (which is three hours away) and vacation for nine days instead of seven. 

For a junior suite (RCCL) vs mini-suite for four the difference was nearly $2000, which is just plan crazy in our opinion.  Even taking into account a premium price for a Freedom Class ship versus a Grand-class Princess ship, $2000 is a lot more money and not worth the difference!

But it doesn’t end there:

A Explorer of the Seas cruise at the same time and of the same length (actually leaving on the same day out of New York) was approximately $700 more than the Caribbean Princess Cruise.  And here, the ship is older (a Voyager class), so why the difference?

What we have found is that Royal Caribbean does not discount like they used to and thanks to oil prices are pricing in lots of money for air transfers; so much so that for this couple, they priced themselves at the market, at least for 2009.

Of course, they own Celebrity, so in February they will still get some cash out of us!!!

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