Ken at the beach

All the OBC unless it is the small group or early booking or promotional OBC that Royal offers comes out of the TA's commission. Every TA operates under a different business model. Big box stores have very little overhead as they operate from a call center or in some cases the agents work from home. They may be paid a low hourly wage plus a very small portion of the commission as they are really just order takers and not travel agents. The big box or discount on line TA's then have the room to be able to rebate part of their commission. Royal has strict rules on what can and can't be done with respect to this and limits the amount that can be offered and how it is offered. Smaller TA's that operate their own business may have a storefront and other operating costs so they can't afford to give up part of their commission. Independent TA's that work for large companies may only receive a small % of the commission after corporate and the franchisee (who also operates a storefront) take the majority leaving the TA with 30 to 40% of the initial commission. Pretty hard for a TA to match what the big box store is offering when they don't even make that much. There really are so many variable that it's not fair to expect that just because one set of TA's can do it that they all should be able to (that was just a general comment and not related to what you posted) With respect the the comment about JS's. Royal offers group space for balconies and below. Those rates are available through a TA who has access to the group space. These rates in addition to being refundable are also lower in the vast majority of cases that the non refundable rates that Royal offers. Junior suites and above are not offered in group space so the pricing that a TA has will be identical to the price Royal has.

On all ships other than Icon it is only doubles. Icon has a couple categories where group rates are available for triples and quads

Aft facing on deck 14 are D4 and are for 2 guests. Who would have thought that the aft balconies which have a larger balcony would be the cheapest balcony category.

If you have MTD there is no need to link dining. Linking reservations is only useful to get you seated at the same table when you have early or late dining. With MTD they don't save you a table until you show up and tell them how many are in your party.

Cheapest that I saw was around $3000 not including a balcony discount but that was in a group during low seasons

Here are the insurance rates. They are per person and use the cost of the cruise fare before taxes and ppg.

Not many want to travel with a third in their room or add a fake guest and have them be a no show...prices are already high enough.

They are not sold out. What is happening with the inventory is the following. There are very few double occupancy cabins D2 and D4. TA's are allowed to block space (not specific room) When they do this Royal pulls the same number of cabins from inventory so that they can fulfill their obligations for that group space. That's why you will suddenly see an entire deck or one side of the deck disappear or in this case all the aft cabins. There are a lot of sailings that actually look sold out...like the first sailing. There are plenty of cabins left but Royal isn't showing them. The space is held in a group...I know, I'm holding 16 spaces in what looks like a sold out category but I can still book it and when a client books a 2D for example they end up booking a 2D guarantee and then Royal assigns it from one of the cabins they are holding

Don't forget that Wonder was initially destined and built for the Asian market which had a big impact on shows. By the time they decided to move her to the US it was too late to change them and there is still the possibility that she eventually goes to Asia.

It depend entirely on what kind of cabin you are booking. For balconies and below many TA's have access to group rates which are refundable and lower than Royals non refundable rates. You won't in most cases see them as they are not supposed to be publicly advertised but you may find a TA that promotes them. Junior suites and above are the same price with or without a TA.

Junior suites cannot be held in group space

No. Port fees and taxes are fully refunded along with any prepaid gratuities or cruise planner items purchased.

Depends on when the ship is ready as to whether she will do a TA or not. It is quite likely that it has just not been released. In 5 years she will also need to make her way back to Europe for a drydock and there will be a TA both East and West bound.

Balcony cabins that hold 2 guests are only found on decks 12 and 14 so you won't find availability on any sailing date until Royal removes the occupancy restrictions for the cabins that are designed to hold 3 or 4 guests.

That's good. Need something to do after 9 when Vikki goes to bed

Count us out for the time being. Not paying these prices. I have a feeling the only way I'm getting aboard is if I get lucky and get an invite to one of the 2 day preview sailings

Royal has not lifted many of the restrictions for booking. 2 guests looking to book an Oceanview balcony are limited to deck 12 and 14. For a CP Balcony they are limited to deck 14. This is crazy, there are so few cabins that hold 2 guests on this ship, no way will they fill them all with 3 and 4 guests

That's not surprising. Infinite verandas on Celebrity are more than the regular balconies

Still not open in cruising power

You need to come up with a 2 day list for December. No need to stck to 6 per day either.😉

Didn't we do something similar on Symphony

I've seen these releases as late as 8am the next day

Every single C&A preview sale tgsg i can remember has been open to thr general public. Nothing special needed to book.

Correct. If it's not set up as a group vegore you book it you font get the extra benefits.

I am guessing that Royal is making a major departure from their policy of not allowing 2 people to book a triple or quad occupancy cabin. Nearly all balconies on the ship can hold 3 or 4 guests with the exception of some Oceanview balconies on decks 12 and 14. All Infinite verandas hold more than 2 as do all the CP balconies and Surfside (hard not saying BW). Most of the Oceanview and insides also hold more than 2 guests with the exception of the smaller insides. It will be interesting to see how the base fares of the cabins that hold 2 guests compare to the base fares of the cabins that hold more than 2 guests as in the past the triple and quad occupancy cabins nearly always had a higher base fare for guests one and two since there were less of them and in demand.