First Time with Royal

Hi everyone!

We are looking into booking our second cruise December 2015 (our first was with Carnival). From what I gather Royal doesn't do the same price drop thing as Carnival - where no matter when the price drops you can get it if you submit the form - unless it's within 48 hours of when you book correct?

With that in mind, and all the discussion of the crazy 'sales that aren't really sales' when would be the best time for us to book? Hubby won't go unless he gets a balcony, something about being able to jump if he needed to :shrug: haha.

Any suggestions? Thanks!!!

-Krys

I monitor the prices regularly and if it isn't a new booking but a general drop call either the cruise lines or your TA depending on how you booked and request the new price. We got a price drop on our April Hawaii cruise and called our TA who contacted RCCL and we got the new price. I book our when the dates open because any drops after our booking date have never dropped to the opening price plus we get the room we want.

There is no best time to book. Just pick a price point that you are comfortable with. I have had the best luck when booking more than a year out. My two booked cruises are still much higher in price than when I booked them. I have also had good luck booking last minute, but the cabin choices are limited. I have taken advantage of a price drop on my 2015 cruise already, because it was not limited to new bookings.

Thank you! Quick responses :) I figured we would book asap, because I don't want to lose out on a good cabin. Just wasn't 100% if we could get a better price if the prices dropped or not.

Thanks again!

We really can't tell, some cruises have drops others not. Our best drop was during the 2014 Hawaii when they had a Calif, AZ & TEX Residence drop. We paid something like 2500 pp and 4 months from sailing it dropped to $1899 plus the insurance dropped. Factoring in all fees, insurance and taxes we saved around $1,000

We get awesome deals in December.

Last year we did Dec 12-22. On the Explorer out of Bayonne... super rates!!

This year we are doing the New Years cruise, so its more..

But, we are booked for next December 9-19.. we got 10 nights for just over $1500 total... (no drinks, no windows.. no frills... but thats ok... we are cruising for $75 each a day... Makes tipping and drinking and extra shopping and excursions so much easier when we got such a great deal...booked a mininum of a year out :)

We are going out of Baltimore for our next few.... we can drive there and do a sleep/park/cruise...

If the price drops before your final payment is due then you can take advantage of the better price in most cases.

Example. We booked a 2 inside cabins on Freedom for next Sept during the last "sale". We paid "X" dollars and received a small C&A discount (about $20-30 if I remember correctly). A week later they changed the sale around and the price actually dropped about $10/pp, and they added a $100/OBC for inside rooms. All it took was a 2 minute phone call to C&A and they revised both of our reservations to the new price, and applied the $100 onboard credit to both rooms. That was a couple months ago, prices haven't been anywhere near there since.

You just have to keep an eye on sales and do mock bookings for like rooms during those sales to make sure you're not missing out.

Just wanted to add.. If the prices go down for some reason after final payment you'll have the ability to pay the difference and upgrade to a better room in most cases if you want.