My first cruise out of New York (Manhattan) was on this ship, the Norwegian Gem. It's a good ship, and it doesn't overwhelm you with its size. I find it to be comfortable, without any of the needless frills, such as water slides, rope courses, and race tracks, etc. being added to newer ships.
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On an earlier cruise, I traveled in an inside cabin. This is the type of room that forces you to go outside and be with people. There is not much in the room, but there is enough room for two people to travel comfortably.
You'll note that the bed has been assembled as a queen size bad for two to sleep together. However, the two halves can be moved to the sides (as noted in the second photo), so that each person can have a bed to him/herself. This is usually the lowest cost cabin category, but can also be the most comfortable, as they are often on lower floors near the ship's center of gravity. (This can be very important during storm weather.)
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On other trips, I have traveled in an ocean view room. These cost a little more than an inside cabin, but you get the benefit of an outside view. (I had one of these on a Holland America cruise, and felt it was a reasonable compromise in the price/value equation.)
There is a drawback to ocean view rooms. Sometimes, in stormy weather, the ship can rock from side to side. And I found that this kind of rocking can be exaggerated being on the side of a ship.
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Next comes the balcony cabin. This is a popular, but more expensive category. When the pandemic hit, passengers in these cabins had outside air while confined to their rooms.
However, sometimes, one can find pricing anomalies between the cabin categories between Inside Cabin, Ocean View and Balcony rooms. In one cruise mentioned in my prior blog, I found a fluke where demand based pricing caused an inside cabin to sell for the same price as a balcony. Although the balcony uses space less efficiently than the balcony cabin, I'd choose the balcony any day. Yet, when the same balcony sells for twice the price of an inside cabin AND I'm traveling alone, I'll take the inside cabin. If one is at sea, the same view can be found on deck, and one has to get up and moving to do so. If one is in port, you may have a terrible view. And who wants to pay extra for that? But that's me - I don't need a lot to feel relaxed.
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Lastly, I'll mention the last of the cabins I'll consider cruising in, the Club Balcony Suite. (Note: not all browsers can support viewing images in the linked page.) On the cruise that I'll soon be taking, it only costs twice as much as the inside cabin and gives me over twice the room in the cabin to spread out.
If you closely at the bottom picture, you'll see that this cabin has a full bath and not a stand up shower as you'd find in the other categories. I could get used to traveling this way if I could afford to do so in the future. This kind of splurge is a big change for me, even though I got the room at a steep discount from its normal price.
I wonder how many of the people I've cruised with over the past 25 years can say they've enjoyed a cabin like this....
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Compare the following cruises and their prices:
The 12/26/21 cruise on the Norwegian Gem has a single occupancy inside cabin priced at $1707 while the sail away suite is priced at $3681. This is what I'd normally expect to spend.
Above is the 02/27/22 cruise on the Norwegian Getaway. A single occupancy inside cabin starts at $1301 while the sail away suite is priced at $1797. This looks like another unicorn in the making. But I'm not as familiar with the size of balcony cabins and sail away suites on that ship. However, it is not the great bargain as the following cruise with the same itinerary as the above two cruises.
The above is the 12/19/21 cruise on the Norwegian Gem. You will note that unlike the other two cruises, there is no single supplement. On this sailing, a single occupancy inside cabin is priced at $650, while the sail away suite is priced at $1154. You can guess which one of these cruises I chose to take.- - - - - -
It's obvious that I've encountered a wonderful fluke in cruise pricing that I will never see again. But I love hunting and pecking through the cruise offerings to find great bargains. It's a safe way of spending time, as I can't afford to squander money anymore. By focusing on the hunt for a bargain, I have a purpose for my search. And when I find a "unicorn", I jump on it for a great trip. Hopefully, I'll be able to find another unicorn sometime in the near future.
PS: The Cruise got even cheaper after I booked it, then went back up....
This is the price for the same cruise as of 10/14.....
The cabin I booked now sold for roughly $900 plus taxes and port fees.
And then, as of 11/01...
None of the cabins are at their lowest price, and the pricing is a little more rational. But one day later....
The prices for this cruise started to inch up as we got closer to sailing date. Even though I could have saved a few extra dollars in Mid-October, that deal had sailed by the time November came along.
And lastly, a price chart taken on 12/08:
These look like the lowest prices we'll see for this cruise. $1154 - $749 = $405 price savings by booking at the last minute. Given that they still have mini suites available, I feel that this means that few people are booking this cruise.
It looks like one or more of the suites numbered 11632, 34, 36 / 11132, 34, 36 are still available as of 12/08. It's too bad that I don't have someone who I am intimate with. I could have afforded to treat her to a great cruise at this price! Hopefully, next year at this time, I will have company for my travels....
