Cruise news: prices going up, gas being guzzled

Are you thinking about booking a cruise? Well, you should hop to it as like most things in travel these days, the rates are going up. According to a research report by Wachovia, Caribbean cruise rates are already increased, while it appears European cruise rates may have softened a bit.

Like all things in life, you can chalk it up to supply and demand:

With capacity up 15% to 20% in Europe this year, Wachovia analyst Tim Conder said that "European pricing remains the most challenging" for the industry. Conder added that after currency benefits are realized, European cruise prices will be only slightly down.

Conder wrote that pricing in the Caribbean is up almost 10%, while Alaska pricing has declined in the low double digits for Carnival brands (excluding Holland America and Princess), and the low single digits increase for Royal Caribbean Cruises brands.

I'd be on the lookout for even more rate increases as cruise companies look to cover their increased costs of fuel. An extra bag surcharge perhaps? Seems offbeat for a cruise, but who knows...

I will predict that as the economy continues to soften, we'll see significant sale activity from the cruise companies. So it's more important than ever to pay attention to the news and do your research on the best price available. And, while I do about 99.9% of my travel bookings online these days, I always call and talk to an agent when thinking about booking a cruise. I've found that most of the time, they can give you some tasty discounts over the phone.

So, this report got me thinking about what kind of fuel economy a cruise ship actually gets. Can you imagine? Do you want to know?

Well, if you think Hummer owners have it bad, check this out:

The Queen Elizabeth II - a massive cruise ship that holds nearly 3,000 passengers and crew - was once reported by Harper's Magazine as going a whopping 29 feet per gallon. Extending the math, there are 6,076 feet in a nautical mile.

Meaning, it takes close to 210 gallons of fuel for the QEII to go one nautical mile.
(yes, that's not miles per gallon, that's gallons - hundreds of a gallons - per mile!)

Sweet Jebus!

Study shows Caribbean cruise prices rising [Travel Weekly]