Star Wars Days, inflating the prices?

[holula]

But they weren't at the beginning. They have become that much higher because so many people are booking them. That's the way it works.

Right after they were announced prices went up. And then went crazy. I wanted to do one until I saw the price... I can just go to multiple Star Wars weekends for WAY less.

 

[Dug720]

Right after they were announced prices went up. And then went crazy. I wanted to do one until I saw the price... I can just go to multiple Star Wars weekends for WAY less.

Because unlike when new itineraries are released, there was not a gap between announcement and ability to book. Add to it that those cruises already had some reduced availability from having been open for a while and the, um, intensity of some Star Wars fans who jump on anything that remotely smells of Star Wars immediately booking (yes, I'm friends with more than a few people who don't get that it's just a movie and my feed on the page which shall not be named pretty much exploded with "Just booked a Star Wars cruise!" with a string of "Me too!" comments) booking pretty much the second it was announced, it's not surprising the rates climbed quickly.

Look at opening day for the summer 2016 cruises and how quickly those rates increased - in some cases dramatically even before non gold or platinums could book.

It's all about supply and demand. Yes the high prices suck - but we have to remember that any cruise, even a Disney cruise, is NOT a god-given right by birth. We all make choices as to what we want to do, and we have to make tough decisions. (For myself I found a non-Disney cruise for summer of 2016 I was IN LOVE with and could not wait to do - but when I looked at the non-cruise costs involved (like a one way ticket TO Singapore and a one way ticket FROM Perth, Australia) I realized that as much as I wanted to take that cruise I couldn't. Was it sad times? Yes. But I know I have other choices I can make.)

 

[emilymad]

In September 2014 we booked the Fantasy for January 2015. Now we are looking for January 2016 and the prices are $1K-$2K more than last year. All of their booking strategies must have worked but that is a crazy price increase in one year. Now we will just look at other options but it is sad to be priced out of Disney so quickly.

 

[Dug720]

In September 2014 we booked the Fantasy for January 2015. Now we are looking for January 2016 and the prices are $1K-$2K more than last year. All of their booking strategies must have worked but that is a crazy price increase in one year. Now we will just look at other options but it is sad to be priced out of Disney so quickly.

January 2016 HAS been available for booking for a while even before Star Wars days were announced, so it's highly likely that by now cabins have sold to the point where prices are that much higher.

 

[emilymad]

January 2016 HAS been available for booking for a while even before Star Wars days were announced, so it's highly likely that by now cabins have sold to the point where prices are that much higher.

My point is that I booked in September last year and it is only May now but the prices are way higher then last year at this time. This is for both the Eastern and the Star Wars cruises.

 

[LWILDP]

I agree prices are sky high -- can't believe how much they jumped! But also note it's definitely a supply and demand thing. We booked one of the Jan 2016 cruises back in Dec 2014 and found it was $1,000 cheaper! I suspect that the Jan cruises weren't selling that well initially and that Disney added the SW day to boost demand (and test it out). I think it worked! Will be interesting to see if they continue this option in the future.

 

[Flossbolna]

I am thinking that the algorithm that DCL uses for making the prices higher is not only set by how many staterooms are booked, but also by how fast they are booked. Meaning if 10 people book in one day it might already trigger a price increase as if 10 people booked over the time period of three weeks, it would not yet trigger a price increase.

If you look at the Star Wars cruises on cruisefish, you can see that most staterooms did a huge jump from one day to the next in early February. I am sure that must have been around the announcement time and was caused by many people booking in a short period of time. otherwise you see cruises that only had something like two or three price increases since opening day and still sell out.

 

[iZon]

This winter the Fantasy did Eastern and the Magic did Western, up until May. Next winter the Fantasy is flip flopping and the Magic is doing mostly Bahamas. I wonder how they know from one year to the next which itinerary will have more demand. And maybe with the Magic not doing Caribbean as much, it lessens the supply and puts the prices up somewhat.