Many people love to lament how cruising has changed in the past couple of decades, and long for what it used to be like – the ‘good old days’ of cruising.
Back in those days, a cruise was a real treat, and you could expect a stellar dining experience at every meal, top-notch entertainment, and attentive and personalized service.
I don’t disagree that cruising has changed, but I will offer two observations:
- High quality food, service and entertainment are still available; you just have to pick the right cruise line.
- Cruising is far cheaper now than it was in the 70s, 80s, and 90s.The way they have made it cheaper is to build bigger ships, and to make some of the services user-pay.
First let’s talk about food, service, and entertainment.
If you’ve sailed on one of the mass-market cruise lines, you are already familiar with today’s levels of quality. Many people express concern with the size of the ships, and diminishing quality of food and entertainment.
This may be true, but it still represents tremendous value compared to any other form of packaged vacation. Many Caribbean cruises are well under $100/day for all your transportation, accommodation, food, and entertainment. At this price, the value per dollar spent is very high.
For those who want more, you should be aware that the fastest growing segment of the cruise industry is on the luxury ships. These ships are smaller (fewer than 1000 passengers), and feel much more like cruising did in the old days. You can expect to pay between $250 and $500 per person, per day on these ships. For some people, the added expense is well worth it. Others will want to stay with the mass-market lines.
Next, let’s look at historical costing for cruises.
As mentioned above, you can cruise the Caribbean for less than $100 per day, and many other global destinations aren’t much more than this. Put in its historical perspective, cruising has never been cheaper. In fact, the cost of a luxury cruise now, is even cheaper than a mass market cruise in the 80s!
Stay with me….
I came across a copy of Cruise Travel Magazine from 1985, and here are some of the “deals” being advertised. Remember the price advertised is the base fare, or the lowest possible price to get on board that sailing. In other words, this is the price for an inside cabin at the front of the ship. The number in brackets is the cost in 2018 dollars:
Cruise Deals in 1985:
- HAL Rotterdam, 17-days departing Miami $2930 ($6563)
- NCL Norway, 7-days to Eastern Caribbean $1195 ($2677)
- Carnival Carnivale, 3-days to the Bahamas $290 ($650)
- RCL Sun Viking, 14-days to Eastern & Southern Caribbean $2265 ($5074)
- Sun Princess, 7-days to Southern Caribbean $1526 ($3418)
The average base price per day for the above sample-set: $367. A quickly run calculation on the average base price per day of a Caribbean cruise in 2017: $77.
Cruising is exponentially cheaper than it was a generation ago.
So, the bottom line here is that you CAN have the high quality food, entertainment and service that you used to get. You can also get it for substantially less than it cost back then.
However, if you want to pay $77/day (which works just fine for lots of folks), you can expect the levels of quality and service that you get now on the mass market lines.
Planning a Cruise? I’d love to help! Click here to get in touch today.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sue Bradley
Sue Bradley
