General cabin price confusion

[Mikei31]

So I don’t understand why pricing changes so much when you add a child to a stateroom.  Especially since there’s been a kids sail free promotion all year.

Please see photos.  This is for the same exact cruise with the same cabin type selected.  The cruise nearly DOUBLES in price for adding a 2 year old child to the cabin.  I don’t get it.

[Ampurp85]

I don't believe you are sailing during a kids sail free promotion. Most anything during the summer month will be expensive. Also, your first fare type is GTY aka guarantee, which is sold at a much lower cost than choosing your own room.

[Mikei31]

18 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I don't believe you are sailing during a kids sail free promotion. Most anything during the summer month will be expensive. Also, your first fare type is GTY aka guarantee, which is sold at a much lower cost than choosing your own room.

When adding the child to the room it no longer gave us a choice for the GTY.  We had to select our location and cabin.  But again, that doesn’t add up to nearly doubling the price. It seems like a major pricing scam and it’s turning me off to cruising.  As I dealt with it on my most recent cruise as well but the jump wasn’t as significant.  

[ChessE4]

I have always found Bermuda to be a more expensive itinerary than the typical Caribbean cruise. We used to live near Baltimore, and Bermuda was always more per night than sailing south.  I do agree the mark-up is a bit much, which suggests to me there was a greater demand for that cruise.

[Mikei31]

10 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

I have always found Bermuda to be a more expensive itinerary than the typical Caribbean cruise. We used to live near Baltimore, and Bermuda was always more per night than sailing south.  I do agree the mark-up is a bit much, which suggests to me there was a greater demand for that cruise.

You completely missed the point

[ChessE4]

11 minutes ago, Mikei31 said:

You completely missed the point

Actually, I was agreeing to your point that the mark-up for the child was a bit much....but you need to accept the supply and demand issues at work in Royal's pricing if you want to make sense of it all.

PS.  You might try an apples-to-apples comparison by comparing fare of a twosome with similar room to the marked-up price with child.  Then you'd be revealing the marginal price increase.

[Rackham]

Ran the opening booking with the same stateroom category as the non-GTY. $353 more for choosing the cabin vs. GTY and the child's premium on the first two guests is $258.

As far as the "Kids Sail Free" promo goes, it's not valid for these dates.

"Children get to experience the highlights of the high seas free of charge on all 3 nights or longer, departing between September 17, 2022 – May 25, 2023."

[bigmoose7563]

Kids sail free promotion is for sailings up to May 2023 for now

 

Kids Sail Free applies to new bookings made between August 1 – 31, 2022 (“Offer Period”) on sailings departing on or after September 2, 2022 – May 25, 2023 (“Offer Cruise”), providing free cruise fare for third guests and higher who are 12 years old and younger as of Offer Cruise departure date on sailings 3 nights or longer booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad- occupancy stateroom.

[tjcruisers]

48 minutes ago, Mikei31 said:

When adding the child to the room it no longer gave us a choice for the GTY.  We had to select our location and cabin.  But again, that doesn’t add up to nearly doubling the price. It seems like a major pricing scam and it’s turning me off to cruising.  As I dealt with it on my most recent cruise as well but the jump wasn’t as significant.  

If you were try to book room 8233 with just two people, what prices does it give you (guessing more the gty room). I know when we've been poking around the booking system looking compare to see if we should get 1 (4 people in) or break it over 2 rooms they have cabins that are rated of 2, 3 or 4 passengers. It makes an apples to apples comparison somewhat difficult.

[mistertomatohead]

Looks like a guaranteed cabin isn’t an option with more than two people.

I was confused by the promo banner too. They should just filter on the promo instead of letting you search for any cruise. Under “Exclusions apply” (I think they meant to say between 9/2/22 - 5/25/23)

Quote

Kids Sail Free applies to new bookings made between August 1 – 31, 2022 (“Offer Period”) on sailings departing on or after September 2, 2022 – May 25, 202 (“Offer Cruise”), providing free cruise fare for third guests and higher who are 12 years old and younger as of Offer Cruise departure date on sailings 3 nights or longer booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad- occupancy stateroom. Kids Sail Free excludes Thanksgiving sailings departing November 18, 2022 – November 25, 2022, Holiday sailings departing December 18, 2022 – January 6, 2023, Spring break sailings departing March 10, 2023 – March 24, 2023, Holy Week/Easter sailings departing April 1, 2023 – April 11, 2023 and Rhapsody of the Seas sailings departing from Haifa, Israel between August 5 – October 28, 2022. Taxes, fees, and port expenses are additional and apply to all guests.

You’ll see it mentioned after selecting the date:

 

[twangster]

Two guests can sail in an interior cabin such as a 2V or 4V interior.  These are the most plentiful interior cabins on the ship.  The problem with a 2V or 4V interior cabin is they are limited to two guests.  There is no place for a 3rd berth in a 2V or 4V cabin.  No bed or pillow for a 3rd guest and no muster station capacity allocated to that room for more than two guests.

Once you add a 3rd person, regardless of their age, you require a 1V or 3V or sometimes 5V interior cabin.  There are not nearly as many cabins on the ship in these categories.  

There may be two hundred 4V cabins on a ship but only twenty or fewer 1V cabins.  With limited inventory they sell quickly and are in demand.  

Supply and demand is the most prevalent factor in pricing on a ship.  When a category of cabin is in demand its pricing trends upward.  

You can't price compare a 4V interior that can't accommodate three or more guests to a cabin that can accommodate three or more guests.

Cruise ships are very much wrapped around the concept of double occupancy.  The pricing model for a ship is based on double occupancy.  For solo and for groups with more than two guests you depart from the double occupancy pricing model and that deviation usually means more money.

In addition you can't price compare a guarantee cabin versus a non-guarantee cabin.

[AshleyDillo]

Price out 3 adults and see that the prices for guests 1 and 2 are going to be more in a room that can hold more than 2. To accurately compare the KSF rates (on a sailing that's eligible) you will need to price out 3 adults vs 2 adults + 1 kid for the same room.

[berkeleykel]

18 hours ago, mistertomatohead said:

I was confused by the promo banner too. They should just filter on the promo instead of letting you search for any cruise. Under “Exclusions apply” (I think they meant to say between 9/2/22 - 5/25/22.)

Am I misremembering or didn't there used to be an option to filter by Kids Sail Free?  It is confusing now to the uninitiated because if you click Book Now on the KSF banner you'd assume they were filtering the options but of course you don't realize until you're deep into the booking unless you're already familiar with RC to check for the exclusions fine print or look for the KSF promo coming up after selecting the date.

[CPCruiser4Life]

So we had this same problem........

 

We are a family of four, plus my dad......

 

4 of us in a room....it was 900PP

2 of us in a room.....it was 400 pp

 

So.....1 room of 4 for 3600

or

 

2 rooms for 1600....crazy right?!?!?!

 

1 person in 1 room.....$2200....I can't make this up....SOLO rate was RI-DONK-CULOUS!!!!

Luckily my friend who has a family of 5 is coming as well.....so he got TWO rooms and my dad is sharing a room with one of his daughters [on paper].....

 

We'll most likely cram in one room and use other as storage and an extra bathroom, but luckily everyone was able to get rooms next to each other [especially my friend's 3 rooms with my dad for muster drill purpose].

I feel you on how it works.....

[lilacspring]

I highly recommend anyone booking a cruise to work with an agent. They not only can explain all the price differences for you, they can also give you additional onboard credits. Never book directly on RC’s website. My agent can show me rooms and the room categories and price differences etc and explain everything so clearly to me. Even show me different price for different ships. If I want to save and can be flexible with dates or the ship I want, then she gives me tips how to save

[cruisingfever]

On 8/22/2022 at 5:39 AM, Mikei31 said:

So I don’t understand why pricing changes so much when you add a child to a stateroom.  Especially since there’s been a kids sail free promotion all year.

Please see photos.  This is for the same exact cruise with the same cabin type selected.  The cruise nearly DOUBLES in price for adding a 2 year old child to the cabin.  I don’t get it.

Some cabins only sleep 2, adding a 3rd person you have to have to get a room that will accommodate all of you, price is always higher. Room for 2 might only have a chair, room for 3 will have sofa bed or ceiling fold down bed