Fish42

Here's a great similar example from Royal Caribbean:

If I try to book a single occupancy room, this cruise is sold out:

However if I switch to two guests, suddenly there's room at the inn for a reasonable price:

So while not exactly the same as the pricing question I had in the original post, I think it does show that cruise lines have some peculiar booking policies or the website is bugged.

Thanks for the replies.  I just went to get screenshots of what I was seeing booking on the cruise line website and now the fares have been adjusted to correctly reflect the total fares being similar.  The double occupancy fare increased dramatically.  Oh well...

I'm going to chalk this one up to a pricing glitch of some kind.  I have seen this situation in the past and will post back here if I see it again.  Always on the cruise line website.

I think it is good advice to call the cruise line directly for this situation, however I feel like I'm being penalized (slightly) as a solo cruiser so if there's a chance to beat the system, I might have to take it.

I'm cruising solo and understand that the single and double occupancy total prices are usually close to the same.  However I'm looking at a cruise today and the single total price is more than double the double occupancy total price.  For example, the double occupancy total price (not per person) is around $1500, but the total price for solo travel is more than $3000.

Can I book the cruise at the double rate and just not have the second person show up on cruise day?  Will there be a penalty for that?

2 hours ago, RFerrington said:

Actually, I feel confident that they would prefer to have more people purchase the more expensive, individual meals.

On my currently booked 7 night trip the UDP is $290.  Ala carte dining averages around $55.  Doing a little math the UDP is the equivalent of 5 paid meals with 2 free.  From the RC perspective, the UDP locks you into paying for 5 specialty meals.  I would imagine that the non-UDP cruisers go for fewer than 5 specialty meals though I simply can't say for sure.

In this context I think RC will make more money by driving people to the UDP and locking them into paying for 5 meals as opposed to hoping that customers will pay for 6 or 7 ala carte meals.

Getting back to the premise of this thread, paying for all 7 specialty meals ala carte would cost around $385, which is a $95 premium for the privilege to book ahead of time.  For myself it's not a good value.

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You are getting a reduced price vs those paying full price by purchasing individually, not being able to book on board is the price you pay for that discount.

While I generally agree with your statement, I don't understand the economics on the RC side.  I assume they want as many people as possible to buy the Unlimited Dining package.  By favoring the ala carte diners in this one aspect (advanced reservations), they are punishing the people who are most likely giving them the greater amount of money (also assuming no one would ala carte every dinner of the cruise).

A cruiser with the UDP will likely be spending more than the average cruiser.  I think it would make economic sense to give them preferential treatment.

I have purchased the Three Night Dining Package.  There are two important details:

• A courtesy reservation will be made for Day 1 or 2 of your sailing.
• All additional reservations or changes to your courtesy reservation must be made once onboard at any specialty restaurant.

I can currently make pre-cruise reservations at specialty dining venues but only if I am paying ala carte.  However I cannot make reservations against the Three Night Plan.  I believe this would apply to the Unlimited Plan as well.

It seems counter-intuitive that people pre-purchasing dining packages cannot make pre-cruise reservations.  I feel like I am being penalized for giving RC my money months ahead of the cruise.  Perhaps I am being naive to the fact that RC wants to give preferential treatment to those paying a premium for ala carte dining.

I Wonder (haha) if the price of the water park at Cococay is partially based on the number of ships in port.  More ships = more demand = higher price.  I see that Wonder is at Cococay solo for two days in February and shares the port two other days in Feb.

I will be at Cococay in Sept with only one ship in port and the price was $130/pp

The Harmony of the Seas has around 95 Suite cabins not including Junior Suites (which don't have access to the concierge).  If every Suite cabin tipped $100 for a 7 night voyage and all cabins were booked, that's a $9500 benefit to the concierge staff.  Over one year that would be almost $500,000 benefit to the staff.

Since not all cabins will be booked and not everyone will tip that much (or in some cases 0), I wonder if the benefit would be closer to $300,000.  I also wonder what a salaried position in the hospitality industry would make...

I usually tip $100 per cabin.

Can you please tell me what is the Sabatini's dessert on the right in the pic?

We will be sailing on Royal Princess Oct 23-30.  I'm curious to know if there will be any Halloween related festivities on board.  On the website there is mention of a Halloween Fright Night Party for Halloween cruises, but there's no information about it.  I'm not sure if our cruise falls in the Halloween category.

Any ideas?

Fleet Week in San Francisco, was on a bay cruise and we wandered past the Royal Princess.

Except the Princess part was covered much of the time and everyone on board our sightseeing boat was saying "Oh, look at the Royal Caribbean"

Funny, but sad...

2 minutes ago, Colorado Coasty said:

The concierge lounge is only for those in full suites it has nothing to do with Club Class.

I think you are right, thanks for the correction.

25 minutes ago, Colorado Coasty said:

Club class lounge????

I'm not exactly sure I understand your question.  Here is the club class lounge on the Royal Princess on Deck 14.  Ironically it is placed between the wedding chapel and the laundry.

I was in "club class" on a different cruise line, and just as with Princess it gave me access to the club class lounge.  I thought I would be in there frequently but this was not the case for me.

It was nice and quiet, offered small food items and concierge service.  But I would forget to go there 🙂

What is that worth to you?

I understand that some people are putting Air Tags (or similar) in their luggage to track it.  I haven't tried it myself but it is an interesting idea.  Of course it doesn't prevent people from opening your luggage, but it does provide a layer of security.

If you are feeling very decadent, you could put one tag attached inside your luggage and one tag attached to something valuable in your luggage.  If the two aren't together, you've got a problem 🙂

Lojack your luggage!

I did mis-label the post, it is a suite class perk.

Thanks Yoda!  In the app it looks like it's going to charge you, but then at the very last line I'm getting a dining credit for the full amount and the net is zero.

Nice work...

You know how it goes...I'm sure this has been answered elsewhere.  Sorry about this, I looked...really.

I think Club Class cruisers get a complimentary Specialty Dining on the first evening, but maybe only on some ships?

Is there a way to make the reservation prior to embarkation?

Thanks!

4 hours ago, LadyL1 said:

Thank you so much for posting, especially as it is the Mexican itinerary. We are cruising Princess for the first time in January to Mexico from SFO and certainly looking forward to the vacation.

Can you tell me? Are you finding Club Class dining up to your expectations? Also, when in a suite I understand that the first night is complimentary speciality dining; do you book before cruise? I was just wondering if we can leave this to look at the restaurants available as this will be new to us.

Before the cruise we will be about 2 hours out of the city; what time is normal start for boarding in SFO?

Your help would be appreciated

Boarding starts around 11am in San Francisco.  Two hours away?  Where are you coming from?

I recently cruised on Eurodam and forgot my CPAP medical device in my stateroom.  HAL  found it and gave it to third party clearing house Chargerback.  They charged me $100 to ship it but they never gave it to FedEx for actual shipping.  Its been several weeks now.  All attempts to contact Chargerback have failed.  Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get Chargerback to respond.  Would HAL get involved?

Thanks!

Sorry, I should have noted that we were Neptune.

BTW, all things Neptune were fantastic.

Prior to my sail on Nov 9th, I had a brief discussion with my fellow passengers as to whether it was a good idea to show up for early embarkation at the San Diego cruise port when two ships are in town.

My experience on this date was great.  Aside from a mis-direction from the cruise port staff (not HAL), everything was very smooth and leisurely.  We arrived at the terminal around 10:20am and were in the waiting area by 10:40am eating cookies.  We boarding about 11:10am and our staterooms were ready.

A few of the other passengers suggested to wait until 2:30pm to avoid the crowds and mess of two cruise ships in port.  I disagree.  I was on board the ship for more than three hours prior to this time, which I think was well worth it.

Hello,

HAL offers a few classes on cruises like Mixology, etc.  How does one sign up for these classes?  Is it possible to do prior to the cruise?

Thanks!