HeWhoWaits Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 15 hours ago, Lindsay said: Who are these people? These are probably the same people that can keep wine in their house. When I go to someone's house and they have a plethora of wine, I am like - how do you do that? We can't keep wine in our house for a collection!!!! People come over and it gets poured! Not necessarily the same people. We always have additional spending onboard, but we are able to keep wine in the house. We visit wineries frequently and have rarely done a tasting without purchasing multiple bottles. Then, when we have guests and open a bottle or three, we make sure to replenish the stock in order to keep a proper variety on hand. Lindsay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted August 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 7 minutes ago, jticarruthers said: We shall see ... personally I always base my decision on net cost of cruise (Fare, less OBC, less any TA OBC) so if they are just lowering the fare instead of offering OBC, then no impact on my analysis ... if they just axe the OBC then the net fare went up and it just increases the likelihood of picking a different cruise/cruise line. My gut tells me they do the second version and its just a thinly disguised price increase but hey maybe this will be a pleasant surprise for a change ... Hope always springs eternal. Fingers crossed!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monctonguy Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 We will never really know..I mean, the only way to even get an idea would be to price a bunch of cruises now for the future and then after the date they change the OBC offer. I bet you they wont drop at all..or if they do, its because they already raised them by then. Now after reading a lot of this legal jargon stuff....it sounds more to me like they are just removing the $100OBC and not saying they are lowering the price to offset it. Its just now it will be cheaper than there "standardfare" which no cruise company ever realty charges(99% of the time at least) Just another perk Royal is removing.....imho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted August 2, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 Just now, monctonguy said: We will never really know..I mean, the only way to even get an idea would be to price a bunch of cruises now for the future and then after the date they change the OBC offer. I bet you they wont drop at all..or if they do, its because they already raised them by then. Now after reading a lot of this legal jargon stuff....it sounds more to me like they are just removing the $100OBC and not saying they are lowering the price to offset it. Its just now it will be cheaper than there "standardfare" which no cruise company ever realty charges(99% of the time at least) Just another perk Royal is removing.....imho That's what I think as well. Ambiguity benefits the party that did not draft it, in this case, the cruisers, but RCCL doesn't see it that way. What I do is that I compare all my previous cruise pricing of cruises that I've taken over the past nearly 40 years and take it from there. This way, I see what was, what is and what it shall be, given in current times (i.e.- economy, supply & demand, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orange Crush Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 Marketing is what it is, but I don't care at all about their sales, included this or that promotions, onboard credits, BOGOs or the bizarre math they use to figure their "percent off" tags on the cruise planner. I always figure out my total cruise cost, estimate what my add-on packages will cost, and add in the gratuities, taxes, fees, and whatever else they tack on or I expect to spend and subtract perks & OBC before I book and make my decision based on that. You can't make an apples-to-apples comparison any other way. Whether they take out the OBC and remove it from the fare price or just take it away and leave the fare the same doesn't really matter to me in the end. I'm looking at the bottom line price and compare it to other cruises I've taken or other lines to decide if I'm getting a good deal or not. This might be a sneaky way to raise prices without changing the sticker price, it doesn't really bother me, because I never believed the sticker price in the first place. JLMoran 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twangster Posted August 2, 2018 Report Share Posted August 2, 2018 For me nothing changes. I'll do what I've always done. Look at the price of a particular cruise and compare it to other options. Price is a factor for me but so is ship and itinerary. Market demand will drive prices, not OBC. At the end of the day if RC is pricing themselves above the competition, demand will drop and soon after so will prices. OBC is great but now I can see everything at face value. I'd be more upset if the opposite were true. If they never offered OBC then announced this new concept of OBC but with higher up front prices I'd be left thinking "what idiot dreamt that up?" cruiselife, princevaliantus, Orange Crush and 1 other 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptTJ Posted August 3, 2018 Report Share Posted August 3, 2018 Will be monitoring this change, but I don’t expect it to affect much anytime soon. Maybe the up the prices later again. Basically from what I read, this promotional practice of offering the incentive to book early didn’t pay out for them. You would think they would try a different promotion, but axing it is cool too (sarcasm). At least there will be opportunities to get OBC during sales. Iv always been amused with Royals promotions and sales, I price out the same cruise during multiple sales and the price rarely changes, it’s all a play in words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monctonguy Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 Has anyone seen a drop in the prices after Nov 1st to offset the removal of OBC? Must be someone out there who has found a better deal.....or let me guess..all the prices are the same or higher and NO obc?............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted August 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 I see pricing to be higher, but we all knew that was going to happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose City Cruiser Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 We will have to wait for Nov 1st for cruises 6 months out for the final verdict. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiselife Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 On 8/2/2018 at 6:07 PM, twangster said: I'd be more upset if the opposite were true. If they never offered OBC then announced this new concept of OBC but with higher up front prices I'd be left thinking "what idiot dreamt that up?" This is so true. I don't understand the obsession with OBC. Of course it's great to have but all that really matters is the overall cost of the cruise. We can speculate all day about if they are going to actually lower the cruise fares or not but there is no point because there are so many factors involved in pricing. I'll just continue to calculate the total cost of a cruise on the different ships and lines I want to go on and make a decision. I suspect I'll still prefer Royal Caribbean over any other line at the moment. JohnUK, twangster, ellcee and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 It's also virtually impossible to actually track. Prices can change hourly, and cruise fare is not like going to the Gap and seeing how much a pair of jeans cost today versus two weeks from now. To accurately get a sense of the change, you would have to accrue a great deal of historical data across many different points to ascertain any kind of a price trend. Anecdotal evidence is anything but irrefutable proof. cruiselife and ellcee 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princevaliantus Posted August 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 34 minutes ago, Matt said: It's also virtually impossible to actually track. Prices can change hourly, and cruise fare is not like going to the Gap and seeing how much a pair of jeans cost today versus two weeks from now. To accurately get a sense of the change, you would have to accrue a great deal of historical data across many different points to ascertain any kind of a price trend. Anecdotal evidence is anything but irrefutable proof. Bingo!!! You just divulged my secret!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl_nj Posted August 8, 2018 Report Share Posted August 8, 2018 9 hours ago, monctonguy said: Has anyone seen a drop in the prices after Nov 1st to offset the removal of OBC? Must be someone out there who has found a better deal.....or let me guess..all the prices are the same or higher and NO obc?............ I don't think they claimed that they were going to reduce prices to offset the lack of OBC. The way I read their release was that the non-refundable price would continue to be cheaper then the refundable price. Which is sort of silly, because why else would you chose non-refundable if it wasn't cheaper? There is no way they were going to reduce prices to take into account the lack of OBC, because non-refundable OBC doesn't "cost" them as much as "real cash" (non-refundable OBC, at least). You have to spend onboard in order to use it. That $14 cocktail doesn't cost them $14 to produce, part of it is profit. In addition, the OBC for the non-refundable fare would block adding OBC from something like the Shareholder Benefit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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