RCCL Drink Package Price Increase

[Clarea]

41 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Our Christmas cruise on Oasis has been up and down a fair bit.  It’s currently at $58 and has been higher and i’ve seen it as low as $51.  Not as low as other sailings but lower than I expected given it’s a holiday sailing. 

 

Are those USD prices?

[Ourusualbeach]

7 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Are those USD prices?

Yes, I try to remember to convert, Canadian pricing has everyone saying Holy s***

[twangster]

Ultimately it's us the consumer that dictate pricing.  If we collectively stop buying they would lower prices.

 

They'll constantly test to see how high they can push the market without impacting sales volumes.   If $51 results in acceptable sales volumes and $55 results in a measurable drop in sales then $51 becomes the new normal.  Perhaps that is $65 for three night cruises.  If $51 for three months has resulted in a 15% reduction in sales then maybe $47 makes a come brief back to get sales back to the target they desire.  

 

The DX in its current form was first offered in 2016 so they have a lot of data to draw from.    They know when most people become interested in package pricing, how many people will buy it at any given price point and they know what is too low causing them to leave money on the table.  

 

They also know in each region what each type of cruise will consume during different times of the year.  Some will have more beer consumed, some more wine, some more liquor.  The yields are different for each.   They know on a 7 night cruise when drink fatigue kicks in for the average DX guest.  Summer trends versus winter trends.  All that feeds into the calculator.

 

For the average cruiser who just does one or two cruises per year it may not seem logical but there is a lot of analytics behind DX pricing.  What you see for a cruise in between Thanksgiving and Christmas is not going to be what someone cruising in March or July will see.  NYE cruises will see a lot of consumption so prices will trend higher.

 

At a 20% adoption rate that's 14,000 people every day on board a ship with the DX package.  That provides a wealth of data to draw their price models from. 

[EDiamond22]

Jan 4th sailing on adventure, was as low as $48 (a month ago hasnt been that low since) now bouncing around from 55-59-64.. as of today sitting at 59

[Iamcruzin]

9 hours ago, EDiamond22 said:

how long is the cruise? i wonder if that plays a roll aswell? one would hope on the longer ones they might consider keeping it on the lower end.
 

From my experience and from what I have read on here it seems like the Oasis class ships carry the higher prices. I was on Anthem and paid $49 a day. That was the lowest price in the planner and that was the price when we boarded after the discount was applied.  It was a 9 day cruise with 4 ports of call. One was a 1/2 day in Puerto Rico 7am- 2pm and one was Labadee where the drink package was used. So on that 9 day cruise there were only 2 full port days where we weren't using the drink package in the afternoon.

[LuCruise]

4 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

From my experience and from what I have read on here it seems like the Oasis class ships carry the higher prices. I was on Anthem and paid $49 a day. That was the lowest price in the planner and that was the price when we boarded after the discount was applied.  It was a 9 day cruise with 4 ports of call. One was a 1/2 day in Puerto Rico 7am- 2pm and one was Labadee where the drink package was used. So on that 9 day cruise there were only 2 full port days where we weren't using the drink package in the afternoon.

Our 4 day Mariner cruise is currently the most expensive at $91 CAD. Pretty crazy.

Our Harmony isn't showing yet (and Symphony last year didn't get that high....got to around $78 CAD...but that was before the recent overall increase we're seeing).

[Iamcruzin]

6 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Our 4 day Mariner cruise is currently the most expensive at $91 CAD. Pretty crazy.

Our Harmony isn't showing yet (and Symphony last year didn't get that high....got to around $78 CAD...but that was before the recent overall increase we're seeing).

They must use a dart board to price these thing out. I honestly got away cheap on my 9 day cruise with 7 days of being able to use the drink package.

[NateUpNorth]

4 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Grandeur seems to have it's own thing going.  With a strong and loyal base that frequent the ship there can be a lot of people who tend not to buy the DX so often you will see better pricing on her right from the start.

 

 

Not to sidetrack the thread, but do you think that loyal base will switch to Enchantment of the Seas when Grandeur leaves the fleet? 

Is it a ship thing, or a home port thing? 

[Clarea]

6 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

 

Not to sidetrack the thread, but do you think that loyal base will switch to Enchantment of the Seas when Grandeur leaves the fleet? 

Is it a ship thing, or a home port thing? 

 

Enchantment used to be in Baltimore, so I guess if the locals switched to Grandeur, they can switch back to Enchantment.

[Milwaukee Eight]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

From my experience and from what I have read on here it seems like the Oasis class ships carry the higher prices. I was on Anthem and paid $49 a day. That was the lowest price in the planner and that was the price when we boarded after the discount was applied.  It was a 9 day cruise with 4 ports of call. One was a 1/2 day in Puerto Rico 7am- 2pm and one was Labadee where the drink package was used. So on that 9 day cruise there were only 2 full port days where we weren't using the drink package in the afternoon.

Lots more bars a locations for a drink???

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Iamcruzin said:

From my experience and from what I have read on here it seems like the Oasis class ships carry the higher prices. I was on Anthem and paid $49 a day. That was the lowest price in the planner and that was the price when we boarded after the discount was applied.  It was a 9 day cruise with 4 ports of call. One was a 1/2 day in Puerto Rico 7am- 2pm and one was Labadee where the drink package was used. So on that 9 day cruise there were only 2 full port days where we weren't using the drink package in the afternoon.

 

Oasis and Anthem are the same price for me right now, a few weeks apart.  Ovation down under $2 more.  Ovation had been trending really high, like ***** kind of high but came down a month or so ago.  Mariner and Navigator are higher but those are short cruises.  Voom is higher on Ovation and it hasn't dropped much, but that's another story.

 

I really don't think you can apply any absolutes about beverage package pricing.  There is no rhyme or reason to the variations.  It appears random but it really is a supply and demand thing on a case by case basis.  

[EDiamond22]

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Oasis and Anthem are the same price for me right now, a few weeks apart.  Ovation down under $2 more.  Ovation had been trending really high, like ***** kind of high but came down a month or so ago.  Mariner and Navigator are higher but those are short cruises.  Voom is higher on Ovation and it hasn't dropped much, but that's another story.

 

I really don't think you can apply any absolutes about beverage package pricing.  There is no rhyme or reason to the variations.  It appears random but it really is a supply and demand thing on a case by case basis.  

you also bring up a good point with the vroom because the combo of DP and S&S internet is priced at 65pp right now that it self is like 12pp. we will have a pet sitter at home that we would like to be able to reach so we were planning on getting some sort of internet package aswell, that would mean the DP it self would have to be under like 52pp for us to be getting a better deal not going with the combo pack (if my math checks out anyway, its been along day but i think i have the numbers crunched right lol )

[Iamcruzin]

11 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Oasis and Anthem are the same price for me right now, a few weeks apart.  Ovation down under $2 more.  Ovation had been trending really high, like ***** kind of high but came down a month or so ago.  Mariner and Navigator are higher but those are short cruises.  Voom is higher on Ovation and it hasn't dropped much, but that's another story.

 

I really don't think you can apply any absolutes about beverage package pricing.  There is no rhyme or reason to the variations.  It appears random but it really is a supply and demand thing on a case by case basis.  

I agree with the supply and demand theory, which is why I don't understand when people book anything in the planner  at an outrageous price hoping that it will come down and they can rebook at the new price. That practice in theory will only drive the price higher. I also believe that they track our views on a products and price it accordingly to our curiosity price. Although I'm probably giving the IT department too much credit.

[EDiamond22]

3 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

I agree with the supply and demand theory, which is why I don't understand when people book anything in the planner  at an outrageous price hoping that it will come down and they can rebook at the new price. That practice in theory will only drive the price higher. I also believe that they track our views on a products and price it accordingly to our curiosity price. Although I'm probably giving the IT department too much credit.

But maybe not even enough credit, RC is a multi billion dollar a year company they have the means to collect basically any data they want. although i cant confirm that RC does it but its been discovered (majorly in the airline business) that they can track your visits too the site and what your searching, and also make sure you are seeing something that not everyone else might be seeing. like if they know i keep checking the price on a specific flight they can increase it then drop it a little causing me to most likely book because they just showed me that scary high number while someone else casually searching might be seeing a much lower number. there is ways for those situations to browse more protected and keep them from knowing your location and history. I don't know the likely-hood they are using such algorithms but defiantly a possibility. we really never know.

At the end of the day we all want the best price possible but for me the way i see it there is a certain number per day that would make me feel like i'm getting my moneys worth. if i never see it below then ill pay per drink and so be it, if i get it below that number or catch a price reduction then that's all a bonus to me. 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, EDiamond22 said:

I don't know the likely-hood they are using such algorithms but defiantly a possibility.

Given how poorly their IT system works, I'd say that is very low.

[Iamcruzin]

6 minutes ago, EDiamond22 said:

But maybe not even enough credit, RC is a multi billion dollar a year company they have the means to collect basically any data they want. although i cant confirm that RC does it but its been discovered (majorly in the airline business) that they can track your visits too the site and what your searching, and also make sure you are seeing something that not everyone else might be seeing. like if they know i keep checking the price on a specific flight they can increase it then drop it a little causing me to most likely book because they just showed me that scary high number while someone else casually searching might be seeing a much lower number. there is ways for those situations to browse more protected and keep them from knowing your location and history. I don't know the likely-hood they are using such algorithms but defiantly a possibility. we really never know.

At the end of the day we all want the best price possible but for me the way i see it there is a certain number per day that would make me feel like i'm getting my moneys worth. if i never see it below then ill pay per drink and so be it, if i get it below that number or catch a price reduction then that's all a bonus to me. 

I have also experienced that with airlines, hotels and car rentals. If i clear my cookies or search incognito I sometimes get a different price.  

[SRF]

16 hours ago, CTCruiser76 said:

 but I am hoping that there will be a black Friday special and I will cancel and rebook. 

 

That is what I am hoping for.

[SRF]

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I have also experienced that with airlines, hotels and car rentals. If i clear my cookies or search incognito I sometimes get a different price.  

 

Add in a VPN to mask your IP address.

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I really don't think you can apply any absolutes about beverage package pricing.  There is no rhyme or reason to the variations.  It appears random but it really is a supply and demand thing on a case by case basis.  

 

I think you hit the nail right on the head. Supply & Demand play a big part as does the demographics of certain cruises. I've never taken a 3/4 night cruise but from what I've read here, it tends to attract a younger, more active crowd that will more likely have more drinkers on board.  Probably why Navigator/Mariner have higher prices. People tend to drink more during holidays so it makes sense the DP will be more expensive on those cruises.

 

Bigger ships - Oasis & Quantum-class as well as Freedom - have more bars and with some interesting choices. From what I recall, the 270 lounge has drinks you can not find anywhere else on the ship. Hence, the higher price in relation to Grandeur which has fewer bars, an older crowd that might have many upper-tier that'll do their drinking in the DL.

 

Again, as you pointed out, nothing is absolute and the demographics and supple&demand will alter the above rules to a certain extent.

 

 

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Given how poorly their IT system works, I'd say that is very low.

 

True but a lot of times when the marketing guys know their IT depts will lack the....expertise....they'll outsource that works to a company that can do the tracking/analysis for them.

[1novascotian]

For my March cruise on Oasis it is currently bouncing between $81 and $86 Canadian a day. Last year on my Allure cruise (same week) we ended up paying $55 Canadian a day. (The value of CAD vs US dollar is pretty much what it was last year +/- a cent or two)

 

We were already booked when the $18 a day event happened but I was away and asleep when everything went down and my husband didn't bother to call and wake me up or book it himself. 🤦‍♀️

 

Needless to say we haven't booked a drink package so far.

Edited November 22, 2019 by 1novascotian

[Joebucks]

I love alcohol. This is just too much money.

[coops]

On 11/21/2019 at 4:22 PM, Milwaukee Eight said:

Making up for the $18 glitch. 

Not true, look at all the new ships they are building. Glitch was not a major thing. Now the new builds are the major cost.

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 hours ago, coops said:

Not true, look at all the new ships they are building. Glitch was not a major thing. Now the new builds are the major cost.

It was a joke. 

[coops]

10 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

It was a joke. 

👍