Topic: NCL price rises - effective March 22

Citing wave volumes, NCL becomes the latest to set a price hike
Norwegian Cruise Line became the latest operator to report an ‘unprecedented’ year-to-date increase in booking volume during its wave season promotions and said it will push up prices as much as 7% on April 2 as a result.

The news closely follows Carnival Cruise Lines’ announcement of record bookings and its plans to hike prices as much as 5% on March 22.

Operators like Oceania Cruises have made a practice of telling customers the date when fares are going up but the strategy of across-the-board price increases by major brands on a specified date has not been common in the past.

NCL today credited its ‘Year of the Freestyle Vacation’ wave season promotion in January and February for high bookings volume and said group business was up close to twofold. The line also cited ‘strong interest’ in Norwegian Epic, debuting in June, and in the Hawaii-based Pride of America.

‘Our first quarter wave season promotion definitely persuaded consumers to book a Norwegian cruise vacation as we saw heavy call volumes translating to exceptional bookings,’ said NCL ceo Kevin Sheehan.

‘As we move out of wave season, consumers and travel partners can expect to see our prices rise across the fleet, especially for our new, highly anticipated ship Norwegian Epic,’ he added.

Sheehan said travel agents should take advantage of the current pricing for their individual bookings and to block group space up to four months prior to sailing without paying a deposit.

Source: Cruise Community

It's not volumes, it's to pay for the new logo!!

I'm booked for Christmas, can't believe how early I'm going to have to be looking 2011 - I suspect (cynically) that the hike will be matched with new promotions (late deals??) ending up at about the same price overall.

This has certainly been the case with my early booked Thomson - (booked early with free drinks package, base price has fallen since but like for like - up a few % overall).

David