Tired of all the games with pricing

I have already put in my two cents on the pricing before, but I'll share my story again...

I was all set to book a ov balcony on the harmony, the only reason I didn't pull the trigger was because I wanted to get in CC and ask about people's experience in selecting a guaranteed vs non guaranteed. Now it was my fault for not selecting the hold reservation option, and I will never make that mistake again, but the price jumped 2000, in less than 90 minutes. Needless to say, I was furious, and when I called to speak with a rep, one said they saw the rate I had, but couldn't do anything about it, when I spoke to their supervisor, they claimed not to be able to ever see the original rate I had intended to book (implying I was lying or not being entirely forthcoming?) then went on to tell me that there were only 3 OV balconies left and that I should jump on it before they sold out. Of course I knew that was absolute BS. Why is it that the number 3 always seems to be the go in the travel industry regarding availability? 3 seats left at this price, 3 rooms available at this price, etc... anyways, that's how these big companies work, always have always will

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I would just wait until the economy takes a poo again. With all the over building of ships, cruise lines will literally have free cruises and just charge for everything onboard. :)

Just got the email for the newest "deal" and went online to price it. Ocean Balcony on the Allure, October 2nd (shoulder season) 4K. No change!

Lol.

Look, I agree with a lot of what has been said on here. I totally agree with the idea, that RCCL gets what the market will bear. If there are enough people willing to pay for 4K for a balcony, then they deserve that money.

My point is this-

1) You are losing me as a customer, not with your pricing but with your sales games. Stop it already! I am just not stupid and I have better ways to spend my time. If you are having a "sale" then drop the frigging price already!

2) For me, there are starting to be a lot better values than cruising. I love to Cruise! I love sitting on the deck and having a beer watching the sunset at night. I love the food and the activities. I love waking up in new places each day. All that said, for 5,000 ( as we usually spend about 1000 on board in photos and such) I will be taking some other vacations going forward. We just went to Rough Creek Lodge in Texas, about 700/night, roughly the same price as a cruise and it was beyond amazing! To each their own, this is just my view, that is what a message board is about, right?

For now, I am not going to check prices. I have hired a travel agent to do that for me. I told her to call me if she finds something good. I will post if I hear anything.

Crash-

Just got the email for the newest "deal" and went online to price it. Ocean Balcony on the Allure, October 2nd (shoulder season) 4K. No change!

 

Lol.

 

Look, I agree with a lot of what has been said on here. I totally agree with the idea, that RCCL gets what the market will bear. If there are enough people willing to pay for 4K for a balcony, then they deserve that money.

 

My point is this-

1) You are losing me as a customer, not with your pricing but with your sales games. Stop it already! I am just not stupid and I have better ways to spend my time. If you are having a "sale" then drop the frigging price already!

2) For me, there are starting to be a lot better values than cruising. I love to Cruise! I love sitting on the deck and having a beer watching the sunset at night. I love the food and the activities. I love waking up in new places each day. All that said, for 5,000 ( as we usually spend about 1000 on board in photos and such) I will be taking some other vacations going forward. We just went to Rough Creek Lodge in Texas, about 700/night, roughly the same price as a cruise and it was beyond amazing! To each their own, this is just my view, that is what a message board is about, right?

 

For now, I am not going to check prices. I have hired a travel agent to do that for me. I told her to call me if she finds something good. I will post if I hear anything.

 

Crash-

Feb 26, 2017 JS is $3483 pre tax.

My point is this-

1) You are losing me as a customer, not with your pricing but with your sales games. Stop it already! I am just not stupid and I have better ways to spend my time. If you are having a "sale" then drop the frigging price already!

These are my thoughts as well. I am getting many, many emails these days plus phone calls. It is starting to get annoying.

I'm totally in agreement. I want the good old days when there were simple price drops now and then.

I can't see that happening ever again. The constant promos get the attention of new cruisers, make it hard for booked passengers to compare prices easily, and are penalizing for those who make changes. Absolutely no reason for them to give up this brilliant scheme.

I can't see that happening ever again. The constant promos get the attention of new cruisers, make it hard for booked passengers to compare prices easily, and are penalizing for those who make changes. Absolutely no reason for them to give up this brilliant scheme.

Maybe they need to stop the low price guarantee. Do all the major lines do that?

Maybe they need to stop the low price guarantee. Do all the major lines do that?

Don't know, but I would think they have to give you adjustments when you are before the final cancellation period. Otherwise you can just cancel.

My point is this-

1) You are losing me as a customer, not with your pricing but with your sales games. Stop it already! I am just not stupid and I have better ways to spend my time. If you are having a "sale" then drop the frigging price already!

Crash-

Do you really think they care?

Ever since the BOGHO sale started, we've noted that the ships are very, very full. No suites to even upgrade to.

People complain about the high prices of Anthem and Harmony/Oasis/Allure- they are high because they are booked pretty full.

Honestly, even if everyone on CC stops because of it, as long as people keep buying cabins, nothing will change.

Better yet, with fewer repeat cruisers, fewer are getting discounts.

On that last note- I know that isn't happening- as the lounges remain full.

Losing a handful of customers seems like an acceptable trade off for getting full ships at pretty high prices.

(For us, it still is a good deal)

Don't know, but I would think they have to give you adjustments when you are before the final cancellation period. Otherwise you can just cancel.

But if you have a choice location you won't do that.

We booked a cruise on the Liberty in Jan. (wave season?) Sailing is in Oct. It was 2100 for a balcony room. Looked 2 weeks ago and price dropped to 1400 for same room. The very next day was the tax free promo. My final price is now 1245 for the Same Room! That's how I get my "sales". Just occasionally check for price drops and then call your Travel agent. They obviously do have some price drops, you just have to figure out if it's for your ship/sailing. My advice is get a good travel agent who is willing to be on the lookout for you. Good Luck!!

My biggest drop since the creation of the famous BOGO was a few days before tax day, they were offering free tax and free port charge I saved over 200$ in my reservation.

I saved $800 on my balcony for my Baltic Cruise but I think that had more to do with the terrorist attack in Belgium than anything else.

We don't mind jumping through the hoops to see if there is a better deal, but when the better deal is for non C&A as it is now with the on board credit for pre-paid gratuities, that is a different story.

We just booked on Freedom for 4/14/2018 and with the pre-paid gratuities rather than with the C&A discount to come out with a $116.00 difference. It is beyond me why Royal continues to do this to C&A customers.

Luckily I was able to take advantage of a chance resident discount for an upcoming cruise. But it is very, very, VERY rare to find a price I consider reasonable any longer. Our next vacation will likely be on MSC or an All-Inclusive. Even found a 4/5 star AI in Mexico with a FlowRider.

FWIW - we're a few points shy of Diamond but there's no compelling reason to attain that status any longer IMO.

I just cancelled two of my next cruise bookings. Getting ready to probably cancel a few more. I am not happy with RC. I can get more bang for my buck booking land vacations.

I have found the opposite - my coach tour in Ireland is much more than I would pay for 14 days solo rates on RCI. Stay in one spot beach holiday may be different but I don't like to spend all my time in one place.

I have posted about this in the past but I feel I have to address it again. I am so tired of all the BS that RCCL pulls with their rates. BOGO 50% off, the WOW sale, the One day only sale....... it goes on and on. I get excited for the new big sale and pull up the Allure Oct 2, 2016 sailing and punch in all my information to find the rate for the four of us and an outside ocean cabin is the same 4,000. There is no sale, there is no change. It is just a tireless exercise to get me to waste my time and look again, for the exact same fare that is available 24/7. I am way beyond frustrated. How do they justify this BS?

 

 

 

I am diamond on Royal and have a lot of cruises under my belt but have been vacationing on different forms for the last 2 years or so and will continue to do that as the value of cruising is definitely gone. By the time you add it all up, it is simply not a 6,000 vacation, no way, no how.

 

 

 

Just spent a week at an all inclusive in Mexico for way less than half as much. Beautiful beach, great food and service. Just a thought for the board.

Where did you stay in Mexico?

http://www.iberostar.com/en/hotels/riviera-maya/iberostar-paraiso-maya

Nice

Service was a 10

Food was better than RCCL

Beach was amazing

Entertainment was a 0 just awful

not the activities that you have on board too

Did get a massage on the beach everyday from a local gal for $40 that was an amazing hour, not associated with the resort but just a short walk away.

I totally get what the OP is saying though. Now when Royal does a "sale" they jack the price and then give you a sale that really is not a sale.

Trust me, we have cruised Royal many times, but like many others I am tired of their games. As a result we do Royal for short 3/4 night cruises as there are not many choices out there and I won't do Carnival. But for week long cruises I look at royal/celebrity/princess and book on whichever line gives me the best bang for the buck. Have been on all of them and think they are totally comparable - in fact my hubby LOVES the food on the Silhouette.

So while we will still cruise Royal, we won't exclusively cruise them like we used to.

We also do an all inclusive land vacation each year and it really is not any more expensive than a cruise when you add air if we don't cruise out of Florida.

Do not get agree at Royals tactics, just beat them at their own game. This is an exercise in supply and demand, basic economics. If they can't sell the cabins the price will come down. The best system is to book early and use a cruise price monitoring web site to follow the price changes. That is the only way to beat Royals gimmicks. You will always get on the ship for the lowest price possible. Works every time with no exception. It feels real good knowing you payed the least possible price.

There must be a big sale coming soon. Our May 2017 cruise just went up $800, a $1,000 more than when when we first booked in April.

Do not get agree at Royals tactics, just beat them at their own game. This is an exercise in supply and demand, basic economics. If they can't sell the cabins the price will come down. The best system is to book early and use a cruise price monitoring web site to follow the price changes. That is the only way to beat Royals gimmicks. You will always get on the ship for the lowest price possible. Works every time with no exception. It feels real good knowing you payed the least possible price.

This only works if the early price is acceptable and you can live with it if the price doesn't drop. There is nothing out there that is acceptable to me at this time. I'd rather not go at all than feel like I over paid. We average about four cruises a year so it works for us.

A good deal was pointed out a couple of days ago so I went to check the solo price. It was over double the price of two people in a double occupancy cabin. It would be more cost effective for me to bring a friend for free!

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The best system is to book early and use a cruise price monitoring web site to follow the price changes. That is the only way to beat Royals gimmicks. You will always get on the ship for the lowest price possible. Works every time with no exception.

You have to be careful when using absolutes - I'm sure there are some folks who will chime in with some after final payment deals better than any other time - I know I have one.:cool:

I took a multi step saving approach with my latest booking.

1. looked on the Royal site for the cheapest cruises to the places I wanted to go, chose one and put a courtesy hold on it

2. contacted my TA and asked if they could do better. They know I am low effort so they offered me a discount and OBC (from their commission)

3. noticed a supermarket chain had a good deal on gift cards for that TA (20% cash back to their loyalty scheme minus $7.50 handling charge) which gave a net 16% off the price (although you have to shop there to get the cash back but since it is groceries that isn't a big deal)

4. found a deal with our motoring organisation which gave 5% off e-gift cards for the supermarket (lifting the discount on the TA cards!)

5. purchased a largish no of the gift cards and went into the TA office at a quiet time to redeem them so as not to be too much of a nuisance. It turned out to be pretty quick

6. paid another large chunk off the cruise with credit card reward points (which have just been building up without us really noticing).

So all up I think we saved about 20% outside Royal for a bit of effort.

I don't usually go to all of this trouble but it was a bit of an experiment and I am happy with the results!

Here in Australia we laugh at and are a bit envious with the extreme couponers show because we don't usually have that sort of thing. But I feel a little bit like one with these efforts :D:);)

My message is to look outside Royal for the discounts :)

You have to be careful when using absolutes - I'm sure there are some folks who will chime in with some after final payment deals better than any other time - I know I have one.:cool:

You don't have to limit it to pricing after final payment. Group bookings is a prime example. If you find an agent who has a group booking, depending on length of cruise and cabin category, you can get it for hundreds of dollars per person less than booking through the cruise line, not counting any perks you might get besides.

A more accurate statement is that you will get the lowest price that the cruise line will offer over time.

On the after final payment front, we just did the 13 day transatlantic on the Silhouette last month and got an 1A balcony for $600 p.p. by booking after final payment. I doubt if anybody that booked this category cabin, when it first came out, got a price anywhere near this.