Wedding Guests Booking advice June 2018 Oasis

[WeddingCruiser404]

Hey experienced cruisers, I'm getting married through RCI on Oasis in June. I need help giving advice to last minute potential wedding guests. We already have our core family and friends booked and final payment is coming in the next couple weeks. I am looking for your opinions for potential wedding guest stragglers that want to join the party late but have been priced out. I've tracked our cruise for over a year and got great price adjustments for guests that initially booked. There are a handful of cousins/ loose friends that would still go if prices were closer to what the rest of our group have (ex. basic Interior room ~$1900-2000 vs. ~$2400 currently). Should the common assumption be that prices will remain approximately the same up until final payment (so RCI isn't price adjusting the entire ship last minute)? Then after final payment RCI would sell the remaining unreserved cabins at a discounted rate to ensure all rooms are booked? I've tried to track inventory on different websites and there seems to be a decent number of cabins available. I also understand there's a risk factor in waiting past final payment and that the ship could sell out or prices could rise. I'm just looking for general advice on what typically happens/ what you all have seen in the past for cabin prices / availability after final payment. Ex. scenario.... 2 cousins are willing to book today, 2 weeks before final payment... OR they could also pay in full a couple days after final payment was due for prebooked passengers. Generally would they expect to see significant savings ($100s) waiting for this deadline to pass if they are diligent about price checking?

[Clarea]

Unfortunately, there is no way to predict pricing trends. You may find the prices go down after final payment, or you may find that they ship continues to sell well and the prices go way up or even sells out. There's really no "typical".

[lazydayz]

This close to final payment, I would wait and see what prices do. With good availability, the law of supply and demand suggests the prices should drop after the final payment date. But it is a calculated risk.

[irishgal432]

I would also price out options for the larger suites for 4 or 4+. Like the Crown Lofts, and 2 bedroom Grand Suites. Sometimes they end up about the same price as other rooms especially since you get a break on the 3rd and fourth passenger rates. I sail on girls trips and find that to be the case sometimes.

[NavyCop]

Hi WeddingCruiser!

 

When are you getting married on Oasis? My husband and I were married by Captain Rob on Oasis on June 8 last year! We are celebrating our anniversary this year on her!

[WeddingCruiser404]

I would also price out options for the larger suites for 4 or 4+. Like the Crown Lofts, and 2 bedroom Grand Suites. Sometimes they end up about the same price as other rooms especially since you get a break on the 3rd and fourth passenger rates. I sail on girls trips and find that to be the case sometimes.

 

Thanks for the reply, this sounds great and I'm trying to understand a little more. The ~$2000 quote I mentioned was per room not per person, sorry if that caused confusion. Do the suites sometimes come down in price to be comparable to balcony cabin prices? Just rough examples but balconies may be ~$1500 per person where as suites all seemed to start over ~$2000 per person. Have you seen the suites with 4 people potentially come down to the ~$1500ish per person range of non suite rooms? If so that would be fantastic and a great selling point. Is this all based on booking after the ships final payment?

[WeddingCruiser404]

Hi WeddingCruiser!

 

When are you getting married on Oasis? My husband and I were married by Captain Rob on Oasis on June 8 last year! We are celebrating our anniversary this year on her!

 

Hey fellow wedding cruiser congratulations! We are getting married on the June 10th sailing to the Eastern Caribbean, love the idea of going back one year later!

[LizzyDragon]

Have you seen the suites with 4 people potentially come down to the ~$1500ish per person range of non suite rooms? If so that would be fantastic and a great selling point. Is this all based on booking after the ships final payment?

 

 

It's not unheard of for suite pricing to come down to balcony rates, but it is rare. As Bob (Clarea) posted earlier, there's no way to know if pricing will drop or not after final payment. My thinking would be no, based on the fact that this is a summer sailing and they tend to be in higher demand. But again, no way to know. If your guests see a price they are willing to pay, then they should get the room. If not, they can keep checking, but no guarantees the pricing will drop. If people are willing to go 3 or 4 people to a room, that will help with pricing as the 3rd/4th person are usually cheaper than the first two.

[griffy116]

We are pretty much stuck with cruising during the summer because of school schedule. We usually book more than a year in advance, and may occasionally see a small drop, but in our experience, the closer we are to final payment, the more unlikely it is that we will see a drop in price. Our only comfort is that our hearts don't sink seeing a drop after we've made final payment. Hope it works out differently for you.