Tired of all the games with pricing

[crashdavis565]

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.

[cruisinfanatic]

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.

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

[Goodtime Cruizin]

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.

 

I just use a site that tracks all cruiselines, all ships, all sailings, that cuts the crap. RCCL isn't much different than your Kohl's, or grocery store. Every week they have 'sales' and new sales flyers, but in the end, milk is still the same price, as is eggs, and bacon.

[Hypbmxgurl]

Marketing techniques. It can get annoying.

[Colorado Babe]

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.

[mcatmcat]

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

 

 

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.

[giswam]

Agree with the original poster, cruising value is definitely diminishing, and in my opinion so are the the service levels. Lots of new ships and up-charges but what about the things that we have already paid for improving since we are paying more for them than before?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Klstaack]

I agree. I think the endless sale is annoying but I still see a value in cruising. I always feel like our land vacations are way more expensive. Pay for dining, food, drinks, activities, entertainment. I know you can pay for speciality restaurants, activities, and excursions. However you normally have an included option.

[Fat Paul]

I never pay attention to the marketing hype. If not for occasionally getting on cruise critic I would have no idea what "sale" RCI is having. My strategy, if you could call it that is simple. I figure out what dates we can vacation, type of vacation and what we would like to spend. If we want to cruise I then get on Royal's website and see if anything matches our criteria. We then don't worry about anything else, just look forward to another wonderful vacation. We have a cruise planned in June and for October we are still deciding what type of vacation we would like to take. Simple and zero stress.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Fat Paul

[Big_G]

Can't say I pay any attention to the pricing schemes. I pick a cruise, check the pricing, and book if it's a good value. The trouble is 'value' is in the eye of the beholder. You can get caught up and angry if you pay too much attention but in my mind, life is too short for that. I also book as early as I can.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Big_G

[readytolose]

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.

 

I think you are lucky if the price is the same during their sale! Every option I have checked the price has gone UP during the so called sale.

 

I agree though, it's really frustrating!

[BILL-WI]

There are many other cruise lines to choose from, and some of them are actually very nice!:):):)

 

I am Loyal to my Wallet. :D

 

BILL

[bouhunter]

No arguing with OP regarding the sale games, they are a joke. But there's no point getting worked up about it. The best thing to do is simply ignore them, price the cruise/ships your interested in, and book if the price is agreeable.

 

As someone else mentioned the value can still be there. We have 7 RCCL cruises booked in the next two years and none of them are any higher than what we were paying 8-10 years ago. This is a result of:

1. Booking Early

2. Staying off Oasis class ships (which we have little interest in)

3. Avoiding holiday and other high demand time frames

4. Checking prices often

Edited April 21, 2016 by bouhunter

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Can't say I pay any attention to the pricing schemes. I pick a cruise, check the pricing, and book if it's a good value. The trouble is 'value' is in the eye of the beholder. You can get caught up and angry if you pay too much attention but in my mind, life is too short for that. I also book as early as I can.

 

My thoughts exactly. The final price is the only thing I pay attention to.

 

I don't think too much about value either. I enjoy cruising, so that is how I'm going to vacation.

[vol1967]

If you don't like it go do something else. It's that's easy

[debshomespun]

There are many other cruise lines to choose from, and some of them are actually very nice!:):):)

 

I am Loyal to my Wallet. :D

 

BILL

 

I LOVE your strategy, and I agree!! :D

[amscene1]

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. :)

[jd99]

It's all a matter of perspective. We are trying Royal for the first time after 20 Disney cruises. Disney never drops their rates. Early booking on a current sailing is the only chance to get a better deal and yet it is still thousands more than what we are paying on RC. We priced a 7 night Disney Fantasy vs. 7 night Allure for a week this summer. Our original price for Fantasy, with an onboard discount applied was $7200 for one regular verandah cabin (no suite, no family cabin). We got a price of $4760 for the Allure in a verandah cabin. Then we had the TA reprice for two cabins (one verandah and one inside so that we could spread out). Total started at around $5,200 and we booked it then the free taxes came out and our total dropped to a little over $4,800. We couldn't be happier with the price! Hoping we like RC since we can nearly take 2 cruises for the price of one DCL.

[CptSticky]

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. :)

I hope you were jesting but fear you might be correct. All things seem to go in cycles and usually end in bubbles. The cruise industry definitely looks like it's frothy. On the other hand, we got some really cheap cruises back in '08:eek:

[$CJ]

I am the type that compulsively checks for sales and price variations. I can safely say none of these "sales" make any significant difference to the end price. The only sale that makes a real difference is when kids sail free.

 

Even I got sucked into kids sail free recently, but ended up booking two connecting inside rooms instead of squeezing into one balcony. So in the end I didn't save anything at all :cool:

[John&LaLa]

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.

 

Any good cabins going to be released? Always looking.

[robandana]

I'm a price watcher and there seems to be some truth to RC statements that they will not do last minute discounts but I have found some large online TA that are offering big discounts on some last minute RC sailings....maybe this is how RC is saving face....offer the last minute deals via a TA and then not have to offer money back for price drops...

 

Who knows where we have to go....to get the best deals :D

Edited April 22, 2016 by robandana

[riclop]

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.

 

You got that right but they do fool some people.

[Paulette3028]

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 just use a site that tracks all cruiselines, all ships, all sailings, that cuts the crap. RCCL isn't much different than your Kohl's, or grocery store. Every week they have 'sales' and new sales flyers, but in the end, milk is still the same price, as is eggs, and bacon.

 

Royal or any other company, whether Kohl's or any grocery store, or car dealer or (fill in the blank) doesn't need to justify their marketing strategy. The simple truth is consumers overall demand seeing the word sale. It isn't new, and it did not start yesterday. I was brought up in a world that believed in the motto, "We don't pay retail" therefore always looking for a sale to get a better deal than the suggested manufacturers retail price.

 

So don't blame the supplier, blame society.

[Pipo]

That's a catch for newbies. The only offers that I seriously look at are those alerts from Cruise Critic's price drop tool.