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Favorite strategy to get the lowest price for a suite?

Matt

By Matt
in Royal Caribbean Discussion

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SpeedNoodles Pinnacle

SpeedNoodles

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Flowrider said:

We always book refundable rates on a few different dates. Whichever one or sometimes two end up repricing the lowest are the winners.  

We also commonly convert a refundable rate to non-refundable prior to final payment.

I thought you couldn't book refundable fares for suites? I'd be all over that.

Baked Alaska Pinnacle

Baked Alaska

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Flowrider said:

We always book refundable rates on a few different dates. Whichever one or sometimes two end up repricing the lowest are the winners.  

We also commonly convert a refundable rate to non-refundable prior to final payment.

Suites, at least for the last 2 years have been NRD.

Flowrider Emerald

Flowrider

Posted
Posted
16 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I thought you couldn't book refundable fares for suites? I'd be all over that.

Wouldn’t know about the suites.  We typically book interior rooms or oceanview to save money.  Sorry I totally missed the title about suites! 😂
 

We’re a family of 6 and we take advantage of kids sail free promotion.  What we’ve noticed is that if we start with the rate during the kids sale free promotion we usually pay more vs if we book when it’s expensive(and not on sale) and reprice it.  Overall rates seem to be better that second route.

The kids sale free promotion applies after the first 2 persons are full priced. When we had 4 kids under 12 y/o we would book the ultra spacious oceanview room or ultraspacious interior rooms(6 passenger rooms). Mom and dad were full price and then the 4 kids were free.  Now that 2 kids are older we book two connecting rooms and try and get one kid free in one room and one free in the second room.

smokeybandit Pinnacle

smokeybandit

Posted
Posted

The best price we ever got was the first time we ever did a suite on Explorer in 2015 (5 night trip), right before drydock. 

 

Total cost for 2 adults and 1 child in a grand suite was $2300.

 

No idea why it was that cheap. But I wish I knew.

Since then I haven't found any good way to get a better price. 

 

KristiZ Pinnacle

KristiZ

Posted
Posted

Be flexible about when you want to go, and just keep checking availability. You never know when there will be some weird deal. First time we were ever in a GS was because it happened to be priced lower than a JS about 90 days out.

It was all down hill from there...

twangster Pinnacle

twangster

Posted
Posted

Book early and book off peak.

During peak seasons, and Royal knows when that is, prices never deviate very much so if the question is best price ever, off peak enters the discussion.  

Region also makes a difference.  Booking Europe is way different from short Florida or Alaska.  

SpeedNoodles Pinnacle

SpeedNoodles

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

Become an airline employee or recruit your parents or kids to become one! Royal offers around a 25% discount on top of the regular 30% discount for all categories, including suites. Cruises within 3 months are often 50% off the price available to the public.

We can't even get first responder discounts.

12thman Pinnacle

12thman

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

Become an airline employee or recruit your parents or kids to become one! Royal offers around a 25% discount on top of the regular 30% discount for all categories, including suites. Cruises within 3 months are often 50% off the price available to the public.

Yup! miss those perks! Discounts for cruises, hotels and tax only flight! Plus jump seat when everything is sold out.

MLH Diamond Plus

MLH

Posted
Posted

Be totally flexible. Be able to travel within a couple of weeks or months and have access to great airfares.

I have a website I use to check daily that tracks price changes and can search on categories and since royal changed its way to look for senior discounts and resident discounts, I have another website to look for those. 

There are many times that prices are reduced in error, especially when they are looking at a redeployment. Always look for redeployments.  After redeployment they are trying to fill the ship and priced can be great.

I always book suites and don't plan anything until I see  great deal.

 

Done Diamond Plus

Done

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I thought you couldn't book refundable fares for suites? I'd be all over that.

Jr. Suites are still able to be booked with refundable deposits.  I realize Jr. Suites do not have the same perks the other higher prices suites. 

AAD Platinum

AAD

Posted
Posted

I did this… booked a balcony room and then watched the prices to later change to a suite guarantee (“WS”) for an additional $600 or so… that ended up getting me a JS. But then I got to RoyalUp bid on all of the other suite categories. And ended up in a Crown Loft Suite for about $6k less than the going rate. 

  • 1 year later...
deebarb Pre-Gold

deebarb

Posted
Posted
On 1/6/2022 at 6:10 AM, MLH said:

Be totally flexible. Be able to travel within a couple of weeks or months and have access to great airfares.

I have a website I use to check daily that tracks price changes and can search on categories and since royal changed its way to look for senior discounts and resident discounts, I have another website to look for those. 

There are many times that prices are reduced in error, especially when they are looking at a redeployment. Always look for redeployments.  After redeployment they are trying to fill the ship and priced can be great.

I always book suites and don't plan anything until I see  great deal.

 

Would you be willing to share those websites?

USCG Teacher Pinnacle

USCG Teacher

Posted
Posted
On 1/5/2022 at 7:08 PM, Matt said:

What are your best tricks for getting the absolute cheapest price for a suite?

Book early, reprice....any other good tricks?

1. Figure out what parameters I'm looking for.

2. Email Kathy G. at MEI with the information from step #1.

3. Enjoy the rest of my afternoon.

4. Provide CC# for the deposit the next day.

JohnUK Diamond

JohnUK

Posted
Posted

Look for anomalies. They happen less frequently now than used to be the case but do still occur. A few years ago we took the Owners Suite on Rhapsody (in the Med.) which was priced substantially below the Grand Suite and only £100 or so more than the Junior Suite. It was probably an error but the booking stood. In the last few months, we have booked a Grand Suite on Anthem for 2024 for less than we paid for the identical cruise we took in 2022. For a while, the Grand Suite with large balcony was priced below the regular version.

I guess these are probably pricing errors by Royal but worth looking out for as they will be honoured.

SweetPea Pinnacle

SweetPea

Posted
Posted

I used to have killer last minute deals with a NJ resident discount sailing out of Bayonne. Wahhhh! Those days are long gone. Now there are no last minute deals that i can see and so I've resorted to booking early and earning my PH.D in stalking prices, though my awesome TA does that for me as well. 

 

Quick question though ... it's my understanding that if you book a refundable fare and convert it to nonrefundable closer to final payment, your fare is priced at prevailing rates so it may not save you anything?

WAAAYTOOO Pinnacle

WAAAYTOOO

Posted
Posted
40 minutes ago, SweetPea said:

if you book a refundable fare and convert it to nonrefundable closer to final payment, your fare is priced at prevailing rates so it may not save you anything?

That is correct.  If the price of the cruise has increased to a point where your original refundable price is actually lower than the current non refundable price then it would make no sense to switch.  Repricing (of any kind) means calculating the new fare at the current price.

togo Diamond

togo

Posted
Posted
On 1/5/2022 at 8:19 PM, AspiringCruisePlanner said:

Become an airline employee or recruit your parents or kids to become one! Royal offers around a 25% discount on top of the regular 30% discount for all categories, including suites. Cruises within 3 months are often 50% off the price available to the public.

Do you have a website you use for airline employees to find this?

 

FSUFAN Diamond Plus

FSUFAN

Posted
Posted
On 1/5/2022 at 10:10 PM, AlmondFarmer said:

Best price I ever got on a suite was when my parents invited me and paid.

So I guess the strategy could be summed up as, wait to be invited on someone else’s dime. 

Mine are using Ole Dad to pay the bulk of the trip. Not the entire amount, but around 80%.

As others have stated. My 3 rules.  Book Early, Book Early, Book Early. Prices have gone sky-high since we booked our trip to Alaska more than a year ago.  Only thing is you have to look at the website and it has 400+ days to your trip and that is a huge downer. 

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