Royal Caribbean Website Pricing Versus Other Travel Websites

[Jmillsarch]

I've been cruising for about 10 years now, and I've always booked directly through Royal Caribbean. A friend of mine mentioned he booked all his cruises through a very well know travel website and I told him he should just book directly through Royal Caribbean.

 

Today out of curiosity I went to this website and found my next cruise is over $100 cheaper per person versus Royal Caribbean's website. I typically book two rooms for our family, so this would be over a $400 savings.

 

I like the fact that Royal Caribbean lets you change sailings, change staterooms, adjust the price if it goes down, etc., but I always thought the prices were the same as all the big travel websites. I feel like I've been fooled.

 

Do big travel websites let you change things after the fact?

 

Will Royal Caribbean match the price of another website?

 

Any thoughts?

[researchfreak90]

Travel websites usually require full payment on booking, thats the downside.

[iheartbda]

Travel websites usually require full payment on booking, thats the downside.

No they don't, have never had to make full payment.

[PattyG12]

we've never been required to pay full price on booking. My TA works for one of the big online agencies. The only difference is that final is due a week or 2 earlier than the line.

[LovesCruising]

I didn't think other travel agency's were allowed to discount the cruise itself - thought that was why so many offered other incentives such as obc/wine/specialty dining/excursions etc?

[crazyventures]

I've been cruising for about 10 years now, and I've always booked directly through Royal Caribbean. A friend of mine mentioned he booked all his cruises through a very well know travel website and I told him he should just book directly through Royal Caribbean.

 

Today out of curiosity I went to this website and found my next cruise is over $100 cheaper per person versus Royal Caribbean's website. I typically book two rooms for our family, so this would be over a $400 savings.

 

I like the fact that Royal Caribbean lets you change sailings, change staterooms, adjust the price if it goes down, etc., but I always thought the prices were the same as all the big travel websites. I feel like I've been fooled.

 

Do big travel websites let you change things after the fact?

 

Will Royal Caribbean match the price of another website?

 

Any thoughts?

 

I think it depends. It seems like outside agencies give you more perks (OBC, free gratuities, etc) than Royal Caribbean, but some will charge you for making changes to your booking. If the price drop is big enough to offset the change fee, it might be worth it to book for the perks. The outside agency I used charges a $25 change fee if the new total is less than what you originally booked, but I've only seen the fares for my cruise go up. The OBC I received was worth not being able to change my room/dining selection online.

 

However, I've also seen special rates that are only available on Royal's website.

[grandgeezer]

I've done four Royal Caribbean cruises. I usually start at their website for a baseline price to compare other agencies to. In the four instances, I've never seen Royals site cheaper. The big thing with using TAs is the perks offered as the cruise price is usually the same. The only exception, that I know of, is if a travel agent prebooks a large block of rooms on a particular cruise. Then they are able to pass most of the savings onto their customers. For example, we have a 13 day Med cruise, followed up by a 14 day transatlantic on Celebrity Equinox in October. My online travel agent, of choice, has a large block of rooms on both cruises, so I paid $700 p.p. less than Celebrity's site charged. I also got a huge obc from them so I'm guessing I'll bring home over $500 of that. We did the westbound transatlantic, on the Celebrity Connie last year, and they had over 200 rooms booked through them. I know this because they had two agents on the cruise. I still can change rooms or get a price reduction, if there is one, by calling or e-mailing them. The only minor downside of a price reduction is, if you are getting an obc from them, that might drop a little as the obc is usually a percentage of their commission.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Every time I've compared RCI to a "major" online TA, RCI was even if not cheaper. Sure, the online TA showed a lower "room cost", but when you added in the various fees & taxes, somehow it all evened out (or made RCI lower) in the end.

[niksmom630]

Every time I've compared RCI to a "major" online TA, RCI was even if not cheaper. Sure, the online TA showed a lower "room cost", but when you added in the various fees & taxes, somehow it all evened out (or made RCI lower) in the end.

 

Same experience I had. The room cost looked lower but the fees were higher. So even with an OBC being thrown in, RCI was still less expensive....

[summersigh]

Same experience I had. The room cost looked lower but the fees were higher. So even with an OBC being thrown in, RCI was still less expensive....

 

For the first time we booked our latest cruise with a major online company. The final price was the same as RCI's site but we received OBC of $100 each. We got a reminder that Final payment was due about 7 days before the "due date" which was fine with us.

[Engrvrgal]

I just booked for may through a cruise website which I have used before. It was the same deposit as Royal Car. charges, but the price for myself and my daughter was about $200 less total.

Then yesterday I had to change my reservation to add another person and change cabins..no problem at all, took only a few minutes.

I never had to pay in full at time of booking