Wall Street analyst: Cruise ship pricing stabilizing at lower levels

[mercedes]

Is this the bottom for cruise prices?

In a research note out today, prominent Wall Street cruise analyst Robin Farley of UBS says fares for upcoming voyages to the Caribbean, Alaska and Europe have stopped going down. But that doesn't mean they're going up, either.

"Our proprietary UBS Cruise Pricing Survey indicates ticket pricing in the Caribbean, Alaska and European trades appear to have stabilized over the last several weeks," she says. But the stabilization comes "at levels down materially from the start of the season."

Farley says prices in the Caribbean are down "in the mid-teens" since the start of the year. Pricing in Europe and Alaska is down "in the mid- to high- twenties percentage range."