The cruise pricing seesaw is bounding up and down, according to a new report by investment firm A.G. Edwards. The good news, according to analyst Tim Conder, is that Caribbean pricing looks to be stabilizing; the bad news is that Alaska pricing now seems to be foundering, just ahead of its season. Europe, he writes, is still the darling of the industry. Conder writes that Caribbean pricing starts by looking at Carnival, the industry leader in the region, and "if the price leader is stabilizing, pressure will likely abate for the balance of the industry," he says. "It appears that the widening price/value relationship of cruises relative to other land-based vacation alternatives is again putting a floor under pricing."
