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Prices Going Up on Cruises


RBRSKI

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How many of these "new" bookings are bookings using FCC rather than additional cash? With the number of cruises being cancelled I would expect that a lot of the new bookings to actually been transferred without a great outlay of new cash. I wonder if they will open new seasons bookings earlier this year to generate an influx of new cash.

 

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I am surprised to be honest....I am pretty confident there wouldn't be many virgin cruisers booking cruises for a year from now with the state of the country and the industry. Seems surprising that they would be almost back to the point they were prior to the Covid outbreak.:35_thinking:

 

I have a really hard time believing that..seeing as polls here show only about half of hard core, die hard cruises were ready to start cruising again once the ban is lifted(or something to that extent)

 

Not saying Royal is lying...but they are a business and are desperate right now..

 

Now way in hell I am booking a cruise before it even opens up and now that prices are going up...maybe if I lived in a port city or state but...

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Keeping in mind they may need to operate at reduced capacity in 2021 the increase in prices may be to shape that capacity towards this goal.

In the end the market determines what is a reasonable price for a cruise.  Royal is decidedly in the mass cruise market.   If they set prices too high bookings will slow.  They'll always want to test the ability to raise prices, it's the only way to determine how the market will react.    

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8 hours ago, F1guynz said:

How many of these "new" bookings are bookings using FCC rather than additional cash?

From the article:

Quote

Mr. Goldner stressed that while Royal Caribbean is seeing a lot of bookings from guests who had cruises cancelled in 2020, the majority of business that Royal Caribbean is seeing from new bookings. 

"New bookings, new reservations, mostly, not surprisingly, but mostly from Crown and Anchor guests."

 

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7 hours ago, twangster said:

When asked during the investor call Royal suggested FCC bookings weren't that substantial.  They claimed most new bookings were just that.  Beyond that vague answer no one here knows.

I dont see how they KNOW that? I have FCC, but when I rebooked it was a new reservation and I paid a deposit. Who is to say I am, or am not using my FCC on THIS cruise? I am....but they dont know...... 

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6 minutes ago, twangster said:

Royal knows.  No one here knows.  No one from Royal participates on this forum.  

What I said is "I dont see how they KNOW that" and it was in regards to RC saying "FCC bookings werent that substantial."  Maybe I need to expand on that. Before they were allowing you to use FCC to make a deposit, you had to make a reservation and pay a deposit. So, wouldnt they ALL look like new bookings since that is the normal? As of now, I just have a balance that I can pay any way I want. FCC, Credit or Debit card....they dont know how I will take care of that balance. 

And I know they dont participate here.....I guess my wording was confusing? I dunno.....  

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8 minutes ago, SteveinSC said:

And I know they dont participate here.....I guess my wording was confusing? I dunno.....  

Oh I think they have someone from Corporate watching all sites related to "Royal".  1984 Baby!  Remember the show"THE MOLE"   Ha Ha :29_smirk:

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3 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

Oh I think they have someone from Corporate watching all sites related to "Royal".  1984 Baby!  Remember the show"THE MOLE"   Ha Ha :29_smirk:

I have no doubt they observe. That is just smart business to gauge the pulse of your customer....but participate? Nah.....they dont want to risk blurring those lines. If they do have a mole....I hope theyre smart enough to not be outed! ?

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13 hours ago, SteveinSC said:

Before they were allowing you to use FCC to make a deposit, you had to make a reservation and pay a deposit. So, wouldnt they ALL look like new bookings since that is the normal?

I suppose if someone made a new booking then held onto their FCC for some reason Royal wouldn't have any idea you planned to apply your FCC at some future time.  However I suspect most people who have received FCC will apply it in the process of booking a new cruise.  Early on that meant pay deposit and apply FCC.  Later FCC could be used for deposits.  Either way FCC was being applied to a booking.  

I guess I can't see someone deciding to book a cruise based on having FCC from a cancelled cruise, paying the deposit but not applying the FCC.  Why hold onto FCC when you now have a booking you can apply the FCC towards?

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Hmm the wording implies new bookings but not new cruisers...which makes sense. When the 1st round of cancellations happened, cruise prices went down for June, July and August. How many people hoped on the bandwagon to score a good deal? Then people like me said well I can't cruise this year, but I will book more next year. Or they felt like no cruises will happen this year so the booked 2021. Those people might also be waiting for FCC, like me, on a cruise they cancelled to later apply to a balance. This would increase the demand, meaning a lot of new bookings....we might also all be C&A members. So I can see prices increasing because the demand is pretty much there. By next year people will be anxious to cruise again, the filthy petri-dish idea will be in the rear view.

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4 hours ago, twangster said:

I suppose if someone made a new booking then held onto their FCC for some reason Royal wouldn't have any idea you planned to apply your FCC at some future time.  However I suspect most people who have received FCC will apply it in the process of booking a new cruise.  Early on that meant pay deposit and apply FCC.  Later FCC could be used for deposits.  Either way FCC was being applied to a booking.  

I guess I can't see someone deciding to book a cruise based on having FCC from a cancelled cruise, paying the deposit but not applying the FCC.  Why hold onto FCC when you now have a booking you can apply the FCC towards?

I am currently doing just that...

My FCC is in GBP and i have two cruises to which I can apply it - Oct 2020 Southampton and Feb 2021 Bayonne. (My Dec 2021 sailing is booked in USD so given the advice elsewhere on here that the currency cannot be changed, using it for this is off the table).

I have not yet applied the FCC to my Oct 2020 Southampton sailing because if it gets cancelled there is no guarantee I will get it back before the final payment date for my Feb 2021 Bayonne sailing, in which case I would not be able to use it for that either, meaning I would end up paying the balance in cash and being stuck with a FCC that I cannot use.

Equally I have not applied it directly to my Feb sailing as that would mean I only have the option of paying the balance of the Oct fare in cash, which may then be subject to a long wait for a refund if it doesn't sail.

I know that I will ultimately need to stump up the cash for one of the sailings, assuming they both go ahead of course (which I REALLY hope they do!), but I am holding out for as long as I can for news on RCCL's plans for restarting cruising in Europe before pressing the button, which I am hoping will be before the mid August final payment date as it will make my decision so much easier.

I hope this makes sense (I sometimes think I end up confusing myself by over thinking!)

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7 hours ago, twangster said:

I suppose if someone made a new booking then held onto their FCC for some reason Royal wouldn't have any idea you planned to apply your FCC at some future time.  However I suspect most people who have received FCC will apply it in the process of booking a new cruise.  Early on that meant pay deposit and apply FCC.  Later FCC could be used for deposits.  Either way FCC was being applied to a booking.  

I guess I can't see someone deciding to book a cruise based on having FCC from a cancelled cruise, paying the deposit but not applying the FCC.  Why hold onto FCC when you now have a booking you can apply the FCC towards?

Heck man, I dunno. Maybe you have multiple cruises? I know I havent applied my FCC yet (TA said we would wait till closer to final payment date to make sure repricing and using FCC is a cleaner process). My only thought was that at first, they were making you pay a deposit and FCC wasnt used. So Im sure at that time, ALL bookings could have looked "new" even though they were people with FCC.   

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32 minutes ago, SteveinSC said:

Heck man, I dunno. Maybe you have multiple cruises? I know I havent applied my FCC yet

I’m doing the same. I’ve booked 4 “new” cruises but haven’t yet applied a single FCC.  I’m waiting to do that b/c I have to be strategic. Only 1 FCC (per person) can be applied per cruise (a rule I would LOVE to see changed) so I have to be careful with some of the smallish FCCs.  Once I sort out my annual casino Prime choices, I will start throwing the FCCs on where they will not block my each other.  This is the primary reason I have stopped taking FCCs.  Cash refunds only from now on.  If they would let me apply more than 1 per cruise I would gladly take FCCs again.

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14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’m doing the same. I’ve booked 4 “new” cruises but haven’t yet applied a single FCC.  I’m waiting to do that b/c I have to be strategic. Only 1 FCC (per person) can be applied per cruise (a rule I would LOVE to see changed) so I have to be careful with some of the smallish FCCs.  Once I sort out my annual casino Prime choices, I will start throwing the FCCs on where they will not block my each other.  This is the primary reason I have stopped taking FCCs.  Cash refunds only from now on.  If they would let me apply more than 1 per cruise I would gladly take FCCs again.

This is the main problem with FCCs.  Really wish they would let you apply more than one FCC to a cruise. It is our money after all.  We already have one that is around $400 and one that is around $500 and then a bigger one from our Anthem cancellation.  And with the due dates and potential other cancellations, some will definitely get lost.  Plus once you apply, then price drops are unlikely (but then again, as per this thread, they are very unlikely anyways).  The only issue with a full refund is that you need to pay out the cruise.  It's good that Royal has options but we definitely lose out in the end (and worst of all....the cancelled cruise)

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39 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

If they would let me apply more than 1 per cruise I would gladly take FCCs again.

Seems that, in these unprecedented times, when theyre allowing many things theyve never allowed before......this would be a no brainer?  Im sure there are a LOT of people that have had multiple cruises cancelled in all this.  Sure, from a business standpoint, I get why you would want one FCC applied to one cruise.....it encourages multiple cruises. But, goodwill and flexibility go a long way in business, also! I know that Im making a concerted effort to remember the companies that did things they didnt have to do during this craziness.  

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27 minutes ago, twangster said:

FCC can be removed and applied elsewhere anytime, they've never interfered with repricing efforts for me, or cabin upgrades. 

Agreed on the multiple FCC rule.   

That's good to know.  If you apply it and then later remove it, are you given your previous price back?  Or re-priced at the current cost?  I'm wondering as they adjust the cruise price (as opposed to a separate entry in your invoice for the FCC)

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Royal has had no income for several months now.  Royal will continue to have no income in the near term.  Once the restart happens Royal will need some new income, some cash injected.  By allowing multiple FCCs to be applied it will extend the timeframe where the company realizes no or little income.    

I'd be surprised if they allow multiple FCCs. It generates more work and there will be more residual left over FCCs to generate while reducing new cash that is injected after the restart.

As they struggle to survive I'll give them a pass on the multiple FCC issue.

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1 minute ago, WannaCruise said:

That's good to know.  If you apply it and then later remove it, are you given your previous price back?  Or re-priced at the current cost?  I'm wondering as they adjust the cruise price (as opposed to a separate entry in your invoice for the FCC)

I've had my TA apply an FCC then later remove it and re-apply it elsewhere.  The terms of the FCC don't change.  If the expiration is 2/1/2021 and the FCC is worth $350 before it's applied to future cruise #1 then it will still have an expiration of 2/1/2021 and a value of $350 once it's removed. 

Application or removal of FCC doesn't cause a cruise to be re-priced, at least it never has prior to CV-19.

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56 minutes ago, twangster said:

I've had my TA apply an FCC then later remove it and re-apply it elsewhere.  The terms of the FCC don't change.  If the expiration is 2/1/2021 and the FCC is worth $350 before it's applied to future cruise #1 then it will still have an expiration of 2/1/2021 and a value of $350 once it's removed. 

Application or removal of FCC doesn't cause a cruise to be re-priced, at least it never has prior to CV-19.

Thanks twangster.  Follow up question then (and sorry as a bit off topic from OP's post).  We often book early and book a basic room, but I'm constantly price watching to see if we can upgrade.  We have one FCC that is expiring soon.  So can I apply that FCC now...and if we end up switching room category (e.g. promenade to balcony), have them remove the FCC, change room and then reapply it?  Or will we lose the FCC in this case?

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21 minutes ago, WannaCruise said:

Thanks twangster.  Follow up question then (and sorry as a bit off topic from OP's post).  We often book early and book a basic room, but I'm constantly price watching to see if we can upgrade.  We have one FCC that is expiring soon.  So can I apply that FCC now...and if we end up switching room category (e.g. promenade to balcony), have them remove the FCC, change room and then reapply it?  Or will we lose the FCC in this case?

Applying FCC is much like making a payment towards the cruise.  It simply reduces the outstanding balance.  It doesn't change the math when upgrading or repricing.

Having said that keep detailed notes about how and where FCC was applied.  

When looking for price drops I back out the FCC and use that number for comparison purposes.  Sometimes when FCC is applied it appears to reduce the rate rather than being listed as a payment towards the balance.  

For example, the pre-tax/fee rate for a cabin is $1,000.  I apply a $500 FCC.  Sometimes it appears the rate for my cabin is $500.  Later on the the cabin rate drops to $750.  On the surface my rate is $500 and the current rate is $750.  Royal will say "your rate is cheaper, can't reprice you".  I have to remind them that there is a $500 FCC involved and the cabin is now $250 cheaper.  Every time I have done that I was able to eventually reprice.  

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19 minutes ago, SteveinSC said:

I fear they grow desperate.  They are hoarding cash, trying to avoid people taking refunds at all cost.  

For Royal this is akin to a deal with the devil.  

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34 minutes ago, Scatmanjack said:

Just booked a cruise with MEI this week using FCC to cover Deposit and Fare.   MEI agent advised she would not be able to reprice cruise if there was a future price drop if I went this route and didn't pay separate deposit... 

Paul

Hmmmm...very interesting.

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30 minutes ago, SteveinSC said:

This is a SLIGHTLY better policy than they have had in the past.  Combining the value of the FCC's will make it easier...but what I really want them to do is to allow multiple FCC's to bookings.  Combining the FCC's into 1 will help with that but it's still not what I want.  I am still going to ask for cash refunds rather than FCC's.  If they change their policy to allow multiple FCC's per booking, I would go back to asking for FCC's.  

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1 minute ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

This is a SLIGHTLY better policy than they have had in the past.  Combining the value of the FCC's will make it easier...but what I really want them to do is to allow multiple FCC's to bookings.  Combining the FCC's into 1 will help with that but it's still not what I want.  I am still going to ask for cash refunds rather than FCC's.  If they change their policy to allow multiple FCC's per booking, I would go back to asking for FCC's.  

Maybe I misunderstand. The way I understood it, if you have multiple FCCs they will be combined into one.  So, there would be no need for multiples? 

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28 minutes ago, twangster said:

Applying FCC is much like making a payment towards the cruise.  It simply reduces the outstanding balance.  It doesn't change the math when upgrading or repricing.

Having said that keep detailed notes about how and where FCC was applied.  

When looking for price drops I back out the FCC and use that number for comparison purposes.  Sometimes when FCC is applied it appears to reduce the rate rather than being listed as a payment towards the balance.  

For example, the pre-tax/fee rate for a cabin is $1,000.  I apply a $500 FCC.  Sometimes it appears the rate for my cabin is $500.  Later on the the cabin rate drops to $750.  On the surface my rate is $500 and the current rate is $750.  Royal will say "your rate is cheaper, can't reprice you".  I have to remind them that there is a $500 FCC involved and the cabin is now $250 cheaper.  Every time I have done that I was able to eventually reprice.  

Exactly.  For the one that we had applied, Royal simply adjusted the cruise price.  So for any price drops, I was comparing the my cruise price with the current price on a mock booking.  I didn't realize that I should have compared with the cruise cost from the previous invoice.  Good to know going forward that I should be looking at the price before the FCC was applied and compare to the current price.  So if its like a payment, then could switch a room category and not worry about losing the FCC.  Thanks so much for the info.  

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1 hour ago, SteveinSC said:

Maybe I misunderstand. The way I understood it, if you have multiple FCCs they will be combined into one.  So, there would be no need for multiples? 

The way I read it, they would simply combine the FCC that you already paid on that cruise and the final FCC that would be created as a result of that cancelled cruise into 1.  1 FCC instead of 2 as a result.  Better....but they still aren't allowing more than 1 FCC to be applied to a booking, as far as I can tell.  I have more than a half dozen FCC's just sitting there waiting to be placed somewhere.  If I place one of the little bitty ones onto a very expensive cruise, then that cruise can never receive another FCC.  So I have to be very selective on which FCCs I place onto which cruise.  It's nice to know that if they cancel a cruise where I have placed an FCC (which has already happened), I will just get 1 FCC rather than 2....but that is not as helpful to me as a new policy which would allow multiple FCC's to be applied, would be.

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