Diamonds in december boo-boo

[enyliram]

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION. have been checking 4/5 night sailings on the LOS and the prices seem to be much lower than I can remember from past years with tons of availability. the JS are selling out because they are now the price of a balcony a few days ago.

last week 12/16 LOS balcony was selling for 249.lots of price changing by royal but overall prices do seem much lower.

[Eng23]

You should have voiced your concern back at the beginning of the year when it was announced this promotion would not take place this December.

 

 

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[slk230red]

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION.

 

Yes, but now they seem to have too many Diamond Plus's due to the past Diamonds in December.:rolleyes:

[LovesCruising]

Not the case with Explorer out of Bayonne for NYE - prices higher than ever and completely sold out for weeks

[PINEVIEW01]

Yep, on the 4 b2b's I'm doing (I didn't get the memo:cool:) they are giving way balconies this last week end for $299 and today, $199:eek:

[cruisegirl1]

We generally sail in December and have been doing so since before the promotions because it fit our schedule and because prices (except for Christmas and new year sailings) have ALWAYS been low. Also early December cruises had few children.

 

Not only were prices low, we were often upgraded for those sailings.

 

I agree with the poster who noted high prices. A New Years cruise on the freedom is 50% higher than what we paid las year. We found Celebrity to be lower , and for a longer cruise.

 

M

[springaussie]

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION. have been checking 4/5 night sailings on the LOS and the prices seem to be much lower than I can remember from past years with tons of availability. the JS are selling out because they are now the price of a balcony a few days ago.

last week 12/16 LOS balcony was selling for 249.lots of price changing by royal but overall prices do seem much lower.

I bet the on board spending is UP per person because of less Diamonds and above in December 2013 compared to December 2012.

It also did not stop me buying after the announcement knowing I was only getting half the points per night as I did in December 2012.

[Wilda]

We have been sailing the first week in December for the past 7 years and the prices have remained consistent. We have seen no change in the price for a D1 cabin category which is what we typically book. Since we are not Diamond we don't really care about the incentive, we just like to cruise during that time. Perhaps the lower prices you are seeing are more about demand for that particular cruise and less about the promotion?

[storm1of4]

:

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION. have been checking 4/5 night sailings on the LOS and the prices seem to be much lower than I can remember from past years with tons of availability. the JS are selling out because they are now the price of a balcony a few days ago.

last week 12/16 LOS balcony was selling for 249.lots of price changing by royal but overall prices do seem much lower.

 

So what is the problem with this? Book a JS and you have your double points, Youre paying less than last year.:rolleyes:

[SSPhone]

They only stopped it because we just reached Diamond and for the first time we are cruising in December. :(

[cello56]

Our Oasis cruise on December 7th is virtually sold out! There are four balcony cabins left, and a guaranty on insides/outsides. This is our first cruise as Diamond members, and we are looking forward to it! :D

[reedl]

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION. have been checking 4/5 night sailings on the LOS and the prices seem to be much lower than I can remember from past years with tons of availability. the JS are selling out because they are now the price of a balcony a few days ago.

last week 12/16 LOS balcony was selling for 249.lots of price changing by royal but overall prices do seem much lower.

 

This is typical poor logic. Using a single instance to produce a "fact" about the entire population is not logical. That would be like seeing an orange car driven by a woman with a red hat on and saying that all orange cars are driven by women who wear red hats.

 

People do this all the time, but it simply is flawed logic.

[TEXASMUNK]

Companies...from Mercedes to Wal-Mart have promotions. Because they do it once or twice does not mean they are required to do it over and over and over.

 

D in D worked for RCI, it put bodies in beds in December....Who knows what the next promo might be! It might be Emeralds at Easter for all we know!

[Thetrail]

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION. have been checking 4/5 night sailings on the LOS and the prices seem to be much lower than I can remember from past years with tons of availability. the JS are selling out because they are now the price of a balcony a few days ago.

last week 12/16 LOS balcony was selling for 249.lots of price changing by royal but overall prices do seem much lower.

This is sooo old news, and now yor commenting on this????....As far as a mistake, don't see it that way at all IMHO.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

While there are a few cruises that have a lower price and more availability, I think it will be next year before the full impact of this appears.

 

Many booked a Dec cruise before any announcement was made. It seems they have kept the reservations.[many have posted that they book Dec cruises anticipating D in D] However, I bet you see less D, D+,and P booking these Dec cruises in 2014.

 

A better way to boost reservations and revenue aboard the ship is to offer a smaller points boost for all. For example, on our Bermuda cruise in Oct 2012 we got 2 extra points. [suites got double] It was enough to encourage us to travel at an off time--but, really did not boost our point total much. We are retired and can cruise whenever. On the ship we bought drinks, pictures, internet, etc.

 

The D in Dec promotion led to lots of cabins sold that did not spend that much money on board. They get drinks, pictures and some free internet. Also, it led to cruisers making the next level faster and getting more free perks. Good for pax and bad for RCL bottom line.

 

PS--we just made D on our last cruise, so we would benefit from this program. However, I can see where it did not benefit the cruise line much.

[Cruising89143]

When we cruised in early December the rates were low. This was well before the Diamonds in December promotions started. At this time of year it's not uncommon to see low rates.

[Tagsalong]

This is typical poor logic. Using a single instance to produce a "fact" about the entire population is not logical. That would be like seeing an orange car driven by a woman with a red hat on and saying that all orange cars are driven by women who wear red hats.

 

People do this all the time, but it simply is flawed logic.

 

It's the very meaning of " Post hoc ergo propter hoc".

[Big_G]

IMHO ROYAL MADE A HUGH MISTAKE IN SCRAPING THE DIAMONDS IN DECEMBER PROMOTION. have been checking 4/5 night sailings on the LOS and the prices seem to be much lower than I can remember from past years with tons of availability. the JS are selling out because they are now the price of a balcony a few days ago.

last week 12/16 LOS balcony was selling for 249.lots of price changing by royal but overall prices do seem much lower.

 

I might be guessing but I think RCI's objective market data analysis probably trumped your inconclusive anecdotal assumption in their decision...but again, I'm just guessing. :D

[enyliram]

hey guys. I am the OP .please don't dump on me for my thoughts and observations. I was specifically talking about 4/5 nights in dec on the LOS.

I have been D+for quite a while and points mean very little as I will never get to pinnacle but I did enjoy the special feeling I got on the diamonds in December cruises. I am on a December LOS cruise in a few weeks and guess I wont see the usual bling which I will miss.

[orville99]

interior cabins are now going for $100 more than balcony cabins on our NYE cruise out of Tampa. Great time to do an upgrade:)

[knittinggirl]

Not sure why they're so worried about extra points. Unless people do several B2Bs, most will probably get 7-8 extra points for D in D. Eight points isn't going to make much difference when we need so many points between Diamond and Diamond Plus.

[orville99]

Not sure why they're so worried about extra points. Unless people do several B2Bs, most will probably get 7-8 extra points for D in D. Eight points isn't going to make much difference when we need so many points between Diamond and Diamond Plus.

 

 

When Royal did the credits/points conversion, we were among the unlucky ones who ended up in no mans land. Under the old system we would have needed only the three 7-night cruises that we had booked to make D, and under the new system we would need 5 - they moved the number of days from 70 to 80, and suddenly a 21 day deficit became a 31 day deficit. D-in-D helped soothe over that difference. Will I miss it? I guess a little bit, but it no longer gets us anywhere. We're D+ and will never make Pinnacle, so not really a deal-breaker for us anymore.

[EmpressofPurple]

The extra points were nice, but I also enjoyed the "gifties" -- a nice metal water bottle, blingy door magnet and pin -- fun stuff, and better quality than most of the giveaways these days... made it feel special!

 

As I keep stating wherever possible, I wish they would re-institute some of their "giveaway" programs, like better trivia prizes, or the old Vitality coins and (before that) ShipShape dollars, which you "earned" by participating in active events, and then could "spend" at the sports desk to get cool stuff like visors, backpacks, sport towels, t-shirts and more...