Royal Caribbean Pricing

[SoloAlaska]

Royal is the master of the expensive theme parks at sea. I don’t care for theme parks much especially not for a week plus non stop. Royal can keep pricing however it wants because a lot of people want that product but thankfully other lines offer different experiences. Now with that said cruising has jumped in price since I started 2 years ago. Deals are harder to find.

[Tatka]

Cruises are basically sold out ... so remaining cabins have such prices. If they are not sold closer to cruises price will go down.

Royal is masterfully getting money lost during 2020 - 2022 (last quarter) back.

[PhillyFan33579]

I realize this is subjective, but in my opinion there is no comparison between the experience on RCi ships compared with Carnival ships, which is why RCI cruises are more expensive. Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way based on current and future cruise prices for RCI. Paying more for a better experience is well worth it in my book. To me it is the same as buying BMWs and Mercedes instead of Hondas and Toyotas. It is far more enjoyable driving a BMW or Mercedes. Of course everyone’s financial situation is different and has a big impact in deciding what to spend on a cruise ( and what to pay for a car as well). 

[hapster85]

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I realize this is subjective, but in my opinion there is no comparison between the experience on RCi ships compared with Carnival ships, which is why RCI cruises are more expensive. Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way based on current and future cruise prices for RCI. Paying more for a better experience is well worth it in my book. To me it is the same as buying BMWs and Mercedes instead of Hondas and Toyotas. It is far more enjoyable driving a BMW or Mercedes. Of course everyone’s financial situation is different and has a big impact in deciding what to spend on a cruise ( and what to pay for a car as well). 

Yeah, Royal Caribbean and Carnival are different, but wouldn't call Royal Caribbean superior. We've only done 10 cruises spread among Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Princess. We've yet to have a bad experience on any of them. 😉

[firefly333]

7 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I realize this is subjective, but in my opinion there is no comparison between the experience on RCi ships compared with Carnival ships, which is why RCI cruises are more expensive. Apparently I am not the only one who feels this way based on current and future cruise prices for RCI. Paying more for a better experience is well worth it in my book. To me it is the same as buying BMWs and Mercedes instead of Hondas and Toyotas. It is far more enjoyable driving a BMW or Mercedes. Of course everyone’s financial situation is different and has a big impact in deciding what to spend on a cruise ( and what to pay for a car as well). 

I just got off a 14 day cruise on carnival, albeit a special cruise. Balconys start about 6k unless you get a casino invite. We only had 19 kids. These are designed for better more interesting ports.

 

Imo food beat rcl hands down. The new menu items from emeril were very good. They are improving their Mdr menus for dinner while rcl cuts back. Mongolian bbq free at lunch and Italian and I love their pizza. Dont like rcl pizza. Did the deli 3 lunches. They still have honeydew and stuff rcl has cut. If you are a family yes rcl appeals, but I can see why people also do carnival. Better food. New improved menus. As long as rcl gives solos a deal I'm here but I enjoyed my 14 day cruise on carnival. Aruba curacao columbia costa rica and panama. Not a cheap cruise. But it was nice and almost no kids. Those new ships mardi gras class arent cheap either. I know rcl folks want to feel superior but for me it's a matter of price and perks.

[2chiefs]

17 hours ago, spiegeje said:

True, but its a comparison of cruise prices at the same time from Florida ports in the same month using dummy bookings created on the same day.

 

Look at Celebration vs Enchantment.

 

It's not about trying to book a cruise 4 months out. I may do the same thing for two years down the line, but doing dummy bookings with Royal 2-3 years out is shocking as well. I currently have 3 reasonably priced sailings with Royal booked now. I can't get that pricing any longer. Jason Liberty's finance background is starting to show. I predict people may start walking to other lines especially when the Icon honeymoon dies.

I'm already walking! 

 

[2chiefs]

17 hours ago, Tatka said:

Enchantment is a smaller ship with a limited number of balconies. It is supply vs demand.

 

Balconies on Anthem cost less

True. And their inside and OV's suck. Odd that people are paying so much for a balcony on the Enchantment. I guess the demand is what's causing it.

[2chiefs]

17 hours ago, HicksRA said:

I’ve got one cruise booked for Sep and am no longer even looking anymore. If I do go on that one, it will probably be my last. 
Cruising is not like it used to be - now just a watered down money grabbing amusement park. That may be fine for others but not me. 

Agree. I'm looking at other lines and while some may be lower than Royal, they are high too. I may just stop cruising for a while.

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, 2chiefs said:

True. And their inside and OV's suck. Odd that people are paying so much for a balcony on the Enchantment. I guess the demand is what's causing it.

 

Of course. It is demand that drives prices.

For example once a year we sail out of Baltimore on Vision class.

In inside (we do not spend much time in our cabin).

We could sail for this price with balcony on newer ship, but we like itinerary (12 days South Caribbean) and the fact that we can drive there. Many people live around Baltimore and do not want to fly.

Edited February 2 by Tatka

[Twenty2020]

There are still deals out there. 

 

 

Example

7 nights on Wonder OV balcony April 2025

$2563 total. 

 

 

[Tatka]

1 hour ago, Twenty2020 said:

There are still deals out there. 

 

 

Example

7 nights on Wonder OV balcony April 2025

$2563 total. 

 

 

 

Tons of deals. We book year or even 2 ahead and prices are not really higher than what we had before. When majority is sold out RCI sees that cruise is popular and tries to sell at higher price. If it cannot prices will be changed to lower.

Edited February 2 by Tatka

[spiegeje]

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

 I know rcl folks want to feel superior but for me it's a matter of price and perks.

 

I understand that perception exists, but I loved cruising with them because they always seemed to provide a good value with a luxury'ish feel, and they were making money then. It's different now.

[George C]

We book at least a year ahead , last cruise was under 3k for 7 day each on harmony in grand suite. Never book brand new ships , I compared my harmony with a new oasis class grand suite and it was more than 1k higher per person. Texas seems cheaper than Florida also.

[nolegirl01]

What do you guys think of NCL? I hear a lot of comparisons between RCL and Carnival but what about NCL? I don't think I will ever go on Carnival, not my cup of tea, but even though I love RCL, the prices are getting ridiculous. We've done NCL but only twice a few years ago before covid and we enjoyed it. What are your thoughts on RCL vs NCL, are they more, less or equally as expensive?

[seeing the sights]

I don't know how we got this price dropped 5 or 6 times over last winter I asked for the new price each time.. 1842.80 for a large balcony 7 night . When I look at what it cost now unreal.

[Babblespeak]

We’ve been working casino offers for a couple of years on Royal, but they’ve tailed off to only being on the old ships other than annual certs.  No way we are paying the insane and egregious full prices.  Carnival just offered us three free ($200 for $200 OBC plus taxes and port fees) cruises on any of their ships through the end of 2025.  So we booked three cruises with them and landed a regular interior on the Celebration for 7 nights for $549 total including gratuities, an interior Havana for $1200 total for 7 nights on the Celebration, and an interior Havana for 8 nights on the Panorama.  All with $200 OBC.  Balconies were running about $2000 all in.  And their excursions cost maybe 60% of Royal’s.  Loyalty can be bought, so goodbye for a while, Royal.  

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, Babblespeak said:

And their excursions cost maybe 60% of Royal’s.  Loyalty can be bought, so goodbye for a while, Royal.  

Odd as my experience with carnival excursions was the opposite. Never any sales. I wait for black friday on rcl and booked at 30% this past time and one 25%. The year before 35% off. Beat carnivals exact same excursions by a few bucks. I loved my carnival journey cruise but hated paying full price. Rcl pre sales win. Only sale I saw was buy a excursion get 10% off wifi. 

 

Please give a example of this 60% cheaper excursion as I saw no sales and I was watching. Missed rcl pre sales big time. Carnivals pre sales are full price. In fact I missed one and they let me chea ge over to another for $10 difference. ...save nothing by purchasing ahead confirmed. I just turned diamond on carnival so I'm not a newbie either. Great you got some deals and will enjoy them but that part isnt factual. You can do better prices on rcl excursions. Show me just one example. I saw none. And I got off carnival dream last Saturday. Pre sales on rcl win. 

[OCSC Mike]

21 hours ago, firefly333 said:

just got off a 14 day cruise on carnival

Glad you enjoyed it!

[nelblu]

On 2/1/2024 at 4:17 PM, Tatka said:

If they are not sold closer to cruises price will go down.

Royal's Up process will take care of that.🤣

[CruisingWalter]

On 2/1/2024 at 1:07 PM, spiegeje said:

I have to conclude that unless there is a correction soon, I may be trying other lines.

 

I really don't see any problem with that. We've sailed 10 different cruise lines (so far) and we pick the cruise ship based on our vacation needs for that particular cruise. All of cruising is white hot right now so complaining about the high costs of any cruise line today is moot because until the demand cools off, pricing is going to be fixed for a while. If the current slate of Royal Caribbean pricing is too high for you look at Carnival and NCL, especially their newer ships. Beautiful ships, great service and fun.

 

If you're looking for more overall value for your dollar, look at Oceania. Nearly all-inclusive with amazing cuisine and service. We sailed them for the first time over the holidays and are already signed up for a group cruise to Alaska in 2025. 650 to 1250 passengers onboard, a totally different way of cruising.

 

Or look at Princess. Their Princess Plus/Premier packages are the best add-on values in cruising today. 

 

So may cruise lines, over 300 cruise ships to choose from. Work with a good TA and find a good cruise vacation that works best for you. Whether that's Royal or any other cruise line. 

[Joebucks]

Royal has a brilliant marketing team. Their loyalty plan is probably the best around, and will make people sail with them. They'll never admit it, but they will gladly pay $5,000 for a mass market cruise to get their few "free drinks" and "discounted balcony."

 

Isn't it crazy to read everyday on the internet how everything is too expensive and people can't afford to live? Only to see cruising sold out at peak pricing? 

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Glad you enjoyed it!

Just a change of food and the new menus was fun. New choices though I felt like a newbie. Well I sure wished for a breeze in aruba. Too hot, the weather wasnt fantastic. Lol perfect weather and cooler would have been nice.3 or 4 times more elevators was a novelty. Softer and nicer mattresses nicer.

 

Doesnt hurt to change it up but now back to rcl and moving. 

[deliver42]

There won't be a correction until demand drops, and that doesn't seem like that's happening anytime soon. That $10,000.00 family suite on the Icon is sold out till mid 2024.

[OCSC Mike]

45 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

I felt like a newbie.

 

That's the main thing that deters me besides my soon-to-be D+ perks. I'm a creature of habit and enjoy my RC routine. Obviously I'd survive trying another line but my brain doesn't like the idea of being clueless, lol.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

15 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

There won't be a correction until demand drops, and that doesn't seem like that's happening anytime soon. That $10,000.00 family suite on the Icon is sold out till mid 2024.

 I was watching a video that indicated their top cabin (75-100k?) was pretty much sold throughout the end of this year.

 

The same video was describing a few of the extra charge items, which were blowing me away. That people would pay $600/day for basically two (not private) loungers with a frame around them is crazy.

 

Having said that, I get it. If they can charge that and people are willing to pay it, more power to them. But, I wonder why I bought so many shares of Carnival years ago when Royal seems to have done much better! I know why, it's because I was cruising Carnival a lot more then.

 

With something like 80 Carnival cruises under my belt, and 10 on Royal, I certainly see the draw for guests to sail on Royal. You'll see far fewer bubba's and people wearing wife beaters on Royal, compared to carnival.

 

We sailed on the Allure a couple of weeks ago, and went ahead and booked another one for the first of March. GS for the first, the next one is an aqua theater suite, which Cheryl has been wanting to try. It was just a couple thousand, with a casino discount. Not too bad in my opinion. 

 

I went ahead and booked a sailing on the Star of the Seas for early 2026. I found a week where the GS was "only" about 13,000 for two. For roughly the same week in 2025 I have a Presidential suite booked on the Mardi Gras. It's a little under 10,000, but comes with a beverage package and $2,000 on board credit, thanks to the casino. The deposits for both are non-refundable, but I was able to reserve the Mardi Gras for $200 versus $1,300 for the Star. Royal definitely wants to make sure you have more skin in the game, and thus less volatility for them