Lawrence:

Of course, only the corporate "insiders" have the answer. I'm not one, and I'm not sure I'd like to be one at this point. I can make a couple of educated guesses, though.

Radisson MUST believe that the negative effects of a rather steep price increase will be offset by rising demand for cruising, and their product in particular. They appear to believe that they are in a price inelastic position. I'd also guess that they don't fully realize the possible impact of Silversea "pulling up on them" in the "good deal" department, on which Radisson has been the leader for several years on its "specials." That's why we have cruised Radisson an obscene number of times in the past couple of years. Fear that the good deals wouldn't last (as they rarely do, in our economy.) Heck, the second week on our Feb. '03 PG back-to-back came in at $143 per diem, and we had even managed an upgrade to a balcony. We took it not out of extravagance, but out of a sense of "better grab it now, as it may not ever return." Looks like we were right.

My fearless prediction is that Radisson will have to institute deeper discounted specialls off its increased '05 prices to reasonably fill its ships. As you point out, there is intensified competition, and personal income just isn't rising very much.

Thanks,
Richard