frustrated price drop

[3badboys]

Cruising in 55 days. Price drop by half today. Nothing to upgrade to. All suites taken. Wish there was something royal would do with the new price. Oh well. We will have a great cruise.

[Clarea]

Cruising in 55 days. Price drop by half today. Nothing to upgrade to. All suites taken. Wish there was something royal would do with the new price. Oh well. We will have a great cruise.

What is the penalty to cancel? Can you still come out ahead even with the cancel charges?

[Ourusualbeach]

What is the penalty to cancel? Can you still come out ahead even with the cancel charges?

 

With a drop that big you might be ahead by canceling.

 

Here is the chart showing the penalties.

 

 

 

You will get a full refund if you notify us at least 75 days prior to your sailing date (60 days for 3 & 4-night cruises or 90 days for holiday sailings). Consult the chart below to determine cancellation charges applicable later.

 

Note: No refunds will be made if you do not show up for your cruise or if you interrupt or cancel your vacation once it has begun.

 

When calculating the days prior to sailing, the day of sailing should not be considered as one of the days. The day of sailing is considered the first day of the cruise, therefore, the penalty period will commence one day prior to the day of sailing.

 

The cancellation policy applies when reserving with our US Office only. Guests should contact their local Royal Caribbean International Office or Travel Agent for full details of applicable cancellation policies.

 

Effective August 1, 2010, new reservations will fall under the following cancellation schedule:

Cruise Length

Days to Departure

Charges Per Person

1 - 5 Nights

60+ No charges

59-43 Deposit amount

42-29 50% of total price (taxes & fees excluded)*

28-15 75% of total price (taxes & fees excluded)*

14 or less No refund except for taxes and fees

6 Nights or longer

75+ No charges

74-57 Deposit amount

56-29 50% of total price (taxes & fees excluded)*

28-15 75% of total (taxes & fees excluded)*

14 or less No refund except for taxes and fees

[3badboys]

Yesterday we were in the 250 we would loose. Today we would loose half so that's not an option. Wish royal did on board credit or something. Just one of those things. Just frustrating.

[Clarea]

Yesterday we were in the 250 we would loose. Today we would loose half so that's not an option. Wish royal did on board credit or something. Just one of those things. Just frustrating.

Keep watching. Maybe a better stateroom will open up.

[kymbakitty]

Many years ago, the Grandeur had a crazy sale just about a month before sailing. It was a 16 day TA cruise and we had our typical category C (they might not even have those anymore...they could be called JS. About 250 square feet with 68 square feet balcony.

 

Anyway, got wind that category A-C were going on sale for $1249 pp, all inclusive.

 

Even with forfeiting our $900 deposit, we still ended up paying less than we would had we just stayed in the C. It was our first OS and I think the room was 8002. I remember using the bidet as an ice chest for my beer and champagne. Our flights were already booked or that might have been a deal breaker.

 

I think it was 2001.

[timbom]

Rule number one with cruise lines Never book more than 60 days out unless school is out.

[seaofwonder]

Rule number two : don't look at prices of your category after final payment :)

 

 

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[Bigtex1622]

.... I remember using the bidet as an ice chest for my beer and champagne. ....

 

You know a bidet is for washing your butt?

 

 

:eek:

[Rowtyd]

You know a bidet is for washing your butt?

 

 

:eek:

 

bet it was "crappy" beer and champagne :)

[kruzerci]

I remember using the bidet as an ice chest for my beer and champagne. Our flights were already booked or that might have been a deal breaker.

 

 

 

I think it was 2001.

 

 

WHAT?! Why??

 

I needed that laugh :D.

[Bigtex1622]

bet it was "crappy" beer and champagne :)

 

 

lol

 

 

;)

[mr walker]

Wish royal did on board credit or something.

 

I thinks that would be fair, but only if you agreed at the time of booking to pay the increased price if the price went up.

[southnam]

Rule number one with cruise lines Never book more than 60 days out unless school is out.

 

 

Not always true. In our case we wanted a an affordable room for family of 5 so booked in March for early dec. there was only 1 family room left, ocean view family on FoS so we booked. So in some scenarios you do need to book early. Now we just play the price watch game lol

 

 

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[CrusingJoe]

Rule number one with cruise lines Never book more than 60 days out unless school is out.

 

Great, but what you might save in $$ you will pay in airfare...........:D:D

[papaflamingo]

I thinks that would be fair, but only if you agreed at the time of booking to pay the increased price if the price went up.

 

You make a great point. It used to be that RCCL would honor any price drop up to the day of sailing. It also used to be that the prices were much higher. But to be honest, when you book a cruise you take a presumably desirable cabin out of inventory, leaving less desirable locations. When they go on sale at the last minute it usually isn't the prime location for the cabin class. For example, aft balconies are coveted. When the prices drop for remaining inventory, is it reasonable to expect that you can also get the drop but keep a most desirable cabin?

When you take advantage of a price drop prior to final payment, what you effectively do is cancel your existing booking and re-book. RCCL doesn't actually make you go through that "drill." The simply apply the new rate. That is a great deal for us. If you had to cancel and re-book, you could conceivably lose that aft balcony. The only thing you lose is some discounts that no longer apply.

Anyway, as Mr. Walker said, are you willing to pay more if the price went up? No. One poster stated "never book outside 60 days." Good plan, if you're wiling to not go on the cruise. Me, I book when I see a price that I am willing to pay. If prices drop, I look at upgrades. Sometimes they work and sometimes not. But at least I'm in a cabin I picked at a location I like.

[NJ&Ozzie]

Great, but what you might save in $$ you will pay in airfare...........:D:D

 

I agree. The airfare will get you on a last minute booking. The only time we really do last minute (within say one week) is when we're staying in San Juan & don't have to worry about air. Imagine this would apply to anytime you are near a port.

NJ :)

[Kroozen]

I'm sailing in a little over 3 weeks, and there was just a large price drop on my cruise as well. It didn't drop as much as yours, but I think it was about $150 per person. I tried to see if I could get an upgrade, or some OBC, but alas, nothing. I feel your pain...but, on the bright side...I'm glad I am even able to go on a cruise.

[Folk Singer]

Rule number one with cruise lines Never book more than 60 days out unless school is out.

 

 

:);):)

[Folk Singer]

Rule number two : don't look at prices of your category after final payment :)

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

 

It does tend to be a little spoiler alert.:( But have fun anyways.

[kimmiecruises]

Forgot to shut down the alert I had set up, and just found out our cabin went down $220 each - we have 7408 so aren't interested in an upgrade, just wish I hadn't seen that :rolleyes:

That's OK, we'll be on the ship in less than 30 days in our favorite cabin :)

[kymbakitty]

You know a bidet is for washing your butt?

 

 

:eek:

 

Sure do.....have had them in Europe years before cruising.

 

Fortunately, very seldom are they used in cruise ship cabins, but ours was sure put to great use.

 

Many of our cabin stewards have told us they couldn't remember the last time one had been used.

 

:)

[nmmickeymom]

3badboys we are in the same boat. Actually on the same cruise! If we booked today we would "save" $500. This is after I insisted my TA cancel and rebook earlier for the 3rd and 4th passengers sail free promotion. I agree it is very frustrating. For us, school is out..a June 7 cruise after Memorial Day. Who would have thought they would have such a difficult time filling up this ship?

[robtulipe]

Great, but what you might save in $$ you will pay in airfare...........:D:D

 

I agree. The airfare will get you on a last minute booking. The only time we really do last minute (within say one week) is when we're staying in San Juan & don't have to worry about air. Imagine this would apply to anytime you are near a port.

NJ :)

Not always the case. ;)

When I see a good after final payment date cruise deal I immediately check air fares and have gotten some great fares. Typically we book 30 to 60 days prior but have done so within two weeks of a cruise as we are completely flexible being DW and I are retired. The 30 to 60 days prior has been a great time prior to book both air flights and cruises.

We got a great deal on Air Canada with a direct no-stop flights Toronto to Santiago, Chile return from San Diego for our Radiance cruise bought as a Tuesday special event sale. We had a D1 balcony on that 15 night repositioning cruise which cost us just over $1000US each as our air cost was $485US and cruise fare $549US each. We've done the same for our many Hawaii, Caribbean and European cruises.

We leave on Serenade for a 16 night New Orleans to Barcelona Spain TA cruise on the 26th of this month and our air fare to NO return from BCN booked at the beginning of last month is just under $600US each combine that with our $569 cost each for a forward deck 7 extra large balcony E1 cabin we were able to select makes for a really good deal. Our friends got to pick their cat. G OV for $429US each. Also we each are getting $200 OBC per cabin from RCI. Ours for an onboard booking, friend for a FCC. :)

Edited April 14, 2014 by robtulipe

[robtulipe]

Further comments to my post above another strategy we use is to go with the best value price wise which for us can include any cabins, including insides, make our air reservation and watch for a deal to upgrade. Sometimes the best value is the category we want, typically a balcony, thus we don't have to upgrade.

That's what we did for our current booking for later this month which was done after the final payment date. We started with an inside as that offered the best value as the balcony we wanted was twice the cost of the inside guarantee we got. Then two weeks later we were able to upgrade and select, not using a guarantee, our current E1 for only $140 extra each saving us quite a bit.

You may run into a new booking only deal that a current booking can't be upgraded to with this strategy but that has happened only once with us so we did the cruise in the inside we had originally booked and still had a good cruise. I would guess that at least 90% of the time we've done this we've ended up in the cabin we've wanted and at least twice ended up in a higher category, a suite, than we had originally wanted to be in.;)

To those who say you'll only get lousy cabin doing this I've seen and booked some very nice cabins after the final payment date including aft corner and extra large balcony staterooms and suites. In fact for our current cruise booking the E1 we have would have been one of two that either would have been our first choice if we had all of the deck 7 forward extra large E1 balconies to choose from. It's the most aft of these E1s just forward of the front elevators/staircase area.

Edited April 14, 2014 by robtulipe