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Pre-Cruise Planner - Tracking Prices...


MattG

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Hi everyone, 

Curious of everyone's experience with regards to Cruise Planner price trends. Do you notice DBP is more/less expensive on larger/smaller ships? How about UDP? 

Some fascinating differences between our upcoming cruise (Oasis in October 2021) versus our last cruise (Anthem in December 2020):

  • DBP
    • Oasis: $88/day BOGO 50% off
    • Anthem: $50/day (as high as $63/day)
  • DBP+VOOM
    • Oasis: $79/day
    • Anthem: $59/day
  • UDP
    • Oasis: $166.99
    • Anthem: As low as $190 (Black Friday), as high as $230
  • Coco Cay: Thrill Waterpark
    • Oasis: $79
    • Anthem: As low as $39 (Black Friday), as high as $79
  • Chef's Table
    • Oasis: $81
    • Anthem: $94 (never changed)
  • Coco Cay: Floating Beach Mat
    • Oasis: $17
    • Anthem: $9 (never changed)

For us, MDR was average on Anthem, so seeing UDP at it's lowest price on Oasis is a no-brainer. For DBP, we were "in the black" at $50/day on Anthem, but anything above $60 is a no-go ($88/day is a joke). 

What's everyone else's experience been?

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8 minutes ago, San Diego Garrett said:

DBP dropped to $44/day and DBP+Zoom dropped to $49/day about 3 weeks before our Thanksgiving Navigator cruise.

Must be ship specific as I just checked our upcoming cruises Jan-Dec 2022 and that price was not available.

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41 minutes ago, MattG said:

For DBP, we were "in the black" at $50/day on Anthem, but anything above $60 is a no-go ($88/day is a joke). 

While I agree it’s too expensive…it’s not really $88 per day, as it is BOGO 50% off and you have to purchase the package for both adults in the room, assuming double occupancy, comes out to $66 per day per person.

For us, my wife doesn’t drink so it’s really not a good sale at all.

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17 minutes ago, Geoff P said:

While I agree it’s too expensive…it’s not really $88 per day, as it is BOGO 50% off and you have to purchase the package for both adults in the room, assuming double occupancy, comes out to $66 per day per person.

Yep, it would make more sense if there were two adults in the room. We have two adjoining rooms, with my wife and some kids in one room, me and the rest of the kids in another. DBP+VOOM makes the most sense at this point (cheaper than DBP AND we get internet), but at $78/day it's still too expensive. 

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Just to hit home AGAIN how important it is to lock in prices...

I thought I was in the middle of a Cruise Planner sale and had a day or so to lock in prices. Unfortunately, the sale seemed to end yesterday. Here are updated prices:

  • UDP
    • Yesterday: $167
    • Today: $183 (oof)
  • DBP
    • Yesterday: $88
    • Today: $70
  • DBP+VOOM
    • Yesterday: $79
    • Today: $85
  • The Key
    • Yesterday: $39
    • Today: $31

I finally started a spreadsheet to track the hilarity that is Cruise Planner pricing 🙂 If anyone wants me to track something (only on my cruise, but just for fun) let me know!

cruise-planner.PNG

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Prices can vary wildly sailing to sailing and ship to ship with a lot of factors going in to play and sales happen often.

I grabbed the Refreshment Package for $17/day over Black Friday (I think) and I haven't seen it go below $23/day since. 

$88/day definitely seems high for the Deluxe package though. 

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4 hours ago, jaygee2729 said:

I had put the Voom for 2 pkg in my cart two weeks ago. Just went to checkout and it had increase in price from $300 to $500. That's ridiculous. 

Just putting something in your cart doesn't save the price. You have to purchase when you like the price or are accepting of the price.

If you want something it always better to purchase at the price you are comfortable with, don't wait.

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Have kept a spreadsheet with some information but right now everything that is coming up seems to have very bad sales.  On Liberty of the Seas I paid about 18.00 per day for 3 devices to have surf and stream.  The same package on a November 25th Vision of the Seas sailing is running closer to 40.00 per day.

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A quick update for everyone: 

A new "sale" has dropped in the Cruise Planner, at least for my sailing (Oasis in October). UDP is back down to the original price I saw at booking (re-booked!), DBP is back up to $88 BOGO50 from $70/each. Another note is this is the cheapest i've seen The Key at $29/day

 

 

planner-20220114.PNG

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4 minutes ago, CJS2766 said:

DBP is $52.00 per day on my upcoming Alaska cruise on the Ovation. Good price, yay or nay???

Lowest i've seen it personally is $50/day, so you're right in the sweet spot. I had to regularly remind myself that DBP isn't just alcohol, so I made sure to regularly get coffees, fresh-squeezed OJ from Windjammer/Two70 Cafe, Milkshakes from Johnny Rockets, soda, etc.

At $52/day (plus gratuity takes you to $61/day), you'll need 5x $13 cocktails/day to break even, and everything on top of that (plus the non-alcohol I mentioned before) is gravy. 

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16 minutes ago, CJS2766 said:

I wish I would see these prices on Caribbean cruises! 🤣 Seems that those cruises tend to be higher prices. 

I had $50/day on Anthem to Canaveral/Nassau/PDCC last December. I am truly curious what goes into the algorithm of setting prices. I'm a statistics nerd, so my best guess is:

  • There are "high" and "low" prices that are set for each cruise (every ship, every sailing, every itinerary, based on some fuzzy logic).
  • These prices are normally at the high value, but then go to the low value during a "sale". They just toggle back and forth for months.
  • As the departure date approaches, certain thresholds are checked (120 days out, 60 days out, etc) and if the threshold isn't met, the low price is adjusted for the next "sale" - for instance: If The Key isn't selling as well, they may drop it another 10%.
  • Then throw in a RC-wide sale like (Black Friday) where everything gets a few more dollars knocked off, until they're adjusted back up to the high value at the end of the sale.
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16 minutes ago, MattG said:

I had $50/day on Anthem to Canaveral/Nassau/PDCC last December. I am truly curious what goes into the algorithm of setting prices. I'm a statistics nerd, so my best guess is:

  • There are "high" and "low" prices that are set for each cruise (every ship, every sailing, every itinerary, based on some fuzzy logic).
  • These prices are normally at the high value, but then go to the low value during a "sale". They just toggle back and forth for months.
  • As the departure date approaches, certain thresholds are checked (120 days out, 60 days out, etc) and if the threshold isn't met, the low price is adjusted for the next "sale" - for instance: If The Key isn't selling as well, they may drop it another 10%.
  • Then throw in a RC-wide sale like (Black Friday) where everything gets a few more dollars knocked off, until they're adjusted back up to the high value at the end of the sale.

I did notice that the Key was sold out for our Alaska cruise a while back. We thought about it when it was offered, but it was cray expensive. I just looked now and there are 6 to 8 spots available now at 28.99 (still to expensive if you ask me) We are now at 126 days out until Ovation out of Seattle.

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Anthem for xmas cruise Dec 2022 is about $60 USD regular price and $75 USD on sale .... not a typo.....the sale price is more than the regular price for some reason.  Guess that's typical with their IT...lol.  (We're Canadian so the above is converted).  We got last xmas cruise for about $49 USD for comparison.

Having said that, we jumped on the price at $60.  That is much more than we would have ever bought it in the past....but am determined to have the drink package for our next cruise, whenever that is.

I agree with MattG....I watch prices regularly and it always toggles between two numbers.  And often Black Friday is that same number.

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