Black Friday, Again

[stevendom57]

I am looking at shore excursions for my March 2022 cruise out of Miami on Symphony OTS. While in the Cruise Planner I see some banner-like indicators over some of the shore excursion thumbnails that advertise "25% Off Onboard Prices", "50% Off Onboard Prices" and "Pre Cruise Deal". 

The first two are obviously self-explanatory, but what type of discount is the vague "Pre Cruise Deal"? I have not been tracking prices so I do not know if these are actually discounted at all. Does anybody out there in RCB land have any insight into what type of discount these may indicate or if it is just hype to make me think it is discounted?

I am not too worried about snagging mediocre deals since I have one more Black Friday before I cruise and (hopefully) I won't be forced to take a RC excursion in March 2022. But if it's a good deal I want to grab it, knowing I can cancel and get a full refund, assuming cruising has started and RC is still in business.

Steven

[twangster]

Royal notes their advertised cruise planner discounts relative to onboard pricing.  That's very convenient since no one knows what the price is onboard until they get onboard at which time the cruise planner has been closed for at least two days.  It's nearly impossible to validate the banner discounts as advertised.

"Pre Cruise Deal" historically was available across the board and typically around 10% off onboard rates.  The cruise planner will almost always be cheaper than onboard rates and the "standard" discount is usually around 10% without any other sales in effect.

I tend to keep or scan the excursion books from onboard for many of my cruises.  For 2021 in Alaska I am seeing up to 50% price increases compared to 2019.  Some CocoCay excursion rates follow this trend.  

A scuba excursion in 2021 at CocoCay is now $68.99 "on sale" compared to $49.99 "on sale" in 2019.  That is not as bad as the Alaska excursions increases I see but it is still a pretty dramatic increase compared to the cost of living index over the same period.

Cruise planner pricing for excursions is and always has been dynamic.  I keep a spreadsheet going for excursions I am interested in.  Pricing is based on supply and demand.  Best pricing isn't usually associated with promotions or sales they advertise.  On any given day of the week one excursion can see a price drop better than a Black Friday or Independence day sale.  There is no rhyme or reason, one day the price drops.  

If you see a price that works for you buy it knowing you can cancel it up to 3 days before sailing.  However keep on checking very often even when they are not offering a particular sale. 

[ChessE4]

On 11/27/2020 at 11:42 AM, stevendom57 said:

I am looking at shore excursions for my March 2022 cruise out of Miami on Symphony OTS. While in the Cruise Planner I see some banner-like indicators over some of the shore excursion thumbnails that advertise "25% Off Onboard Prices", "50% Off Onboard Prices" and "Pre Cruise Deal". 

The first two are obviously self-explanatory, but what type of discount is the vague "Pre Cruise Deal"? I have not been tracking prices so I do not know if these are actually discounted at all. Does anybody out there in RCB land have any insight into what type of discount these may indicate or if it is just hype to make me think it is discounted?

I am not too worried about snagging mediocre deals since I have one more Black Friday before I cruise and (hopefully) I won't be forced to take a RC excursion in March 2022. But if it's a good deal I want to grab it, knowing I can cancel and get a full refund, assuming cruising has started and RC is still in business.

Steven

For my 2022 cruise I tracked old prices from a previous cruise and then the online "brochure" price, which is generally less than onboard by a 10% or more.

I found an excursion we liked that was 25% below the brochure price.  A few others were also discounted, but most of our other candidate excursions weren't discounted from the brochure.  So I'd say it's really hit or miss on Black Friday.