Understanding Rates (Military and others)

[Wendy&Grumpy]

I'm so confused.

 

We have two B1 cabins on October 19th Allure booked April 18, 2013 - one being a converted NextCruise certificate (2 adults), the other with the (old) Friends & Family certificate (3 adults, 1 child).

 

Both were originally booked on opening day at $1049 pp.

 

Both were then changed to $969 pp when price dropped in September.

 

Then in January a Military discount became available, which was applied to the 2A cabin.

 

Here is what I'm not understanding:

 

Cabin 1 (2A) is showing a "cruise fare" of $1024 which is our original rate minus $25 and then the military discount applied ($153) making the new fare $871 - which is $50 less than the military rate quoted when we applied it ($921) and also lower than the military rate being quoted now ($896).

 

Cabin 2 (3A/1C) is showing a "cruise fare" of $919 pp - which is $50 less pp than the $969 rate we had applied in September. (Guest 3 and 4 are still at $549 which I think is the standard 3/4 rate?)

 

I'm certainly not complaining, but where did these mysterious $50 "discounts" come from?

 

I'd really like to understand how the pricing works as when we applied the military discount, we were told that swapping DH into the 4 pax room and applying the military discount to that one instead would result in a LOWER discount - which really didn't make sense!

 

Thanks for any insight anyone has!

[Clarea]

If you are seeing these $50 discounts by doing a mock cruise on Royal's website, they might be from the April promo that is running now. This promo is for new cruises booked from April 1 to April 20, and cannot be combined with C&A perks, like OBC or balcony discount.

[Wendy&Grumpy]

If you are seeing these $50 discounts by doing a mock cruise on Royal's website, they might be from the April promo that is running now. This promo is for new cruises booked from April 1 to April 20, and cannot be combined with C&A perks, like OBC or balcony discount.

 

Oh, no, this is the amounts shown on our confirmations - both cabins are already paid in full!

 

Just trying to figure out if we maybe did qualify for some mysterious discount we didn't know about!

Edited April 3, 2014 by Wendy&Grumpy

[papaflamingo]

Is it a Crown and Anchor balcony discount?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited April 3, 2014 by papaflamingo

[Wendy&Grumpy]

Is it a Crown and Anchor balcony discount?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I dunno? What does it take to qualify for that? We've cruised with RCCL once before - well DH and I have, but we're both in the first cabin - although I did book and pay for both?

[Clarea]

I dunno? What does it take to qualify for that? We've cruised with RCCL once before - well DH and I have, but we're both in the first cabin - although I did book and pay for both?

At least one guest booked in the stateroom would have to be Platinum level or above (30 points) to qualify for the balcony discount. It does not matter who pays, just who is booked in the stateroom.

[Wendy&Grumpy]

At least one guest booked in the stateroom would have to be Platinum level or above (30 points) to qualify for the balcony discount. It does not matter who pays, just who is booked in the stateroom.

 

That's not it then, as none of us are Platinum or above!

 

It's really odd that it's the same amount ($50) across the board, so it must be something!

 

I guess I'll just call it the "RCCL likes us" discount until I find out otherwise! ;)

[Cruisinsince00]

I'm so confused.

 

 

 

We have two B1 cabins on October 19th Allure booked April 18, 2013 - one being a converted NextCruise certificate (2 adults), the other with the (old) Friends & Family certificate (3 adults, 1 child).

 

 

 

Both were originally booked on opening day at $1049 pp.

 

 

 

Both were then changed to $969 pp when price dropped in September.

 

 

 

Then in January a Military discount became available, which was applied to the 2A cabin.

 

 

 

Here is what I'm not understanding:

 

 

 

Cabin 1 (2A) is showing a "cruise fare" of $1024 which is our original rate minus $25 and then the military discount applied ($153) making the new fare $871 - which is $50 less than the military rate quoted when we applied it ($921) and also lower than the military rate being quoted now ($896).

 

 

 

Cabin 2 (3A/1C) is showing a "cruise fare" of $919 pp - which is $50 less pp than the $969 rate we had applied in September. (Guest 3 and 4 are still at $549 which I think is the standard 3/4 rate?)

 

 

 

I'm certainly not complaining, but where did these mysterious $50 "discounts" come from?

 

 

 

I'd really like to understand how the pricing works as when we applied the military discount, we were told that swapping DH into the 4 pax room and applying the military discount to that one instead would result in a LOWER discount - which really didn't make sense!

 

 

 

Thanks for any insight anyone has!

 

 

April promo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[markeb]

My best explanation:

 

Somewhere, deep in the mysterious IT department of RCCL, probably offshored somewhere totally exotic, there are two hamsters powering the entire RCCL computer infrastructure (if you doubt this, just randomly select posts here on Cruise Critic; you can't make this stuff up!). One of those hamsters took a bizarre, inexplicable misstep just as you were applying your new discounted fares. This generated 50mW of stray voltage, that had to go somewhere. That stray voltage landed on YOUR reservation, and created a totally random, impossible to explain, but nonetheless enduring $50 discount!

 

The moral to this story is be careful how you feed the hamsters...

 

(Given the well documented problems with all things IT at RCCL, this story is at LEAST as plausible as any other explanation. And, sadly, perhaps more so than most...)

[papaflamingo]

Markeb, I think you figured it out. Now can you find the missing 777? :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited April 4, 2014 by papaflamingo

[Wendy&Grumpy]

April promo

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Is this an every April thing?

 

My best explanation:

 

Somewhere, deep in the mysterious IT department of RCCL, probably offshored somewhere totally exotic, there are two hamsters powering the entire RCCL computer infrastructure (if you doubt this, just randomly select posts here on Cruise Critic; you can't make this stuff up!). One of those hamsters took a bizarre, inexplicable misstep just as you were applying your new discounted fares. This generated 50mW of stray voltage, that had to go somewhere. That stray voltage landed on YOUR reservation, and created a totally random, impossible to explain, but nonetheless enduring $50 discount!

 

The moral to this story is be careful how you feed the hamsters...

 

(Given the well documented problems with all things IT at RCCL, this story is at LEAST as plausible as any other explanation. And, sadly, perhaps more so than most...)

 

I love this explanation! And I love those hamsters who saved us $200 even more! ;)

[Wendy&Grumpy]

But wait - here's another one...

 

The military rate being offered now is lower than the one we initially had applied, and when my TA called to have it applied, she was told our rate would go up with it!

 

If this is an "April promo" and it stayed when we first switched to the lower standard rate and again when we switched to the first military rate, why would it be taken away now?

 

Was she misinformed?