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Price Raises - but OBC makes less


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Silly question, but if your cruise price goes up, but with OBC the net price is lower, do you call in to adjust the price?  

Two of my upcoming cruises have this scenario.  Not talking huge net drops (less than $50 each).  And for us, the net savings is estimated as the OBC is given in USD so it depends on the CAD exchange rate of the overall savings.  I'm thinking I should call to adjust them, but it feels funny with adjusting to a higher cruise fare.  

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I literally just did this yesterday for my Sept Harmony sailing. Being in a suite, I got a $300 OBC after rebooking. So while the price "increased" $140, I am "saving" $160 with the $300 OBC.

Granted, I had not really planned to spend $300 on the ship, so I'm not really saving anything technically, but actually just spending more. But no mater, now I get to feel less guilt about spending that credit...or better yet, I may just use that to give better tips if the service warrants it. Now if you really want to get technical, by giving RCI more money up front, you are actually losing the interest you'd earn by saving that money until the end of the cruise to pay off the account, but that's just splitting hairs and really we're talking about saving less than a dollar on interest. End of the day, this is all just the psychology of influence (getting people to feel good about spending more).

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I am in your same boat, I repriced all of my cruises with the new WOW sale and came out on top. All except for half an October liberty sailing. I repriced my GTY Balcony and saved a whopping $8 but I got $100 OBC. So I am actually up $108. I already brought the refresher package because I knew I might only have 1 alcoholic drink a day. So this credit has me covered.

I have another room booked, an interior GTY, the new price is $28 more but you do get a $75 OBC. I am trying to decide if it is worth it. I would come out with $46...which I guess is better than nothing.

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22 minutes ago, foxrunner said:

I believe, in other words remember someone here saying"you can cash out your on board credit at the casino."  So if you could resist spending the OBC you could walk off with the cash.

Is this serious? I don't plan on playing at the casino, but can I still go there and cash out my OBC?! That sounds like an excellent idea, if it works. Can anyone confirm? 

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23 minutes ago, foxrunner said:

I believe, in other words remember someone here saying"you can cash out your on board credit at the casino."  So if you could resist spending the OBC you could walk off with the cash.

Haven't heard that before for cruise OBC as part of a promotion.  I'm sure someone on here can confirm.

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38 minutes ago, Peachykeen said:

 

Is this serious? I don't plan on playing at the casino, but can I still go there and cash out my OBC?! That sounds like an excellent idea, if it works. Can anyone confirm? 

No they will either give you promo chips to play with at the table OR you can put it in a slot machine.. They don't just give you cash for OBC like they use to.. Now you could sit at a blackjack table and say I want to take $100 out on my card and then the 100 OBC can be used But you do have to then pay a 5% fee to the casino if you are not at least prime in club Royale.. 

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16 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

...but can’t she take the slots voucher, stick it in a machine and just turn around and cash it out ?   ....then go to the cashier and get the cash ?

I tried that on my last cruise.. it made me cycle through the OBC before I could just cash out.. I am not sure I am explaining it correctly lol but it made me use $100 worth of "freeplay" basically.. 

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44 minutes ago, AGSLC5 said:

I tried that on my last cruise.. it made me cycle through the OBC before I could just cash out.. I am not sure I am explaining it correctly lol but it made me use $100 worth of "freeplay" basically.. 

Hmmm....I have never tried this.  Sorry it won't work anymore.  It used to.

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14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Hmmm....I have never tried this.  Sorry it won't work anymore.  It used to.

Yeah maybe it was just a weird experience I had lol but it wouldn't let me cash out until I used at $68 of free play.. Now on the tables its easy for me because I just take the money out on my card and it just comes right off the bill.. 

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Previously adjusted

, with this current promotion, 3 of our future cruises saving a net average of over $100 a cruise. Took the additional $300 On Board Credit instead of our $275 Crown and Anchor discount. All were 7 night cruises.

Today booked a 7 night cruise sailing March 29, 2020 on the Harmony. Net saving was $150 taking the $300 On Board Credit instead of our $250 Crown and Anchor discount.

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While this is not specifically on the original topic, I also looked into future bookings today and realized significant savings on the Allure in October 2020.  They added a resident credit, they have the wow sale savings and there is a Star class promo available. Most of these aren't published with the sales promos, but certainly are worth exploring!

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8 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

I am new to these boards.  How do you go about checking pricing?
I use a travel agent to purchase my cabins but I do all the research and tell her what I want.  I don't know that she would be checking with Royal Caribbean to see if my price drops or I could get OBC....
Thank you for any advice you can give!

 

Go to Royal's site and do a mock booking.  i.e. go through the 'Search Cruises' button and select your cruise and room

You can get an idea of the standard price.  This wouldn't of course include any additional perks from your travel agent.

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Also, be sure to include selections under the 'exclusive rates' catgories: Senior, resident, etc. Those can come and go and can result in decent savings on top of other promotions. Also remember to factor in other discounts such as a casino certificate.  If it appears close, it is worth a call as I have seen RCI come up with some unexpected discount combinations to save me money.

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Not sure on how to bring in someones post here, so I'll see if clicking on quote is how it's done.
I've tracked cruises by writing down the pricing.  I don't think I've ever seen prices go down, if anything they seem to magically be the same price, whether it is 50% or 60% off the second passenger.   But I am stuck booking when the kids are off of school so maybe those prices just don't change OR perhaps I am not spending the time I need to to be checking out changes!
Like Wanna Cruise, I got the $300 OBC last week on a suite and now their new "sale" is the same price for the cabin as if I took the $300 OBC off the price.   I think I am going to have them adjust the price and get rid of the $300 OBC.  I have my Royal Caribbean card I can use towards additional payment and OBC. (I hope that's correct)   Glad I found this forum.  I'll need to learn how to get my posts done correctly when quoting others.

 

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1 hour ago, Ogilthorpe said:

Also, be sure to include selections under the 'exclusive rates' catgories: Senior, resident, etc. Those can come and go and can result in decent savings on top of other promotions. Also remember to factor in other discounts such as a casino certificate.  If it appears close, it is worth a call as I have seen RCI come up with some unexpected discount combinations to save me money.

I was experimenting with that last week.  When I entered my Crown and Anchor number my cruise fare dropped by $89 and the $300 OBC disappeared!  I called my travel agent to book the room I wanted and told her "do NOT put in my crown and anchor number or I lose out".  Turns out when she went to book the  C & A field populated when my birthday was put in and she's texting me of the price drop and the OBC gone....I said "no kidding!"  Why would RC screw their loyal customers lie that?

BTW-anyone know how to change their "pre-gold" status -I think I am at Emerald level (or is that a posting status?)

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10 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

I was experimenting with that last week.  When I entered my Crown and Anchor number my cruise fare dropped by $89 and the $300 OBC 

That is one of the caveats for repricing, the promotions align with the current pricing. If the OBC changes, the price drop may justify the adjustment, in other cases, like your example, the new price reduction does not cover the change in OBC. I always consider the net change when deciding to accept a price change. One note: if your OBC is from a NextCruise booking, it will remain in place if you reprice.

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1 hour ago, Pattycruise said:

BTW-anyone know how to change their "pre-gold" status -I think I am at Emerald level (or is that a posting status?)

Your status here is based on posting history. Simply join in on the conversations regularly and you'll soon see that status change.

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