AspiringCruisePlanner
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Posts posted by AspiringCruisePlanner
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Likely an unpopular opinion, but I get the feeling the diamond and up drink vouchers are being subsidized by increasing drink and drink package prices, in part at least.
I've heard several times that xyz shouldn't be included for everyone because that would affect the price I pay for my cruise fare. The same would apply for these drink vouchers. It's a business decision and a nice perk, but it does come at a cost to everyone, including those receiving the drink vouchers.
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55 minutes ago, Indygo said:
Ah, good point! That slipped my mind.
There isn’t anything stopping me from taking the non-alcoholic package and then paying for eg cocktails out of pocket?
Not a bad plan. Buy the refreshment package and purchase a shot of liquor on the side with your package included mocktail. It'll save you around $6 per cocktail.
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4 hours ago, RCLblue10 said:
I was just told by club royale I could not use the $100 OBC because my cruise was already discounted by the casino. Has anyone else had this issue?
Yes, this has been reported previously by others.
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On 9/28/2022 at 3:58 PM, jreese679 said:
What's best for someone with excellent health insurance, the cruuseline insurance or a third-party insurer?
I'd highly recommend comparing the list of covered events included in the trip cancellation and trip interruption portion of the policy statement and compare that with plans available via other travel insurance providers. insuremytrip.com is a nice site to compare prices and coverage from a wide selection of insurance providers. Allianz is surely the biggest provider, but based on what I've found, their covered events can be quite restrictive in comparison with other providers.
For example, the list of covered events for the Royal Caribbean offered travel insurance plan is only half a page long, while the list of covered events for a WorldTrips insurance plan is nearly three pages. Also, when you purchase the travel insurance through Royal Caribbean when booking the cruise, you're only covering pre-paid cruise expenses and not other travel arrangements (flights, 3rd party excursions, hotels, etc.).
When you say you have excellent health insurance, you still may not be covered for care provided onboard a cruise ship or in a foreign country. Having medical included as part of your travel insurance plan is a good way to ensure you're covered in the case of an emergency.
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On 8/17/2022 at 4:47 PM, AspiringCruisePlanner said:
5 day on Summit in December
Stopping at Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Two new ports for us so we're excited!
This will be our second cruise, first was aboard Equinox for our honeymoon in 2019. Excited to have time to ourselves. Baby is staying home with grandparents!
Correction. We're now sailing on the Apex 6 night instead. Same departure date out of Fort Lauderdale so we didn't have to change our departure flight. Got an offer from the Blue Chip Club for a free balcony stateroom. They had a sunset veranda available so we jumped on it. Super excited to try the new edge class!
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8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:
It’ll be interesting to try the infinite veranda concept on Icon. Not sure how I will like it but won’t know until I try ! Frankly, I don’t really get that much use out of a balcony anyway so the extra room will be a bonus. I like having a balcony but don’t really sit out there, much.
There's been good and bad feedback on the infinite verandas on the Celebrity Edge class ships. Some will not do it again, others like the extra interior space. It'd be interesting to know what the survey results were back in 2018.
In the end, Royal Caribbean is likely putting these on their new ship because it significantly reduces the drag versus traditional balconies (lower fuel costs). The surveys must have had enough positive interest in this type of room for them to go forward with it.
It'll be interesting to hear what Royal Caribbean customers have to say about these new oceanview *cough* I mean veranda staterooms after trying them out.
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6 hours ago, Al Miller said:
I think some version of a Lazy River could be done in a cool way on a super big ship.
Agreed, but lazy rivers can be a real strain on the resources. With so many twists and turns, the amount of lifeguards needed to watch it is significantly more than traditional pools.
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To start, future cruise credits can be applied to any cruise in the future in relation to today. The cruise date where the FCC came from doesn't limit how soon you could apply it.
In regards to receiving a partial credit of your 2023 cruise deposit, it depends on when you booked the cruise.
If you booked prior to June 1, 2022, then you can receive a $150 future cruise credit which can then be applied to your 2022 cruise (details below in italics).
For cruises booked on or after June 1, 2022, non-refundable deposits are forfeited upon cancellation. However, changes to the ship and/or sail date can be made to retain the value of the deposit but are subject to a $100 change fee.
If you booked the 2023 cruise after June 1st, I don't think you could retain the value of that deposit and apply it to an existing booking (the 2022 booking) because only changes to the reservation allow you to retain the value.
It's worth a call to your TA or RCCL to verify what they can do for you. This is somewhat of a unique scenario. Hope this info helps!
Guests who booked a non-refundable fare prior June 1, 2022 can elect to request a Future Cruise Credit in the amount of the deposit paid per guest, less the $100 fee. Non-refundable deposit FCCs will no longer be automatically issued to qualifying guests and, therefore, will require a call to Royal Caribbean’s Trade Support & Service team for issuance under
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15 hours ago, Graves51 said:
Anyone know if you can add the OBC to a cruise that was comped through Club Royal? Hate to cash out the rewards and not be able to use them within the allowed time frame.
It looks like the $50 free play is less restrictive than the $100 OBC and you may be able to use that reward if the OBC doesn't work out with . Also, the only timeline restriction for the free play reward is that it has to be redeemed 30 days or more prior to sailing.
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9 hours ago, Jack805 said:
Probably one of the better things about this hack is seeing the beverage/dining packages. Could help decide if UDP would be a good option (and then choosing MTD for seating)
Resourceful. Nice idea.
1 hour ago, RJC said:This is amazing. I know I have a LOT of free time on my hands at work, but this is truly next level sleuthing.
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10 minutes ago, Toby said:
I admire your tenacity and your technical abilities but I doubt the average consumer of RC cruises has your technical knowledge.
I'll stand by earlier comments.
I'm totally with you that this is a little too involved and is a bit of a hack, but it does prove the fact that this information is ABLE to be published before booking and is not currently.
- CrimsonCruiser and csrsue
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1 hour ago, Toby said:
I have done some looking around the RC web site and I can't find the cost for the Cruise Planner items unless I launch the cruise planner from a booked cruise.
If I were to book a Grand Suite, and that booking can't be done as refundable, and decide the add on extras were too much and don't want to go anymore, I can't cancel without financial penalty.
If I choose a non star class cabin, I have complete the booking and pay the deposit to see the costs.
Is there a way to determine the cost of the different add-ons without actually booking a cabin?
I was curious myself and now I'll have to put my foot in my mouth because you CAN see current prices for cruise planner items without having to book that cruise or ask someone else. The downside is that the cruise planner packages need to be available to purchase in order to see the pricing.
It just involves a little URL parameter adjusting.
Here's the base URL for the beverage package page (you can navigate to any page from there as you normally would):
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/account/cruise-planner/category/beverage?bookingId=0000000&shipCode={ShipCode}&sailDate={YYYYMMDD}
Simply replace the {ShipCode} portion of the URL with the ship code you're looking for. You can find the ship code by doing a search with on the main "Find A Cruise" page and filter down to the ship you're looking for. The ship code will then be shown in the URL for that filtered page.
Also replace the {YYYYMMDD} with the sail date of the cruise you want to look at.
So, if you wanted to see the price for the beverage packages for Wonder of the Seas Aug 27, 2022 sailing, the URL is:
You can see the price of deluxe beverage package is $77.99 per person per day, less gratuities.
As a bonus. You can also see how much that over-the-water cabana at the beach club is running prior to you booking the cruise. The price is staggering for this date.
Note: I am NOT booked on these sailings but can see the prices no problem.
- FireFishII, Jack805, Cakemeister and 7 others
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35 minutes ago, dustfsu said:
Thank you. Is there a way to call Royal myself or should I just ask my TA to apply it?
I'd have to defer that to someone else. I'd start with the TA. Less hold time
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55 minutes ago, dustfsu said:
Do you have to redeem and have it applied within a certain amount of time before your sailing? I tried on my last cruise and my TA told me that she couldn't apply it but forget the reason why. Or can I call Royal and do it myself for sailings coming up?
The OBC and free play rewards must be redeemed within 30 days of booking the cruise. Also, the reward can only be applied to a cruise that departs within one year from the redemption date. So there are some time restrictions.
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2 hours ago, twangster said:
UBP - Not sure I've heard of that.
The 22% figure is for the Deluxe Beverage Package or DX as it appears on a SeaPass card.
Yes, deluxe beverage package was what I was looking for. I must have been think ultimate or unlimited. Whoops.
Thanks for the info!
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5 hours ago, Kurtp13 said:
How do i find out the very basics about this program? Probably specifically game play to achieve points. i played last night and didn't understand what was going on. i used to play an MGM program called Wager works so i understand the concept but didn't know when I was getting points with any value. It's very busy with bonus games and locations.
The gold coin (loyalty point) accumulation varies based on what device you're playing. I think all but 1 of the android games accumulate points by just having the app open. The apple versions require you to play the game to earn gold coins. Max coins per game per day is 4000 for most of the games.
The RCCL cruise rewards go within a day, so you have to be checking daily to snag one and they don't come up often. The OBC and wildcard discounts are replenished daily, so much easier to get.
Check out this reddit post comment that lays everything out nicely.
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2 hours ago, twangster said:
We'll have to disagree. I don't see the hidden, dark, secretive, shady, "under the surface" that you do.
When I go anywhere as a tourist I don't assume drinks are included and I don't see the need to phone the hotel bar and demand to know the ask for price for each type of drink I might consume. The fact that a hotel doesn't publish their bar drink menu or indicate how much a glass of wine, beer or cocktail will be on their website doesn't make that hotel secretive.
I can loosely estimate how much I might drink on vacation without knowing the exact prices at each venue I might visit. Some trips I might go under my drink guestimate and some trips I go over my drink estimate. Oh well, I must have been in a good mood to order those extra drinks. That's life.
Drink packages, at least pre-shutdown, were typically acquired by around 22% of guests. That doesn't rise to the average consumer definition. In fact it kind points to the opposite - the average consumer doesn't want a drink package.
You want something. There is nothing wrong with that. You be you. Just because a company doesn't offer it the way YOU want it doesn't make it "under the surface" or dark, or shady.
If you are looking for a budgetary number to plug into a spreadsheet budget $100 per day for a drink package. Some cruises you will under that and some cruises you may end up over it such as short cruises. That will get you in the ballpark as you think about booking a cruise.
Fair enough. Great color.
Interesting data point that only 22% of guests purchased a drink package. Was that specifically the UBP or any drink package?
As a follow up that data point, one could wonder whether that percentage would go up if all included was offered assuming you counted an all included upgrade as a beverage package purchase. No way to be sure at this point one way or the other.
Another thought is what impact does offering AI as an upgrade option upon booking do their revenues? Would their be a negative impact to the perceived value of these add-ons? Would there be less incentive to purchase add-ons after booking because the discount was already passed up?
No one knows the answers to these questions which makes this more of a thought experiment than anything.
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10 hours ago, twangster said:
Shady? That is a pretty extreme statement.
Besides they have a near All Inclusive rate. It's called Star Class.
Ultimately it may very well be all about money. That's perfectly okay. They are a for-profit business. It's up to them to create a product portfolio that accomplishes their primary goal of bringing value to their stockholders.
They are pretty popular and their product is in high demand with a loyal following. They are doing most things right.
Bundling "free" (not free) packages like NCL does is a lot closer to being shady.
Both Celebrity and Princess cater to a different demographic that doesn't tend to include binge drinkers. They can offer bundles because they will be profitable with their bundles knowing most of their cruisers won't tend to overindulge. Sure they may be a handful that will drink the cruise line under the profit line but most of their guests are not costing them money with bundles. I think Princess added bundles because Celebrity went always included. Celebrity did stumble a bit and had to retrofit unbundled fares back into the game plan when the Always In proved to miss the mark a little bit.
For many years Royal has enjoyed higher revenue per passenger using a smaller fleet compared to the 800 pound gorilla of the industry. They accomplish this by being smarter than the 800 pound gorilla. The question then becomes why doesn't the 800 pound gorilla realize they are leaving money on the table? Royal has spent a lot of time with very smart people data mining sales trends and they know exactly how to push pricing to maximize revenue. That's business smarts.
Thanks @twangster! Appreciate the insight. Maybe shady is a little too harsh, but something is hidden under the surface when it doesn't need to be.
20 minutes ago, Matt said:But going back to your earlier point, I'd argue the onus is on the consumer to research before they buy. Ignorance isn't an excuse.
As far as I'm aware, the only way to find out what the beverage or internet prices are for a specific cruise prior to booking is to find a roll call and ask those people what the prices are. This isn't practical when you're trying to budget a vacation and compare options. I know that there is a general price range that the drink package can fall in, but a large per person per day variance between sailings can easily add up to an extra $400 that wasn't accounted for.
For others who are saying that they wouldn't use everything that comes with an all included fare, that's fine. I wouldn't imagine them offering only an all included fare without a cruise only fare as well. Certainly higher C&A folks would loose their s*** if they were only able to book all included. The cruise-only fare would be the publicly advertised price as it would have a lower sticker price.
To the folks mentioning star class as the all-included option they offer. Yes, that's an all included option, but not applicable to the average customer. The desire I have is an all included rate, in addition to a cruise-only rate, for all levels of cabin categories so that the total vacation cost can be determined prior to booking. Certainly, there would have to be some sort of discount for these added perks versus adding them on separately in the cruise planner. It's also worth mentioning that if the all included fare was purchased, the money spent for that upgrade would now be part of the cruise fare and subject to the regular cancellation fee schedule. Not as desirable for the consumer, but if it comes at a discount, that's the risk that is taken. Same argument as refundable/non-refundable deposit bookings.
What is comes down to is what several of you stated - if bookings are strong and onboard spend is favorable, there's no need to offer this all included pricing model. It'll be interesting to see whether they will ever adopt this strategy if booking volumes settle down.
37 minutes ago, SPS said:NCL has some appealing itineraries which made me do a couple mock bookings during their (seemingly) never ending "free drinks, free dining, free airfare, free excursions, etc." promotion. YIKES! After the total price made me pick my jaw up off the desk, I realized that these items are NOT actually free.
Certainly this pricing strategy is not to be desired for those people who won't utilize these perks.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts! I always appreciate this sort of discussion.
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28 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:
Many ships are sailing at nearly full capacity. If it ain’t broke…
For sure. Nothing to fix at this point with all this pent up demand, but what about when the seas calm?
Has RCCL ever offered this sort or option or deal in the past? I haven't been on the market for long enough to know.
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I'd like to hear people's thoughts about Royal not offering an "all included" fare option (drinks, wifi, tips) in addition to the cruise only fare that they currently offer.
It's a big pain in the rear not knowing exactly how much a beverage package or internet is going to cost until after you've booked the reservation. Borderline shady.
I get the idea is they've likely found they can generate more revenue by requiring the purchase after booking.
I'd think that if they offered an all included rate, they'd run into less people trying to overindulge on drinks in order to get their money's worth for the drink package they purchased versus having that cost be less salient as being a part of your cruise payment.
People might also be more generous tipping onboard because that daily gratuities doesn't show up on your shipboard account each day.
Tell me what I'm missing. I know I'm not seeing everything clearly enough here.
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11 hours ago, NoobCruise said:
I don't want this to be a best travel agent flame war but I am pricing out a Wonder of the Seas cruise in Feb 2023. Traditionaly I have never used travel agents because I thought they would cost money or certainly not save money. We went on our first cruise this year on Oasis of the seas and loved it. I priced it out on Royal Carridean site and one or two other sites online and ended up buying it on cruises dot com becuase it had more extras like on board credit. Is it known that certain travel agents or travel agents websites tend to off better extras, since the prices tend to be the same, like more on board credits?
The TA you booked with actually does charge a processing fee and a cancellation fee separate than the cruise line.
The fine print:
An automatic cancellation charge of $100 per reservation will be applied to the last credit or debit card used on the account. Our (previously collected) $24.99 processing fee is non-refundable.
If you choose to book different cruise while you are on the phone we will waive the $100 cancellation fee.
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5 hours ago, IzzyB said:
That is why I asked it here as I couldn't price it out online and knew I had to call a travel agent or RC to book cabins that have more than 5. Which is very annoying, Carnival lets you select I believe up to 5. Just would be easier if I could book a party of 5 all in one room online.
Yup, and for RCCL the 5th person and up are assigned a different reservation number while being in the same room. This is likely why the reservations can't be made online for 5+. Super helpful.
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Adding or removing passengers from a reservation often, but not always, requires the reservation to be re-fared to the prevailing rates. Whether there's one person on the reservation, or two, the total cruise fare will be the same at any point in time because solo travelers have to pay a solo supplement equivalent to the cruise fare of a second passenger.
Simply keep your wife on the reservation and make final payment. If she's able to go, then your reservation is all set. If she's not, then she can be a no-show at the pier and her port taxes and fees will be automatically refunded. No need to make changes to the reservation for this to happen.
As far as double C&A points for you sailing solo in the event she can't make it, you may or may not get the double points. It seems to depend on what agent is managing those point allocations for your sailing.
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Yes
Kids Sail Free applies to new bookings made between August 1 – 31, 2022 (“Offer Period”) on sailings departing on or after September 2, 2022 – May 25, 2023 (“Offer Cruise”), providing free cruise fare for third guests and higher who are 12 years old and younger as of Offer Cruise departure date on sailings 3 nights or longer booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad- occupancy stateroom.
- 123Explore and RCIfan1912
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ICON CLASS UPDATE
in Royal Caribbean News and Rumors
Posted
I get what you're saying. I found the deck plans and some stateroom and venue pictures today on a booking engine website and although it's awesome to see them, it'll take away from the wow factor of the big reveal tomorrow. It's like finding your Christmas presents before Christmas morning.