Big dip in cruise prices (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Big dip in cruise prices

9:22am Monday 14th March 2011 in Holiday News By Telegraph & Argus

Cruise prices on some superliners in early summer are plunging towards £50 per day as the leading lines try to avoid the slowdown in high-street spending caused by job fears and soaring fuel prices.

This week, Cunard flagged Transatlantic voyages on Queen Mary 2 from £599 – “very limited availability,” it admits – in late April, and from £799 in June. Prices include a London-to-New York flight in the opposite direction.

Upmarket line Crystal Cruises promises up to 2,000 US dollars onboard spending money on bookings by March 31, while the fast-growing Reader Offers agency claims 19 nights on MSC Musica from Rio to Venice in March 2012 costs less than £72 per night – if you book now.

Online agencies are squeezing prices on departures in the next few weeks.

Idealcruising.com offers 17 nights on P&O’s Oriana in the East Mediterranean, ex-Southampton on March 30, from £899, while 14 nights on P&O’s new Azura, ex-Southampton on April 8, costs from £799.

At CruiseCompare.co.uk – launched in January to scan other cruise websites – long-haul deals include seven nights on NCL Norwegian Star from Los Angeles to the Mexican Riviera from March 25 costing from £1,038, including flights. Seven nights on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines’s giant Brilliance Of The Seas from Dubai on March 21 to Fujairah, Muscat and Abu Dhabi starts at £806, with flights extra.

The biggest cruise agency, Cruise Thomas Cook, has a £399 lead-in on a six-night voyage on Ocean Countess, leaving Hull on April 2 bound for Normandy, Guernsey and Amsterdam.

Cruise & Maritime Voyages, which sails Marco Polo from the London Cruise terminal at Tilbury, Essex, and Ocean Countess from Hull, claims its Arctic Circle voyages currently start at £47 per night. Departing March 21, 14 nights start at £599. However, many of these prices are boosted by fuel supplements.

P&O and Cunard have increased supplements introduced in December to a maximum £6 a day or £200 in total, while Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines reviews its options.

Price pressures in cruising are also set to intensify as Carnival UK – with brands including P&O, Cunard, Princess, Costa and Seabourn – indicates that commissions for agents will be trimmed from 15 per cent to five per cent.

INFORMATION: Cruise & Maritime Voyages (0845 8339798 and cruiseand maritime.com); Fred Olsen (01473 742424 and fredolsencruises.com); Idealcruising.com (0845 2961832 and idealcruising.com); Crystal Cruises (020 72879040 and crystalcruises.co.uk); Reader Offers (0845 4588909 and readeroffers.travel).