Price Drops March 1, 2018

[Matt]

8 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Either way, if you're paid in full, you're out of luck right?

No. If you pre-pay early, you can get money back.  A bit of a hassle (...for my TA) but you can definitely take advantage of it.

If it's past final payment date, then yes, no refund.

[WAAAYTOOO]

10 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

Either way, if you're paid in full, you're out of luck right?

I don't think so.  If you paid in full prior to your final payment date (and you booked under NA rules) you can still take advantage of price drops.  The only thing you cannot do, if you are paid in full, is transfer your booking to a TA.  At least, that's what I think....

[JLMoran]

Good news! I just got an email from my TA, Heather. She spent a ton of time digging around and just couldn't see the same price I was seeing, but after calling Royal directly they quoted her a price within $10 of what I was seeing on their website, including the $50 OBC that I saw. I asked her to please apply that, even though I'm losing $100 OBC net, because it's a savings of $183 on the base fare and the reduced OBC is much less important to me on this trip. We're not planning on buying the drink package for this short of a trip, nor do we plan on purchasing any excursions as we just figure we'll wing it with an overnight stay; I may not even buy the wifi for us! (still have to decide on that)

About the only thing we plan to buy on board right now is dinner at Wonderland, if they offer a special the night we're in Bermuda. If we don't end up doing that, we can use the OBC towards a specialty restaurant on the night we sail back to NJ, or some other small thing.

I just feel like this is one time where I'd end up leaving OBC "on the table" if I had a lot of it to use, and then that's money I'm not getting back at all.

[lizzyz]

hey! so I called regarding the price drop on my reservation, and they said by adjusting it my prepaid gratuities will be taken off. Could you verify if that's normal?

[Lovetocruise2002]

28 minutes ago, lizzyz said:

hey! so I called regarding the price drop on my reservation, and they said by adjusting it my prepaid gratuities will be taken off. Could you verify if that's normal?

Yes, totally normal.  Free gratuities is not on with the current March promos so you would lose it if you re-price.  I lost my free gratuities when I re-priced yesterday but it was a Star class suite so I figured it didn't matter.  @WAAAYTOOO can you confirm that it doesn't matter.  Hope I didn't mess it up lol.

[WAAAYTOOO]

54 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

I lost my free gratuities when I re-priced yesterday but it was a Star class suite so I figured it didn't matter.  @WAAAYTOOO can you confirm that it doesn't matter.  Hope I didn't mess it up lol.

You're right, Sabrina.  Since you're in SC, your grats are included anyway so you didn't lose anything.

[mworkman]

On 3/1/2018 at 9:37 AM, Sabrinaklai said:

Good morning all.  Might want to check your prices on booked cruises outside of final payment.  There is a price drop of several hundred dollars on all 3 of my bookings in 2019 & 2020.

Thanks Sabrina, we save $200 on our Navigator sailing in Nov.

[J. Woody]

2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

Good news! I just got an email from my TA, Heather. She spent a ton of time digging around and just couldn't see the same price I was seeing, but after calling Royal directly they quoted her a price within $10 of what I was seeing on their website, including the $50 OBC that I saw. I asked her to please apply that, even though I'm losing $100 OBC net, because it's a savings of $183 on the base fare and the reduced OBC is much less important to me on this trip. We're not planning on buying the drink package for this short of a trip, nor do we plan on purchasing any excursions as we just figure we'll wing it with an overnight stay; I may not even buy the wifi for us! (still have to decide on that)

About the only thing we plan to buy on board right now is dinner at Wonderland, if they offer a special the night we're in Bermuda. If we don't end up doing that, we can use the OBC towards a specialty restaurant on the night we sail back to NJ, or some other small thing.

I just feel like this is one time where I'd end up leaving OBC "on the table" if I had a lot of it to use, and then that's money I'm not getting back at all.

If you will not use your OBC, refund to your Credit Card or no ??

[JLMoran]

9 minutes ago, J. Woody said:

If you will not use your OBC, refund to your Credit Card or no ??

My understanding is that OBC provided as part of a promotion, and not as a result of something like a canceling an excursion or other activity on board the ship, is not refundable at the end of the cruise to the credit card on file. Promotional OBC is just that -- a promotion to entice you to book and not money that you are entitled to claim if not used.

I'd love to be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure I read that in at least a couple of posts here.

EDIT: Looked up the promotional terms and conditions on Royal's site, and found this line in the boilerplate text that makes it crystal clear (emphasis added):

Quote

OBC is in USD, has no cash value, is non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, and will expire if not used by 10:00 p.m. on the last evening of the cruise.

 

[tiny260]

On 3/1/2018 at 10:11 AM, Sabrinaklai said:

Also, KSF is on for 2018 sailings.  Blackout dates from June 1 - August 31, 2018 and Thanksgiving

I didn't want to say anything and cause a panic, I thought it was possibly fake news, but my wife relayed to me on Friday February 23, that a person had posted on the Crown and Anchor Facebook page that Kids sail free was coming out on March 1st. So I immediately came over here and started watching post and didn't see anyone saying anything about it, so again I thought it was fake, but I thought enough of it to have my TA start watching "1" of my cruises, and then @Sabrinaklai mentions it on here on March 1st. So this person was for real and knew about it almost a week in advance.

It didn't do me any good, my sail date was during the black out days so I will have to pay for my Grandson.

[Lovetocruise2002]

10 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

I didn't want to say anything and cause a panic, I thought it was possibly fake news, but my wife relayed to me on Friday February 23, that a person had posted on the Crown and Anchor Facebook page that Kids sail free was coming out on March 1st. So I immediately came over here and started watching post and didn't see anyone saying anything about it, so again I thought it was fake, but I thought enough of it to have my TA start watching "1" of my cruises, and then @Sabrinaklai mentions it on here on March 1st. So this person was for real and knew about it almost a week in advance.

It didn't do me any good, my sail date was during the black out days so I will have to pay for my Grandson.

Doesn't do me any good either as I am returning to work in September and I can only cruise again in summer and March (during black out dates).  Actually, I was pretty sure KSF was going to come back in March.  What I didn't anticipate was that they would make it for only 2018 sailings.  They have run that promo for the last two years in March.  I've been tracking it.  I predict June too.  We'll see what happens ?

[tiny260]

1 minute ago, Sabrinaklai said:

They have run that promo for the last two years in March.  I've been tracking it.  I predict June too.  We'll see what happens ?

I've got one in October when he is out of school but it is in San Juan and getting my wife and I down there is going to be tricky, my flight times and connections are really wonky. I know you guys that are parents don't have a choice, that's one of the perks of being a Grand Parent, we do have a choice...

[tiny260]

I'll still take him in July, but I'll just have to pay for him, no big deal.

[Lindsay]

Thank you so much!  Called and saved $105.00 on a cruise in 2019.  Yay!

[Sweety]

8 hours ago, Boston Babe said:

Oh shoot!! I didn't forget you, just trying to coax @JLMoran to make a decision! LOL!  How much did you save?? YEAH!!!!!!!

200

 

[JLMoran]

On 3/1/2018 at 5:01 PM, Boston Babe said:

Joe, check out the Adventure sailings to NE/CA that you are looking into, their prices dropped at least mine did for the July 20th sailing.  Might be a good time to make a decision! LOL

So we made a decision today, not so much based on the pricing as the fact that connected staterooms on the dates we were looking at are getting scarce. Not booked yet, but I've emailed Heather to get us booked on the June 22, 2019 sailing on Adventure, which is the first one with both kids out of school. I need to see what prices she comes back with before I commit to a particular pair of rooms; I'm contemplating booking the connected JS and Balcony rooms I saw on deck 9, hump section, that were still available this morning. But it's a good $450-700 premium over getting two connected regular balconies (depending on the balcony class code); with basically zero perks on Adventure for a JS besides the bigger room and double C&A points, I think I'd be better served saving that money towards excursions in St. John and Halifax. But, I may do it anyway since that would actually get us to Platinum C&A status with this cruise.

[Boston Babe]

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

I think I'd be better served saving that money towards excursions in St. John and Halifax. But, I may do it anyway since that would actually get us to Platinum C&A status with this cruise.

That's great Joe!!! Please let me know what she comes up with! You will be our guinea pig for @Sweety and I for our July sailing!

[JLMoran]

19 hours ago, Boston Babe said:

That's great Joe!!! Please let me know what she comes up with! You will be our guinea pig for @Sweety and I for our July sailing!

Well, some bad news. My wife had second thoughts about booking this, both because of the deposit required on two rooms when we are getting hit with some unexpected things like car repairs right now, and because she doesn't want to be planning out part of our summer over a year from now. So I've told Heather "never mind", and I guess we'll see if something else comes up for 2019.

Who knows? Maybe by the time we sail at the end of the month she'll reconsider and we'll end up booking at the Next Cruise desk. 

[Sweety]

56 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Well, some bad news. My wife had second thoughts about booking this, both because of the deposit required on two rooms when we are getting hit with some unexpected things like car repairs right now, and because she doesn't want to be planning out part of our summer over a year from now. So I've told Heather "never mind", and I guess we'll see if something else comes up for 2019.

Who knows? Maybe by the time we sail at the end of the month she'll reconsider and we'll end up booking at the Next Cruise desk. 

What about Cuba? I went last year. I want to go for the holidays December 2019.

[Boston Babe]

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

Maybe by the time we sail at the end of the month she'll reconsider and we'll end up booking at the Next Cruise desk.

Youre' leaving in a few weeks, and I take it this is both of yours first cruise? Give it a chance, you are going on a beautiful ship great itinerary. Money issues scare me off too and I don't have kids except with 4 paws! LOL I bet you she will reconsider booking it again. It's her 50th right?

[JLMoran]

20 minutes ago, Boston Babe said:

I bet you she will reconsider booking it again. It's her 50th right?

It would be a belated 50th. She turned 50 last year, and due to some complicated family circumstances she hardly got to do anything. So this was an attempt to make up for what was lost out last year, since the upcoming cruise at the end of the month is already marked as 20th wedding anniversary, high school graduation for older daughter, and middle school completion for younger one.

[Boston Babe]

3 hours ago, JLMoran said:

It would be a belated 50th. She turned 50 last year, and due to some complicated family circumstances she hardly got to do anything.

I'd say get through and enjoy your fabulous cruise coming up, and see what happens. Lots to celebrate on Freedom! Just enjoy your wife and children, then take it from there. I thing you will all have the time of your life and make up for lots of celebrations!