Delux beverage package price increase to pay for $18 mistake?

[MrMarc]

I just noticed the deluxe drink package($56), especially with the Voom package($70), is the most expensive I have ever seen it for my November cruise.  Anyone else seeing a price increase?

 

[ellcee]

I feel like that’s the normal price...before sale. 

[JLMoran]

My upcoming Anthem sailing in October has been alternating between $56 (stock 20% off on-board price) and $52 (BOGO50 / 25% discount) since I booked the cruise over a year ago. Definitely nothing due to the $18/night intern error, just Royal raising the rates on all sailings for 2019.  

[DandA]

I seem to recall last year, that they were planning to raise the drink prices across the board in 2019.  My guess is that prices are adjusted to reflect what they think will pay and how many will pay it.  The customer purchases the package to hoping to drink more than what they paid for or at least break even and RCI is hoping that the customer doesn't break even.   I had read somewhere that only 8-10% of the passengers purchase the deluxe beverage package, (seems low to me but I've never really paid a lot of attention to what others are doing).

[JLMoran]

4 minutes ago, DandA said:

I had read somewhere that only 8-10% of the passengers purchase the deluxe beverage package, (seems low to me but I've never really paid a lot of attention to what others are doing).

@twangster is the real knowledgeable one about this, but IIRC he's said in the past that actually only like 2-3% of passengers typically buy the drink package. Pinged him in this so he can give the real number when he gets a break on his current B2B sailing (or gets back home ).

[monorailmedic]

I wouldn't doubt that prices are trending higher - RCI beverage packages are arguably the best value of all cruise line beverage packages, and if people keep buying them, they'll raise the price until it plateaus.  Now, do I think that a price increase has anything at all to do with that $18 thing?  Not a chance.  That $18 error impacted revenue, but in a really small way, as it happened for a small window of time.  Further, while it seems like many people may have taken advantage of this, do remember that if you're reading this, you're likely representative of less than 1% of Royal's customer base, as others don't follow this site, Facebook groups, etc.  Think about how many people you see looking into purchasing beverage packages once they board - even though all of us here know that a few small exceptions, that's the most expensive way to go about it.

TL;DR - I'd expect that, barring world events that would cause a significant drop in spending, prices will only go up.  I'm also confident it's unrelated to the pricing error.

[twangster]

Royal has to continuously test the waters to see what people are willing to pay.  Basic supply and demand.  Despite that the DX package continues to be relatively affordable. 

In 2016 I paid $46 before the 18%.  This was right when they consolidated packages down to just one.  

Since that time it isn't unusual for 7 night DX rates to be in the $47 to $50 range, a relatively small change from 2016 three years later.

Cruise length plays a big factor.  Shorter cruises will never go that low.  People can binge drink for 3 or 4 days so those cruises tend to have a higher DX rate.  

Royal can't afford to raise DX rates to offset anything.  The market will pay what the market will pay.  If they raise rates beyond what the market will pay they have reduced DX sales and reduced revenue.  If Royal could set the rates $6 higher and maintain the same sales and revenue, they would have do so a long time ago.  

[Fairlynew]

5 minutes ago, twangster said:

Royal has to continuously test the waters to see what people are willing to pay.  Basic supply and demand.  Despite that the DX package continues to be relatively affordable. 

In 2016 I paid $46 before the 18%.  This was right when they consolidated packages down to just one.  

Since that time it isn't unusual for 7 night DX rates to be in the $47 to $50 range, a relatively small change from 2016 three years later.

Cruise length plays a big factor.  Shorter cruises will never go that low.  People can binge drink for 3 or 4 days so those cruises tend to have a higher DX rate.  

Royal can't afford to raise DX rates to offset anything.  The market will pay what the market will pay.  If they raise rates beyond what the market will pay they have reduced DX sales and reduced revenue.  If Royal could set the rates $6 higher and maintain the same sales and revenue, they would have do so a long time ago.  

As an economics major, I love your explanation.  There is a cost/benefit analysis to every decision.  For Royal, the equation is different than it is for an individual.  Many people may find that the convenience of not having a bill at the end of the cruise is worth perhaps not breaking even every day.  Others drink a lot of bottled water, specialty coffee and wine, and find that it is easy to "break even" at around $50 per day.   My family falls into the in-between-we love knowing the final cost before embarkation.  We also enjoy a variety of beverages and calculate the cost of the DLX compared to the refreshment package.  Ex.  If the refreshment package is $20 and the DLX is $50-that is about 3 drinks per day-no drink fatigue there.

[Skid]

22 minutes ago, twangster said:

Cruise length plays a big factor.  Shorter cruises will never go that low.  People can binge drink for 3 or 4 days so those cruises tend to have a higher DX rate

@twangster, any thoughts on that regarding internet? My 4 night on Navigator is $14/day but my 12 night on Adventure is $16/day for surf & stream. AND the difference between that plan and the lower surf only plan is $2/day for Navigator, but $3/day for Adventure. (Adventure cruise is only 7 months after Navigator).

Thanks.

 

[Hoski]

On 7/23/2019 at 9:58 PM, JLMoran said:

My upcoming Anthem sailing in October has been alternating between $56 (stock 20% off on-board price) and $52 (BOGO50 / 25% discount) since I booked the cruise over a year ago. Definitely nothing due to the $18/night intern error, just Royal raising the rates on all sailings for 2019.  

If a good sale comes up, let me know since I'm sailing at the same time.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Skid said:

@twangster, any thoughts on that regarding internet? My 4 night on Navigator is $14/day but my 12 night on Adventure is $16/day for surf & stream. AND the difference between that plan and the lower surf only plan is $2/day for Navigator, but $3/day for Adventure. (Adventure cruise is only 7 months after Navigator).

Thanks.

 

Voom pricing is a great question but I don’t have a great answer.  I know Royal has a lot of historical data to draw from. What cruise is more likely to see X people buying Voom sort of stuff. I can only assume they use that data for pricing purposes.  

[sk8erguy1978]

On 7/23/2019 at 9:58 PM, JLMoran said:

My upcoming Anthem sailing in October has been alternating between $56 (stock 20% off on-board price) and $52 (BOGO50 / 25% discount) since I booked the cruise over a year ago. Definitely nothing due to the $18/night intern error, just Royal raising the rates on all sailings for 2019.  

Same for my September sailing on Anthem. I noticed my Harmony December 2020 sailing went up the other day to $60 for 20% (it was $56). Hopefully that goes back down a bit LOL!

7 hours ago, Hoski said:

If a good sale comes up, let me know since I'm sailing at the same time.

My September sailing just had a 30% off sale so we cancelled the 25% (BOGO 1/2) and purchased at the lower price. I check weekly and allow Royal's marketing emails through my filters to stay on top of all sales. Good luck getting a good price!

[KyleinOhio]

My next cruise in May 2020 is a 5 night and it's currently setting at $60/person and says 20% off. A week or two ago it was $54/person with no sale. I'm hoping it drops because that seems high. I paid $48/person on my last cruise. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Even with the sales, not one of my cruises shows a priced reduction on any of the drinks or dining packages. AAMoF, they are all back up at their "non sale" levels.  

[bcarney]

We just got off Majesty on Monday. It was one of the Cuba-cancelled cruises where we received 50% of our fare back as a refundable OBC.  Upon boarding we ordered a drink, and there was a guy there pitching BOGOHO drink packages. After doing the math it was a $47.50/pp per day plus tip - which is a far cry from the $66/day last spring.  Normally my wife wouldn't get the package, but we were cruising without the kids, and to be honest the money was already "spent" mentally, so with a little bit of arm twisting she relented and we purchased the package.

On a side note, the refunded money covered drink packages for two, all the gratuities, and some other miscellaneous spending.  We walked off the ship with a final bill of only $94, after living large all week.

It was most definitely a great cruise.