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Our Allure Feb 11, 2018 got chartered


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Got the email yesterday that our cruise has been chartered. Ugh. Seems this is happening more and more. What I can't fathom is that is a popular week with Valentine's Day  The ship is always well booked. They're taking away from loyal cruisers for the money, I guess.  Who books a 6500 passenger ship?  So, we were given 4 options, 2 Allure sailings and 2 Oasis sailings. I checked last night and GS availability is very limited, of course.  Since I booked through Club Royale, should I be calling them to rebook or the number they gave in the email?

 

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Well, I don't have an ANSWER for you (this kind of thing (charters) just blows !) but just a little advice.

I have never had a cruise chartered out from under me but I was a 2-time victim of Empress gate and I can tell you that the combination of my tenacious travel agent (Michelle Cunningham from MEI) and Club Royale came up with a really excellent alternative for me.

I am stunned that someone can afford to charter a 6000 person cruise ship, too.  Who does that ??

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38 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Well, I don't have an ANSWER for you (this kind of thing (charters) just blows !) but just a little advice.

I have never had a cruise chartered out from under me but I was a 2-time victim of Empress gate and I can tell you that the combination of my tenacious travel agent (Michelle Cunningham from MEI) and Club Royale came up with a really excellent alternative for me.

I am stunned that someone can afford to charter a 6000 person cruise ship, too.  Who does that ??

For a little perspective, I had the opportunity to meet Andy of 6th Man about 10 years ago.  On a 2180 passenger Carnival Ship, in 2007, the price was $250,000 per day.  Don't know if that included staff and crew. 

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2 hours ago, rjac said:

I have never heard of "Club Royale", what is that?

Club Royale is the casino VIP program.

Lots of changes to that program over the past 2 years but basically you can receive casino rates for cruises (generally 45 - 50 % off full fare), free cruises on limited ships and itineraries and free drinks in the casino or any combination of these.  There are also things like free specialty dining, free spa treatments and other similar things but I have never gotten any of those things. 

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28 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Club Royale is the casino VIP program.

Lots of changes to that program over the past 2 years but basically you can receive casino rates for cruises (generally 45 - 50 % off full fare), free cruises on limited ships and itineraries and free drinks in the casino or any combination of these.  There are also things like free specialty dining, free spa treatments and other similar things but I have never gotten any of those things. 

Thanks. The casino is not one of the places I frequent on a cruise ship, never have been much of a gambler. Plus I find the cigarette  smoke to be overpowering.

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Update....

Called CR this morning. Got our cruise changed to Oasis for same dates. Same rate as I booked plus $400 OBC. We're in a GS. Lower deck than we like but we'll take it. I'll keep watching in case someone cancels around final payment time. Word is Lularue, the online clothing company, booked Allure. Don't really agree with this concept, but it is what it is. Unfortunate. I think they should do these types of bookings prior to opening up the schedule to the general public. 

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On the RCI charter website they have indicative pricing for chartering their ships. If we could find 2000 people on royalcaribbeanblog.com to go maybe we should just hire a ship. Picking an itinerary we all agree on might be a sticking point. :-)

"The charter rate will be based on full double occupancy regardless of how many people sail, pre-paid gratuities based on double occupancy and any applicable fuel surcharge based on full double occupancy.  The client will be responsible for taxes & fees based on the actual number of guests and will be required to pay for the actual gratuities should more than double occupancy sail.  Additional taxes & fees will apply for triple and quad berths above double occupancy.

Pricing varies based on ship, sail date, itinerary and level of customization.  Actual pricing must be provided by your Charter Sales Manager, but the following ranges may be used in the pre-qualification process to determine viability:"

    Ship Class
3 & 4 Night $700,000 – $1,690,000+ Vision Class
4 & 5 Night $1,000,000 – $1,760,000+ Radiance Class
4 & 5 Night $1,300,000 – $1,700,000+ Voyager Class
4 & 5 Night $1,800,000 – $2,800,000+ Freedom  Class
7 Night $1,800,000 – $2,500,000+ Vision / Radiance Class
7 Night $2,800,000 – $3,800,000+ Voyager Classes
7 Night $3,900,000 – $4,500,000+ Freedom Class
7 Night $5,000,000 – $7,700,000+ Quantum Class
7 Night $6,500,000 – $11,000,000+ Oasis Class

Charter pricing will generally be most attractive in non-peak season such as September, October, early December and/or January and will be most expensive from May through August.  Product in Alaska, Bermuda or Europe may exceed the ranges outlined above.

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When we were on the Brilliance two years ago doing the Norway/Iceland itinerary, there was a senior sales person (VP?) from the headquarters in Miami aboard. I started talking to him as his logo clothing was very nice and I knew if he was an officer he'd be in a uniform. 

He was onboard winning and dining some corporate customers who were looking to charter the ship for their manufacturing company. We even saw him and the client in Chops one night. 

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Interesting...we were shopping for cruises on the Allure about six weeks ago and that week was marked N/A for all staterooms according to my notes.

Clearly the charter was sold a while ago...how long have they known? The fact they're just getting to telling you now...

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On 5/12/2017 at 10:59 AM, godukes_2017 said:

Whoa, so they (RC) can just sell your room from under you like that? Is there a place to check and see if your scheduled trips have large groups on board? Hope things work out for you.

I just googled something along the lines of "chartered cruises for 2018" to make sure my booking was not chartered.  I was surprised how many charters there are.  Mine was in the clear last time I checked.

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On 5/13/2017 at 6:01 AM, F1guynz said:

On the RCI charter website they have indicative pricing for chartering their ships. If we could find 2000 people on royalcaribbeanblog.com to go maybe we should just hire a ship. Picking an itinerary we all agree on might be a sticking point. :-)

"The charter rate will be based on full double occupancy regardless of how many people sail, pre-paid gratuities based on double occupancy and any applicable fuel surcharge based on full double occupancy.  The client will be responsible for taxes & fees based on the actual number of guests and will be required to pay for the actual gratuities should more than double occupancy sail.  Additional taxes & fees will apply for triple and quad berths above double occupancy.

Pricing varies based on ship, sail date, itinerary and level of customization.  Actual pricing must be provided by your Charter Sales Manager, but the following ranges may be used in the pre-qualification process to determine viability:"

    Ship Class
3 & 4 Night $700,000 – $1,690,000+ Vision Class
4 & 5 Night $1,000,000 – $1,760,000+ Radiance Class
4 & 5 Night $1,300,000 – $1,700,000+ Voyager Class
4 & 5 Night $1,800,000 – $2,800,000+ Freedom  Class
7 Night $1,800,000 – $2,500,000+ Vision / Radiance Class
7 Night $2,800,000 – $3,800,000+ Voyager Classes
7 Night $3,900,000 – $4,500,000+ Freedom Class
7 Night $5,000,000 – $7,700,000+ Quantum Class
7 Night $6,500,000 – $11,000,000+ Oasis Class

Charter pricing will generally be most attractive in non-peak season such as September, October, early December and/or January and will be most expensive from May through August.  Product in Alaska, Bermuda or Europe may exceed the ranges outlined above.

So are you saying you can charter a 6000 passenger ship with just 2000 people???

Than makes me more irritated. 

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I think you are right, you would need around 6000 people on an Oasis ship for a charter. I was joking about hiring one of the smaller cheaper ships for 7 days. I guess that ultimately if you were prepared to pay enough to RCI you could take less people if you wanted to, but you would be wearing the cost unless you set the cabin prices really high.

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I'm sure Royal doesn't care how many people are onboard as long as you've paid the charter fee.  Heck, if you had the money, it could be a family vacation for 4 if you wanted to spend that much.  Since the fee is for the entire ship, the only limit would be the maximum capacity of the ship chartered.

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8 hours ago, DocLC said:

I'm sure Royal doesn't care how many people are onboard as long as you've paid the charter fee.  Heck, if you had the money, it could be a family vacation for 4 if you wanted to spend that much.  Since the fee is for the entire ship, the only limit would be the maximum capacity of the ship chartered.

They also have some language in there about meeting minimum onboard revenue (bar sales, etc.)...

 

"To maximize value, the number of participants should be close to the double occupancy capacity of the ship under consideration.  Should the chartered sailing fall below full double occupancy level, the client may be responsible for per person Onboard Revenue fees.  Regardless of occupancy, the client may be responsible for meeting or exceeding a certain Onboard Revenue expectation."

 

 

 

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There is a website called themecruisefinder.com. I don't believe it lists every ship that is chartered or has a group on it but it is a good site. I look about once a month for the cruises I have booked to see if any are now partially chartered by a group. I want to know because I was also part of the EmpressGate mess with 2 cruises cancelled. I have had 2 cruises cancelled when I sailed (notice I said when) NCL. A great travel agent really helps with that. I had a massive group on Old Time Rock and Roll on my last Royal cruise, almost 1000 passengers with a ship that had room for 3,000. They were a wonderful group but several venues were closed the whole cruise because of this group.

On themecruisefinder.com just click on Browse Theme Cruises by Category, click the first category and look for your date and ship, then go to the next one. It takes a while but it really is helpful to see if your ship has a large group or is chartered.

Candie

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