pinkrosesdeb Posted June 28, 2015 #51 Share Posted June 28, 2015 It does seem that when they do this the price for the first cruisers goes up substantially so when you get the BOGO it really isn't 50% off of the price you could have gotten booking at normal rates. It might still be a better deal if you can keep up with current pricing. I have been online looking at a cruise and the rate jumped a LOT while I was trying to book. Within 5 mins the price went up by $300 per person. Timing is everything, just keep checking and come back here for advice because this group has the best advice always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karena1 Posted June 28, 2015 #52 Share Posted June 28, 2015 And I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that I'll probably never again be able to redeem my BofA rewards for a free or companion cruise but will use them for toward cruise price or OBC. ~ Judy Which is why I finally gave up - Royal credit card is basically worthless now. Used up all my points for OBC to buy bev pkgs. Don't use the card at all anymore. Got the Barclays Elite Mastercard instead. Even with an annual fee, I come WAY out ahead of the Royal card as I get 2x points for everything I buy and can use the points for ANY travel, no just Royal. Plus it gives me back 10% points if I use them for travel. So when I redeem 50,000 points for a $500 credit to my credit card bill, they automatically give me back 5,000 points. The other thing that is nice is the credit is immediately there. What I hate about the Royal Redemption is the WAITING for them to apply your points. I redeemed points months ago and am still waiting for them to apply them to my various cruises. Stupid, there is no reason why the points should not be applied right away. After my Brilliance cruise in Dec it won't matter anymore. That is the last of my points I had to use up. Now I will pre-buy my pkg and just cash in points on my Barclay's card to cover it so will still in essence get my bev pkg for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molly361 Posted June 28, 2015 #53 Share Posted June 28, 2015 I'm not even sure what the price is anymore? :rolleyes: : That' for sure;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Square Posted June 28, 2015 #54 Share Posted June 28, 2015 I've never sailed on RC but we've been on a reasonable amount of Princess ships. Do you guys mostly book direct with RC? Or are you using TAs as a go between? There are 3 or 4 couples that are looking to cruise with us next year and I'm trying to figure out the optimal strategy while trying out RC for the first time. Any advice or tips is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funCruise3 Posted June 28, 2015 #55 Share Posted June 28, 2015 After our wonderful Enchantment cruise in March, as we were looking for our next cruise for March break 2016, we are sailing with NCL, free for 3rd and 4th pax in the same cabin and we get a free drink package. We will miss going on the original plan of RC Indy though we will consider RC in the future! Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted June 28, 2015 Author #56 Share Posted June 28, 2015 After our wonderful Enchantment cruise in March, as we were looking for our next cruise for March break 2016, we are sailing with NCL, free for 3rd and 4th pax in the same cabin and we get a free drink package. We will miss going on the original plan of RC Indy though we will consider RC in the future! Cheers! Check out Harmony for March 2017. There are some great prices considering its a new ship.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopher1934 Posted June 28, 2015 #57 Share Posted June 28, 2015 I've never sailed on RC but we've been on a reasonable amount of Princess ships. Do you guys mostly book direct with RC? Or are you using TAs as a go between? There are 3 or 4 couples that are looking to cruise with us next year and I'm trying to figure out the optimal strategy while trying out RC for the first time. Any advice or tips is appreciated. I used to book direct with RC but now I have changed to booking with a TA where we always get extra OBC. and paid gratuities . I always know ahead of time what cabin I want or category. You also can book your own with RC and then transfer the reservation to a TA to get the extra perks. you have 60 days to transfer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gigi65 Posted June 29, 2015 #58 Share Posted June 29, 2015 as C&A members are we able to see the rates a day early? I thought I had seen it somewhere or perhaps I am just confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted June 29, 2015 #59 Share Posted June 29, 2015 as C&A members are we able to see the rates a day early? I thought I had seen it somewhere or perhaps I am just confused. If you are logged in, you should see any available C&A rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undercat Posted June 30, 2015 #60 Share Posted June 30, 2015 The end of 30/30 is nigh, and it's almost BOGO Eve! Awaken the children, it's almost time to open the BOGO presents stacked beneath the BOGO Tree! I wonder what BOGO Claus will bring us this time? 25% fare increase? Super WOW 7-hour 4-minute sale for July 4? :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teecee60 Posted June 30, 2015 #61 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I just want to know what these people who come up with these "sales" and "special offers" are smoking?:eek: We may think that there's a bunch of lame brains running the promo dept., but it must be successful as RCL keeps regurgitating the same sales. These two posts pretty much say it all. Nothing more than marketing HYPE at its best. The cruise lines can NOT fill all of their ships and cabins at the prices they would LIKE to get... so they try and make their customers THINK they are getting a "good deal" with endless reincarnations of silly promos based on inflated prices. ;) They ARE indeed successful, and the marketing types KNOW many people in their target demo have enough disposable income and will fork out the cash regardless. :rolleyes: None of it affects me in the least, I still have not had to change my standards for the last five years. If the base fare is $50pp/day or less... I book cruises. If it's more... I don't. :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shay869 Posted July 1, 2015 #62 Share Posted July 1, 2015 (edited) Our cruise price (B1 on the Harmony) increased by 250 $ compared to the 30/30 promotion. We will wait for the next promotion for price drop. As expected the new BOGO is not a good deal.:mad: Edited July 1, 2015 by shay869 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merion_Mom Posted July 1, 2015 #63 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Our cruise price (B1 on the Harmony) increased by 250 $ compared to the 30/30 promotion.We will wait for the next promotion for price drop. As expected the new BOGO is not a good deal.:mad: 1. Harmony prices had increased before today. 2. If you are in a balcony cabin or above, 25% off is less than 30% off. But if you were in an interior or oceanview, all other things being equal (which they rarely are, as you are experiencing), the BOGOHO is better than 30/30. By the way, the one "good thing" that I am seeing on the website is that they are giving the full balcony discount with the BOGOHO. On the 30/30 sale, they also reduced the value of the balcony discount by 30%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merion_Mom Posted July 1, 2015 #64 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Oh, another thing. The new BOGOHO sale gives free gratuities for sailings in 2015 and 2016 that include Christmas or New Year's Eve. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarvowinner Posted July 1, 2015 #65 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Currently no deals on for Australian bookings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shay869 Posted July 1, 2015 #66 Share Posted July 1, 2015 1. Harmony prices had increased before today. 2. If you are in a balcony cabin or above, 25% off is less than 30% off. But if you were in an interior or oceanview, all other things being equal (which they rarely are, as you are experiencing), the BOGOHO is better than 30/30. By the way, the one "good thing" that I am seeing on the website is that they are giving the full balcony discount with the BOGOHO. On the 30/30 sale, they also reduced the value of the balcony discount by 30%. 1. Our Harmony cruise price increased just this morning, yesterday night it was still the old price 200$ less. 2.We have booked balcony cabin for 4 (2 adults +2 childs) therefore this promotion is not attractive for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisingthesuitelife Posted July 1, 2015 #67 Share Posted July 1, 2015 1. Our Harmony cruise price increased just this morning, yesterday night it was still the old price 200$ less. I agree as I have a Harmony booking which from last night to this morning increased $200pp. However, there had been another price increase around 2 weeks ago as well. Over all my bookings, they all went up in the 'sale'; the smallest increase was $49pp (3 night cruise) and the biggest increase was $479pp (2 week cruise). I'm not worried about it as I am really happy with the price I booked at but can't quite believe the difference on some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetgirl26 Posted July 1, 2015 #68 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I booked a New Zealand cruise on 6/30 on 7/1 it is $175 more!:) Glad I booked on the 30th!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarea Posted July 1, 2015 #69 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Eight out of nine cruises I am watching went up in price. One went down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vital1 Posted July 1, 2015 #70 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I was prepared to cancel my NCL Escape for May if the prices were right for the Oasis or Allure during the same time frame. I was able to snag an angled balcony on the Escape along with free UDP (yes, I know I had to pay gratuities, but still.....) for $2661. The Allure balcony on the 6th floor without any "freebies" is $3011.34 where as yesterday it was $2636:eek:. Yeah, that's a no brainer for me. I'll keep watching prices, but $350 is a significant amount for a single mom taking her 15yo son. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shutterbug63 Posted July 1, 2015 #71 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Both of my cruises went up. The base price is increased enough on both of them that it's over a $400 increase on either one. BOGOHO is a joke, just like before. The only good deals on BOGOHO were when they first ran it. That being said, I'm happy with the price drops I got under the 30/30/30, but again, I jumped on that when they first offered it. If I'd waited, I wouldn't have gotten the price drop I did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken at the beach Posted July 1, 2015 Author #72 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I actually got a price drop on one of mine. Ended up getting the free gratuities for my Christmas 2016 cruise on the Freedom. We had booked Promenade cabins do we didn't have the balcony discount which would have excluded it. The base price of the cabin has stayed the same from the BOGO in March / April when we booked so this cabin had actually gone up during June's 30/30 sale. I must say I that I had a new rep last night when I called at midnight. Had to keep putting me on hold to find out if it was allowed and then how to do it. The whole Booking in CDN$ and the prepaid grats in US$ also threw him for a loop but in the end it all worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BonTexasNY Posted July 1, 2015 #73 Share Posted July 1, 2015 If I'm reading the website correctly, the rate on my Liberty PR cabin went UP in price with today's "new" BOGOHO promo than it was yesterday with the 30 promo. I'm glad I booked when I did before all of this up and down rate went into effect. Is RCI doing this deliberately to snag new cruisers into thinking they're getting a real "deal"?? PLUS the rates listed on the website are totally confusing until you check the breakdown of charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisenfever Posted July 1, 2015 #74 Share Posted July 1, 2015 (edited) No savings for us. In fact, they have all increased. And they call this a sale???????? Edited July 1, 2015 by cruisenfever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLEIKU68 Posted July 1, 2015 #75 Share Posted July 1, 2015 I booked a cruise 5/29/15. Today that cruise with BOGO is over $2500 more. As Mr. T would say " I pity the fool " that believes this is a bargain. :eek::eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now