Skid Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 First off, I owe a big thank you to @Lovetocruise2002 for telling me to not wait any longer to book Symphony because prices keep going up. Increasing prices are one thing, but how they are structured are another. We booked on May 3. I just looked now (as I often do) and the price went up $545 net (we got $125 OBC)......the worst part of the increase was the difference in the upcharge for a refundable deposit. We paid $192 (there are 2 of us). Today's pricing shows $469.00 per cabin and loss of the OBC. Yup, that is not a typo on my part---the refundable deposit charge went up 244%. This is just plain unconscionable! Lovetocruise2002, JLMoran and Sweety 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 I am waiting for the price to come down. I booked Harmony 15 months ago and the price is outrageous now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 Wow! Crazy! I am waiting (probably in vain) for prices on Symphony to come down too because I want to upgrade. Not happening at this point because for the JS that we booked for July 2019, the price has already gone up over $1000 since we booked in November 2017. @Sweety, Harmony on the other hand was a surprise as we did not find March 2019 prices to be as bad as I thought it would be (due to spring break). Oasis and Allure was more at the time when I booked it (in January 2018). However, Harmony prices have gone up since and now Oasis and Allure are cheaper for March 2019. Symphony is, well, I won't bother to go there, simply ridiculous. I'm waiting for Mariner prices to drop too. I find the prices high for a 4 night sailing in this August. It's now within 90 days so I'm tracking it. If it goes low enough, I might jump on it. If not, oh well. Basically, my theory has always, and still is, even with NRD, to book early if it is a cruise you know you want to take. You can always adjust prices as you go along. That strategy has not failed me yet... And you're welcome @Skid. Pay back in pics and a "non-blog" Sweety and Skid 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 @Lovetocruise2002, my spring break is in April 2019. I have a balcony on the Broadwalk. I always wanted to try this type of balcony. I booked a B2B on Marnier in August 2019. I am trying the suites on deck 12. The prices were cheaper 6 months ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 43 minutes ago, Sweety said: The prices were cheaper 6 months ago. That just continues to prove my theory about booking early... Mariner is not a must do for us. We have a week in August this year that freed up and we can go. So it's one of those things where we will go only if it's a good deal. Hubby won't agree otherwise. We are already trying that other "experiment" in July so Mariner in August is a tough sell. Skid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 For those of you who are late to the party, Royal's pricing structure won't take a nose dive. The best time to book is when the itineraries are released. If you wait too long, you will lose out on the lowest prices available. Once prices go up, the chances of them coming back down to where they originally started or even lower, if this is what you think will hapen, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you for $5.00!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 2 minutes ago, princevaliantus said: if this is what you think will hapen, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you for $5.00!! Does that price include shipping ???? princevaliantus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 23 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: That just continues to prove my theory about booking early... Mariner is not a must do for us. We have a week in August this year that freed up and we can go. So it's one of those things where we will go only if it's a good deal. Hubby won't agree otherwise. We are already trying that other "experiment" in July so Mariner in August is a tough sell. I want to hear about that other experiment when you come back. Lovetocruise2002 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skid Posted May 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 44 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: That just continues to prove my theory about booking early... Mariner is not a must do for us. We have a week in August this year that freed up and we can go. So it's one of those things where we will go only if it's a good deal. Hubby won't agree otherwise. We are already trying that other "experiment" in July so Mariner in August is a tough sell. OK, I have to ask. Even with a great deal, can a 4 night cruise be worth the airfare? When I looked at that kind of thing, the airfare was literally more than the cruise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 I have three cruises that are 4, 5 and 5. My airfare to Tampa is 500 roundtrip each. Two of the cruises are B2B. I am only paying 1000 total for airfare. Skid and Lovetocruise2002 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 9 minutes ago, Skid said: OK, I have to ask. Even with a great deal, can a 4 night cruise be worth the airfare? When I looked at that kind of thing, the airfare was literally more than the cruise. That's the other thing I'm weighing out right now. However, prices to MIA at the moment are lower than what we normally pay when we cruise out of Florida. But I think that is because the 4 night cruises fall Monday-Friday. Heck, who am I kidding, I'm just looking for any excuse I can to get to Diamond sooner rather than later. I'm at 75 pts, so close! A 4 night sailing on Mariner in a suite would do it. Yes, I know, I have a cruising problem...lol Skid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweety Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 10 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: That's the other thing I'm weighing out right now. However, prices to MIA at the moment are lower than what we normally pay when we cruise out of Florida. But I think that is because the 4 night cruises fall Monday-Friday. Heck, who am I kidding, I'm just looking for any excuse I can to get to Diamond sooner rather than later. I'm at 75 pts, so close! A 4 night sailing on Mariner in a suite would do it. Yes, I know, I have a cruising problem...lol We all have a cruising problem. I am trying to find a cruise now. I have 13 booked already thru April 2020. Galveston Steve, CruiseLife72, JLMoran and 3 others 1 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boston Babe Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said: I think @Sweety has outdid both of us! Lovetocruise2002, Sweety and Skid 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boston Babe Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 I was on a lark checking those "Genie" suites on Harmony and Oasis. I just can't seem to wrap my head around spending $14K for a Genie but I digress. I have to agree with @princevaliantus about pricing going down. I've been monitoring every one of my cruises and they are up and up! Hell the Edge booking alone is over $2000 than when I booked it, having said that, I was notified when the new deployment was opening and jumped on it day 1 of the new deployment. I think that's what you have to do to get the lowest rate. Trust me, they monitor all these sailings, it's called Supply and Demand and if they see that demand, the prices aren't going down. Sweety and Skid 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovetocruise2002 Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 55 minutes ago, Boston Babe said: I was on a lark checking those "Genie" suites on Harmony and Oasis. I just can't seem to wrap my head around spending $14K for a Genie but I digress. I have to agree with @princevaliantus about pricing going down. I've been monitoring every one of my cruises and they are up and up! Hell the Edge booking alone is over $2000 than when I booked it, having said that, I was notified when the new deployment was opening and jumped on it day 1 of the new deployment. I think that's what you have to do to get the lowest rate. Trust me, they monitor all these sailings, it's called Supply and Demand and if they see that demand, the prices aren't going down. No doubt about it, prices climb. That's why you book as far in advance as you can manage. I usually book when sailings are first released. However, there is often a dip at the 45-60 day mark.... Sweety and Boston Babe 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilson Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 Book early and re-price often. Boston Babe, Lovetocruise2002, Matt and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L454S Posted May 21, 2018 Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 A few years ago we could do what is suggested above and reprice often. We got some great deals and nice upgrades when prices went down. RCI announced their new pricing structure a couple years ago and it has all but gone the way of the Dodo. We still do our mock bookings often, mostly to get a better cabin location(love the aft balconies). Have not seen a price drop on any of my sailings in quite a while, only large increases. We have been booking early for the past couple years. Even though we are retired, I am growing weary of booking a year and a half out front. Skid and Boston Babe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adjoankora Posted May 21, 2018 Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 We always try to book at least 18 months in advance and it has always worked in our favor. For example, on 10/20/2015, we booked (on board Legend of the Seas sailing from Singapore) a TA from Barcelona sailing this upcoming Oct 18th for the grand price of $3,747.22 for the two of us (not per person). Plenty of JS stateroom options were available then. That same category, J-4 Junior Suite, priced today on TBA status is $5775.34 for two, a savings of more than $2,000! By booking very early we got the stateroom we wanted. We usually find, like some of you, that prices tend to go up and can keep going up the longer you wait. We also track prices on an automatic system from our travel agency in the event an even better deal comes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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