Black Friday 2024 details

[smokeybandit]

Seems they're going to focus more on bookings than just cruise planner. Though we'll see if cruise fares go up in correlation with the extra savings.

 

 

[TessFromFlorida]

Hopefully it isnt the billing cluster many us had to deal with last time around should we reprice CP purchases during the sales I know I will jump on the deals and hope for the best, but I do hope they addressed their whacky refund "system". 

[teddy]

We hemmed and hawed a bit on booking an Alaskan cruise today because of this   In the end we booked so we could get a cabin we wanted. 

[smokeybandit]

I've got a BookLater certificate burning a hole in my pocket waiting for reasonable fares for Alaska or if not that then Caribbean next month

[Ryan79]

51 minutes ago, TessFromFlorida said:

Hopefully it isnt the billing cluster many us had to deal with last time around should we reprice CP purchases during the sales I know I will jump on the deals and hope for the best, but I do hope they addressed their whacky refund "system". 

Please do not remind me of that! I literally got the mess from that cluster finally cleaned up about a month ago. Nothing like waiting until there are 92 days until sailing to fix a FUBAR. 

[Matt]

16 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Seems they're going to focus more on bookings than just cruise planner.

I apologize if that's the vibe you got, because I don't believe that's true. It's just I only have the cruise fare sale info at this time. Don't read more into it than that 

[smokeybandit]

3 minutes ago, Matt said:

I apologize if that's the vibe you got, because I don't believe that's true. It's just I only have the cruise fare sale info at this time. Don't read more into it than that 

I guess I just don't recall an extended "sale" beyond the normal one in previous years. But maybe I wasn't in the booking mood this time last year like I am now.

[AndrewOfTheSeas]

With the Europe cruises going on sale tonight/tomorrow - What's the general consensus amount you seasoned cruisers...

Book this week, miss the Black Friday deals, to get a price locked in?

Or wait until the sales, and hope the price has not gone up by $300-400 or more, which would negate the reason for waiting for the deals, and hope for the best?

We cannot reprice in the UK, so whatever we agree to is the price we are stuck with!

[Ampurp85]

1 hour ago, AndrewOfTheSeas said:

With the Europe cruises going on sale tonight/tomorrow - What's the general consensus amount you seasoned cruisers...

Book this week, miss the Black Friday deals, to get a price locked in?

Or wait until the sales, and hope the price has not gone up by $300-400 or more, which would negate the reason for waiting for the deals, and hope for the best?

We cannot reprice in the UK, so whatever we agree to is the price we are stuck with!

In all honesty book earlier. In my years of retail, I have noticed the trend of things being cheaper late Oct/early Nov then jacking up the price mid Nov so that the Black Friday sale looks better than it is. 

[teddy]

Our “big” cruises….Europe, Alaska, etc…we try to book as soon as we can after the itineraries are release.  Since the restart we have never seen any of them have a price drop.   In addition, while we are fine with gty bookings for Caribbean cruises, we like to choose the cabins for our big cruises. Booking early give us the chance to get the cabin we want. 

[Matt]

[PhillyLady]

Sometimes a cruise is a once-in-a-lifetime special destination--sometimes it is just--another cruise getaway.

I already have a Europe cruise booked for 2026 that I booked a few months ago, so I am definitely a person who plans in advance for bigger, more costly cruises. I am also considering a Japan cruise, a Rhine river cruise, and a few other places to cruise to in the next few years, in-between our driving vacations and land tours.

But I am ALWAYS willing to jump on a ship last minute here on the East coast--and NY area and Florida offer cruises galore, so usually for that type of cruise I might plan only a few months ahead or so. Cabin location is of much less importance.

I would say that YOUR flexibility can also impact the price you pay--do you want to sail in Europe in October?--prices might be lower than the higher Spring and Summer season, and the same goes for choosing a Caribbean cruise in the Fall.  Are you locked in to a certain date, or can you search all the dates on an ongoing basis for cruise specials?

Yes, I like sales, but itinerary for bigger cruises is the most important; when I do not know exactly what I want or where to go then I am more willing to see what is happening with all the sales.

 

[steverk]

So today I'm using cruise planner and it keeps forgetting that I have a saved credit card.

Makes me think that Royal IT is making sure they will have enough glitches to keep Black Friday interesting!

[WAAAYTOOO]

28 minutes ago, steverk said:

So today I'm using cruise planner and it keeps forgetting that I have a saved credit card.

Makes me think that Royal IT is making sure they will have enough glitches to keep Black Friday interesting!

I had this issue yesterday when I repurchased a CP purchase.  

[smokeybandit]

On 10/29/2024 at 11:08 AM, Matt said:

Well some of it is back!

 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2024/11/06/black-friday-deals

[LTR]

438 days out from my next sailing.... Still waiting for them to open up the beverage pack for purchase! Maybe they will for the black friday sales. 

[DoomSlayer]

5 hours ago, LTR said:

438 days out from my next sailing.... Still waiting for them to open up the beverage pack for purchase! Maybe they will for the black friday sales. 

Sounds like you have 2 black Fridays to try to pick it up.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

We don’t have long to wait…my email today stated Black Friday sale begins tomorrow in the cruise planner.

[asquared17]

pretty sure some of the savings are kicking in already!

couldn't find the excursions on the app, but when i logged in via desktop, i snagged PDCC beach club passes at 50% off -- 76.99 pp plus tax -- cheapest we've seen them in YEARS!

internet and dining still looked normal pricing, so maybe they're rolling it out in phases?

[Lucky]

I was able to snag the soda package at $6.99/day for kids and Thrill Waterpark at $38.99/pp.

[DoomSlayer]

I am seeing the Early Access Black Friday specials now in the web site cruise planner for our XMas cruise.  But everything listed is the same price I had already bought everything for in previous sales.  No "knock my Socks off" deals this black Friday for me.  I guess I am ok with that though.  Means I don't have to worry about the infamous refund bugs from previous years.

Now I will be looking at it for my March trip though.  I specifically held out for Black Friday for those purchases.

[PhillyLady]

My excursions for my April cruise are all on sale (30%)!

I am booking a few already although the RC website keeps going off and on.

Thanks for the alert!

[smokeybandit]

 

[Carotthat]

My Ensenada 4 niter next October on Quantum still has all the same prices, even the dbp 

[smokeybandit]

Interestingly, RC has been running the same $800 off sale lately that they ran in December.