{"id":24327,"date":"2015-05-26T01:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=24327"},"modified":"2015-05-26T01:00:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T08:00:06","slug":"tuesday-130","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=24327","title":{"rendered":"Concerts, Cruise Ships Share Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week, we tried to see Neil Diamond<\/a> in concert (yes, at 74, he’s still performing). A quick check of tickets delivered the news that they weren’t in our budget, unless we wanted to sit where you need binoculars to see the stage. Aha, we thought, there’s sure to \"Neil<\/a>be a last-minute deal.<\/p>\n

There wasn’t.<\/p>\n

Standing at the box office five minutes before the show was supposed to start, the $191 tickets were still $191 and, we were politely told, that wasn’t going to change.<\/p>\n

Maybe cruise lines are getting tips from ol’ Neil, who at 74 continues to play to nearly sold-out houses. If everybody thinks last-minute deals are the way to go, most people will wait until the last minute and the “gate” will suffer.<\/p>\n

Translating that to the current cruise climate, it means last-minute deals are disappearing. Last month, it was Royal Caribbean<\/a> that decided to rid itself of what CEO Richard Fain called the “used-car salesman kind of mentality.” This month, it’s Carnival<\/a>. Both consider the strategy a profit-killer and, yes, cruise lines are in the business of turning profits.<\/p>\n

– Eva Rinaldi photo<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So both would rather have empty cabins on ships more or less full of passengers paying the “going rate” than fill up the ships to have heads in every bed, as they say. This is a major philosophical shift and it’s likely to spread so that there are almost no last-minute deals anywhere.<\/p>\n

The same goes for the concert crowd. If a 74-year-old entertainer selling out on his past sets the standard for the non-discounting of tickets, it’s likely to be the case for all entertainers.<\/p>\n

If, of course, it isn’t already.<\/p>\n

In the news…<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

• Over a million people welcome Cunard Queens on the Mersey in Liverpool
\n\t• Windstar christens Star Legend after $8.5-million refurbishment and name change<\/span>
\n\t• Royal Caribbean to make Aklan, Philippines its hub for Asia region<\/span><\/p>\n

Today at portsandbows.co<\/span><\/a>m: <\/strong><\/em><\/span>Luxury cruising on the move<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Carnival Liberty<\/a>
\n\t7 nights
\n\tAugust 23, 2015
\n\tSan Juan<\/a> (return): St. Thomas<\/a>, Barbados<\/a>, St. Lucia<\/a>, St. Kitts<\/a>, St. Maarten<\/a>
\n\tInside: $419
\n\tCost per day: $59<\/strong>
\n\twww.carnival.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, we tried to see Neil Diamond in concert (yes, at 74, he’s still performing). A quick check of tickets delivered the news that they weren’t in our budget, unless we wanted to sit where you need binoculars to see the stage. Aha, we thought, there’s sure to be a last-minute deal. There wasn’t.… Continue reading Concerts, Cruise Ships Share Philosophy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,32,25,19,15],"tags":[137,154,738,912,72,819,1506,34,35,374,1975,26,27,423,33],"class_list":["post-24327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cruise-industry-news","category-deals","category-people","category-ships","category-stories","tag-caribbean-cruises","tag-carnival","tag-carnival-liberty","tag-cruise-bargains","tag-cruise-deals","tag-cruise-news","tag-cruise-prices","tag-cruise-profits","tag-cruises","tag-last-minute-deals","tag-neil-diamond","tag-phil-reimer","tag-ports-and-bows","tag-richard-fain","tag-royal-caribbean","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}