RCL 30% off a good deal??????

[baco4]

What's your thoughts on pricing during RCL's current 30% off - is this a good deal or should I wait till their next sale. Wanting to cruise the Allure in July (family of 4) but I don't think the current 30% off is that great of a deal. Sometimes I feel like they jack their prices up in order to offer the 30% off. Thoughts?????

[Marylandteachergirl]

The prices look high to me, as well. Who knows when or what their next sale will be though. I also look for a t least reduced deposit or OBC, and there is neither under this current promotion or "sale".

[Clarea]

I agree that the prices seem very high to me, but there's no way to predict if or when they will have better prices.

[George C]

I would like to sail on Allure if price goes down, so much cheaper to sail on Liberty or any of the smaller ships, if you really want to sail on her book it if price goes down they will honor it, if you are not past the final payment

[Marylandteachergirl]

Unless they sale is stipulated for new bookings only - which I just ran into. You have to cancel and rebook, and risk losing any OBC or promotions you may have/had. In the case of this current sale, there isn't any, but on my Allure sailing for this May, I tried to take advantage of new lower prices, and was told NO by RC. I was even going to hand over more $$ for an upgrade. So, it depends.

 

I would say book with what you are comfortable with.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Marylandteachergirl

[knittinggirl]

That "New Bookings Only" is something I've bumped into several times. If you don't like the answer, hang up and call back. `If they actually give you something, be sure to get them to send you a confirmation before you hang up. Our TA told us that one employee told her one thing, then denied saying it the next day.

 

I don't understand why they won't give us our Open Booking OBC ASAP. I've been trying to get our TA to get our OBC on the most recently booked cruises for weeks.

[Marylandteachergirl]

I have tried that before - sometimes it works! On this cruise, I am part of a group that is booked through a TA. Usually I book directly. I was looking to upgrade to a JS, and the difference was about $459 - which I was prepared to pay. BUT, my TA spent over an hour on the phone arguing with RC, and they finally conceded with an offer of pay the higher tier of $850 to upgrade and lose all $400 in OBC. Needless to say, I stayed with the balcony cabin. I have only ever sailed Royal (turning Emerald this cruise), but this left me slightly irritated. No loyalty to returning customers at all.

 

I am still looking forward to sailing on Allure, but I have also booked a Princess cruise for fall just to experience another line.

[TVMonitor]

What's your thoughts on pricing during RCL's current 30% off - is this a good deal or should I wait till their next sale. Wanting to cruise the Allure in July (family of 4) but I don't think the current 30% off is that great of a deal. Sometimes I feel like they jack their prices up in order to offer the 30% off. Thoughts?????

 

High price. You should buy at least one year in advance.

[Marylandteachergirl]

The prices for the Oasis class sailings just released for 2017 and 2018 are also VERY high. Hopefully a REAL sale will come along, but who knows. As long as cabins are selling at current prices, RC has no need to have a sale or drop prices.

[zoncom]

You must be looking directly at RCL. My fav DISCOUNT cruise agency has most at least 50% of rack rate off. July is ultimate high summer month. But June 19 starts at $724 Insides .Prices go down again late August .Do a search for discount cruise agencies on line and start tracking prices. Its still early.

[Retired LEO]

What's your thoughts on pricing during RCL's current 30% off - is this a good deal or should I wait till their next sale. Wanting to cruise the Allure in July (family of 4) but I don't think the current 30% off is that great of a deal. Sometimes I feel like they jack their prices up in order to offer the 30% off. Thoughts?????

 

Your last line about sums it up. The only real sale they had was a couple of years ago that only lasted the first week or so when the caught on and jacked the prices up. They haven't looked back since with their pricing.

[cynt]

Many of the reasons people have mentioned are why I now book 70-45 days before the cruise and this goes for all cruise lines not just Royal. These sales drive me crazy!!!

 

I fell in love with solo cruising so now I've learned to be flexible in order to feed my cruise addiction. If I find a cruise out of MIA or FLL I book my airfare with Southwest so I can get a refund or a credit if I don't book a cruise and then I wait on a sale. The great thing about cruising somebody is going to have a sale if their ship isn't selling well. It's a large gamble on my part. But I usually reap a great reward. I'm also privy to driving to two home ports. 5 hrs to Galveston and 7 hrs to NOLA. So there are deals to be had but you have to be flexible and willing to take a risk. Do I get shot in the foot sometimes? Of course but that's where being flexible come into play. I'll hop in my car and drive to Galveston or NOLA in a hot minute.

 

Now this current 30% off sale looked ok but I knew they would drop the price again around 60 days for the Oasis sailing May 21. The price for a boardwalk cabin double occupancy total price dropped from $1957, 3/9; $1917, 3/16; $1857, 3/17; and $1460 3/21. I booked last night because there was a tremendous drop in the available cabins between 3/17 and yesterday 3/22. Yes I keep a spreadsheet of available cabins. It's the geek in me. LOL!! And the crazy thing is that's about how much a paid for a boardwalk cabin aboard the Allure back in 2013.

 

But here's the catch about last minute cruise purchases, I'm planning a group family cruise 2017 and we would like to go aboard the Oasis or Allure during the summer. YIKES!! I'm debating in my head right now which direction I'm going to take. It's my immediate family and I always plan our vacations so they trust me. But I'm a little scared about this one. I know last minute may not be an option. So I'll start a spreadsheet for the current 2016 prices for summer cruises as well as 2017 summer prices so I'll have something to compare it to. Great thing for us Galveston has plenty of ships and at the 9th hour if things don't work out for the Oasis/Allure we can always drive to Galveston and cruise.

Edited March 23, 2016 by cynt

[cruisingsince94]

This is not a good sale. In fact, it's not really a sale at all. They raised the base price to cover the so called sale. It's really getting old.

We booked a number of cruises 18-24 months ago where there were some great prices. Since then, not so much. No new bookings at these prices.

We are hoping to see a true sale sometime preceding Memorial or Independence day.

[baco4]

60 Days out......I might wait till that point. That's one thing that I do love about Carnival (sorry) is that they do the Early Saver and if the price drops, you can get that amount back in OBC or take it off your amount due if you haven't made final payment. I have yet to have RCL do anything for me when the price drops.

 

I love the spreadsheet with pricing. I'm sooooo that person. I'm the one who checks the price every single day to see if I got the best deal or not.

[molly361]

The prices for the Oasis class sailings just released for 2017 and 2018 are also VERY high. Hopefully a REAL sale will come along, but who knows. As long as cabins are selling at current prices, RC has no need to have a sale or drop prices.

 

I agree!!!

[bnorris10]

I booked a package about 5-6 months ago the only deal being offered was some onboard credit

 

This cruise is not til December so still a long ways away

 

I paid $4,324.38 and got $260 worth of onboard credit

 

Now when you look for same rooms it is $4,277.88 and that was with a $1,716.00 discount of 30% off

 

So yes I KNOW they increased their prices because I am one that I check prices all the time to see if there is a change - This way if a deal comes along that is better before final payment is due I can change

 

Every single week since I booked this trip when I would check the prices it would be the exact same price as what I booked it for (Just no OBC) - Now all of a sudden when they are giving 30% off the price of my cruise has increased 1700

 

When I saw this deal I was thinking yay 30% off would have totally been worth canceling my booking and repurchasing my trip because I could have saved $1200 of each off my bookings (we did 2 rooms) which would have been $2400 savings much better than the $520 in OBC I have for both rooms - I even figured okay they will raise the price up a little bit so was even happy if I could save $1000 off the 2 bookings

 

Needless to say this is not a good first impression

[Bound4Bermuda]

I've found the same thing. I booked during BOGO 50% off and checked during the 30% WOW sale, a different 30% non-WOW (no OBC) sale, and no sale--and the price never varied more than $2! However, the OBC differed during all of these "sales" so I was able to up my $100 OBC during BOGO to $200 during WOW. If it's the cruise you want, I would just book it and then keep an eye for price adjustments during future "sales"--but don't expect it to change.

 

 

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