Is Royal comfortable with the buy one get one 50%

[C U Onboard]

 

I made 5 reservations for 2015 on which I'm only planning to sail in 1 of those 5. I'm just watching the prices and will pick the date before final payment. As a result, royal will have to fill those reservation before sailing.

 

 

I have to say this is a sore point for those of us who live in the UK where RCI's Booking Conditions read as below:

 

Booking Deposits

If you are booking a cruise 57 days or more from the departure date, you will have to pay a non-refundable deposit to reserve your booking. Booking amounts are as follows;

Cruises of 5 nights or fewer, minimum deposit £75 / €100 per person

Cruises of 6 nights or more, minimum deposit £150 / €165 per person

Where applicable, based on any components you book with us, you may be required to pay a higher deposit so we are able to secure any flight, hotel or transfer arrangements. Any increased non refundable deposit payment required will be advised to you at the time of booking.

 

:mad:

[cruzinlady1947]

I have to say this is a sore point for those of us who live in the UK where RCI's Booking Conditions read as below:

 

Booking Deposits

If you are booking a cruise 57 days or more from the departure date, you will have to pay a non-refundable deposit to reserve your booking. Booking amounts are as follows;

Cruises of 5 nights or fewer, minimum deposit £75 / €100 per person

Cruises of 6 nights or more, minimum deposit £150 / €165 per person

Where applicable, based on any components you book with us, you may be required to pay a higher deposit so we are able to secure any flight, hotel or transfer arrangements. Any increased non refundable deposit payment required will be advised to you at the time of booking.

 

:mad:

Is it like this for all foreign countries or just the UK? It is not fair either way. I thought I read somewhere that if you book through a US travel agency, you can avoid this. Don't know if that is true, but surely worth a try.

 

Gwen :)

[m*u*g*]

maybe it's a sign they are over priced to start with.

loosing money? not hardly or they wouldn't do it

they need ships at 98%, or so, capacity

[DebJ14]

I booked a 9 night cruise we had been looking at for NOV 2015 on the BOGOHO sale as soon as it first came out. I checked prices after they extended the sale and found that they jacked up the first guest rate significantly. If I booked under the current BOGOHO promo it would be $900 more for the cabin.

 

I also looked at a cruise we have booked for August before we went into penalty 3 days ago. The BOGOHO sale was $1100 more than we paid under the sale they had back in March. We got the 3rd person free, but the first two in the cabin have jumped $200 each too under the BOGOHO.

 

Sometimes a sale really is a sale and other times it is not.

Edited June 20, 2014 by DebJ14

[gjkubel]

 

I made 5 reservations for 2015 on which I'm only planning to sail in 1 of those 5. I'm just watching the prices and will pick the date before final payment. As a result, royal will have to fill those reservation before sailing.

 

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

This doesn't make any sense whatsoever, so I don't think RCCL is concerned about others doing something so nonsensical as well.

 

You put down a deposit because you are concerned about price INCREASES, not drops. The only reason to pay 5 deposits when you only plan to take one cruise is because you can't decide which one right (perhaps because of dates/work schedule/etc...) or you want to claim a specific cabin. Very, very few people willing to shell out 5 deposits to protect a certain cabin and most pick a date when the put down their deposit.

 

You should put the deposit on the cruise you want most and watch the other 4. If the prices drop on those, then you can cancel the one you have a deposit on and book the other. But putting down five deposits just to watch prices -- it makes no sense!

[alfaeric]

I fully expect to read on here in the future that people are cancelling once this sale ends. You can't combine it with residence rates, senior, military, etc which I think is a huge red flag.

 

My guess is there will be lots of cancellations. It was never a sale for us. We had booked our cruise (Allure 8/31) back in January. When the sail started, our JS jumped up from 1677 pp to around 2200 pp. I look for the prices to go back down once this ends. We did not book any future cruises because of it and we were not looking to book at prime time either.

 

Time will tell...

:p

 

I don't understand this- if the fare is good, regardless of what discounts you can or can't put with it- AND one books it, why would anyone expect that you would cancel the cruise after the sale?

 

If the price goes up, you don't pay the increase, you pay what you paid at the time of the reservation.

 

I don't get the idea that people would cancel bookings after the sale is over- that does not make sense to me.

[beachnative]

Does anyone actually believe that there are such a large number of people like the OP who will book multiple cruises with this sale, planning to take only one of them and cancelling the rest that RCI needs to be concerned? Seems to be more than a stretch to think that this will be the norm rather than the rare exception.

 

We already had most of our cruises booked before the sale was announced (usually book when itineraries are published).

I had C&A recalculate 14 of them and we saved a considerable amount of money by doing so (none of our cruises would have cost us additional under the 50% sale). Under the sale, we booked 4 additional ones bringing our total of booked cruises up to 36. There is a possibility that two of the cruises might need to be moved to a different date, but my intention is to sail on all that I have booked.

 

Among my circle of cruising friends, this is not unusual….however I do realize that we are a small minority of those who cruise. (We are retired and could not do this if we were still working).

Edited June 20, 2014 by beachnative

[beachnative]

I think a huge majority of people need to factor in airfare and also at least one night pre-cruise stay so this could pretty much double (or triple) the cruise fare. I could be wrong but I'm guessing that a lot of the people who booked so many cruises during this sale likely live near a port or in Florida somewhere, therefore, they're not shelling out for airfare.

 

Believe me, if I lived nearer a port, I definitely would have booked more than the one cruise I did during the BOGOHO sale! ;)

 

The way we deal with airfare is to book a Back2Back2Back if we fly to another country for boarding. Although the airfare is still costly, when divided over three cruises it doesn't feel painful.;)

[Host Star]

I booked a 9 night cruise we had been looking at for NOV 2015 on the BOGOHO sale as soon as it first came out. I checked prices after they extended the sale and found that they jacked up the first guest rate significantly. If I booked under the current BOGOHO promo it would be $900 more for the cabin.

 

I also looked at a cruise we have booked for August before we went into penalty 3 days ago. The BOGOHO sale was $1100 more than we paid under the sale they had back in March. We got the 3rd person free, but the first two in the cabin have jumped $200 each too under the BOGOHO.

 

Sometimes a sale really is a sale and other times it is not.

 

they did the same thing to my cabin.. jacked it up 2,000 more... so with the sale, it comes out to more than I paid when I booked 8 months ago... I let them know I was unhappy that it was increased by 2,000 just for the sale.. false advertising or something like that.... just my opinion

[Irene7]

it's only money

 

Might as well just buy a yacht. :)

[kitt82078]

The way we deal with airfare is to book a Back2Back2Back if we fly to another country for boarding. Although the airfare is still costly, when divided over three cruises it doesn't feel painful.;)

 

Living my dream... 36 booked! Will you adopt me?

[138east]

This doesn't make any sense whatsoever, so I don't think RCCL is concerned about others doing something so nonsensical as well.

 

You put down a deposit because you are concerned about price INCREASES, not drops. The only reason to pay 5 deposits when you only plan to take one cruise is because you can't decide which one right (perhaps because of dates/work schedule/etc...) or you want to claim a specific cabin. Very, very few people willing to shell out 5 deposits to protect a certain cabin and most pick a date when the put down their deposit.

 

You should put the deposit on the cruise you want most and watch the other 4. If the prices drop on those, then you can cancel the one you have a deposit on and book the other. But putting down five deposits just to watch prices -- it makes no sense!

 

I have sailed with folks who do this both for price increases and price decreases. They figure they're making virtually no interest on their money in a savings account, so they gamble on cruise futures by booking multiple cruises to lock in specific cabins and prices. Before final payment it's a total win win situation - they lose a very tiny bit of interest and win by either having a locked in price on a cruise that has increased in value or win by having a primo cabin on a cruise that decreases in value. IMO much better odds than the casino.

[C U Onboard]

Is it like this for all foreign countries or just the UK? It is not fair either way. I thought I read somewhere that if you book through a US travel agency, you can avoid this. Don't know if that is true, but surely worth a try.

 

Gwen :)

 

Not sure how it is for other countries but would be interested to know.

 

Given that the company has adopted the name Royal Caribbean International I agree that it is unfair to have different rules in this respect.

 

Booking through a US travel agency would be an unnecessary inconvenience IMHO and necessitate handing control of the booking to a third party.

[BamaGuy44]

I'm thinking that one of the things Royal ws looking for was immediate cash flow with the deposits. They will worry about the cancellations later.

 

This exactly. Take the OP's example. they are more than happy to deal with the 4 cancellations in exchange for having all that cash on deposit for months. Basically an interest free loan for RC. That's why final payment is 75 days out, gives them plenty of time to fill those cabins.

 

As for OP's strategy, I guess that's one way to increase your odds of a nice price drop or something, but I've never seen a sale that would make it worth it for me to have all that cash tied up for months. YMMV

[cruzinlady1947]

IMO much better odds than the casino.

But, the casino is more fun.........:p;) IMO

 

Gwen

[gjkubel]

I have sailed with folks who do this both for price increases and price decreases. They figure they're making virtually no interest on their money in a savings account, so they gamble on cruise futures by booking multiple cruises to lock in specific cabins and prices. Before final payment it's a total win win situation - they lose a very tiny bit of interest and win by either having a locked in price on a cruise that has increased in value or win by having a primo cabin on a cruise that decreases in value. IMO much better odds than the casino.

 

Yeah, as I said, I could see that if you are waffling on a cruise -- but to book 5 with the intention of only keeping 1? I hope people can find better things to do with their money just to get a primo cabin.

[PompeySailor]

We have 19 cruises booked through 2016... I booked 15 of them at the BYGOHO sale. Just before the sale hit I priced many of them... and the BYGOHO sale saved so much. Almost all of them are balcony staterooms... still huge savings. With the C&A D+ discount it was about the same (within $100) to go book the balcony over an inside! I keep track of each sailing with the total for both persons and taxes. That way when I check prices (and I do check often), if this total goes down I have no problem calling for an adjustment. I booked 8 of them on board and have OBC.

We figured we aren't really losing anything on the deposits since the banks aren't paying any interest! I am very happy with the prices and do not expect a reduction, unless the entire price drops.

 

As far as cancelling... nope not gonna happen. Unless there is a horrible tragedy... we're taking each and every cruise. :D We booked several B2Bs... price was just too good.

 

Finally, you have to remember that these boards represent a very small percentage of the cruising public. Most people do not have 19 cruises on the books. Honestly this is the first time I've carefully planned out cruises through 2016. I usually watch and pick up last minute cruises at great prices, during off season. That may still happen... and we'll add them to our list! We are taking first time cruisers with us on a few of these trips... good prices will get them hooked. Most likely the general public booked one cruise... maybe two at these prices. They won't continue to check prices... and they are happy and excited watching that countdown clock. I have to say, I'm sort of envious... I so remember my first cruise... ticking off the days on the calendar (no personal computers back then), waiting, reading books about ports and cruising, planning.

 

I'm sure Royal is very happy with the sale. They would have never extended the dates if it wasn't working. They would have gone on to another plan. I just wish they'd open up more dates in 2016... I need a cruise!!

 

Surprised you are not Pinnacle Linda:) enjoy all 19 of those cruises..

As the saying goes "I do because I can"

 

Unfortunately my measly 4 remaining bookings with a few Royal Suites thrown in are all that are in the pipeline for now

Needing more dates for 2016 as well, just need June 2016 to be available before BOGOHO ends. So I can snap up another RS

 

Only 25 years until I retire, then I can cruise all year long:D

Happy Days.

[beachnative]

Yeah, as I said, I could see that if you are waffling on a cruise -- but to book 5 with the intention of only keeping 1? I hope people can find better things to do with their money just to get a primo cabin.

 

Most people who are in the habit of being able to cruise a lot and book multiple cruises have ALREADY done good things with their money and are putting down a measly $200 per reservation (which is probably only a tiny percent of their portfolio).

[karena1]

I rarely book our short cruises early, but because of the BOGEHO sail I ended up booking a bunch. Won't cancel any of them. We would have gone anyway. So will watch prices and if a price break comes up before final, I will take advantage of it.

[Margy23]

Getting the additional deposits from people for cruises so far out is just an added bonus for RCI. The real bonus is that they have actual bookings for a lot of cruises that are a few years out. All those people that have now booked have somewhat committed to cruising on RCI. Some may cancel but most won't. This means that they won't be shopping and comparing prices on the other lines.

 

With having higher booking numbers this far in advance it has me wondering if RCI will not have to do as many price drops in order to fill the ships as more cabins have been sold up front.

 

I think that this promotion was a smart move by RCI. Yes some people got some very good price reductions when the sale first came out (myself included) but the money that they gave back to us pales in comparison to the new bookings generated and most likely the new cruisers (we all know how much RCI likes the new cruisers) that they have enticed to book.

I agree with Ken in thinking this sale was a smart move on the part of RCI. I also think we benefitted on the three cruises we booked - two for 2015 and one for 2016. We definitely plan to take all of them.

 

Some people will cancel - even a few who planned to at the time they booked - but I think overall RCI will reap benefits from having more future bookings, including cruisers new to RCI who are trying it because of the sale.

 

Few of us are happy with the cutbacks we have seen from RCI in recent years, and with the number of ships to fill now - plus more being built - I think we are all better off if they cut down on the need to drastically reduce cruises at the last minute to fill ships.

 

This sounds like a smart marketing move for them and a bargain for us. If I'm right, it's a Win-Win!

 

Margy

Edited June 20, 2014 by Margy23
punctuation

[cruisnseas]

Not sure how it is for other countries but would be interested to know.

 

Given that the company has adopted the name Royal Caribbean International I agree that it is unfair to have different rules in this respect.

 

Booking through a US travel agency would be an unnecessary inconvenience IMHO and necessitate handing control of the booking to a third party.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: when the UK gives up their consumer protections, they will get the policies the US has. Until then, it all evens out in the end.