BOGOHO Pricing and the RC Math

I think I figured out where these sale prices come from. Posting here hopefully to help others (and vent a little:mad:).

So after getting confused about the pricing of the "hot deal" cruises on the RC website, I decided I would try and figure out where these numbers come from. Because they certainly aren't the actual room rates.

First of all, if I see a rate advertised at $704 and a BOGOHO sale, I would expect to pay:

$704x2 = 1408

Sale discount = 352

So price is 1056 plus fees and taxes. Right? That's what I would expect in a store.

So I did a mock booking and got a total price of $1796! Room rate was showing as $939 each? So I'm thinking to myself, there is another classic RC website mistake. But I looked at more cruise and I see the pattern:

$939x2 = $1878

Sale discount = 469

Total price = 1408

So the price per person comes out to 1408/2 = 704 equivalent price per person.

Somewhat misleading since the rest of the world calculates prices as I described. Makes the sale prices seem like a much better deal than the non-sale prices. Also kind of deceptive to solo travelers.

Bottom line, if you are skimming the sale prices, you have to add 25% when comparing to the non-sale prices.

If only they hadn't put the disclaimer on the main sale page:

"Prices will display a per person average based on double occupancy with the 50% discount applied for the second guest.";)

If only they hadn't put the disclaimer on the main sale page:

 

"Prices will display a per person average based on double occupancy with the 50% discount applied for the second guest.";)

What they are doing is advertising the price per person after the BOGOHO is applied. When you go to look at the individual prices, you see the price for passenger one, the price for passenger two, and then the average per person price, which is the one advertised.

People have been confused thinking that the 1/2 off is coming off that per person price. Could they have advertised or explained that better? Yes. But once you figure it out, then you can decide if it's a price you want to pay.

At the beginning of the sale (way back in early May) the prices were really good. Many had bookings that were repriced and saved a lot of money overall. Others didn't see those savings, so it was really on a cruise by cruise basis. As the sale progressed, cabins were sold and the prices went up. So now, you may not be seeing the big savings. But as long as you understand the way the prices are being displayed, you can make an informed decision.

The Op way late with her/his observation/complaints. There are some dozen threads on this very subject.

From an Accountant view, RCL is taking the half off the second Pax from the gross fare and not on the, net if there's balcony discounts involved

My personal opinion: They raised the cabin rates to cover the half off second guest "savings". People booking now think they are getting half off the second guest, when in reality they are paying pretty close to what the cruise was before May. I priced a cruise in April and then again when we got notice of the "half off second guest sale" but the New price is only about $45 less than what it was in April. Not even close to half off the second guest. I have seen posts where people say you cannot look at past rates and compare it to the new rates, that people are getting half off with the new rates. But the bottom line for me is that half off the second guest on my cruise came to $45.

I didn't come through the sale page, so I didn't see the disclaimer.

Disclaimer or not, it still misrepresents the actual price to a person looking at two identical cruises side by side.

The main reason, IMO, they do it this way is so that people can compare cruise line to cruise line just by looking at the "per person" rate. If you were to see the 939 price and compare to another line you might not think that was such a great deal (just looking at some sites you may not realize there is a BOGOHO deal going on). By showing the average out price of 704 it is easier to compare across lines.

Deceptive, no. A little tricky to figure out, yes but once you think about it and realize what's behind it, it all makes sense.

My personal opinion: They raised the cabin rates to cover the half off second guest "savings". People booking now think they are getting half off the second guest, when in reality they are paying pretty close to what the cruise was before May. I priced a cruise in April and then again when we got notice of the "half off second guest sale" but the New price is only about $45 less than what it was in April. Not even close to half off the second guest. I have seen posts where people say you cannot look at past rates and compare it to the new rates, that people are getting half off with the new rates. But the bottom line for me is that half off the second guest on my cruise came to $45.

It's the same for the 3rd/4th free sale, If pricing for 2 in a cabin I got a price of about $1050pp.

If I did another mock booking for same date, ship, and cabin category for 4 the price for the first 2 people in the cabin was about $1500pp, 3rd/4th were free.

Nothing free here.

Bill

My personal opinion: They raised the cabin rates to cover the half off second guest "savings". People booking now think they are getting half off the second guest, when in reality they are paying pretty close to what the cruise was before May. I priced a cruise in April and then again when we got notice of the "half off second guest sale" but the New price is only about $45 less than what it was in April. Not even close to half off the second guest. I have seen posts where people say you cannot look at past rates and compare it to the new rates, that people are getting half off with the new rates. But the bottom line for me is that half off the second guest on my cruise came to $45.

If that was actually the case, the prices would have gone up immediately, so those of us who got in on the first day would not have saved so much money. FWIW, one cruise save $250, another $600, and a third $900 (yes, we saved a bundle with this sale)

What actually happened was that demand went up so much the software that gives a price noted that, and THEN the prices went up. The price of the cabin always has represented a supply-demand thing, on a very flexible basis- just like flight tickets.

If people stop buying during this 'sale' the prices will come down again. Just have to wait and see.

If that was actually the case, the prices would have gone up immediately, so those of us who got in on the first day would not have saved so much money. FWIW, one cruise save $250, another $600, and a third $900 (yes, we saved a bundle with this sale)

 

What actually happened was that demand went up so much the software that gives a price noted that, and THEN the prices went up. The price of the cabin always has represented a supply-demand thing, on a very flexible basis- just like flight tickets.

That may have been the case with the 2015/2016 sailings sale but a couple days before they included the 2014 BOGOHO sale the prices went up on most cruises i checked around Friday when the sale started Monday.

Was there an increase in demand on most cruises 3 days before the sale?

Bill

If people stop buying during this 'sale' the prices will come down again. Just have to wait and see.

I saved a lot the first day and then yesterday the savings were cut from nearly 400 to less than 100 and balconies were gone.Today I checked a travel website and they had balconies available and outside cabins and suites cheaper than the RCCL website. Seems like some resellers put a hold or down payment on some cabins

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

My personal opinion: They raised the cabin rates to cover the half off second guest "savings". People booking now think they are getting half off the second guest, when in reality they are paying pretty close to what the cruise was before May. I priced a cruise in April and then again when we got notice of the "half off second guest sale" but the New price is only about $45 less than what it was in April. Not even close to half off the second guest. I have seen posts where people say you cannot look at past rates and compare it to the new rates, that people are getting half off with the new rates. But the bottom line for me is that half off the second guest on my cruise came to $45.

Bingo! You know it. While some may get such a fare at the right time and experience good savings, this is just marketing smoke and mirrors to get people to book, who **think** they are saving. :cool:

While not a direct correlation, cruise cabin prices for the same cruise can be compared to airline seat prices. They can vary from day to day.

I'm glad that the discount is already applied when doing your initial price query.

If it didn't - my favorite cruise price tracking website would no longer be useful.

Bingo! You know it. While some may get such a fare at the right time and experience good savings, this is just marketing smoke and mirrors to get people to book, who **think** they are saving. :cool:

 

While not a direct correlation, cruise cabin prices for the same cruise can be compared to airline seat prices. They can vary from day to day.

So what you are saying is that the price I paid for the cruises that I booked months ago were way high, so that the pretend price I got made me feel better?

ok...

The cruise we saved the most on, we booked within days of it opening up, and the price went up a month later. This was earlier this year when the Europe 2015 trips opened up. The BOGOHO sale was on the higher price, and still saved us money vs. our original price.

Seems pretty real to me.

I didn't come through the sale page, so I didn't see the disclaimer.

 

Disclaimer or not, it still misrepresents the actual price to a person looking at two identical cruises side by side.

How does showing you the actual price each person in the cabin will be paying constitute a misrepresentation? Put as many side-by-side as you'd like, all of them will show you the actual price per passenger.:rolleyes:

Bingo! You know it. While some may get such a fare at the right time and experience good savings, this is just marketing smoke and mirrors to get people to book, who **think** they are saving. :cool:

 

While not a direct correlation, cruise cabin prices for the same cruise can be compared to airline seat prices. They can vary from day to day.

Oh c$%P:eek: You mean the $2,700 I saved when I re-priced three existing reservations, and the $1,100 I saved on the two new reservations weren't real (compared to identical cruises/ships/dates this year);)

On some of the cruises it is a savings, on others, not so much. I Don't know why people are finding it so confusing. It is the same way they show the pricing if you are logged in and are eligible for a balcony/suite discount. Annoying at first until you figure out their logic. Nothing hidden - just how they do it.

I think this was also beat to death on a topic several days ago. :D

I booked two cruises with the sale. Both cruises are less money than I have paid in the past. Regardless if it is a true 50% off, or some other magic formula, the prices change weekly, and you can never tell what you saved. I know I saved. I'm happy. I'm going on 2 cruises for less money!!!!!

If only they hadn't put the disclaimer on the main sale page:

 

"Prices will display a per person average based on double occupancy with the 50% discount applied for the second guest.";)

LOL!! Reading is fundamental..... SMH ;):)

i guess the op did not read the fine print.:rolleyes:

lol!! Smh

What they are doing is advertising the price per person after the BOGOHO is applied. When you go to look at the individual prices, you see the price for passenger one, the price for passenger two, and then the average per person price, which is the one advertised.

 

People have been confused thinking that the 1/2 off is coming off that per person price. Could they have advertised or explained that better? Yes. But once you figure it out, then you can decide if it's a price you want to pay.

 

At the beginning of the sale (way back in early May) the prices were really good. Many had bookings that were repriced and saved a lot of money overall. Others didn't see those savings, so it was really on a cruise by cruise basis. As the sale progressed, cabins were sold and the prices went up. So now, you may not be seeing the big savings. But as long as you understand the way the prices are being displayed, you can make an informed decision.

I saved around $200 pp on my Oasis sailing on 5/1/14 on the first bogo sale. The key to the huge savings was having a existing booking not necessarily a new one.

Oh c$%P:eek: You mean the $2,700 I saved when I re-priced three existing reservations, and the $1,100 I saved on the two new reservations weren't real (compared to identical cruises/ships/dates this year);)

Yes, my thoughts exactly. I had three existing reservations that I had booked over the past year or so. On May 1st (the first day of the BOGOHO sale) I called my TA and he was able to apply the new prices to all three cruises, which saved me about $2000 total. I called him again a few days ago when RC's "August Getaways" promotion started, and he was able to lower the price on my September sailing by another $100.

They're definitely real sales; the key is jumping on them during the first day or two of the promotion to get the best deals.

THis is an example of what I got for a Balcony

Vacation Charges Guest 1 Guest 2 Total

Cruise 1069.00 1069.00 2138.00

BOGOHO 0.00 -535.00 -535.00

NCCF 150.00 150.00 300.00

BOGOHO 0.00 -75.00 -75.00

Vacation Subtotal 1219.00 609.00 1828.00

Taxes, fees and port 120.85 120.85 241.70

expenses

VACATION TOTAL 1339.85 729.85 2069.70