How does Cruise Pricing Work??? I know...it is a secret

[tigger2002]

Seven Day

Does anyone know how room pricing works for Disney, especially for the Cat. 12 rooms.

Example: We plan to go in March and the price for a Cat. 12 Eastern was $999 and today it is up to $1,600 per person. There are Cat. 12s in January for $689.

Does that mean that they are all out of Cat. 12s and they are trying to get people to not take the lower categories and hope that they take a 6 or 9. Then start offering them again at a lower rate to fill the boat?

We did that last year, the price was high and then it went down to $599 per person, and as the cruise got closer it went up and down. There were over 30 Cat. 12 rooms sold on that cruise (in reality there are only 13 Cat. 12 rooms on the ship I think).

I thought about creating a spreadsheet to follow the trend but then thought that might actually involve some work

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[beachbratt]

Seven Day

Does anyone know how room pricing works for Disney, especially for the Cat. 12 rooms.

Example: We plan to go in March and the price for a Cat. 12 Eastern was $999 and today it is up to $1,600 per person. There are Cat. 12s in January for $689.

Does that mean that they are all out of Cat. 12s and they are trying to get people to not take the lower categories and hope that they take a 6 or 9. Then start offering them again at a lower rate to fill the boat?

We did that last year, the price was high and then it went down to $599 per person, and as the cruise got closer it went up and down. There were over 30 Cat. 12 rooms sold on that cruise (in reality there are only 13 Cat. 12 rooms on the ship I think).

I thought about creating a spreadsheet to follow the trend but then thought that might actually involve some work

<

don't know the secret or about cat 12 but the price depends on the time of year January is considered off time with them where March could be spring break and higher cost and also if they still have alot of rooms available the price will come down too or special offers like kids sail free and FL resident and such.....

 

[kcashner]

The prices go up in "tiers" as the ship fills. The initial pricing is based on time of year and past history with sales and rates. If a cruise is selling well, the rates go up quickly; it it's not selling, the lower rates may last a long time.
If a rate is higher than you'd like, some people can change their dates...others are "stuck" with dates and must pay the higher prices.

If the cat 12s are sold out/selling well but the rest of the ship isn't selling, DCL will adjust the prices and open/close cat 12 availability in order to sell more cabins. An empty cabin is a loss to them....filling it at any price is better than sailing empty. DCL has 10 years of experience in maximizing revenue per cruise and they're good at it.

 

[tigger2002]

OK I have created an Excel Spreadsheet to look daily at the price of Seven Day cruises (the cheapest price Cat. 12 only) from now until April. I will trend them for awhile and see how the prices go up and down as the sail date approaches. I will see how it goes with about a months worth of data.

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[Morgey24]

If the cat 12s are sold out/selling well but the rest of the ship isn't selling, DCL will adjust the prices and open/close cat 12 availability in order to sell more cabins. An empty cabin is a loss to them....filling it at any price is better than sailing empty. DCL has 10 years of experience in maximizing revenue per cruise and they're good at it.

Correction - they are GREAT at revenue maximization... DCL has folks who track school holidays/schedules for the "major" school systems before they price cruises. They have this down to a science, similar to airline capacity/revenue optimization models. Unlike airlines, however, you can "jump in" and book and, normally, re-book up to a certain point if the prices go down. With airfares (nothwithstanding Southwest) once you book there are huge penalties to change.

 

[kcashner]

The piece that you are missing from your spread sheet (and there's no way you can get it) is how full the ship is!

 

[tigger2002]

I have been tracking the price of the lowest prices for all seven day cruises from October until April. What I have noticed, and everyone knows, they change without notice. The cruise I have been wanting to book in March is now at $999 for a Cat. 12. It had been $1,600 for a Cat. 11 and NO Cat. 12s, and before that it was $999 for a Cat. 12. Since I have been graphing all of the cruise prices it is apparent that our is not the only one that goes up and down.

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[tvguy]

The prices go up in "tiers" as the ship fills. The initial pricing is based on time of year and past history with sales and rates. If a cruise is selling well, the rates go up quickly; it it's not selling, the lower rates may last a long time.
If a rate is higher than you'd like, some people can change their dates...others are "stuck" with dates and must pay the higher prices.

If the cat 12s are sold out/selling well but the rest of the ship isn't selling, DCL will adjust the prices and open/close cat 12 availability in order to sell more cabins. An empty cabin is a loss to them....filling it at any price is better than sailing empty. DCL has 10 years of experience in maximizing revenue per cruise and they're good at it.

Exactly. It's the same computer software airlines and rental car companies use. If demand for a specific date goes up, so does the price. Not sure if Disney adjusts it up several times a day like the airlines and rental car companies do based on demand, but it appears that unlike the the airlines and rental car companies, they don't drop prices if demand falls, they open up cheaper categories.

 

[kcashner]

This is why you need to check the price of your cruise every day or have a TA who computer tracks all their bookings. If a price drops, DCL will match the lower price IF you call and ask for it. Miss it, and you keep what you have.

I think that's why they open lower categories. If they drop the price of a cat 11 from $999 to $799, a certain percentage of people who booked at $999 will reshop their ressies. IF, instead, they open the cat 12 for $799, they can sell as many as they choose to at that price and then close the category again, fully knowing that some of those cat 12s will sail in cat 11s.

They can do the same thing by offering FL res rates or other specials--they avoid MOST of the refunds in this way. The obvious goal is to maximize revenue on each sailing....and they do it most of the time!