Is it me or are these prices out of control

We have several Next Cruise Cert that I've been working to set up for next year. The pricing is not making it easy. Meanwhile, Carnival is getting more of our attention and monies. Likely, we will book last minute on Royal, if and when, prices look more enticing. D+ benefits aren't a deciding factor, for us, anymore. We like to cruise often, so pricing is important.

I check my booked cruise rates every day. I do agree that the current rates are sky high....through the roof...incredibly high:eek:. I book way ahead and certainly worked in my favor this time:).

same here. I booked my cruise before the sale and they were offering a C&A discount and a military discount. I made out like a bandit!

Holy cow. You aren't kidding. I just peeked at the pricing on the Freedom for the cruise we booked in 2016 under the BOGOHO sale. It's now almost $3,700 for a junior suite. We're paying $2,500 for a js...booked it about a month ago.

Holy cow. You aren't kidding. I just peeked at the pricing on the Freedom for the cruise we booked in 2016 under the BOGOHO sale. It's now almost $3,700 for a junior suite. We're paying $2,500 for a js...booked it about a month ago.

RCI prices for the cruises I'm looking at are outliers compared to other lines. RCI is approaching a Disney-like premium at the moment. I have to think another sale is coming.

That is my guess too... Only time will tell, but I also think they hiked up prices so that they can WOW us with another sale :D

The cruises that I have been watching have ridiculous pricing right now. People can try to justify it all they want... gas is up, food is up, the economy is better (yeah it is great:rolleyes:), the previous sales sold out the inventory, etc. The only thing that will tell is time. Either the fires sales will start happening as the cruises get near or they won't. That will tell the story. Until then everything people write on this issue is speculation.

Our Southern Caribbean cruise on Adventure in Feb 2015 went from $3600 for the two of us to $7100! Glad we booked when we did.

Resellers sucked up cabins during the BOGO sale .

Also some people booked 2 or more cruises with the intent of cancelling some before final payment .It will be interesting to see what happens when final payment nears.

I checked prices the first day of the BOGO sale for my cruise and saved 400 bucks. Some friends waited a day and only saved 300. Within a week the savings were less than 100

..............Frank

As for booking last minute that just doesn't work if you have to fly especially in the NY Metro market.. Just priced RT to Fort Lauderdale for FEbRUARY and it was between $1700 and $2200 for two people. And that is crazy!! But again that is our February Recess week here and the airlines know it! I don't think flights go down. They need to be booked real early.. Well will keep my eyes open for cruise and flight. If not land based vacations for awhile

Holy cow. You aren't kidding. I just peeked at the pricing on the Freedom for the cruise we booked in 2016 under the BOGOHO sale. It's now almost $3,700 for a junior suite. We're paying $2,500 for a js...booked it about a month ago.

However a JS was$1099pp on this weeks GGG Sail.

GGG sale for a cruise in 2016? Some of those GGG sales are attractive, but I generally see them for a few weeks prior to sail date, not 2 years out.

M

I think this is their way of doing things after a sale. People were constantly speculating that the prices were jacked up for the BOGOHO sale, kids sale free too for that matter. After the sale on our KSF sailing, they almost doubled the price... But then after final payment, my brother n law picked up a deal almost as good as we did. Just more of their pricing games. Maybe trying to get the friends and family of those that got a sale price who book after them. .. Or discourage lowered rate hunting. Who knows.

Sounds like there isn't really any rhyme or reason for pricing. Best thing to do is just keep watching.

GGG sale for a cruise in 2016? Some of those GGG sales are attractive, but I generally see them for a few weeks prior to sail date, not 2 years out.

 

M

Was checking prices for our SOS 2015 Quebec sailing and a D-1 with insurance is running close to $400 over what we booked our JS for for a family of 3 this past February.

Our D2 room on the IOS for March 14, 2015 is now a total of $2,032 MORE than what we paid - WOW :eek: SO glad we booked when we did :p

Is it really that shocking that a sale was actually, *gasp*, a sale?

It does seem as if more cabins are actually booked- whether they are real, a re-seller, or someone who does not intend to sail. We looked at alternate cabins, but none are available (for example, there are NO suites available on a Majesty cruise in Feb :eek:- it's so rare for one of those to sell out prior to final payment).

I still don't understand why someone would book a cruise with no intention to sail on it. Especially since that promotion is not transferrable what so ever.

The re-sellers- don't understand how they can do this- seems as if when the name changes, the booking changes, and the BOGOHO sale goes away. Although, I could be wrong- and this could also have been a big carrot to travel agents. dunno.

Since *most* of the sale was about '15 and '16 sailings, we won't find out if there's a deal until December with a final payment due for a '15 sailing.

As far as I can see, there is some strange pricing policies that go on which must come from (at least in part) from some pricing model they let a computer set. As far as I can figure, things go like this:

- the average price get set when the cruise is first bookable - reserve at that point if you are willing to pay the rate if you are willing to pay that price

- sales happen, and prices are modified to either make the sale meaningless (turns out to be the same price anyway) or a deal, and afterward, the sometimes raised prices are left there so that

- people who were thinking of booking get scared and watch very closely so they can jump on the next reduction and book then. The price swings seem to happen to stress people into booking.

- cabin categories pricing get out of order, as why would a D1 be cheaper than all other D* categories at times?

- Unless you are local, you only really have to pull the trigger near final payment time, or when you think you can jump on buying the airfare (and I do not want to touch THAT thread!)

- It is good to follow pricing up to two years in advance (unless someone can find a historical site) to see what the likely cheapest prices are. Note that changes in deployment (like only one Oasis class in FLL) could change thinking going forward.

I`ve been following prices for my current cruise, and some have simply defied logic for a while, then came back to earth.

So, just have patience and unless a category is REALLY selling out more than a few months out, have patience and the pricing will probably be reasonable in a few weeks if not ealier.

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What is GGG? Thanks.

What is GGG? Thanks.

Going, going, gone.. weekly sale

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What is GGG? Thanks.

Going, Going, Gone.

Royal's new name for the Tuesday sale:

http://www.creative.rccl.com/sales/royal/Multi_Dest/Special_Offers/rci_sales_event.pdf

We found Rccl prices very high. We were looking to book a Nov cruise. The price for Rccl on the Majesty for 3 people in an ov room was $1171 taxes in. Ncl Sky 3 people in an ov room was $721 taxes in. Needless to say we booked the Ncl Sky. We saved $450 booking Ncl.

It does seem as if more cabins are actually booked- whether they are real, a re-seller, or someone who does not intend to sail. We looked at alternate cabins, but none are available (for example, there are NO suites available on a Majesty cruise in Feb :eek:- it's so rare for one of those to sell out prior to final payment).

 

I still don't understand why someone would book a cruise with no intention to sail on it. Especially since that promotion is not transferrable what so ever.

 

The re-sellers- don't understand how they can do this- seems as if when the name changes, the booking changes, and the BOGOHO sale goes away. Although, I could be wrong- and this could also have been a big carrot to travel agents. dunno.

There are no re-sellers. The cruise companies hold "title" to all the bookings. What happens with mostly large travel agencies is they book groups. They tell RCCL for example, that on a particular cruise they can book 200 balconies, 300 OVs and 300 insides. With that commitment, they get the GAP points (group amenity points). Each cruise has it's own number of points, if any. This is where some of the OBC, wine, strawberries etc come from.

A couple of months prior to final payment RCCL calls the agency and asks how many cabins they have left and how many to they want to give back. The large TAs have analysts that follow the trends and know how many to let go and how many to keep. This continues intermittently until final payment when the cruise line takes back all of the unsold cabins.

If the cruise line gets a lot of cabins back, this is when some lower prices might be seen.

I'm confused. It sounds like you made out well by booking in advance. So why no more?

I did make out well on these 2 specific cruises compared to their current prices as I booked them in April of this year . However, looking now to book additional cruises in 2015, I am seeing extremely high prices. I can understand prices going up by a few hundred dollars but when they escalate a thousand dollars or more with a good supply of available cabins, I will not book.

There are no re-sellers. The cruise companies hold "title" to all the bookings. What happens with mostly large travel agencies is they book groups. They tell RCCL for example, that on a particular cruise they can book 200 balconies, 300 OVs and 300 insides. With that commitment, they get the GAP points (group amenity points). Each cruise has it's own number of points, if any. This is where some of the OBC, wine, strawberries etc come from.

 

A couple of months prior to final payment RCCL calls the agency and asks how many cabins they have left and how many to they want to give back. The large TAs have analysts that follow the trends and know how many to let go and how many to keep. This continues intermittently until final payment when the cruise line takes back all of the unsold cabins.

 

If the cruise line gets a lot of cabins back, this is when some lower prices might be seen.

May be semantics, but that sounds like re-selling rooms. To me, at least.

Book 500 to a company as a "group", and sell them later to individuals.

Either way, I wonder if most of the BOGOHO cabins were purchased like that.

May be semantics, but that sounds like re-selling rooms. To me, at least.

 

Book 500 to a company as a "group", and sell them later to individuals.

 

Either way, I wonder if most of the BOGOHO cabins were purchased like that.

Well, in order to re-sell something you have to own something. The TA does not give any money to the line to create the groups, but they do have to produce results. If the line does not see sales, the cruise line can take back all the cabins any time they want.