Do you think RC will offer Diamond a discount on beverage package

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, CruisesRMe said:

I don't know where you are getting your prices, but just went on NCL website did a mock booking for early November Oceanview balcony and the price I got was $2479.44 with only a $50 per person deposit, which includes drink package, specialty dining package, wi fi and shore excursion credits, definitely a much better deal than the Harmony currently at $2583.96 with no incentives.

I priced out sailings yesterday for clients 

 

March break.  Anthem out of Bayonne balcony $2700.  Bliss out of NY $3700. Prices in CDN.  

 

While you may may find some sailings where NCL or Celebrity are cheaper every time I’ve priced out sailings on comparable ships for clients the lines with the “free” drinks have been more expensive. 

[not-enough-cruising]

23 minutes ago, CruisesRMe said:

I don't know where you are getting your prices, but just went on NCL website did a mock booking for early November Oceanview balcony and the price I got was $2479.44 with only a $50 per person deposit, which includes drink package, specialty dining package, wi fi and shore excursion credits, definitely a much better deal than the Harmony currently at $2583.96 with no incentives.

you are right, you found a unicorn; however that is no the norm but it is a great offer

[not-enough-cruising]

18 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I priced out sailings yesterday for clients 

 

March break.  Anthem out of Bayonne balcony $2700.  Bliss out of NY $3700. Prices in CDN.  

 

While you may may find some sailings where NCL or Celebrity are cheaper every time I’ve priced out sailings on comparable ships for clients the lines with the “free” drinks have been more expensive. 

Thank You

[CruisesRMe]

39 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I priced out sailings yesterday for clients 

 

March break.  Anthem out of Bayonne balcony $2700.  Bliss out of NY $3700. Prices in CDN.  

 

While you may may find some sailings where NCL or Celebrity are cheaper every time I’ve priced out sailings on comparable ships for clients the lines with the “free” drinks have been more expensive. 

That is so odd...I book cruises for family members and never did they pay that much for the Bliss or any NCL ships...maybe I just know when the deals are out?

[4774Papa]

23 hours ago, CruisesRMe said:

I am reading on boards here of people not purchasing the drink package due to the price increase and I am reading about others that will go to NCL, Celebrity and MSC because the drink package is included.  Just curious whether RC wants to keep its customers and will do something by either offering a more special rate at times for the drink package or bring back discounts for diamond and above members.

To me, that makes no sense.  We love Royal's Diamond happy hour.  On both of our Royal cruises we  have never purchased an alcoholic drink OR a drink package.

I hate the price inflation that has taken place with NCL and Celebrity because of the inclusion of drink packages that some just don't want.  Not everyone wants to drink all day.

[4774Papa]

26 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Thank You

Yes, we are finding that Royal beats the fares for NCL and Celebrity (at least for the cruises that we are looking at).

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, CruisesRMe said:

That is so odd...I book cruises for family members and never did they pay that much for the Bliss or any NCL ships...maybe I just know when the deals are out?

You most likely missed the part in my post where I said it was in Canadian $.  With the exchange rate that’s a 35% premium over US pricing.  The point was comparing 2 similar ships on the same sailing date

Edited September 8, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[sjb317]

53 minutes ago, CruisesRMe said:

In what ways?  We are going to decide today whether to go on the Equinox or the Edge for January/February.

Equinox is a beautiful ship, was fresh out of dry dock in June and looked amazing.  I love the Solarium,  Harmony has a larger one but there is no pool so that is a drawback for me.  I love the coffee bar on Equinox and also have become a fan of the World Class bar with their craft cocktails.  The Oceanview Buffet is much nicer than WJ on any of the Oasis class ships. More choices and I love the outdoor seating in the back. 

 

Harmony has great entertainment and lots of bells & whistles (which we don’t use😂) but feels more like a carnival to me.  I actually feel like I’m cruising on Equinox.

We are doing a B2B on Harmony next week but we have booked a B2B on Equinox for February.  I would love to give Edge a try!

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

[retiredgram]

10 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

What am I missing? I thought Diamonds still got a discount on DP if booked on board.

I though so too.  I guess we missed that little bit of info.

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, retiredgram said:

I though so too.  I guess we missed that little bit of info.

 

That discount only lasted a short time, maybe a month or two, and it was not fleetwide.

[retiredgram]

5 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Gone for at least a couple of years.

I always thought being Diamond plus, if I purchased onboard, I would get 30% off.  That is no longer true?? I guess you can tell we never purchase except for the huge mistake.  Thank you RC for that. 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 minute ago, retiredgram said:

I always thought being Diamond plus, if I purchased onboard, I would get 30% off.  That is no longer true?? I guess you can tell we never purchase except for the huge mistake.  Thank you RC for that. 

D Plus still gets the discount 

[CruisesRMe]

1 hour ago, sjb317 said:

Equinox is a beautiful ship, was fresh out of dry dock in June and looked amazing.  I love the Solarium,  Harmony has a larger one but there is no pool so that is a drawback for me.  I love the coffee bar on Equinox and also have become a fan of the World Class bar with their craft cocktails.  The Oceanview Buffet is much nicer than WJ on any of the Oasis class ships. More choices and I love the outdoor seating in the back. 

 

Harmony has great entertainment and lots of bells & whistles (which we don’t use😂) but feels more like a carnival to me.  I actually feel like I’m cruising on Equinox.

We are doing a B2B on Harmony next week but we have booked a B2B on Equinox for February.  I would love to give Edge a try!

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

Hello Sherri,

 

I really appreciate your input on the Equinox.  We don't need the bells and whistles of the Oasis ship, we aren't much into the shows anyways but would go if it is a show that is interesting.  I love coffee bars and the World Class bar sounds like something we would prefer also.  Buffets are my most priority during lunch, because we tend to eat more "healthy".  

 

How is the food in the MDR (we generally eat at specialty restaurants and found the past two years of it declining) in Celebrity compared to RC?  Would you say its similar or do you prefer one over the other?  How do you get your dining room reservations for dinner if choosing the dining where you can go at anytime?  Can we reserve it online or do we have to do that on the ship and where would that be?

 

You have me more leaning to the Equinox...I also have to book a cruise down the road for next October, so thinking going on the Equinox first then next fall the Edge.

 

I appreciate your help here, thank you.  Linda

[Clarea]

9 minutes ago, retiredgram said:

I always thought being Diamond plus, if I purchased onboard, I would get 30% off.  That is no longer true?? I guess you can tell we never purchase except for the huge mistake.  Thank you RC for that. 

 

Still true, D+ gets 30% off, PC gets 40% off.

[retiredgram]

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Still true, D+ gets 30% off, PC gets 40% off.

  If ever want to purchase, now I know. Thank you.

[sjb317]

1 hour ago, CruisesRMe said:

Hello Sherri,

 

I really appreciate your input on the Equinox.  We don't need the bells and whistles of the Oasis ship, we aren't much into the shows anyways but would go if it is a show that is interesting.  I love coffee bars and the World Class bar sounds like something we would prefer also.  Buffets are my most priority during lunch, because we tend to eat more "healthy".  

 

How is the food in the MDR (we generally eat at specialty restaurants and found the past two years of it declining) in Celebrity compared to RC?  Would you say its similar or do you prefer one over the other?  How do you get your dining room reservations for dinner if choosing the dining where you can go at anytime?  Can we reserve it online or do we have to do that on the ship and where would that be?

 

You have me more leaning to the Equinox...I also have to book a cruise down the road for next October, so thinking going on the Equinox first then next fall the Edge.

 

I appreciate your help here, thank you.  Linda

Celebrity’s MDR menu offers more choices each evening which is something we’ve seen decrease over the years on Royal.  Taste and quality compares with Royal, something’s are good, some not so much.😂.     Not sure how you do your dining reservations as we just do late dining. 

 

Definitely give the world class bar a try if you book Equinox.  They have some unusual cocktails and the bartenders told us that everything is made from scratch, all of the mixers are made from real juice, no commercial ones.  Makes the drink a little healthy!😂

 

Sherri🙂

 

  

[ReneeFLL]

20 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That discount only lasted a short time, maybe a month or two, and it was not fleetwide.

That's why I was confused. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 🥂

 

20 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

D Plus still gets the discount 

Good. We make diamond+ by the end of November. It's 30% discount from the onboard prices? Probably still won't buy the DP, but it's nice to know. If the 30% off was off of the online price before the cruise then that would change everything. 

[4bythebeach]

I don't know if policy has recently changed, but my son who is Diamond got on the Mariner today and they gave him 30% off  his drink package and his fiance who is also Diamond, got 50% off because they had a buy one, get one half off. He said the total for the 3 days for 2 of them was 315.00!!

[Clarea]

25 minutes ago, 4bythebeach said:

I don't know if policy has recently changed, but my son who is Diamond got on the Mariner today and they gave him 30% off  his drink package and his fiance who is also Diamond, got 50% off because they had a buy one, get one half off. He said the total for the 3 days for 2 of them was 315.00!!

 

I doubt it's a fleetwide policy change, probably something particular to that ship or even that sailing.

[Milwaukee Eight]

Pinnacles get a 40% onboard discount for the drink package. What percentage you think buy it?

[Arzeena]

On 9/7/2019 at 9:36 AM, CruisesRMe said:

I am reading on boards here of people not purchasing the drink package due to the price increase and I am reading about others that will go to NCL, Celebrity and MSC because the drink package is included.  Just curious whether RC wants to keep its customers and will do something by either offering a more special rate at times for the drink package or bring back discounts for diamond and above members.

NCL is not completely included. They levy 20% service charge per person on all "free" drinks packages. Plus water and coffee is not included in their "free" package. To include those, one has to go with the premium pkg.

[Arzeena]

On 9/7/2019 at 9:06 AM, gerif said:

Actually, the discount when it did exist could only be applied to the onboard purchase of the drink package which made it much cheaper to purchase in advance so I don’t see many taking advantage of it anyway. If they offered it on purchases made in advance on the cruise planner it might have been worthwhile. 

Exactly!

[Arzeena]

On 9/7/2019 at 9:54 AM, sjb317 said:

And yet, when I was comparing pricing between Harmony and Equinox for a cruise in June, the total cost of an InsIde balcony on Harmony was around $2400 for two. Equinox was about &2600. for an OV balcony plus paid gratuities, WiFi, drink package for 2 and $600 OBC.  I thought that was a pretty good deal.

 

Sherri🙂

Would love to see that deal on the Equinox. Perhaps a TA was offering this deal. Can you post a link? We love the Equinox.

[Arzeena]

On 9/7/2019 at 10:16 AM, CruisesRMe said:

There are many Celebrity cruises which include the drink package, internet, dining package, gratuities and shipboard credit...my sister today is boarding the Celebrity Equinox and booked with all those incentives and during thanksgiving week she be on the Edge with the same incentives but $600 shipboard credit!  My friend is going on the Breakaway in a few weeks, she also has the dining package and drink package included.

Because your sister paid for these "inclusions". Price out the same cruise without the inclusions.

[The Fun Researcher]

Short answer:  NO

Dan