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Is Cruising Still Good Value For Money? - Audio Only | Cruise Cast Ep.6

• Linzi & Mark - Suite Natured • Season 1 • Episode 6

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In this episode of the Cruise Cast, we talk about whether cruising remains good value for money. Over the past four or five years, we have seen significant increases in cruise fare, as well as onboard upgrades, so in 2024, is it still value for money, and how does it compare to other vacation options?

We also give our thoughts on a couple of recent cruise stories, and give you our takes, this week we are looking at a Virgin Voyages Brilliant Lady's new destinations, Princess Cruises new ship within a ship, and Holland America confirming a second season in the UK in 2026. 

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Cheers, and have a lovely day
Linzi & Mark

Linzi:

Welcome to episode 6 of the Suite Natured Cruise Cast. Hi, I'm Linz. As always, I'm joined by Marky.

Mark:

Hello.

Linzi:

Hello, and today we're talking about whether cruising is still good value for money.

Mark:

But first a little mood music. That's my favourite intro music so far.

Linzi:

Are we talking about whether cruising is good value for money in Cuba?

Mark:

That track genuinely, because you don't know, this is called Cruising to Cuba. Is it really? It genuinely is? Wow, yeah, we've not talked about that before.

Linzi:

And with that the podcast is over.

Mark:

That's it, we're done.

Linzi:

Because that's as right as I'm getting.

Mark:

Well, today we're going to be talking about, as you said, is cruising still good value for money? Because prices have altered a lot in the last couple of years. Yes, they've plummeted in half. And then we've also got three news stories that, as usual, you've no idea what I'm going to bring up, so we'll get your reactions to them and let's see where we go. And we've got a drink which I'm just going to quickly have a quick sip of. Okay, cheers, everyone, cheers, thank you. There you go. Oh, a little bit blank, it's almost like you've got some big ice cubes in there, but let's get started with the topic. Okay, is cruising still good value for money?

Linzi:

I can tell you who it's not good value for money what's that?

Mark:

it's not good value for money for solos going on celebrity no, I mean, we'll probably come back to solos a little bit later on. Just remind me to. I will loop back to that. To loop back to that, solo cruising has become very, very expensive. Now we don't solo cruise. We either both go on a cruise or we don't go on a cruise. But we do know other people who are married or who are in a relationship, who from time to time do need a cruise by themselves. Yes, and I just fundamentally object to paying nearly the same price for just me.

Linzi:

Celebrity pay more.

Mark:

We'll loop back to that later on.

Linzi:

Get ready for looping.

Mark:

So, if we go back to when we first started cruising we've talked about that on other podcasts One of the ways that you persuaded me to first try it was because there were the hot deals on royal caribbean, which were last minute deals within like a month of you traveling in dollars, in dollars, and which, at that point, just to be clear, it was about two to one for the dollar. So that's why, really, it was even cheaper. Um, you could get some real great last-minute bargains. Yes, now the last-minute bargains are pretty much gone. There are still some.

Linzi:

I think you have to use like a specialist cruise agent such as Vacations to Go.

Mark:

Okay.

Linzi:

Or someone like that who is sort of like the offload quite a lot of late availability I've always been curious.

Mark:

So with companies like vacations to go not that were sponsored by the oh, no, no but do the cruise companies offer out cabins to them at a discounted rate?

Linzi:

well, I'm guessing so, because when you're looking, look at the rates, they'll say 25 off up to 85 off, depending on how close and where it is and whether you can fly there and the flights are what are not good at them again no, and I think you know when you, when you look at cruising, we we've certainly, after the pandemic, cruised far more out of southampton, yes, than we did ever done cumulatively from when we started cruising yeah, I mean we've been looking at cruises and touching back on and like getting on a good deal or something, the lay availability deal.

Linzi:

The cruise looks great when you find a lay available to deal the flights no, no, flights have gone crazy.

Mark:

I mean, you could do a podcast just on how expensive it is to fly anywhere nowadays so maybe it's better cruising closer to get that.

Linzi:

Is it still good value?

Mark:

but then do the cruise companies know that they're going to get people from those countries and therefore penalize you no, I don't think they're penalized, but I think they don't need to be as aggressive with the pricing as maybe they did.

Linzi:

You know, pre-2020 I feel we've gone down such a rabbit hole and we've not even begun but I think it's a an important piece of it.

Mark:

Yeah, that certainly in the last four years, I would say that the average cruise fare I don't think it's doubled, no, but I think it's substantially more than it was it's definitely gone up Now in respect of is it still good value?

Linzi:

it's in relation to what it is yeah.

Mark:

It's value is subjective.

Linzi:

Yes, and it's all relative. Not that I'd want. You've always fancied going to the maldives yeah but going to the maldives for less than three and a half thousand pounds per person is not a thing really no, and they don't really do that much all inclusive there, apart from the mega resorts the megaorts do, and then you're going up again.

Mark:

Yeah.

Linzi:

And they normally only got one restaurant and a couple of bars that kind of thing, but what you get for £3,500 per person on a cruise, oh yeah, it's significantly different.

Mark:

Yeah, and that's what I think, one of the bits that we're going to talk about during this, you know, is it good value in comparison to X? Yes, because all vacations, all holidays, have gone up in price in the last four or five years. Definitely yeah. It's the way of the world right now that things are more expensive.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

You used to better get a last minute break from the UK to like Benidorm. You used to better go for like-minute break from the UK to like Benidorm. You used to better go for like a week for £150. Self-catering, self-catering, but that sort of thing just doesn't exist now.

Linzi:

No.

Mark:

Having said that, we do know of some cruise offers that are on at the moment, for I think it's either five or seven days on Costa where you can get a cabin I'm assuming it's an inside cabin. Yes, I saw this the other day Seven nights with drinks included yeah, for £199. Wow, or you could just get the cabin only for £99.

Linzi:

But that's going to be lay availability. You then got to get to Costa ships which don't cruise out of the UK.

Mark:

No, which is where we're based, so therefore you know that that's relevant to us. Yeah, if, if you've got to get a late flight anywhere oh you know flights do not come down in price, the closer you get no, they don't they get very expensive, very quickly yeah um, so yeah, you, you do take that into account. Okay, let's break it down then.

Linzi:

Oh, goodness okay.

Mark:

Well, in terms of how we're looking at what you get for your cruise yeah, so first off, you get the accommodation? Yes, do you feel that the accommodation is good value. In respect of, in comparing it to sort of other vacation types or for the money. You know what?

Linzi:

saying that, though a travel lodge in the Premier Inn can be knocking £100 a night.

Mark:

Well, I was about to say this to you because at the time that we were recording it, we were going down meeting some friends in London this weekend. Yes, and the Premier Inn, not far from where we wanted to meet, which isn't somewhere we would normally go oh, that's where we'll stay, but it's a bank holiday weekend, so it's a little bit more expensive is £314 for the night.

Linzi:

Which is crazy, because then I had a look and the Intercontinental it's almost like psychological warfare on people because they're thinking, well, holiday, the travel, what which one was premiering is that much? How much is the intercontinental? And the intercontinental or two was about 270 pounds, which is still a fortune for one night for one night with no food, with no drinks it's just yeah, every that sector in in the pandemic got absolutely hammered as I know from experience.

Linzi:

But now it's almost like we've come back into a whole new world. And this is the prices now.

Mark:

Well, I mean, when you look at it like that, because we just said that that's a hotel room only if we then added sort of soft, soft drinks, teas, coffees to it, you are adding a substantial and then three meals at least, yeah, because you know if you want to have 10 meals, yeah, and you know you want to keep going back to the buffet or pizzerias or whatever else is included on board yeah then there's no limit to how much you can eat in a day?

Linzi:

No, but when we went back straight after, when we had everything started to open up again and we had our cruises to nowhere, the prices there were really competitive to tempt us back onto the ships.

Mark:

Yeah, they were definitely because people had been concerned with what happened during the pandemic in terms of getting back on and it wasn't just cruising getting people to go back to anywhere Disney World, benidorm, wherever it would gain people to get back out again after a protracted period of time. So, as you said, the offers at that point were fantastic, were great, because we stayed in Rockstar on Virgin. Yeah, I mean that first virgin when we did on scarlet lady.

Mark:

yes, that was four nights three or four nights, four nights, I think four nights in rockstar I think it was about 800 pounds which you cannot get now.

Linzi:

No, incredibly cheap because we we had um the drinks.

Mark:

In our room there was champagne, yeah oh yeah, you, if you brought that down it was sweet, sorry yeah 100 pound per person per night, which you cannot get now, which, if you're looking at a comparison to any other type of vacation, yeah, what can you get for 100 pound per person per day?

Linzi:

no pretty much nothing no, not, where you have not to have to take pillows.

Mark:

No, because the other side of it you know, whether you're listening to this and you're basically close to Miami or LA, or you're in Asia, or you're in the UK, or wherever you are, there will be a cruise port that you can get to without having to fly.

Linzi:

Hopefully. Fingers crossed For most people.

Mark:

Yeah, I mean, we don't necessarily have to fly if we went out of barcelona no, you, you could go by I think it's 17 hours on the car yeah, we joked about driving to barcelona once just for a laugh, which seemed appealing, and going out seemed really interesting. Coming back when you finished your holiday and having to drive all the way back seemed less appealing no but maybe one day we'll do that. Maybe I'm not sure that becomes more cost effective, certainly in terms of time I don't know.

Linzi:

I think we'd be just a bit cranky when we got there. It's bad enough on the plane at least you know you'll get there remember anyway back to value for money, yeah, yeah.

Mark:

So when you do break it down to the, how much does it cost per person per night? Yeah there is still very few vacation types. I feel that, compared to cruising, yeah yeah, you look at the all-inclusive resorts which you know they're. They're as close to cruising as you can get.

Linzi:

In that you sort of encapsulated and different experiences.

Mark:

The results are normally set away from main areas. Yeah, so you're in a area like you would be on a cruise ship?

Linzi:

Yeah, because we stayed at Moon Palace one time In Mexico, yeah. Yeah, and that was beautiful and we've always then kind of looked at sandals. But then the pricing structure there is that you have like entry-level pricing compared to the beautiful room that they always show in the ad well yeah, but to be fair, cruise ships do that as well.

Mark:

They don't normally show the sort of the cheapest of inside cabins next to the engine, no, the tent, and show the lavish suites.

Linzi:

I know, but it's.

Mark:

But when you look at sort of those all-inclusive resorts yes, let's look at sort of Sandals or Moon Palace or those sort Nowadays to go out there for a week and you've got your flights to go. On this you're probably talking two to two and a half thousand pound minimum.

Linzi:

You know more.

Mark:

That's why I said minimum. If you get a package, one where your flights are included and everything else, it's probably about four and a half thousand pound per couple per week.

Linzi:

No, it's more.

Mark:

Is it?

Linzi:

It's more. It's more. I know it's more because the hotel that was in Benidorm, I think it's. I'm just trying to think.

Mark:

Oh, that was in Benidorm, tv show.

Linzi:

The Sol Pelicanos or something like that. That was all inclusive. That has been £1,500 a time Per couple, no per person. Per person.

Mark:

Wow, okay, so let's use that one as an example then.

Linzi:

And then so what could you get? And that's because of the TV show and everything.

Mark:

Yeah, it's a result where people have seen it the Benidorm TV show in the UK. It's been on for years and the one of your stuff?

Linzi:

No, actually Is it.

Mark:

It's on one of these streamers the first few series were great. The Madgemobiles. But yeah, when you look at those sort of prices because you would compare that to sort of more the not lower end of cruising so I don't mean it like that, but more the entry sort of level of cruising If you compare that £300. But that's £3,000. You can go on most major cruise lines in a balcony.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

And probably with a drinks package or close to being for three grand. Yeah, because it's yeah. If you look at sort of princess and the princess plus all the princess premiere, you can definitely get on most seven night cruises for 1500 pound per person, with that included. Yeah, so that's what you've got to compare it to yeah um, and I think when you do compare it like that, it is still good value for money. Is it as good value for money as it was five years ago?

Linzi:

no, probably not no, but nothing is.

Mark:

That's the thing and that's the whole part of it. I've had quite a few people said to me over the last couple of months, including at work yeah, they've looked at cruising.

Mark:

It's really expensive yeah and I've then have this conversation. It's like, yeah, but you've got your food included, depending on which cruise ship you might be. Drinks included yes. How much do you spend when you get to your resort? Yeah, and when they then work out, they go actually. Yeah, it's all right. It probably isn't that way and it's because you're looking at, and when you then look at, sort of, some of the more, um, more premium lines, yeah, for cruising.

Linzi:

And we've done this ourselves and they look pretty scary until you cost them against Maldives.

Mark:

Well, not just against Maldives, If you cost them, against similar cruise lines that you think are cheaper. Where it includes the drinks package, where it includes your excursions, where it includes your flights, your truities yeah, flights, your truities, and you add it all together and you go actually to go on that sort of six-star cruise. It's only going to cost me a couple of hundred pounds more than this other one. Yeah, so it's working it out.

Linzi:

Sorry, can I tell you how much? So? Travel Blog Jamie and Steph from Cruise with Amber are having a little convo over eggs about the price of celebrity solo cabins, and Steph has done a screenshot of how much the quote is for a solo. How much is it?

Mark:

For just a solo cabin? On what cruise?

Linzi:

Shall, I get my phone.

Mark:

No, you don't need to get your phone. But what sort of cruise is it? Seven nights.

Mark:

I think it was the seven nights like one of the the snazzy ones out of the uk on apex I'm guessing yeah, it will be yeah well, I think, if I'm right, I think um princess child, sorry princess, I think celebrity charge double and a half. I think it's 150 percent that they charge for solo occupancy in a double cabin. So how much is it? I would say it's probably £3,000 per person £7,500. What I know, I'll show you this that's not good value.

Linzi:

I'll show you this.

Mark:

I'd just find some random person down near Southampton and say do you want to come on a cruise with me?

Linzi:

I think this is like a kind of travel buddy kind of thing. Like a kind of travel buddy kind of thing, yeah, there's gotta be on there.

Mark:

I don't know whether that's like. I mean you've then got to share a room with someone.

Linzi:

You don't know.

Mark:

I think there might be some weird caveats to yeah, just ignore that, don't do that but if you've got a friend, yeah, but who you can tell with his yeah, that's if that price is right. I'm sure. I'm sure I'm not big asterix in that. I've not seen it, we've not looked at it. I'm going to show you afterwards. It does seem incredibly expensive.

Linzi:

Is there some way you can put it in the notes at the end?

Mark:

I will put it in the description of the show as to exactly how much that was. So if you have a look in the description it'll say how much that celebrity one was, that lindsey's on. But yeah, I think solo cruising is a different thing. We've got friends like Fraser.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

And he predominantly sails solo. Yes, and I know the challenges that he's had. Certain ships have a number of dedicated solo cabins that they don't charge any more for. Not every cruise line does that, no.

Linzi:

I think Norwegian is very good.

Mark:

Yeah.

Linzi:

Virgin as well.

Mark:

Yeah, cunard has some, I can't remember. I might be wrong, but I think that, generally speaking, solo cruising at the moment isn't good value for money.

Linzi:

No, I'll show you afterwards money. No, I'll show you afterwards.

Mark:

Yeah, I'll show you afterwards, if you're having to pay double yeah, but and but.

Linzi:

Then again, if you're a family and you can get all in one cabin, then that's good value. It's then when you you go into having to have two cabins that it's less so it gets.

Mark:

But that's like that for a hotel so if we just sort of come away from the sort of generic cruise fare and stuff like that, then when we're talking about Bali for a moment, where do you see things like Princess Premier, Princess Plus, Holland Americas, NCLs, where they're charging you for what essentially does become an all-inclusive, where you've got unlimited drinks, cocktails, soft drinks, maybe specialty dining, maybe gratuities? Where do you think that they sit at this moment for value for money?

Linzi:

I like the Princess one NCL always. I find a bit scary coming out of the UK at the minute.

Mark:

Well, just go back to the Princess one. What is it you like about the Princess one? You're on about Princess Premier.

Linzi:

Yeah, I like Princess Premier because you only pay the difference if you go off-piste in respect of any drinks.

Mark:

So if the drink was 20 and you've got a limit of 17, you pay the difference.

Linzi:

Yeah, I like that, I like that and I like the peace of mind that you don't have to worry about it.

Mark:

Yeah, peace of mind. I mean, we've talked about this on lots of different sort of videos and on our live streams. Yeah, the advantage of buying these in advance is that you're not thinking every time you're getting a drink on the ship of oh good grief, how much is my bill going to be?

Linzi:

Even down to like a fancy coffee or a bottle of nice water, you don't have to worry.

Mark:

But that's that value for money thing.

Linzi:

That's a peace of mind but it feels value for money when you know you've already paid for well, we worked it out when we were on celebrity.

Mark:

Now, celebrity is notoriously expensive for its cocktails and its drinks yeah but if you get the drinks package at the right time, so you'll often get the sort of classic package included.

Linzi:

Yeah, you can they have a.

Mark:

They have special offers on a regular basis um, but they'll also, throughout the year, have several sales where you can upgrade to the next level above very cheap. Yeah, because if not it's quite expensive. Um, it's 89 dollars a day. I see, yeah, um, yeah. And you, you do have to drink a decent amount to get that, but on average their drinks are between $15 and $20. So you don't actually have to drink that much, relatively speaking to get that value.

Mark:

The thing I like about the Princess Premier one for value for money is that it includes several things that I might not necessarily have bought. So I don't know if this is value for money. But, for instance, you get all the photos included. So whenever you see the um the ship, photo people around normally photographers, that's the word I'm looking for those photo people, um you, normally you might get one or two pictures done, but you know full well you're probably not going to spend 20 or 30 no, and you get no, and you get some prints as well.

Mark:

Whereas on the Princess one, when we've been on there, we proactively seek them out.

Linzi:

Which we try and avoid them.

Mark:

Yeah, because you get all the digital ones and you get three prints each as well. So you're like we've got to make sure we've got at least six usable pictures because we want to get that value for money. So that changes that. But to get that value for money, so that changes that.

Linzi:

But then you get things like um the dining alfredos and omelettes, depending which ships you, and then two specialty dinings.

Mark:

Yeah, so I think that those sort of packages princess premiere in particular, as other packages are available, but we're talking about yeah, we like princess um, I think they are great value for money. Yes, I think some of the other packages. We've talked about the P&O drinks package multiple times. I know that they've tweaked it a little bit and, to be fair, we've not been back and forth.

Linzi:

We need to try it, though they changed it late last year, but I don't believe it's changed that much they actually tried it on, they changed it on May, the 18th, the day before Men of Love Day.

Mark:

Oh it, on may the 18th, the day was filming a birthday, um, but that one. Historically, for me has not been great value for money. No, because a lot of the drinks are in there. If you go over the limit, you pay the full amount less a small discount. So, and when we did the pay-as-you-go comparison, yeah um, and it was.

Mark:

We were on a 14 night one, one when we did the PagerDoc comparison and we saved like £800 or something. Yeah, it was significantly cheaper and we had whatever we wanted, yeah. So yeah, I don't think that all drinks packages or combined all-inclusive packages are equal. No, there are some that are definitely better than other ones.

Linzi:

You need to do your research.

Mark:

Yeah, but yeah, let's try and wrap up the topic a little bit. The question we said is Is cruising still good value for money?

Linzi:

I feel it is for us. Yes.

Mark:

For us or generally. I was going to say Because I'd say it is generally.

Linzi:

Okay, let's go generally.

Mark:

What we talked about during that is how much it is in comparison to let's go generally. You know what we talked about during that is you know how much it is in comparison to hotels, all-inclusive resorts, etc. Etc. Flights it's the flights. If you've got to fly somewhere, that is a more expensive bit. But if you're going to Walt Disney World for a week, you've still got to fly there, and then you've got the cost of that.

Linzi:

Then you've got all the restaurants and you've got your tickets to the parks.

Mark:

Tickets are crazy price. That's an extreme example. Yes, yeah, but I do think it is still good value for money.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

Because proportionally, everything else has gone up the same.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

So, whilst everything's more expensive, I still think it's good value for money, yes, and with that cheers. We'll cheers that one before we go on to the news stories. Okay, okay, you didn't have a drink. Can we drink? Then you cheers? You said there's a rule.

Linzi:

I'm not sure I like this drink.

Mark:

If it jinx, you must drink.

Linzi:

I know, but I don't, I don't, I'm not sure. You poured it. I don't like it.

Mark:

Well, that's why I normally make the cocktails.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

So news story number one.

Linzi:

Okay.

Mark:

Brilliant Lady. Ooh, I knew you'd be happy with this news story, yeah, yeah. So at the time you're listening to this, so we're recording this. On Monday, the 29th of April, at night, just over 24 hours from now, they're going to announce a load of Brilliant Lady news.

Linzi:

We've got a voucher.

Mark:

And we've got a voucher. So May the 1st, the day that this podcast airs, the information will already be out that we're talking now, so we're going to be guessing a lot of those. Yeah, but Brilliant Lady is the fourth of the virgin ships. It was originally due out um last year 20, 2023, yes, and it got pushed back, delays etc. And it's now expected to start cruising in 2025 yes, which is next year?

Mark:

yeah, but they've not revealed any itineraries. It's not on sale yet and we do know friends that were due to be on um the transatlantic on that last year, yeah you know. So it is very behind, but the ship has been redesigned slightly to be a panamax, to be a panamax ship. And when they announced that, you know, for anyone listening doesn't know what panamax is, just to explain it Panamax ship. And when they announced that, if anyone listening, doesn't know what Panamax is.

Linzi:

Can you just explain? It's a ship that goes through the Panama Canal, the old locks.

Mark:

Designed to go through the old locks? Yes, can go through the new ones as well, obviously. Well, they're massive, yes, but it's slightly narrower. Now, what they've done to fit this is not actually make the ship narrower, because people might go oh, it's a smaller ship. The ship's essentially the same size. They've repositioned where the light bolts go on it, so it'll be interesting to see how that sits. Does it affect any of the cabins? Do we get any different obstructive views? We don't know. No, I know, but I've got a voucher and it'll be interesting to see if they've changed. I know you've got a voucher. You've been talking about this for the last few days, so, just to clarify, you can get a next cruise voucher when you go on there, and we've had one burn in a hole in our pocket now for about nine months For Brilliant Lady.

Linzi:

Yeah, they did go on sale.

Mark:

So they've talked about there's been speculation of are they changing any of the restaurants? Are they changing any of the entertainment venues, because it's now that long in development and getting ready? Yes, is it just going to be a copy and paste of the other ones, like the other three? The other three are essentially the same ship. You've got slight differences in terms of entertainment.

Linzi:

You've got slight differences on whether you've got a swing or or um or something to sit on a hammock or a birdcage no, I was going to say are you on about a?

Mark:

carnival ride or down in the area between the way like the instagrammable yeah, there's decoration differences and the, the alt where some of the shops are on some of them, but they're essentially the same, the very so will there be any difference on that? Whether they talk about that tomorrow, on Wednesday, I don't know, but what they are going to talk about, because they've Teased, yeah, and overly strongly, sort of teased it. So we know for definite.

Linzi:

I don't know.

Mark:

No, they've said they're going to announce new ports, so it's been leaking more and more. So this is virgin themselves that have said this. Um, the expectation is that it's going to be doing some west coast of america yes as well as some east coast of america yes and what's the easiest way to get between those two?

Linzi:

The Panama Canal.

Mark:

So which is the cruise? We definitely want to do all that Now, whether it's doing them on a regular basis or twice a season. Wants to go that way, wants to come back?

Linzi:

I suspect it's probably more that, oh, but will that work out for our dates?

Mark:

Well, we'll have to figure it out. Will it work for my voucher? It's expected it's going to be based out of la. It's also expected to be out of seattle because they've shown the space needle and they've shown um lady liberty yeah.

Mark:

So to have one out of new york, definitely gonna have it going out of miami because they've got their main sort of cruise terminal there as well. So it'll be interesting to see what happens with that. But which one are you most excited about? Herb, because the other rumor as well is that they do Alaska, but Virgin's not really designed as a cold weather ship. It doesn't have like a solarium type area or an indoor. Well, the existing one still.

Linzi:

That's true.

Mark:

But Brilliant Lady has been seen out and about and I'm sure someone would have picked up if you had a roof. I mean, maybe they haven't, but I don't think the fundamentally changed that much. But what? What are you most excited about that?

Linzi:

well, they just warm the heat, the pools up in the hot tubs. More, wouldn't they?

Mark:

yeah, but you still can't sit outside in that. No, that's true.

Linzi:

It makes the open space and I mean open space on most ships when places like I would like the panama canal yeah I would like cruising out of new york on virginia crew that'd be fantastic um, so yeah, I've got my voucher, I'm just ready to see, and then we've got to work out the dates, because we've got quite a few cruises booked for next year, quite a lot planned on with it so it'll have to work with that, but the voucher would you, if panama was just doing like one there, one back in a season, yeah, would you be willing to move another cruise to do that?

Mark:

yes yeah, I would, but I'd be excited which cruise? I don't know well, it depends when they're going to be. So anyway, by the time you're listening to this, you better find that out, so you'll know more than we do. So future Mark and Lindsay will be looking forward to finding that out. Past Mark and Lindsay are excited to find that out. Yes. Next story and this relates to another cruise that we've been on recently Princess Cruises.

Linzi:

Yes.

Mark:

So they've announced in the past few days that they're launching their ship within a ship, like NCL, like Celebrity, like lots of others have now done on the Sun Princess and Star Princess. Yes, the unusual thing about that is we've just come back off Sun Princess and it didn't have a ship in a ship at that point and at the time of recording this, that's about seven weeks ago. So it seemed a bit weird that they've done this after the ship has come out.

Linzi:

They went. Oh, we forgot.

Mark:

So what it is. I don't think that they forgot. I would have announced it in advance.

Linzi:

Yeah, maybe you had set the price in accordance.

Mark:

Yeah, so what they've announced is that they're doing this new type of cabins. Yes, not type of cabins, but a cabin class called the Sanctuary Class. Yes, the Sanctuary Class includes Princess Premier that we were just talking about. Yeah, all the benefits that go along with that. You reserve theatre drinks, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, but the Sanctuary Club we've just had a video come out on this past weekend. We've talked about this yeah, has now become part of that collection. Yes, and it's all rolled into one. Yes, what do you think about that?

Linzi:

Have we not spoken about this?

Mark:

Not on here, we haven't. We talked about it in passing on the video that we recorded yesterday, but this is a news story.

Linzi:

Okay, I guess it's news.

Mark:

Well, they've only just announced it and people are finding out. So this comes into effect from October the 14th. Just to finish the news story. Okay, so this comes into effect from October the 14th. Just to finish the news story, okay, and when Star comes out, it'll be from the start on there. Anyone who's booked in on rooms that are becoming Sanctuary 1 are getting notified now and they get access to the Sanctuary now. They're not getting the other perks right now because they haven't paid extra for it. Yeah, so they don't get the Princess Premier and all the other bits are included, but they are getting access to this actually, which I think is nice. If you're on between now and october, that is nice. Yeah, I had a look at the pricing, oh, and did I tell you this at the time? No, okay, so you can have a guess here. So, as an example, I looked at a seven night cruise. It was £1,250 per person in one of their deluxe balcony rooms. Okay, how much was it for the sanctuary-class deluxe balcony room?

Linzi:

With all the.

Mark:

With all the trimmings, all the bits. The cabins are the same. Okay, I think they've got some more premium like toiletries and stuff in there.

Linzi:

Oh nice, I'm going to say £3,100 per person.

Mark:

In which case it's cheap for you.

Linzi:

Oh, I was going, celebrity.

Mark:

Yeah, no, it's not quite that much. It were £2,550.

Linzi:

Oh, that's.

Mark:

I mean, I'm saying it's not bad, but it's still pretty if you look at the sanctuary as an example, um, the port day pricing on that is essentially 100 per person, yes. So if you look at that over a 14 night cruise, if you were going in there every day, yeah, then that'd be 200 pound per person per day times seven. So that would be £1,400 to the two of you together.

Linzi:

Yes, which is a lot.

Mark:

Which is a lot, but it's not still anywhere near the upgrade cost. That's double the price of what it is there. So, but you're then getting Princess Premier.

Linzi:

And it's that peace of mind thing again. It is, I suspect, if you were planning on getting Princess.

Mark:

Premier and it's that peace of mind thing again. It is. I suspect if you were planning on getting Princess Premier, it's good value because the Sanctuary class includes all of the mini suites, a select number of deluxe balconies. I don't think it's many, I think it's maybe like 12 or something. Okay okay, and all of the suites.

Linzi:

Do you get your own restaurant?

Mark:

You do get your own restaurant as well. Oh I see, I don't actually know where that restaurant is. I've just done a ship tour on it where we filmed every part of that ship and I didn't spot somewhere that was going to be a special place.

Linzi:

They're commandeering somewhere, aren't they? Like the two on the other ship.

Mark:

I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't. No, they're not going to get rid of Sabatini.

Linzi:

No, I'm not getting rid of it, but they use it, they commandeer it for breakfast and things.

Mark:

Yeah, but you can't commandeer it for dinner. Oh no, I suspect it'll be a part of one of the main dining rooms, like they've done for Love, black, britta and Spellbound, like club class. I think there'll be an area that's allocated.

Mark:

Okay, we'll see. Yeah, but I like it. I thought it was really interesting. I'm not surprised because virtually every other major cruise line has done one. It seemed more surprising in hindsight that they didn't do it. When it came out, they forgot, but it'll be interesting to see. But we've got a follow-on one, still part of the same story about Star Princess.

Linzi:

Right.

Mark:

So Star Princess has been delayed.

Linzi:

Yes.

Mark:

They'll put it back by over two months next year when it comes out. Yeah, um, and that's meant they've had to cancel first nine cruises. Nine cruises, yeah. Now, to be fair, they've told people in plenty of time. You know, we're on the three days notice week. That's nice, so I don't think that it's as big an issue and I think that they have learned from what happened with Sun. They're like we can't have this happen again.

Linzi:

No no.

Mark:

Now, if that comes out and they have the same challenges that Sun has had with getting entertainment ready and various bits and pieces, I think they're going to come in for a lot of stick off that.

Linzi:

Yeah.

Mark:

So hopefully they'll come out and be completely ready. Yes, but because it's now shifted two months, it's meaning that it's an incredibly short season in europe. Yeah, so there's now only two cruises in europe. Oh so there's the inaugural, which is now going to be out of barcelona on the 4th of october so all those people that, um, they're going to make it their main summer holiday.

Mark:

That's not an option now and that's an 11-night cruise from Barcelona I'm assuming it's doing like a Grand Med one Down to Rome, then it's doing seven nights and then it's doing a 14-night transatlantic from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale.

Linzi:

Oh, so it's not even coming to Southampton anymore, not coming anywhere near here anymore. Right.

Mark:

So originally it was going to be.

Linzi:

You'd do Barcelona to Southampton, Southampton to Fort.

Mark:

Lauderdale. Now, unless, as I say, they've said that more information is coming out of the same. It might be that it's doing the seven night from Barcelona to Southampton and then it's Southampton to Fort Lauderdale, but I can't imagine it'd be 14 days then. No, unless I went canary route. No, anyway, the reason that people don't know exactly what it is yet is because that actually goes on sale from our perspective tomorrow, from everyone else's perspective, listening or watching this yesterday. So it goes. Those new um three night cruises as well as the three night sorry, those three cruises go on sale tomorrow, the 30th of April. So you better see all that information. It'll be out by the time you're listening to this, but it'll be interesting to see, as well as the new ones that are coming on in.

Linzi:

I like that they're putting it live in the payday period as well well, I appreciate that, but I'm curious to see what that is tomorrow yeah, yeah, well and then the final story. Oh, my goodness, is that not it?

Mark:

no final story um holland america yes uh, which we went on for five hours as part of a media trip just over a week and then booked and then loved it and then came back and then booked it yeah x is uh new, new, new, uh statendam I'm gonna say tristan and justin say it so beautifully so we'll just say holland, america statendam, then, um, it's coming over for in 2025 because we're doing the transatlantic that brings it here for everyone. We're being very generous and delivering it to the uk. Yes, um, that same ship, because of how successful it's been in terms of its sales for this year, because holland america haven't had one based out of the uk for years no so and, unlike a few other cruise lines, they can give us one of the older ships.

Mark:

No, we've got one of the newer, snazzier ones, yeah, which everyone's like, oh, exciting. So they've now said that that one's going to be in 2026 as well. Wow, so it's doing two seasons. So, like Celebrative, done with Apex, yes, holland America are doing with Staten Dam, yeah, and that season next year is running, sorry, in 2026 is running from April till September, wow, so it's quite a big season, definitely. And they said there's going to be more itineraries for that one than there is for….

Linzi:

Well, they've got some very long itineraries.

Mark:

Yeah, but they're doing some British Isles cruises, doing some Norway ones, doing some Icelandic ones, nice, so it'll be interesting to see what comes on there. Yeah, but that brings us up to the end of the podcast. Well, thank you, darling Cheers, and you can have a drink of the drink that you don't like now.

Linzi:

I don't like it no.

Mark:

That's definitely not the best cocktail we've had for this. So we like the intro music. Let's cut to the outro music and we'll get a bear cocktail.

Linzi:

Oh, and thank you and have a lovely rest of your day.

Mark:

Cheers, hon, cheers.