Just rebooked. Onboard packages skyrocketed!

[BURNS1]

Just rebooked our cancelled cruise from Aug. 8th.  We had a comp Jr Suite, from casino.  It was bad enough that we were only able to get an inside comp on the new cruise, not even a regular balcony.  We bit the bullet and payed the upgrade for a balcony.  Now I look at the packages for drinks and internet.  We paid $54 a day for our Aug cruise and now it will be $82 a day!  I know they were shut down for over a year, but seriously!  Just had to vent.

 

[Sunshine3601]

what they are charging per person at coco cay beach club day pass is insane too.     

I had that booked for a May cruise at $46.99 pp now they are selling for over $180 pp.    No Way!   It's a nice area with a nice lunch but not worth $360+ for 2 people.   

[PTC DAWG]

Watch for sales, July 4th, Labor Day, long time RCL cruisers I’m sure will chime in. 
 

a recent sail, I bought the drink package for $58 a day, plus grats..Allure in Sept. 

[cbaker1974]

I think you are going to see this across the board on most cruise lines up front - they all lost a ton of money and were walking a tightrope to avoid bankruptcy so they had to go into a ton of debt since they didn't get government bailout help -  that is going to make it tougher than normal to turn a profit or break even due to the debt costs.  Raising prices helps fix that if people are willing to pay - ultimately competition will bring these prices down (people are only willing to pay so much, and if the packages don't sell, or if the ships are sailing with empty berths because of high costs then they will adjust).  But for now with so much pent up demand, they are going to try and get as much as they can.  If they can help offset some of those losses then they can resume ship upgrades and new builds/features, which is what ultimately makes the experience better...I don't really fault them for trying.  We can always vote with our feet if we as customers don't like it...there's tons of other vacation options available 

[BURNS1]

 

30 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Watch for sales, July 4th, Labor Day, long time RCL cruisers I’m sure will chime in. 
 

a recent sail, I bought the drink package for $58 a day, plus grats..Allure in Sept. 

That's what I am hoping for.  I always look for those holiday sales!  But,  I have never seen it start so high in cost.  Fingers crossed!!!

[rockmom]

36 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Watch for sales, July 4th, Labor Day, long time RCL cruisers I’m sure will chime in. 
 

a recent sail, I bought the drink package for $58 a day, plus grats..Allure in Sept. 

The bummer for some of us that were just moved from Indy to Odyssey or Navigator to Freedom that leave the first week of July is that we likely won't have a sale between now and the cutoff to purchase pre-cruise, not to mention I doubt the refund for all of our planner items will land back on my card before the sailing.  All of my things have gone up anywhere from 80% to 495% over what I paid.  It nets out to a 240% increase if I were to repurchase all the same things.  

[kdnurs]

1 hour ago, BURNS1 said:

Just rebooked our cancelled cruise from Aug. 8th.  We had a comp Jr Suite, from casino.  It was bad enough that we were only able to get an inside comp on the new cruise, not even a regular balcony.  We bit the bullet and payed the upgrade for a balcony.  Now I look at the packages for drinks and internet.  We paid $54 a day for our Aug cruise and now it will be $82 a day!  I know they were shut down for over a year, but seriously!  Just had to vent.

 

The drink package for our cruise in August 2022 is a WHOOPING 84.00 pp 😲with a sAle of 66.00 pp. The most we have ever paid 48.00 pp. Not buying either. 🙄

[karena1]

Our cruise on Navigator was moved to Freedom.  It is $18 more per day than it was before.  I will wait and see if it goes down. Worst case, I will wait til we board as we get 30% off for being D+ and right now it is only 20% off.  Originally I has 40% off.  But it is what it is, they moved us.  At least we are price protected.  Otherwise it would be about $800 more than we paid for Navigator.

 

[ONECRUISER]

My Fall Oct/Nov/Dec Cruises Drink packages currently $57-61, they were cheaper last month and were running $43 seven months ago. My Mar-May2020 Cruises are currently $57 pp. Gets too high most may be better off paying by Drink.

Edited June 8, 2021 by ONECRUISER

[Bleueyes44]

At least you have access, we are still waiting for our  July 11 Odyssey assignment.  I wonder how much the cabanas are going to be .  By the comments I'm  reading should put in for that home loan quick, lol.

 

 

[Jimbo]

Royal's way of getting money back for each sailing, change your ship, cancel  your cruise planner items from old ship.....................Now rebook those same cruise planner items. This is their way of off setting all those L& S's and FCC 125%.

You think they are dumb?, they know what they are doing.

[3kidsncats]

We weren’t bumped, but I am also surprised at the pricing.  And the last “sale” literally was not a sale, with just about everything being the same price as usual. We grabbed CocoCay Club passes at $106 — down from $169 two sales ago.  Now they are priced at close to 190.  Refuse to pay the drink package pricing as we just don’t drink enough in one day to make it worth while.   I’m aware that they need to make up funds somewhere, but current pricing is beyond what I’m willing to foot the bill for.

[rtazz17]

2 hours ago, BURNS1 said:

Just rebooked our cancelled cruise from Aug. 8th.  We had a comp Jr Suite, from casino.  It was bad enough that we were only able to get an inside comp on the new cruise, not even a regular balcony.  We bit the bullet and payed the upgrade for a balcony.  Now I look at the packages for drinks and internet.  We paid $54 a day for our Aug cruise and now it will be $82 a day!  I know they were shut down for over a year, but seriously!  Just had to vent.

 

You sure that 82 isnt with internet too? Sometimes you read it quick and its also with internet

[Tree_skier]

Just got the DBP for our newly booked Alaska cruise in August for $47 a day.  It's back up to $54 now where it was before.  I'm pretty pleased with that price.  Internet was pretty high though, $25 for 2 device pkg.  That's the highest I've ever paid.

[RFerrington]

3 hours ago, rockmom said:

The bummer for some of us that were just moved from Indy to Odyssey or Navigator to Freedom that leave the first week of July is that we likely won't have a sale between now and the cutoff to purchase pre-cruise, not to mention I doubt the refund for all of our planner items will land back on my card before the sailing.  All of my things have gone up anywhere from 80% to 495% over what I paid.  It nets out to a 240% increase if I were to repurchase all the same things.  

Yep.  I'm in this category (Indy → OY).  I had great prices on DBP and UDP.  Gone now.  Most likely will not rebook at the exorbitant prices now. We'll just have to suck it up on these cruises.

[rockmom]

12 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Just got the DBP for our newly booked Alaska cruise in August for $47 a day.  It's back up to $54 now where it was before.  I'm pretty pleased with that price.  Internet was pretty high though, $25 for 2 device pkg.  That's the highest I've ever paid.

For those of us who just got moved from Indy to Odyssey the 2 device package is $35.  I had it for $18 on Indy.  So it's pretty much doubled. 

[BURNS1]

 

1 hour ago, rtazz17 said:

You sure that 82 isnt with internet too? Sometimes you read it quick and its also with internet

The $54 was with internet and so is the $82. Just quite a jump!  Wasn't prepared for that much of a jump. 

 

[coldflame]

3 hours ago, cbaker1974 said:

I think you are going to see this across the board on most cruise lines up front - they all lost a ton of money and were walking a tightrope to avoid bankruptcy so they had to go into a ton of debt since they didn't get government bailout help -  that is going to make it tougher than normal to turn a profit or break even due to the debt costs.  Raising prices helps fix that if people are willing to pay - ultimately competition will bring these prices down (people are only willing to pay so much, and if the packages don't sell, or if the ships are sailing with empty berths because of high costs then they will adjust).  But for now with so much pent up demand, they are going to try and get as much as they can.  If they can help offset some of those losses then they can resume ship upgrades and new builds/features, which is what ultimately makes the experience better...I don't really fault them for trying.  We can always vote with our feet if we as customers don't like it...there's tons of other vacation options available 

 

That's not entirely accurate. Cruise lines and specially Royal got nearly free debt as they raised cash via secondary offerings. Meaning they don't have to pay it back. They diluted the shares and as of right now the market has mostly ignored those dilutions. So I don't think Royal will have any issues servicing the debt they accrued before covid hit with regular revenue. 

 

As for the price hike in excursions/meals/internet, I think it's a forgone conclusion they need the cash to resume full operations -- which isn't cheap to mobilize all the staff, contracts with hotels, covid insurance, etc.

[jimd909]

Sailing on Navigator during Christmas this year.  Looks like they are upping prices.  deluxe bev package was $69, now it's $71.  This is without a sales.

 

I also noticed my Owners Suite is now over $2,000 more than what I paid.  I check to see if the price went down.

 

Keep an eye on this link

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Promotions/Snapshot_of_CruisePlanner_Offers.pdf

 

They post when the sale will be.  I got this from another CC poster.

[bgoff60]

8 hours ago, BURNS1 said:

Just rebooked our cancelled cruise from Aug. 8th.  We had a comp Jr Suite, from casino.  It was bad enough that we were only able to get an inside comp on the new cruise, not even a regular balcony.  We bit the bullet and payed the upgrade for a balcony.  Now I look at the packages for drinks and internet.  We paid $54 a day for our Aug cruise and now it will be $82 a day!  I know they were shut down for over a year, but seriously!  Just had to vent.

 

First world problem - really!

[ReneeFLL]

47 minutes ago, bgoff60 said:

First world problem - really!

Why do people make such a xxxxxx comment? I’m guessing you have never had a complaint that wouldn’t be labeled as a first world problem? 🙄🙄🙄

[3kidsncats]

59 minutes ago, bgoff60 said:

First world problem - really!

People don’t come to CruiseCritic to discuss first world problems.  

[chefchick]

8 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Why do people make such a xxxxxx comment? I’m guessing you have never had a complaint that wouldn’t be labeled as a first world problem? 🙄🙄🙄

To be fair...anyone who “complains”about ANYTHING having to do with a vacation is discussing a “first world problem”....

 

in regards to any discussion on this forum can we all agree to at least that?

[forgotmyCCname]

1 hour ago, bgoff60 said:

First world problem - really!

Everyone on these boards has "first world" problems. In fact just being able to be a member of CC is "first world".

Guess I'm just not "woke".

[FamilyCruiserUK]

The prices have gone up due to a number of reasons people have said, covid shutdown and limited numbers sailing. We never buy any package except kids drinks for the little one. Always have found RC shore trips expensive. In 2020 we went to bermuda and RC wanted £280 each for a dolphin trip, we walked to the place (10mins) and paid £120 each for a much longer and more interactive trip. Dont drink much anymore so dont need drinks package and most places we stop off at have free internet, so dont use any internet on ship. 

 

But we have noticed here in UK alot of prices for things have sneeked up