Tired of all the games with pricing

[trogmd]

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!

 

 

We wanted to book Indy in Oct 2017 Transatlantic, price was £1539 pp for a balcony. Went to book it and RC started a new sale in the UK called Go All In, this so called sale was FREE DRINKS and BUY ONE CRUISE GET ONE HALF PRICE. The price went from £1539 to £2069 pp, an increase of £530.00.

How can they get away with this.

The price should be £1539 for one cruise and half this price for the second passenger. Also shows the drinks are not FREE. This is false advertising and should be illegal!!!!

Mark.:mad::mad::mad:

[Biker19]

This is false advertising and should be illegal!!!!

Mark.:mad::mad::mad:

 

Not only normal for RCI, but many other businesses.

[Citymom92]

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.

 

could you share where you went in Mexico? I tried investigating all-inclusives, and gave up not having any clue where to go. So I ended booking a cruise for the first time, but with the drink packages, excursions, etc. it's gotten to be much more expensive than I thought. Thanks!

[trogmd]

Not only normal for RCI, but many other businesses.

 

 

Just because its normal does not make it right! :(

[kaylaw25]

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

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

This happened to me. I saw the price difference as I was leaving work so I screen shot it on my phone. I went immediately home and called them to make the change. The price had gone up $400 in 30 minutes and the inital rep said he knew about the "price drop" but he wasn't authorized to give it to me since it had changed. After being switched around a few times I began to get less and less information. Everyone was mysteriously clueless about the change in price.

 

Another experience:

 

About 3 days after final payment, the price for my cabin dropped about $800.00 so I called to check on price adjustment, obc or switching cabins. no luck. However, they tried their hardest to upsell me a junior suite for another $500.00. I've learned that if I ever sail RCCL again I'm booking a few days after the final payment date.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

A new week, a new complaint about the "sales". :rolleyes:

 

How do they get away with it? By selling out the ships.

 

As many others have mentioned, it's all marketing. Personally, I like cruising vs AI. An AI may be cheaper, but so's camping. I've also never understood why someone (apparently with past history with RCCL) would get "excited" over hearing they have a sale and then be disappointed the cost doesn't change.

 

There's a certain website you can go to that will give you the current pricing, with the history since that cruise has been open for booking. Nice and easy to check without filling out all the search criteria on RC.com.

[Lionesss]

Our sailings final payment is due any minute.

 

And I am sure almost everyone has made their payment for out booking.

 

So...........today as I look at my one monitoring site amazing............all these cabins opened up and golly gee, at a reduced rate.

 

We are still ahead with the price reduction we got last October off our original booking.

 

 

Anyway, now time to sit back and wait to the cruise.

 

Safe travels.

[papaflamingo]

Yup... Marketing. Nothing new.

Who cares what they call the sale? The only thing that matters is the cost of the cruise. If you booked a cruise and after a sale the price is up $4000, then you should do a happy dance because you got the cruise at such a great low rate, not be angry you couldn't get it cheaper.

Econ 101:

1. RCCL is a business designed to make the biggest profit possible, not give free cruises to people.

2. Supply and Demand drive price. If the supply is low and demand high.. High prices. If the supply is high and demand low... Low prices. Anyone been on an empty ship lately?

 

"Value" is personal. What is "value" to me may not be to you. If you "value" an All Inclusive more than a cruise then you should do an All Inclusive. I have a specific "value" I place on a vacation. If I can get a cruise for that "value" or price, then I do. If not then I do something else. I really don't care if they call it a "BOGO," "BOGOHO," or "Gee We Love You" sale. If it fits into my "value" range, then I book it.

Stop getting panties in a wad over "titles." They are only designed to attract you to the website. If they do, they work. If you book, great. If not.. then the next 20 people who visit will.

Supply and Demand, Marketing, Maximizing Profit... It's Capitalism in it's finest.

[scottygirl]

Yup... Marketing. Nothing new.

Who cares what they call the sale? The only thing that matters is the cost of the cruise. If you booked a cruise and after a sale the price is up $4000, then you should do a happy dance because you got the cruise at such a great low rate, not be angry you couldn't get it cheaper.

Econ 101:

1. RCCL is a business designed to make the biggest profit possible, not give free cruises to people.

2. Supply and Demand drive price. If the supply is low and demand high.. High prices. If the supply is high and demand low... Low prices. Anyone been on an empty ship lately?

 

"Value" is personal. What is "value" to me may not be to you. If you "value" an All Inclusive more than a cruise then you should do an All Inclusive. I have a specific "value" I place on a vacation. If I can get a cruise for that "value" or price, then I do. If not then I do something else. I really don't care if they call it a "BOGO," "BOGOHO," or "Gee We Love You" sale. If it fits into my "value" range, then I book it.

Stop getting panties in a wad over "titles." They are only designed to attract you to the website. If they do, they work. If you book, great. If not.. then the next 20 people who visit will.

Supply and Demand, Marketing, Maximizing Profit... It's Capitalism in it's finest.

 

 

Couldn't have said it any better!

[tomahawk246]

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:

 

The solution to this is to book an inside and when the price drops after finale payment you switch to a balcony usually a few extra bucks. This works for me because I don't mind being inside if that is the finale results. You can also cancel at finale payment and book again later if you monitor the supply of cabins on the European site that tells you all the cabins that are available.

[Ocean Boy]

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.

 

Maybe the eggs and bacon but this week one of our major chain grocery stores had 2 liter bottles of Coke for $0.88. Ice cream is 2 or $5.00. And on both that is less than what we pay when they are not on sale.

[tomahawk246]

Maybe the eggs and bacon but this week one of our major chain grocery stores had 2 liter bottles of Coke for $0.88. Ice cream is 2 or $5.00. And on both that is less than what we pay when they are not on sale.

 

Dealing with Royal is like playing poker, actually dealing with any company is like playing poker. If you where a good poker player you would know Coke is always at its best price on Memorial Day Weekend. You just beat them at their own game. It actually gets to be fun. Poker is a great game.

[Ocean Boy]

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.

 

And if everyone is booking early and the cabins are selling out why should there be a price drop? How about if no one booked early and two months prior to sailing RCI found itself with an empty ship? That might be good for the sale of TUMS in the Miami area.

[Ocean Boy]

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!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

I know that was happening when RCI was offering free gratuities as well as taxes and port fees. When you would book solo the invoice would come up with OBC equal to gratuities or taxes equal to the cabin being occupied double so to counter that the price of the cabin would increase the amount of one person worth of gratuities or taxes.

[racerxspeedy]

I hate to wish for something bad to happen, but history will repeat itself. The market will change and prices may drop. You can always book way out into the future to hold your prefered room - cancel if the price doesn't drop. Look at these Carnival prices after the bad press they had in 2013. Go where the deals take you!

[tomahawk246]

And if everyone is booking early and the cabins are selling out why should there be a price drop? How about if no one booked early and two months prior to sailing RCI found itself with an empty ship? That might be good for the sale of TUMS in the Miami area.

 

Come on Ocean Boy your from Rhode Island. You know all the angles. Be patient and you will get a great cruise deal. I know that you know that Stop and Shop always lowers their price of Coke on Memorial Day Weekend. Make sure you check the Providence Journal fliers every week.

[alfaeric]

And if everyone is booking early and the cabins are selling out why should there be a price drop? How about if no one booked early and two months prior to sailing RCI found itself with an empty ship? That might be good for the sale of TUMS in the Miami area.

 

If that actually happened, they would change their marketing strategies.

 

But since the ships are sailing more full than not with these "sales"- there's no reason to change it.

 

Losing one customer who doesn't like sales run around's to pick up 3-4 is a great trade off. Better if that one is gets a discount due to loyalty and the 3-4 are all new. And the gain of customers is the reason prices are so high. Just like airplanes. Prices are high when people want to fly, low when people do not want to fly. The system allows for live price changes as the plane and ship fills up.

Edited May 25, 2016 by alfaeric

[traveler279]

I am getting many, many emails these days plus phone calls. It is starting to get annoying.

 

 

 

You can manage or stop the emails. There is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

 

I know. Why should you have to do something to stop them? Because you gave them permission to start sending them. It was in the fine print when you first gave them your email address.

[nelblu]

To the Op. if you are not satisfied go do something else and stop complaining. If you get a better value from a land vacation, go for it as it you have the freedom to do whatever you want to do.

[Roseflyer]

Royal Caribbean just switches from one sale to another so that there is virtually no sale at any point. Royal will occasionally have a real sale where a type of cabin on a specific cruise is discounted heavily for a period of time. Back in February, I noticed a Freedom of the Seas balcony cabin sale for the November 20 sailing based on someone's post here. The regular price was $902, but it dropped to $702 for about a week. I jumped on the deal. These are the types of deals to look out for. If you do a generic Royal Caribbean search sometimes specific cruises and cabins are offered for a low price outside the normal slow price increases that are typically seen up until final payment is due. The actual sales that Royal offers are almost never advertised because they don't want people repricing their existing bookings.

[Thetrail]

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.

Have 12 RCL cruises booked over the next two years with zero chance of cancelling!.....K.O.:)

[prekteacher]

I always wonder how everyone else seems to be getting a great cruise deal and price and I end up paying $$$$$$$$. Then I think about it and realize we go on the big ships, during peak times (only time we can go) and are taken for a sail because of it. We love to cruise though so will pay for it. I was so excited 2 weeks ago when I called about my Harmony B2B next summer and wound up with $270 of for us. LOL. The biggest drop ever for me so far.:p

Their sales are really not much of a price change at all.

 

Barbara

[rubylake]

A new week, a new complaint about the "sales". :rolleyes:

 

How do they get away with it? By selling out the ships.

 

As many others have mentioned, it's all marketing. Personally, I like cruising vs AI. An AI may be cheaper, but so's camping. I've also never understood why someone (apparently with past history with RCCL) would get "excited" over hearing they have a sale and then be disappointed the cost doesn't change.

 

There's a certain website you can go to that will give you the current pricing, with the history since that cruise has been open for booking. Nice and easy to check without filling out all the search criteria on RC.com.

 

Would you be able to share the website you are referring to? Thank you.

[crashdavis565]

Very interesting how things have changed.

I am complaining, I get it. If you want to be the person on the Allure who has paid $4000.00 for a cabin and I have paid $2000.00 then fine with me. I simply do not want to be that person. It makes me sick to be that person.

It is my feeling RCCL should treat their Diamond C and A customers with a little respect, that means figuring out the lowest price and offering it to them without all the B.S. If you do not feel that way, cool, keep getting screwed. RCCL has enough profits, I prefer to keep my money.

 

The link for the AI we did is in this thread in one of my posts. Again, it is not the same vacation but was reasonable enough. The "entertainment" was really lacking but the food ( we did the higher tier restaurant options) and the service were spot on. The beach was amazing. Most cruises we go the beaches anyways, so it was little different in that regard.

 

So, the travel agent was of little help. I would occasionally call her but she was not really checking prices. I have seen many on here quote websites that will keep you up to date on pricing and I would find that really interesting. Could someone please share one?

So, I get the latest email, 30% off and KSF. Hmmm, I check out pricing and we can now do this Oct 2, Allure , for about 2K balcony ocean with free gratuities and OBC on one of the cruise sites. Wow, really? The funniest part is I am not sure we can go as we are going to be in Europe for a wedding the previous week and it will be a lot of flying travel in a row. This our Fall Break so it allows us to take the kids when they are out of school, when most kids still have school. In that it is the "shoulder" season too, we usually get great rates like this. All that said, I am floored by this pricing and feel it is way beyond value. I looked at the Crown Suite and it is only $5500, when many are paying $4000 for a simple balcony, again, that is just crazy good price!

So, do all the people who pay $4000, now have the option of the lower price, or since it is only 60 days away, are they screwed? I guess if you have to go, you have to go, but for me, I will wait and see if it is really worth going.

One final thought, in that it is so close, we will have to pay a little more for airfare if we decide to go.

Does Royal still do the stock thing?

Crash-

[John Reid]

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

 

Insightful.