20% discount on premium on Harmony, really?

[steamboats]

So to get a discount of 20% there´s a raise of 10$ on the package :D:eek:!

 

BTW, the German RCI website shows higher prices than the pdf file linked on the US website. It states that prices do not include the 18% (BTW no mention of any local VAT which could be added) and prices are shown as of February 2016:

 

Ultimate 67 USD

Premium 57 USD

Select 42 USD

Replenish 22 USD

Refreshment 8.50 USD

 

Just to add some more confusion... And these are not the prices shown in my (German) booking (in my Cruise Planner).

 

steamboats

[aweller88]

Apologies for my ignorance but I'm a first time cruiser. Myself and my husband will be going on harmony on 12th June for our honeymoon. We are trying to decide between getting the drinks package (think it's the premium one) or paying as we go. From reading your comments am I to understand that the prices advertised online are before the 18% gratuity? And there's now a Spanish tax?? That's crazy!! Also I'd heard of a 10 drink card...do you think this would be available onboard? We're not huge drinkers (despite being Irish!)

[brabrant10]

ok not seeing any discounts for anthem sailing--package stated in cruise planner indicates $49/daily so with 18% gratuities that come up to $57.82- no savings here :confused:

[Clarea]

Apologies for my ignorance but I'm a first time cruiser. Myself and my husband will be going on harmony on 12th June for our honeymoon. We are trying to decide between getting the drinks package (think it's the premium one) or paying as we go. From reading your comments am I to understand that the prices advertised online are before the 18% gratuity? And there's now a Spanish tax?? That's crazy!! Also I'd heard of a 10 drink card...do you think this would be available onboard? We're not huge drinkers (despite being Irish!)

With regard to the drink card, there's no way to predict it will be offered.

 

The Premium package starts to make economic sense at the 4-5 cocktail point. If you think you will drink at least that much every day of the cruise, then you would probably benefit from the Premium package.

[abo]

Apologies for my ignorance but I'm a first time cruiser. Myself and my husband will be going on harmony on 12th June for our honeymoon. We are trying to decide between getting the drinks package (think it's the premium one) or paying as we go. From reading your comments am I to understand that the prices advertised online are before the 18% gratuity? And there's now a Spanish tax?? That's crazy!! Also I'd heard of a 10 drink card...do you think this would be available onboard? We're not huge drinkers (despite being Irish!)

 

The Spanish tax is VAT, as applied in all EU countries (I believe the Irish rate for alcohol is 23%, but accept I could be wrong on this, in which case the Spanish rate looks quite good).

 

The price you see online should be the price you pay including VAT and gratuities. The best way to validate this is to add a package to your cruise planner account and go through checkout to the point where you would add credit card details. You can then see if any extras have been added. (Just remove the item from your basket at this stage if you don't actually want to buy).

[steamboats]

From reading your comments am I to understand that the prices advertised online are before the 18% gratuity? And there's now a Spanish tax??

 

It´s EU law. As long as the cruise does not have a non EU port you have to pay the VAT of the country the cruise started (which is Barcelona/Spain for the Harmony even when you board in Civitavecchia as this is only an interporting port). BTW it´s the same for cruise out of Southampton unless they do have a stop in Guernsey (which does count as a non EU port). I paid 20% British VAT for a magent onboard the Anthem on the pre inaugural cruise to nowwhere out of Southampton.

 

Spanish VAT is 21%, reduced VAT is 10%. So for specialty restaurants, drink packages and all bar purchases you have additional 10% VAT. Anything you buy in the shops including photos and internet packages you have an additional 21% VAT.

 

steamboats

[ChristieK0310]

I just checked my May 22nd Harmony cruise and the price was £40 and with 20% off is now £43?!?!?

 

Really?!?!?!

[whoops1234]

Well I emailed Michael Bayley(CEO) with my concerns about the prices on the website and how customer service were no help whatsoever. I have receive a reply and my email has been passed on to Customer Experience Manager in the UK.

 

I'll let you know how I get on.

[whoops1234]

UPDATE***

 

My premium packages has gone down £38.82 all in now, it's not 20% off but at least it gone down to close to what it was before, and the Zoom has about 16 different package options but the price seem right.

 

Anyone else seeing this?

Edited April 28, 2016 by whoops1234

[Iron-Maiden's-No1-Fan]

UPDATE***

 

My premium packages has gone down £38.82 all in now, it's not 20% off but at least it gone down to close to what it was before, and the Zoom has about 16 different package options but the price seem right.

 

Anyone else seeing this?

Yes I'm seeing this now also..down from £39.90 ..20% discount it's not but better than £45!

[Antropos]

UPDATE***

 

My premium packages has gone down £38.82 all in now, it's not 20% off but at least it gone down to close to what it was before, and the Zoom has about 16 different package options but the price seem right.

 

Anyone else seeing this?

 

Yep! Price is now back to "normal" again for my sailing (Harmony May 29). With "normal" I mean it's the same price as before the "20% discount".

[papcx]

I just checked my May 22nd Harmony cruise and the price was £40 and with 20% off is now £43?!?!?

 

 

 

Really?!?!?!

 

 

 

Yeah. Same here but a least it's down from £49.

[ash2bear]

There's some fuzzy math going on with my Anthem sailing, as well. The discount of 20% is being advertised for the ultimate, premium and select. But based on the standard prices, I'm not seeing 20%. Standard is $59/$49/$39. Discounted is showing $50/$44/$34. That would make discounts of around 15%/10%/13%.

[whoops1234]

Yes I'm seeing this now also..down from £39.90 ..20% discount it's not but better than £45!

 

Now do I buy them or see if it changes to 20% off:D

[Iron-Maiden's-No1-Fan]

Now do I buy them or see if it changes to 20% off:D

I'm not sure..reason why I waited so long as because I wanted 20% off 😂

 

I hope it'll go down as lots of people have telephoned royal

[whoops1234]

Well I've had a reply from the head of customer experience here in the UK and he has said that is the price. The 20% is off the onboard price. So going by that the Premium package will be somewhere in the region of £46.50 when onboard.

 

I've bought it as I don't want to chance that it will go up again. I can always cancel at a later date if it changes again

[abo]

Well I've had a reply from the head of customer experience here in the UK and he has said that is the price. The 20% is off the onboard price. So going by that the Premium package will be somewhere in the region of £46.50 when onboard.

 

I've bought it as I don't want to chance that it will go up again. I can always cancel at a later date if it changes again

 

 

We all know the standard price for these packages is $39/49/59. For RCI to claim anything else is to treat us as idiots.

 

The offer is an online offer, when did on-board prices start to be the relevant benchmark? So, what are the onboard prices, can anyone confirm? I don't ever recall seeing the onboard price being different to online, but could be wrong.

 

If not, then, in the UK at least, this would be considered misleading advertising as regulations require: 1. The previous price has to have been offered for a meaningful period before the sale price (typically at least 28 days, if less than this must be clearly stated in the offer) 2. The sale price cannot be offered for longer than the original price (it would then be considered no longer a sale but a 'normal' price) and 3. Sales must not be promoted in a manner that is likely to lead to consumer dissatisfaction or disappointment when the offer is taken up.

[mike x ftc]

I'm on the May 29th Harmony sailing and we are seeing the 20% off. My friend also on this cruise has e-mailed RCI and got no response so caalled and they confirmed that the price is 20% less than it would be if you bought it on board!! Not really 20% off at all then. This is not good at all, underhand advertising:cool:

[abo]

I'm on the May 29th Harmony sailing and we are seeing the 20% off. My friend also on this cruise has e-mailed RCI and got no response so caalled and they confirmed that the price is 20% less than it would be if you bought it on board!! Not really 20% off at all then. This is not good at all, underhand advertising:cool:

 

Royal have got a great product with their ships. I cannot understand why they allow it to be tarnished by these underhand value-eroding business practices. There's a lot of competition out there which I for one will certainly be looking at more closely when booking our next cruise.

[webecruzin2]

Royal have got a great product with their ships. I cannot understand why they allow it to be tarnished by these underhand value-eroding business practices. There's a lot of competition out there which I for one will certainly be looking at more closely when booking our next cruise.

 

 

I agree 100%. They've been playing games with their fares and now their drink packages. Their reps have no idea what's going on or they're lying to us.

Do they think we can't do basic math? It's insulting.

Planning a cruise has always been fun but this one has just been too much aggravation for me.

[Shocked91]

I'm on Harmony on May 26th 3 nights just paid £116 for the premium package.Will be interesting to see how much they will be charging once on board.

[little britain]

 

Premium is £38.99pd which is odd as on the 4n Harmony it is £38.82pd...... Confused!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad mini 4 using Tapatalk

[dmv1966]

Just checked premium package on Harmony 6/12 sailing and now the price is down to $51 and some cents, which is the $61 they were advertising before but now without the 18% gratuity. I think they are done if this to somehow give the illusion that they are getting giving you 20% off of the previously advertised price but they are not. I purchase before the "fake 20% sale" and my cost was 878 with grats and now it is $857 - how that works out to 20% savings is beyond me but it is obviously the Royal Caribbean way [emoji1]

[Virtopia]

Royal have got a great product with their ships. I cannot understand why they allow it to be tarnished by these underhand value-eroding business practices. There's a lot of competition out there which I for one will certainly be looking at more closely when booking our next cruise.

 

I agree. I called Apr 15th to get a NCC on board credit reapplied to my account. I was told it would take 4 days and of course, I haven't received anything yet. It's getting rather frustrating to have to keep calling them for the same issue.

 

I started looking at Carnival and NCL last night. Seeing as how I know I won't reach Diamond Plus anytime soon, I'm definitely open to looking elsewhere at this point.

Edited April 29, 2016 by Virtopia

[rbp4cruise]

Sailing on 6/12. The cost is $61 for premium so I am assuming the 18% is included.

 

I called and was told European sailing has 10% VAT . Here's how it was calculated to me by the pre cruise planner :

Premium package for the Harmony is $59/day less 20% totals $47.20/day

$47.20/day plus 10% VAT totals $51.92/day

$51.92/day plus 18% gratuity totals $61.26/day