I just saw this posted at Cruise Critic and thought it was interesting, RSSC cruise blog.

Luckily for us, we have our own secret agents on board!

Very interesting comments made by Del Rio and Conroy via the Blogger. While I believe that the economic downturn hasn't had much of an impact yet, I suspect that even for the luxury and premium cruise markets, more attention will be paid to pricing by clients if stock portfolios take a big hit.

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Eugene

Eugene, I totally agree with you.

Nancy

I'm not sure that the following quote from Mr. Del Rio is excatly "consumer friendly" --- "these two brands have had the luxury of being able to raise prices." I would have assumed something more along the lines of "had to raise prices to maintain our high standards and continue to meet our clients' expectations."

"The bigger issue for us is the psychological effect on (luxury buyers) when their share values go down in the stock market." But so far, so good.

So far so good is right -if portfolios take a big hit long term, Eugene, these lines are in for rude awakening, I think.

I hope some MAYANS have a chance to visit with the USA Today reporter and hear his thoughts, impressions, news.

Wow ! Those words shock me.
Guess they don't look at LCT very much and read our comments about "how this may be my last one if prices keep going up"

If it's true that their inventory for 2008 is over 80% sold at the higher prices, clearly they have no incentive to hold the line on prices. They'll charge what the market will bear. We might not like it, but unfortunately that's the way companies are run, especially if they are owned by these private equity firms.

I am with you Jim:

glad to hear there bookings are through the roof, and prices will probably be increasing: Must be nice.

FV

I think Ted (hrprof) is taking all our comments with him. Didn't he post that or did I only dream/wish it? Sounds like Ted needs to make multiple copies!

Betty, it was Mike that is taking all of our comments with him.

A very valid statement, Maria.

I believe Regent will hold to rising fares. Why shouldn't they, if business is brisk?

If I were a Regent rep, reading LCT, I would clearly see that there is a very mixed message being sent. While there have been numerous posts voicing displeasure at rising fares, there are also many posts stating the numerous cruises that have been booked for this year and into 2009.

Those who are financially able to afford Regent may balk at rising fares, but have the disposable income to book them, regardless. This not only holds true for what I believe to be the vast majority of LCTers, but the countless others who do not participate in the LCT forum and are Regent loyalists. It may be stated that one is looking for value and hoping the fares will be more in-line with what once was. The reality is that if people keep booking, regardless, those statements don't hold water. Regent has a product to sell and a client base obviously willing and able to book and pay those escalating fares, perhaps begrudgingly, but willingly.

The only way one can make a true and strong statement about their displeasure is action, not just words.

People still want value and don't want to feel ripped off. I think if % increases are reasonable, people will pay. Right now, lines seem to have the luxury to charge. They will all charge what the market will bear. I know when we were on Silversea in December, they already were 80% sold for 2008, and they weren't that anxious to make ANY deals. I know I was trying to get on a segment of the world cruise, and they were not even anxious to see if there was one spot left at the last minute and said if so, it would be full price.

When Seabourn and Silversea get their new ships out, Regent customers will still be waiting for the new ship, but there will be more berths out there in the luxury market, and I wonder if they can still fill up as quickly as before.

Doesn't appear that I will be sailing the new ship when it is built. :(
From the RSSC Blog:
Conroy says the new ship also will have to have pricier cabins than Regent's current vessels for it to make sense financially. As a result, he's looking for new amenities he can add that will convince passengers it's worth a premium amount per day.

The blog also mentions that they're considering single occupancy cabins. I originally started cruising RSSC in large part because its single supplement was small enough to render it competitive with premium lines. I cruise solo probably half the time, and, depending on the pricing, a single occ cabin may keep the ship within reach. But, given the general uptick in pricing, combined with the rather depressing downtick of the value of my savings and investments (at least on paper), I fear that, for me, luxury cruising may go back to being a once-every-three-years splurge at best.

The worst would be if the single cabin pricing had a built in "supplement" over the per person for double cabins, and had single supplements for double cabins at a higher rate than they charge now.

I saw that also - the single cabins - and cheered. Then thought - Where will those gems be priced? 40% is tough to take now. Can't imagine what they will do with these. I guess we wait and see. Like you Crystal - I started when Regent ss was much less than the competitors. How times have changed!

I didn't do a "solo" cruise on Regent until late 2003, when it was more reasonable, maybe 30%, then went up to where it is now at 40% if you book early, 100% on heavily booked cruises if you book very late. Big reason why I don't regularly cruise with other luxury lines.

It seems to us that there are two types of Regent cruisers: those for whom money seems to be no object; and those for whom Regent is a financial stretch, but who nonetheless are willing to pay the price for the Regent experience. The comments of Messers Del Rio and Conroy seem to ignore the second group, which seems to represent a large percentage of the Regent cruisers both here and on Cruise Critic.

I wonder if they'll achieve their capacity goals if they raise prices substantially, as the two presidents suggest. For us, if our 5/27/08 Alaska cruise on Regent had been priced 50 percent higher than what we're paying, we would be getting ready to enjoy our suite on Holland America, rather than on the Mariner.

USA Today's Gene Sloan has a separate article about the plans for the new ship, and in the comments he says the Regent executives really do want to hear from their customers who are not currently on the Mariner cruise. I asked: how's the best way to tell them what we think? He says the Regent folks have said they're reading his blog entries regularly, so post there. So I did, and I'd encourage other LCT readers to hop over to this forum, take 60 seconds to register to post on the USA Today site, and post your thoughts. If it's true that plans are not carved in stone, and the executives are open to listening to our thoughts and concerns, now's the time to speak up. I posted a long message about my concerns about higher prices, but others should contribute their thoughts.

Here's the link for the "Regent Seven Seas Cruises plans its biggest ship ever" page; comments are at the bottom.

-- Eric

I just registered on USA Today and posted a comment. It's simple, and I figure it can't hurt. I think the more of us who post our concerns, the better.

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Eugene

I'm with you Joanna!

Re: Regent feeling confident because people have made 2009 bookings.

My thought on that is anything not within the period when you don't get anything back regardless if you have paid up or not, can still be cancelled. We are probably in for a real bumpy ride for the next 6-8 months...people who have made bookings for 2009 earlier this may have to re-evaluate their positions later in the year and decide to cancel.

I agree with Debbie that People still want value, I mean there will always be people out there with endless cash and the fare price does not mattter, but then there are a lot of other people who have the money, but just feel they are over paying and the value is not there. This is one of the reasons I cancelled our trip to Italy for the fall, we have the money but I cannot honestly enjoy paying the Euro exchange rate and be happy about it, so I will stay here and spend my money in the US Somewhere..

FV

Regent will be giving us a survey to fill out and after the cruise it's supposed to be on rssc.com for anyone to comment. They may even send it by email to those of us who are on their list.