Price of deluxe drink packages

[bigcedarcruiser]

I have 2 cruises planned.  On the Harmony cruise in Nov, 2020, the drink package is now $49.  On the Allure cruise in Oct 2021, the drink package is $84.  Can someone explain the reason for the difference??

 

[JohnK6404]

23 minutes ago, bigcedarcruiser said:

I have 2 cruises planned.  On the Harmony cruise in Nov, 2020, the drink package is now $49.  On the Allure cruise in Oct 2021, the drink package is $84.  Can someone explain the reason for the difference??

 

I have learned that when the drink package (DBP) first appears for a distant sail date in the Cruise Planner, the drink package (and most CP items) is not discounted (posts as the full onboard price at first). As you get closer to sail date and they start offering Cruise Planner sales, etc., you will see it drop.

As an example, the price on our Symphony 4/24/21 cruise is currently $89 for the DBP. Today, for our Oasis 10/4/20 cruise, it’s currently discounted to $44 (states 40% off onboard prices). We had purchased the DBP for our original, now cancelled, Oasis 5/31/20 sailing at $51.

As far as we can tell, there is no rhyme or reason for the prices as they are not set in stone by ship or itinerary and vary based on the specific sailing, time until sail date, current promotion/sale, etc. 

The general rule of thumb is to purchase the package when you feel comfortable with the price and then continue to monitor for price drops and then cancel your original purchase and repurchase the package at the new lower price.

 

[Andrew72681]

As @JohnK6404 said buy it when you feel comfortable. That Allure sailing may reach that same level or may bottom out at about 65 a day depending on early demand for that sailing. Many pricing factors go into the deluxe beverage package, sailing length, destinations, crowd. There’s plenty of data they may be using that we don’t know. If they were smart they would know the historical drink package possibility based on prior sailings of those guests. 
The Harmony 2021 group cruise drink package is priced now at 89.00 a day. 

[RickinSTL]

1 hour ago, Andrew72681 said:

As @JohnK6404 said buy it when you feel comfortable. That Allure sailing may reach that same level or may bottom out at about 65 a day depending on early demand for that sailing. Many pricing factors go into the deluxe beverage package, sailing length, destinations, crowd. There’s plenty of data they may be using that we don’t know. If they were smart they would know the historical drink package possibility based on prior sailings of those guests. 
The Harmony 2021 group cruise drink package is priced now at 89.00 a day. 

We're on the week after the group cruise.. ughh lol 

 

[joshgates]

Royal math.  Something to do with how many they plan on selling, what the current sales numbers are, and likely a ton of other factors.  I've got pricing for DBP on Harmony for $49 one week and $57 the next, then two months later on Odyssey it's $84. If you're going to be getting internet too a lot of times the DBP+Voom package is a better deal too, on the Harmony ones above it's only $8 extra for voom instead of the $11.50 for getting it separate.

As far as I know though the current promotions they're running are only for sailings from September -> December.  Buy when it hits a price you like or can deal with and if it drops later you can cancel and rebuy .

I use it as an excuse to check back several times a week and daydream a little while waiting...