Hens Teeth - Spectrum of the Seas - Cruise Planner Discounts

[R.J.]

Does anyone have any knowledge with regards to the cruise planner discounts on the Spectrum of the Seas or the fact that they are non existent?

 

I have four cruises booked in 182,282,347 and 391 days respectively. First out of Shanghai, Second out of New York, Third out of Hong Kong and the Fourth out of Sydney.

 

Even the cruise that is almost 400 days away has extremely good discounts available in the cruise planner. This would infer that the fact that the cruise that is the furthest away, it still has discounts available. It would be safe to assume that it is not related to the time till the cruise commences for discounts to be available, but directly to the Spectrum of the Seas itself.

 

Irrespective if the ship is designed for any particular market, anywhere in the world. It is still Royal Caribbean and in my opinion should offer the customer an opportunity to save money whenever and wherever possible on all of its vessels.

 

It is almost like the ships specifically that are designed for the Chinese market and Special Administrative Regions (S.A.R.'s) like Hong Kong, are singled out not to provide an equal savings opportunity as per other ships and destinations.

 

If the discounts are not offered equally around the fleet, how on earth can they drum up business if they don't offer or encourage it. As per other guests posts they mention that the bars are empty. Of course they are empty if you are paying full price for every drink.

Encourage consumption and maybe you will see it.

[twangster]

Unfortunately there is not a lot of participation from within China on this forum.  

@Traveler and @KristiZ have sailed Spectrum.  Perhaps they some insights. 

You can read about their cruises in the following live blogs:

 

 

[Traveler]

For our cruise on Spectrum OTS last year I did found some discounts although they were more hard to find than on other cruise. One thing for sure this is the only cruise were it was cheaper to buy the ultimate drinking package on the ship an not using the planner. 

[R.J.]

Thankyou both.

We are all full of excitement going through the whole process of finding, booking and hunting for great deals and every now and then discount opportunities in the cruise planner.

 

At the moment when I look at the cruise planner, the deals available for the cruises booked out of the US and Australia are like walking in to a giant mansion of opportunity.

When I look at the deals on Spectrum of the seas its like walking into an abandoned farm house. So totally frustrating.

 

When cruising, for me it is all about "EXCESS" things that you would not normally indulge in on an everyday basis. Too much food, too much drink and too much fun while visiting new and exciting places.

I don't cruise nearly as much as I would like, so when I do its "GO BIG OR GO HOME"

 

But this nickel and dimming (Charging for iFly and other normally inclusive activities) on Spectrum of the Seas is so out of character with Royal Caribbean.

 

It's like flying on a low cost airline, why pay for peanuts when you don't eat them. Why pay for luggage when you don't have it. When you normally fly its full service, the entire experience that includes everything. (I was once charge for hot water on a low cost airline - I am not joking)

Royal Caribbean is a full service cruise liner and it looks like Spectrum of the Seas is just a low cost carrier version of their fleet - It's just not Royal Caribbean !!!

 

[twangster]

Royal built their business model for China using local executives who understand the Chinese consumer.  Unlike other cruise lines who tried to stuff a western ship and practices into China that led to limited success, Royal built their approach from the ground up taking an approach that is consistent with consumer spending trends and expectations.  

I know that can be hard to appreciate but Royal's approach has led to a lot of success where the competition faltered.  Consumer expectations are different, spending patterns are different.  Right, wrong or simply different notwithstanding, it has led to success within the Chinese consumer market for Royal. 

Simply put, it's works for that marketplace. 

[KristiZ]

20 hours ago, R.J. said:

 

But this nickel and dimming (Charging for iFly and other normally inclusive activities) on Spectrum of the Seas is so out of character with Royal Caribbean

I can tell you that the sailing you have booked in the GS, you will get to access most of those activities for free at least once. For example, we got a free pass on the bumper cars that included a “jump the line”. Royal is just, for whatever reason, very circumspect about advertising the perks in that market.