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RC Deals and Special Offers, only for some


Mike.s

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We see on a regular basis RC offering 30% discounts, second passenger 50% off etc, but they only ever seem to be for US residents, in the UK we seem to get poor offers in comparison. Our current offer is up to $300 on board spend, somewhat underwhelming. Is it just the UK that misses out or just the US that gets the good deals?

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Depends on what the "base price" is, I suppose? I feel like the sale prices are always a wash. With all these sales that come and go, ive not seen it be significantly cheaper than any other time, yet, even though the catchy promo titles would lead you to believe they might be. Id venture to say your costs are similar to ours, at the end of the day, just without the promo titles. But I could be compleeeeetely wrong. Just a hunch.    

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Always comes down to the base price.........and total price at  end of the day.

 

Don't kid yourself..these 30% and BOGO really make no difference..I have been watching my cruise for about 40 weeks now..and with EVERY sale, its not better or cheaper then when I booked.

$300 OBC is a  great deal...but we don't know the length of the cruise or the cabin category you are refering to  for comparison....ROYAL offers $25 on inside...$50 on balcony and $100 on JS  or less on average on most cruises I have ever booked with them so...

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Ditto for what others said.  Someone else may have saved $300 with this past sale but you paid $500 less than them for same stateroom.  You're ahead even though you didn't get a price drop. 

We often book early and watch prices rise.  Rarely get a price drop.  We only got for this current 30% off since (1) we switched to non-refundable, (2) we got Kids Sale Free for one of our two kids.  Before that, I've been watching the price go up to almost $500 more than we booked it at. My other cruises have no hope as similarly, they have risen a lot in price.

SO it may seem like we have better sales in the US but if prices rise, its a way of playing with numbers.

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43 minutes ago, Mike.s said:

We see on a regular basis RC offering 30% discounts, second passenger 50% off etc, but they only ever seem to be for US residents, in the UK we seem to get poor offers in comparison. Our current offer is up to $300 on board spend, somewhat underwhelming. Is it just the UK that misses out or just the US that gets the good deals?

I believe you can book under the US sales terms but you will lose some of the built-in consumer protection that comes with UK bookings.

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The UK and US cruise industries are very different.  

Florida is the cruise capital of the world.  The competition is a lot stronger, fierce.  There are more ships to fill and more guests in this market.  It's a year round multi-billion dollar industry.

In 2012 the US market had 13.1 million passengers while the UK had 1.9 million passengers.  Asia had more than the UK at 2.3 million passengers (that's in 2012 before Royal stepped up the game in Asia).  Germany had 2 million passengers. 

Source: https://cruisemarketwatch.com/passenger-origins/

I would expect if the reverse was true, if the UK was the cruise capital of the world with fierce competition to capture new passengers then you would also see more flashy marketing gimmicks and promotions.  

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We booked our Symphony cruise 14 months out and I’ve watched and watched. The price has only gone up. 

Our Mariner cruise next Friday, we booked 3 weeks ago. In the 24 hours it was on hold, it dropped another $200. Added bonus (that I’m now told is like hitting the lottery) is that our GTY balcony ended up being a corner aft balcony. 

We made out pretty well on this cruise. 

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We do get the sales here in the UK however prices are increased to cover what you get on the discount or freebies. 

Having compared both UK & US prices on my sailing for over a year, the only answer i could give if asked, as to when is the best time to book would be as soon as they come out. 

Thats what i did and its the cheapest it has been, in fact the price now is about £1000 more 

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On 10/16/2019 at 1:55 PM, Voltore said:

I'm both a Brit and an American, lived here now for 20 years and if memory serves me right a "Sale" in the UK had strict laws about it when it comes to advertising and pricing etc. Here in the US it's caveat emptor and lies. 

Came here to say just this (except the part for actually being a Brit!).  As I understand it, the EU and UK have very strict advertising laws, and you can actually face steep fines for manipulating prices to make an item appear to be on sale.  As much as we love RCI, it's no secret that they play fast and loose with their "base prices" to push a sale in the US market.  I'm not sure that's the reason, but it is certainly my hunch. 

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