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30% OFF Each cost more than BOGO 50% off


VinceC

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I don't get it, every time you think there may be a better sale out there, Royal finds a way to not make it any special of a sale.

Booked clients with a BOGO 25% off and heard about the 30% off each coming in October, so I was looking to get my clients in at a better price but when I checked they raised the price of the cruise while giving the larger discount and it would actually cost more instead of less.  And these cruises are more than a year away and clients were recently booked in the last 30 days.

Very embarrassing and frustrating.

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31 minutes ago, VinceC said:

I don't get it, every time you think there may be a better sale out there, Royal finds a way to not make it any special of a sale.

Yup..Royal math at its finest.  You are preaching to the choir here.  All I can do is book when I am comfortable with the bottom line price and then hope I can luck into a price drop at some point before final payment.  

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This is a well known fact with Royal...surprised you weren't aware of this..

 

There never really is a sale...and a "better" offer can be worse than a "worse" offer with them.....it never ends with them.......

 

This applies to not only the cruise fare..but drink packages....excursions etc..

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3 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I checked each room categories of all 6 sailings that I'm currently booked on, and all of the prices went down since yesterday on each one with the 30% off sail.  So it just depends, I guess.

you must have a lot of rebooking and saving to do!!!..lucky you

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Just now, monctonguy said:

you must have a lot of rebooking and saving to do!!!..lucky you

Ha, no, actually none at all.  While the price went down this sale from the prior sale (so from Sunday to Monday), all of the prices are still higher than my original booking price.  I've never had a sailing go below what I booked it as yet.

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The only time I've saved any significant money (more than $50) over the original booking is when I booked my first cruise, which was inside of a year from sail date / well after the itineraries were announced. That time my TA saved me a ton of money when the WAVE Sale came out about two months after we'd booked.

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5 hours ago, GlassSlipper said:

I just saved $1200 on our booking.  I was surprised.  The cruise fare did not change, but the discounts were increased.  We had BOGO 50% plus a $300 credit.  So after you take away the credit, we saved $900.

Same here.  Base Price the same but the KSF savings is a bit more than last week (meaning savings for us...I'll take it).

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Call me crazy, but if I book a cruise and then a week, month or year later the prices are all higher that makes me feel good that I got a deal.

If price was constantly going up and down like a Kmart blue light special, it would make knowing when to book feel impossible. So by booking early, we get best price.  From a client/agent standpoint, I think that's a great feeling.

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1 hour ago, Matt said:

Call me crazy, but if I book a cruise and then a week, month or year later the prices are all higher that makes me feel good that I got a deal.

If price was constantly going up and down like a Kmart blue light special, it would make knowing when to book feel impossible. So by booking early, we get best price.  From a client/agent standpoint, I think that's a great feeling.

I agree. My Oasis sailing dropped a a couple hunderd bucks, but I booked so early that I know the price I paid is nearly as low as it will be. There are six of us in a ATS2BR for less than 2k a person. I think thats a great deal for a star class cruise. Any incremental price drops are icing on the cake for me at this point.

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Mine went up too.  Symphony next May. Originally booked it March. April BOGO brought it down a smidge. I called Monday (last day of BOGO sale) just to see if anything dropped. Nope, went up $117 per person. Called this morning on the 30% off each and the total fare is still $100 more. 

 

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57 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

I agree. My Oasis sailing dropped a a couple hunderd bucks, but I booked so early that I know the price I paid is nearly as low as it will be.

 

I booked thru a TA (same one as my first cruise, it rolled over to the same guy since I booked on board) with his 'group pricing' 14 months in advance. I thought there would opportunities to get a better price but I am thinking that may not happen and I don't need to watch the sales obsessively? When I asked him about it he said unless there's a major world economy event the price will not go down from what I paid but just want to get a 2nd opinion on that. I am happy with the price I paid, but of course wouldn't mind saving on a sale but won't continue to mock book all the time if this makes sense. From what I gather: it's possible I got the best price that I will see?

 

Thanks for letting my random questions slide in on occasion

?

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11 minutes ago, PRebecca said:

 

 

I booked thru a TA (same one as my first cruise, it rolled over to the same guy since I booked on board) with his 'group pricing' 14 months in advance. I thought there would opportunities to get a better price but I am thinking that may not happen and I don't need to watch the sales obsessively? When I asked him about it he said unless there's a major world economy event the price will not go down from what I paid but just want to get a 2nd opinion on that. I am happy with the price I paid, but of course wouldn't mind saving on a sale but won't continue to mock book all the time if this makes sense. From what I gather: it's possible I got the best price that I will see?

 

Thanks for letting my random questions slide in on occasion

?

You are correct. As @Matt and others will attest, booking as far as in advance as possible will usually yield the best results for a lower price. ( I booked Oasis almost 2 years in advance) Cruises are priced based on demand, as the ship starts filling up, supply is lower, demand becomes higher and prices will go up. I would still watch sales etc, but you don’t necessarily need to obsess over them. Sign up for their emails because they will alert you to sales and it’s not a lot of effort to call them to see if you qualify for a better rate. It’s also beneficial to occasionally make up mock bookings to see if there is a general drop in price separate for the sales too.

I have repriced my Oasis cruise twice now and knocked  about $600 off. 
 

Over all though, if as you said, you are happy with the price you paid, then you can also sit back, relax and wait for embarkation day and not worry about it.

 Happy Cruising!!

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I think what's sticking in my craw is that the TA said I will not find a better price, and his invoice is broken down a little different than the Royal invoice he also gave me so it's just not sitting right in my head. 

 

I'm sure it's fine, thanks for the advice, now I'm off to watch drink package prices and over think excursions ?

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14 minutes ago, PRebecca said:

I think what's sticking in my craw is that the TA said I will not find a better price, and his invoice is broken down a little different than the Royal invoice he also gave me so it's just not sitting right in my head. 

 

I'm sure it's fine, thanks for the advice, now I'm off to watch drink package prices and over think excursions ?

That would drive me nuts too. Sounds like he may not be providing the best service. The nice thing is that you don’t have to stick with them. I’ve done cruises doing all the work myself, and now have two booked with Michele at MEI. They support this site, and she has been easy to work with so far. Something to think about for the next ones!

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1 hour ago, PRebecca said:

From what I gather: it's possible I got the best price that I will see?

It's possible, but you will never know if you don't check...especially if your TA states it's going to be the lowest price you will see.  That means he's probably not checking.

The important thing is to make sure you are making and apples-to-apples comparison when doing the mock pricing..same stateroom category, deck, fwd/mid/aft location, refundable/nonrefundable, gratuities included, etc. to get that bottom line number to compare.  Also keep in mind that the port fees/taxes (which should be separated out on all invoices) will typically stay locked in at the original booking price.  I have seen the port fees vary by a bit (not a huge amount).

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16 minutes ago, DDaley said:

My Jan 2021 cruise is about $500 cheaper when I price it for the JS next door to the one I have booked.. Didn't get OBC or any offers on my original booking so repricing it should be fairly easy, yes? I am still a ways out from final payment. 

As long as the cabin is the same category as yours it should be easy enough.  Make sure that if you did book refundable that you are pricing it out as refundable.  You have to step through entering the passenger names to get to the refundable option when pricing it.

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1 minute ago, AshleyDillo said:

As long as the cabin is the same category as yours it should be easy enough.  Make sure that if you did book refundable that you are pricing it out as refundable.  You have to step through entering the passenger names to get to the refundable option when pricing it.

Oh you're right! My original booking is refundable but the new price I was looking at was before the names and refundability selection. Thanks so much! I will re-check before I spend the 20 min waiting for an RC customer service agent. 

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Just now, DDaley said:

Damn! @AshleyDillo its still $130 less once it's refundable... I think that's POSSIBLY worth the time on the phone. How easy is RC rebooking? haha

Is it worth $130 to not deal with them on the phone? ?

I have zero clue about how hard it is to rebook.  This is why I use my trusty MEI TA.  She goes through her bookings when the sales are released and will automatically send out new invoices if she catches a price job.

Amount of effort on my end is minimal.  I'm still impatient and I check the sales myself and usually email her what I got before she gets to mine..but I don't have to call Royal ever.

Kind of priceless to use a TA, especially for this kind of a situation.

But for $130 I would get on the phone with Royal for sure.  That's 20 minutes to save $130..good return on an investment of time to me!

You could also consider hitting up MEI and getting your booking transferred to them and having them reprice it for you..but you have to hit it before the sale ends!

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I just checked my March 2020 Anthem cruise.  I re-priced today at $32 lower - oh boy!  I did also get an additional $50 OBC.  But the best part is for the lower price I got moved from an inside room as far aft as you can go (4U) to a midship balcony (2E).  It is on deck 6, so it is obstructed, but we still think it was worth it.

There was another perk which I though I might get, that being 1N of specialty dining for 2.  But that was time sensitive and although today was in that window, it was disallowed because my original booking date came before the promotion.  Bummer, but we are still happy with the "upgrade" they paid us to take.

BTW, I also could have chosen an inside midship room and saved another $50, but it would not have received the additional $50 OBC.  So that made it a wash and it just came down to which midship room upgrade we wanted...

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25 minutes ago, DDaley said:

Damn! @AshleyDillo its still $130 less once it's refundable... I think that's POSSIBLY worth the time on the phone. How easy is RC rebooking? haha

Is it worth $130 to not deal with them on the phone? ?

I just re-booked myself. It was very easy and the agent on the phone took care of it quickly.

 

My rebooking was for an upgraded cabin. I spend 15 minutes on hold, spent $230 and now have room 8164 on Empress of the seas. Well worth it in my opinion.  

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I have the best news to share this time!  I saved over $3000 on two star classing sailings today!  Both I had originally booked at BOGO60 so the new 30% sale is comparable.

For my Oasis sailing in March, I added on my daughter (long story on why I left her off in the first place) and saved more money on top of that!  So basically we added and payed even less!

For my Villa suite on Harmony, we already snagged a fantastic deal to start last December and then it sweetened with KSF back in August.  Now, it's still KSF and the price dropped even lower.  Saving another $1700 on that one which brings our per person cost on that room to less than $1K pp.  Sales most often don't work out but just another example of how it pays to monitor and track prices.  Eventually, something comes along that makes it all worthwhile.  And these are both sold out cabins so you can re-price sold out cabins.

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9 hours ago, Matt said:

Call me crazy, but if I book a cruise and then a week, month or year later the prices are all higher that makes me feel good that I got a deal.

If price was constantly going up and down like a Kmart blue light special, it would make knowing when to book feel impossible. So by booking early, we get best price.  From a client/agent standpoint, I think that's a great feeling.

I completely agree! I recently booked my Christmas 2020 cruise very early and was THRILLED with the price I paid (as I do with all of my bookings). I can’t imagine it getting any lower. If it does and I can reprice, that’s just a bonus. 

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9 hours ago, Matt said:

Call me crazy, but if I book a cruise and then a week, month or year later the prices are all higher that makes me feel good that I got a deal.

If price was constantly going up and down like a Kmart blue light special, it would make knowing when to book feel impossible. So by booking early, we get best price.  From a client/agent standpoint, I think that's a great feeling.

I agree. I'm actually thrilled that I've managed to book at the low prices that I did (because I've learned from listening to all of you!)

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I just saved ~$1200 on the cabin for my parents who are from Maryland.  It seems there is a new discount for residents of certain states and they qualify.

Now I wonder how to check 'what states' because the Royal rep on the phone said it not really part if 30%, 50%, WOW, Wave , etc. 

She said those discounts by state just rotate and dont hit the Deals page on the website or anywhere else that she has ever seen.

Anyone have insight on this type of discount?

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16 hours ago, DDaley said:

Oh you're right! My original booking is refundable but the new price I was looking at was before the names and refundability selection. Thanks so much! I will re-check before I spend the 20 min waiting for an RC customer service agent. 

Call on a Sunday morning - the wait time is MUCH shorter.

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3 hours ago, VTHappyGirl said:

I just saved ~$1200 on the cabin for my parents who are from Maryland.  It seems there is a new discount for residents of certain states and they qualify.

Now I wonder how to check 'what states' because the Royal rep on the phone said it not really part if 30%, 50%, WOW, Wave , etc. 

She said those discounts by state just rotate and dont hit the Deals page on the website or anywhere else that she has ever seen.

Anyone have insight on this type of discount?

The rep is pretty much right.  I've found the state discounts to be inconsistent and sometimes they overlap other discounts and won't apply because of that or they are a reduced discount.  So always check by clicking on "See if you qualify for exclusive rates"

image.thumb.png.e90e8cdcbcc72fa8a368c356199a4950.png

 

image.thumb.png.72ea40f99ed38d42beb59fc07aeaa4d7.png

In this case I chose FLORIDA and it shows as a RES NO REF DEP discount:

image.thumb.png.6627c1dc972bc12bc29390ea285d61da.png

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4 hours ago, VTHappyGirl said:

I just saved ~$1200 on the cabin for my parents who are from Maryland.  It seems there is a new discount for residents of certain states and they qualify.

Now I wonder how to check 'what states' because the Royal rep on the phone said it not really part if 30%, 50%, WOW, Wave , etc. 

She said those discounts by state just rotate and dont hit the Deals page on the website or anywhere else that she has ever seen.

Anyone have insight on this type of discount?

The advice @AshleyDillo gave is spot-on. I think that when you ask to be checked for a resident rate, the system will give you back that rate if you qualify and not see if it's actually any better than the current promo rate. So if you find that you do get a resident rate offered, you may want to re-do the mock booking without selecting your state and see how the two compare.

I'll also add that as a rule, resident-specific rates are designed to be rock-bottom prices the cruise line will offer and therefore exclude any perks that may be offered for the sailing, mainly any OBC that might normally go with the booking. If you're just looking for the lowest price (I always am) and don't care too much about getting OBC, resident rates are fantastic when you can get them.

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On 10/1/2019 at 1:14 PM, GlassSlipper said:

I just saved $1200 on our booking.  I was surprised.  The cruise fare did not change, but the discounts were increased.  We had BOGO 50% plus a $300 credit.  So after you take away the credit, we saved $900.

Hello everyone!  Am I reading this right that the only time a price adjustment would work in our favor is to do the math and remove the OBC and other perks to see what you would have saved?  

For example:  $100 OBC - current
Price drop $ 50.00

I would lose the OBC, so not worth it.  In other words, price adjustment has to be far greater than current OBC + perks?

 

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