Cruising Alaska in 2009
Cruise pricing in general this year has shown some of the lowest rates in a decade, which is no surprise given the economy. It also has to do with the fact that there are around 30 new ships entering the market in the next couple years and the lines have to fill them. The good news for the cruise lines is that they are still filling their ships to capacity by dropping the rates. They make most of their money in onboard revenue anyway and the most important thing to them is sailing full. They lower the rates when sales are slow and raise the rates when sales are good. Simple supply and demand at work. The good news for consumers of course is there are crazy low rates. We've seen some sailings where the cost per person per day makes it cheaper to be on a cruise than to eat at home!
This brings us to Alaska in 2009. Cruising Alaska has been a dream destination cruise for many people for a long time and has become more and more popular each year. Cruising is still the easiest and most economical way to see Alaska, but the prices have remained strong before this year and then some changes have occurred. The biggest change has been the state of Alaska imposing a new $50 a head cruise passenger tax that passed on a voter ballot initiative.
So you're thinking new taxes means rising cost for the consumer....right? Not so fast in these crazy economic times. The result of the new Alaska has been that budget conscious consumers were not booking Alaska as much with a TON of ships scheduled for the summer Alaska season. This forced cruise lines to slash prices to record lows for the consumer, and even with the new tax figured in. The next trend was that many lines have publicly stated that because of the new tax environment that they will pull some ships from Alaska in 2010 and deploy them elsewhere. This means with less ships sailing Alaska in 2010 and the continuation of the tax laws, that prices will most certainly rise next year. However, for the remainder of 2009 it mean lots of already scheduled sailings and open cabins the lines need to fill up.
Bottom line....if you were ever considering an Alaska cruise, then 2009 is the year the planets have aligned for both choices and pricing. These are historic low rates for Alaska and the options and rates will almost certainly go up in 2010
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