Website updated - new booking system

[Ken at the beach]

To make things a bit confusing (why am I surprised) Royal will list the price of the cheapest category that you have selected based on location and deck. You will then see other categories listed on that deck with an extra $ amount. This is a nice feature but it can get confusing if you then select another deck. The prices that you now see are not related to what you saw previously.

 

Here's an example from a Grandeur sailing.

 

Deck 2 has cat I and F

Deck 3 has car H and F

 

If you select deck 2 it will give you the price for cat I and tell you that cat F is only $60 more.

 

If you select deck 3 it will give you the price for cat H and tell you that cat F is $75 more.

 

What it didn't tell you is that cat H is $15 less than cat I and that the actual price of cat F is the same on both decks 2 and 3.

 

Somewhat misleading and may cause people to think that there is a premium for different decks in the same category when in fact there is not. (Or at least I have not seen any actual examples)

[John Reid]

I would love to see this. Can you provide the sail date you were looking at.

 

Just wondering if you went far enough in the bookng process to see the actual cabin assigned and what the cabin was. On grandeur there are cabins on deck 3 that are not on deck 2.

 

I agree at first glance that it appears they are charging more based on location but in all the examples I have come across the cabin category has changed as well as the location thusly eating to the different price.

 

I have sailed in the deck two and deck three cabins on Grandeur and Enchantment four times. I have two more booked. I am very familiar with the pricing of the cabins. They have always been the same price because they are the same exact cabin (except for the portholes). They are no longer the same price.

 

You can check. Use the January 14 Grandeur sailing as a sample. Put in ocean view. The first departure from the past is that "forward" is listed as +$45. Then, click on mid. deck three is charging more than deck 2. And yes, I did take it to the actual cabin and there was an increase over the original price advertised. It isn't a big increase, but it is an increase. Deck three costs more than deck two for ocean view cabins. This was not the case in six previous bookings.

[KMagz]

Must give kudos where they're due and.... this is so much better than before. Last thing I would look for is to visually highlight the actual available staterooms on the deck plan view. (Most third party booking sites already do this.)

 

Kudos RCCL Developers, Project Managers and IT folks!

Edited July 21, 2016 by KMagz

[Ken at the beach]

I have sailed in the deck two and deck three cabins on Grandeur and Enchantment four times. I have two more booked. I am very familiar with the pricing of the cabins. They have always been the same price because they are the same exact cabin (except for the portholes). They are no longer the same price.

 

You can check. Use the January 14 Grandeur sailing as a sample. Put in ocean view. The first departure from the past is that "forward" is listed as +$45. Then, click on mid. deck three is charging more than deck 2. And yes, I did take it to the actual cabin and there was an increase over the original price advertised. It isn't a big increase, but it is an increase. Deck three costs more than deck two for ocean view cabins. This was not the case in six previous bookings.

 

When I looked at this (sorry it's in CDN $) the first option I got after selecting oceanview is midship $2055 and forward +$60

 

I selected midship and had 3 options,

 

Deck 2 $2055

Deck 3 +$15

Deck 4 +$60

 

If I selected deck 2 it was cat I at $2055

If I selected deck 3 it was cat H at $2070

If I selected deck 4 it was cat G at $2115

 

If I select forward it assigned me cat G at $2115

 

All prices based on category and not a premium based on location other than the premium that is associated with the category.

 

I know that within the past year or so there were many category changes on a lot of the ships. Perhaps there are more or different categories now than there were before.

[molly361]

I'm seeing the same thing. It didn't work on the 5 day Allure earlier either. Someone needs to post that little crawling bug.:D

 

Thanks for checking- Works on the 7 day ones or at least the one I looked at. Figures it doesn't work on the 5 day ones

Edited July 21, 2016 by molly361

[Johnamac123]

So, they finally modify the website so everyone likes it, and you go and break it.;):p

 

I've been practicing on the new booking system and obviously like it a lot better than the previous one. One point I noticed, however, their program for selecting available rooms may not list all similar rooms. You may, however, EDIT the room on the Cruise Summary block and input any room on the next screen. This will tell you if the room you're looking for is available.

[John Reid]

When I looked at this (sorry it's in CDN $) the first option I got after selecting oceanview is midship $2055 and forward +$60

 

I selected midship and had 3 options,

 

Deck 2 $2055

Deck 3 +$15

Deck 4 +$60

 

If I selected deck 2 it was cat I at $2055

If I selected deck 3 it was cat H at $2070

If I selected deck 4 it was cat G at $2115

 

If I select forward it assigned me cat G at $2115

 

All prices based on category and not a premium based on location other than the premium that is associated with the category.

 

I know that within the past year or so there were many category changes on a lot of the ships. Perhaps there are more or different categories now than there were before.

 

I previously booked January 3 and November 28 on Grandeur. Under the old system, it offered a deck two ocean view first. It was very hard to switch it to a deck three. I had to type in repeated specific deck three cabins until I found one available to book. When I selected that cabin, it also showed other deck three cabins available It's been a pain to do it that way, but the price was the same.

 

I see that you have found that there are new classifications; that might be a recent adjustment for some ships - possibly in preparation for this new system of selection.

[Ken at the beach]

I previously booked January 3 and November 28 on Grandeur. Under the old system, it offered a deck two ocean view first. It was very hard to switch it to a deck three. I had to type in repeated specific deck three cabins until I found one available to book. When I selected that cabin, it also showed other deck three cabins available It's been a pain to do it that way, but the price was the same.

 

I see that you have found that there are new classifications; that might be a recent adjustment for some ships - possibly in preparation for this new system of selection.

 

I have no doubt that you have been able to get cabins on the different decks for the same price as I have been able to do the same with many insides. Lots of times it has been the same price for a category L, M and N. Many different pricing factors involved there. It certainly was a pain to book a cabin other than the few that they showed you on the old system.

[Beachammo]

Hate

Hate

Hate

The new website. Am I the only one that loved the difficulty of changing cabins or categories. I liked being one of the few who could manipulate their inadequate website.

 

I got a sick feeling that my beloved aft cabins are going to get fare increases over other D1s in the future!

 

Can everone say "Sunset Balcony".

[Biker19]

You may, however, EDIT the room on the Cruise Summary block and input any room on the next screen. This will tell you if the room you're looking for is available.

 

For cabin availability, the RCI UK site is still the best way to go.

[island lady]

It was working for me earlier but I just tried several browsers and when I try to book an Oasis reservation it is just giving me an OV balcony with no cabin assignment and no place to change categories of anything.

 

It just says OV cabin and the total price even after I enter passenger info.

 

Uh..oh...so they are back to torture methods again. :(

[Paulette3028]

There isn't any consistency with this new system.....at times my DH has logged in to consider a new booking and the OLD view has returned.....yet a few hours later the new version is there.....then hours later, back to the OLD view. So it seems that they are 'working on something' and perhaps at times the newer version is available...but it does not seem as it is 'fully launched' and permanently there.