On October 18, 2010 I warned everyone that Seabourn was going to be increasing prices. You can read the “I Told You So” here.
But you need to keep the price increase in perspective. Prices are actually not increasing, but normalizing. Over the past 18 months Seabourn’s pricing has been low to, in my opinion, a fault. You are going to be seeing “rational” pricing; that is pricing reflective of the luxury product you receive and, oh yes, the prices you previously paid.
To be fair, there will be sticker shock on some very strong selling cruises, but the sky is not falling. I will give you two examples:
1. A client sent me a very emotional email about how Seabourn just ran her off the ship with the new pricing. But, after taking a breath and looking at the cruises she actually was interested in…Seabourn’s pricing today for a 14 day Med cruise in September 2011 is lower than it was in September 2010 (at least for now: HINT HINT). She smartly booked her cruise.
2. Another client called with some concern, but admitted that they had paid for a cruise in 2011 and that Seabourn had priced it just at the top of what they would spend…only for Seabourn to slash the price saving them thousands of dollars which they were happy to not spend, but which had no effect on whether they would take the cruise. In other words, Seabourn lost thousands…and I have a few clients on that same cruise!
So remember: There is still great value and Seabourn is not raising its pricing on every cruise. It is actually normalizing its prices after offering so many cruises at ridiculously low prices. The key is still to book early because Seabourn is not going to engage in the same pricing strategies it has in the recent past.
If you have any questions, please email me at eric@goldringtravel.com or call me at (877)2GO-LUXURY or one on of my international numbers or on Skype or on Facebook or…you get the idea.
