In other words, some of the best travel deals that have popped up on travel agency websites in recent days are from Norwegian Cruise Line — a brand that has in recent years been more reluctant than most to slash prices deeply.
As of Friday morning, the Miami-based carrier was selling seats on upcoming Bahamas sailings for just $37.25 per day.
That’s about 53% less than the least expensive Bahamas trip available early Friday from the competition Royal Caribbean. It’s about 17% less than the least expensive Bahamas trip available from Festival cruise line.
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As of Friday morning, Norwegian was also selling seats on upcoming trips to the Pacific Coast for as little as $39.80 per day.
The lowest rates tend to be in the Norwegian “Sail Away” category, where cruise lines choose your room location.
For now, these fares are eligible for a free excursion credit, which reduces the total price of your stay even further. However, you can save more overall by opting for a slightly higher fare that qualifies for the airline’s latest “Free at Sea” promotion.
The promotion offers free drinks, Wi-Fi packages and specialty meals, plus credits for shore excursions with new bookings for cruises of three nights or more .
There are only a handful of Norwegian trips with the most discounted rates, and most of them are departures within the next few months. These include:
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- The four-night Bahamas cruise on the Norwegian Pearl departs Miami on January 16, with fares starting at $149 per person — or $37.25 a day. The trip includes stops at Grand Bahama Island, Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay, a private Norwegian island in the Bahamas.
- The five-night Pacific Coast cruise on Norwegian Bliss departs Los Angeles on April 9, with fares starting at $199 per person — or $39.80 a day. The trip stops in Victoria, BC, and ends in Vancouver, BC
- A four-night Pacific Coast cruise aboard Norway’s Encore departs Los Angeles on May 1, with fares starting at $179 per person — or $44.75 a day. The trip is a one-way journey to Vancouver, BC, with no stops.
- The Bahamas three-night skyboat cruise departs Miami from Miami on March 3, with fares starting at $199 per person — or $66 a day. The trip stopped at Nassau and Great Stirrup Cay.
- A two-night Mediterranean cruise on the Norwegian Sun departs Granada, Spain, on March 31, with fares starting at $99 per person — or about $50 a day. The trip stopped in Seville, Spain and ended in Lisbon, Portugal.
All of the heavily discounted fares above are for windowless interior cabins only, which are the lowest class cabins on each ship. However, Norwegian is also offering notably low rates for cabins with balconies and ocean views on some trips.
Related: 6 ways to get a deal on a cruise
Ocean-view cabins (that is, cabins with windows) on the five-night Norwegian Bliss cruise departing April 9 were listed on the Norwegian website on Friday for $259 – only $60 more than a cabin without windows. The balcony cabin on the boat is listed for $299. Work out about $60 a day for a balcony cabin.
Note that all fares are per person based on two people staying in the cabin. They are not available to solo travelers.
Also, while rates include accommodation, meals and entertainment, they do not include taxes and port charges, ranging from $98.73 to $234.17. Cruise lines often advertise their fares excluding taxes and port charges but add these costs to the final bill at the time of checkout.
The fact that Norwegian offers at least a few departures close to starting prices lower than what is available from rival lines such as Royal Caribbean and Carnival is a departure from the pricing models we have seen. seen in the past year.
Most recently in October, Carnival provided last minute vacancies for upcoming departures for only $26 a day while Norway’s leading price is much higher. Royal Caribbean sold last minute seats on its cruises in the fall as little as 33 dollars a day.
Related: The ultimate guide to choosing a cruise line
As of early Friday, the cheapest Bahamas trip available on the Royal Caribbean website starts at $54 a day. The least expensive Bahamas trip on Carnival’s website starts at $44.75 a day.
As we wrote in November, starting prices for Bahamas trips in Norway running 120% and higher than 93%respectively, compared to starting prices for Bahamas sailings on Carnival and Royal Caribbean ships.
Over the past few years, Norwegian has promoted a deliberate strategy to keep prices the same, even if it means they attract fewer bookings and their trains are less full.
“We have no bones about [it] that we hold the price,” said Frank Del Rio, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings in December on a conference call with Wall Street analysts, where he explained the strategy in detail. this comb. can’t touch.”
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is the parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruise.
The result of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ strategy over the past year has been significantly lighter occupancy on vessels of various brands, as higher prices kept some customers from booking.
Related: Why we love Norway’s newest ship, the Norwegian Prima
In total, the three Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings brands reported occupancy rates of 82% for the quarter ended September 30. In contrast, the Royal Caribbean Group brands reported occupancy rates of 82 percent. 96% in the same quarter.
Royal Caribbean Group is the parent company of Royal Caribbean, Famous people and silver sea yacht.
Rival Carnival Corporation in December reported occupancy rate for the most recent quarter was 85%.
Carnival Corporation is the parent company of Carnival, Princess Cruises, Netherlands USA and six other major yacht brands.
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