Am I the only one confused?!

[sandjforever]

So the WOW sale going on with BOGO of 60% off the 2nd passenger... It says $258 pp, but when I go to checkout it says the rate is $736 then BOGO -$221 which brings it back to the original $516?! I already paid without paying much attention and now am totally confused? It appears to me that I over paid by $213 in my case!:mad:

[awestover89]

$258pp is $516 for double occupency. Or are you saying you were charged $516 per person, $1032 for two?

[Aboat1]

Seems to be an ongoing problem. Check out this current thread here on

 

 

CC.http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2413823

[ramja96]

I don't understand your math. $258 per person x 2 = $516 which is what you paid. So what's the problem? When they stated the $258 per person, that was already considering the 60% off the 2nd passenger.

[sandjforever]

I guess because it makes it look like you should get the 60% off after. When you go to the check out screen it shows a fare of $736 then minus the $221. Seems odd to me.

[ColoradoGurl]

I don't understand your math. $258 per person x 2 = $516 which is what you paid. So what's the problem? When they stated the $258 per person, that was already considering the 60% off the 2nd passenger.

 

 

I think this is the problem. A couple years ago when I booked using one of these BOGO sales I was also confused because I thought that the price listed was going to be reduced by 50% for the second person, but it turned out that the listed price was just showing the average price per person after that 50% had already been factored in for the second person.

 

It's misleading, and would feel more satisfying if they just listed the full price and then you got to see it reduced in the shopping cart, but instead we do the math in our heads and then feel like we're being overcharged when we don't see the price go lower in the cart.

 

You get used to it. You also get used to the base prices going up every time there's a new sale, making it so that you're never really getting a better price. Best time to book is when the sailing is first released, or right at the last minute when the ship isn't sold out yet. Otherwise, don't expect much of a sale.

 

 

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[marci22]

When they stated the $258 per person, that was already considering the 60% off the 2nd passenger.

 

This is correct.

 

OP, the prices they show you at the beginning are the average prices, pp, after promotional discounts have been applied. It is confusing to everyone the first time it happens. Now you know the deal.

[awestover89]

I think this is the problem. A couple years ago when I booked using one of these BOGO sales I was also confused because I thought that the price listed was going to be reduced by 50% for the second person, but it turned out that the listed price was just showing the average price per person after that 50% had already been factored in for the second person.

 

It's misleading, and would feel more satisfying if they just listed the full price and then you got to see it reduced in the shopping cart, but instead we do the math in our heads and then feel like we're being overcharged when we don't see the price go lower in the cart.

 

You get used to it. You also get used to the base prices going up every time there's a new sale, making it so that you're never really getting a better price. Best time to book is when the sailing is first released, or right at the last minute when the ship isn't sold out yet. Otherwise, don't expect much of a sale.

 

 

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I think this is mostly because of the BOGO nature of the sale, but whenever I see a price advertised I assume that it's the "out the door" price, minus taxes and fees. When a brick and mortar store advertises a sale they don't advertise the full price and make you do the math, they'll say something like: "HD TVs 25% off, $800!" With that you don't expect to take an additional 25% off the TV, it's advertised as $800 and 25% off the base price. I can't think of any store that advertises at full price and makes the customer do the discount math themselves.

[Paulxyz2004]

So the WOW sale going on with BOGO of 60% off the 2nd passenger... It says $258 pp, but when I go to checkout it says the rate is $736 then BOGO -$221 which brings it back to the original $516?! I already paid without paying much attention and now am totally confused? It appears to me that I over paid by $213 in my case!:mad:

 

Makes perfect sense to me:

 

Cruise Price is $736

 

First Pax: $368

Second Pax: $368 - 220.8 (60% OFF) = 147.2

 

Total for both: $515.20 or $257.60 per Person

 

So you might have overpaid by .80 but Overall the numbers make perfect sense.

[ColoradoGurl]

I think this is mostly because of the BOGO nature of the sale, but whenever I see a price advertised I assume that it's the "out the door" price, minus taxes and fees. When a brick and mortar store advertises a sale they don't advertise the full price and make you do the math, they'll say something like: "HD TVs 25% off, $800!" With that you don't expect to take an additional 25% off the TV, it's advertised as $800 and 25% off the base price. I can't think of any store that advertises at full price and makes the customer do the discount math themselves.

 

 

I can kind of see your point, but in the case of a cruise, people may be booking 2, 3, 4 people + per room, so it would make sense for them to advertise the real price and then calculate the discount on that one person once the booking is made. I realize that prices are based on double occupancy, but it is not as cut and dry as buying a TV where there is a price that doesn't change.

 

With a BOGO I would assume that if I book for 4 people, the price is what is listed for 3 of us, and then 50% off for one. If the price is already reduced to an average based on 2 people booking, then what are people who are booking for 4 supposed to think? How do they make their calculations? They have to work backwards and undo the average pricing to figure out the real base price of person 3 & 4. For this reason I don't think your TV analogy really works here.

 

 

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[ramja96]

It's misleading, and would feel more satisfying if they just listed the full price and then you got to see it reduced in the shopping cart, but instead we do the math in our heads and then feel like we're being overcharged when we don't see the price go lower in the cart.

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It's all symantics. You'll save yourself a lot of grief if you ignore the whole BOGO/WOW/whatever-else-they-call-their-sales. Just enter the booking, and if the price seems reasonable and within budget, hit that CONFIRM button and be happy you're vacation countdown has begun. :)

[ColoradoGurl]

It's all symantics. You'll save yourself a lot of grief if you ignore the whole BOGO/WOW/whatever-else-they-call-their-sales. Just enter the booking, and if the price seems reasonable and within budget, hit that CONFIRM button and be happy you're vacation countdown has begun. :)

 

 

Yep, I agree.

 

 

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[Merion_Mom]

It's all semantics. You'll save yourself a lot of grief if you ignore the whole BOGO/WOW/whatever-else-they-call-their-sales. Just enter the booking, and if the price seems reasonable and within budget, hit that CONFIRM button and be happy your vacation countdown has begun. :)

 

^^^ This. :)

[Merion_Mom]

So the WOW sale going on with BOGO of 60% off the 2nd passenger... It says $258 pp, but when I go to checkout it says the rate is $736 then BOGO -$221 which brings it back to the original $516?! I already paid without paying much attention and now am totally confused? It appears to me that I over paid by $213 in my case!:mad:

 

I am sorry that you are confused, but do you feel any better now that it has been explained? Just know that you are paying $516 and going on a great cruise!

[mollyeilis]

I guess because it makes it look like you should get the 60% off after. When you go to the check out screen it shows a fare of $736 then minus the $221. Seems odd to me.

 

How do you feel it makes it look like that?

 

I see a cruise discount banner, I click on it. I see, in an example I'm looking at right now, "from $169 per person", with an asterisk leading to a bunch of info at the bottom, and they also tell me on that page what the port fees and taxes will be pp (80.77 in this case).

 

There's no making me feel one way or the other.

 

And as I go through the booking, as I'm reading everything there on the page, I'm not being mislead. Maybe the first time I looked at it, or if I don't read everything, I might feel that way, but there are others who don't feel that way, so it's not coming from Royal IMO.

 

But then I liked it when airlines showed the base fare and then added taxes onto it. This new thing bugs me. Seems to be the airline rule was made for people who don't read. Since I read and know to expect taxes and fees, I don't need it to be spoon fed to me.

 

 

So I click on "from $169pp", and that's an Inside. I click to book an Inside, and aha, I see that choosing my room gives me "from $179pp". "Let us choose the room for you" gives me the $169pp for a total base of $337 (though I would have expected 338), plus taxes/fees 80.77pp. Click on it.

 

On that next page I see:

 

Interior Stateroom Guarantee: $482

 

I click to open "pricing by guest" and I see that each of us has a base rate of $241 plus taxes/fees of $80.77. Then the percentage is taken off, so minus $145. (except that my math shows me that I would have expected $144.60 off, so they have rounded up!)

 

The total which I can see right there on that page, is $498.54. But when I looked at that first page and saw "from 169 pp" plus "taxes and fees 80.77 pp", my math showed me it would be 499.54. They are charging me a dollar less than I expected. Cool.

 

I can kind of see your point, but in the case of a cruise, people may be booking 2, 3, 4 people + per room, so it would make sense for them to advertise the real price and then calculate the discount on that one person once the booking is made. I realize that prices are based on double occupancy, but it is not as cut and dry as buying a TV where there is a price that doesn't change.

 

With a BOGO I would assume that if I book for 4 people, the price is what is listed for 3 of us, and then 50% off for one. If the price is already reduced to an average based on 2 people booking, then what are people who are booking for 4 supposed to think? How do they make their calculations? They have to work backwards and undo the average pricing to figure out the real base price of person 3 & 4. For this reason I don't think your TV analogy really works here.

 

I book for 3. I can see the word "from" in "from $169" (in my example), and I know it's going to be different once I add the third person.

 

No one has to work backwards. Click in, choose the room category, choose the number of guests, and you're there.

 

Choose your Stateroom page, I put in my 12 year old, and as soon as I click apply it updates it for me. For that same interior stateroom guarantee I'm now at $439 total base rate, average of $146pp, and it has updated to show 3 sets of taxes/fees equaling 242.31.

 

Since I know the 2 was 338 base rate, I can see the matters-to-my-wallet increase in base rate is 101 for my 12 year old. There we are.

 

 

Now the total pre-discount is 682, pricing by guest shows 241, 241, and 146, 60% off one guest in the amount of $145, 30% off third guest (or kid, not sure) in the amount of $44, total of 681.31. Total for my kid is 182.77. I'm cool with that.

 

Took more time to type out than to see.

 

 

They show discounts based on 2 per cabin. It's up to us to work out our own personal family booking needs.

 

 

 

Oh and can you imagine if they did show it inclusive of the taxes/fees? But the discount of course is taken off the base rate? Massive confusion in a different way.

[The Grumpus]

The simplest way to describe RCCL pricing online is to remember that the discounts are not applied at the end, the prices you see ALWAYS have all the discounts already included in them, plus tax.

[rtazz17]

Generally its all just smoke in mirrors.I book my cruise at regular price last yr,now its bogo and it still comes out to same as regular price.. Just depends how the numbers are done.. Raise the base price and its bogo... Lower the base price and its regular price... Marketing ploys

[Bo of the Seas]

I have a BOGO-related (what does that stand for?!) question. I'm a complete newbie, going on our first cruise this weekend - Freedom of the Seas.

 

We want to go for a Chops Grille on any one of the nights next week. I see on our Cruise Planner it is €31.50 per person, which is great.

 

But now I have also seen in the Cruise Planner a 'BOGO' offer, where it is €27.00 per person to dine in two speciality restaurants, providing you dine on the first two nights.

 

Am I missing something here? Any sort of catch? Or does this actually mean I can have 2 x Chops Grilles for less than the price of 1?!

[nelblu]

I think this is the problem. A couple years ago when I booked using one of these BOGO sales I was also confused because I thought that the price listed was going to be reduced by 50% for the second person, but it turned out that the listed price was just showing the average price per person after that 50% had already been factored in for the second person.

 

It's misleading, and would feel more satisfying if they just listed the full price and then you got to see it reduced in the shopping cart, but instead we do the math in our heads and then feel like we're being overcharged when we don't see the price go lower in the cart.

 

You get used to it. You also get used to the base prices going up every time there's a new sale, making it so that you're never really getting a better price. Best time to book is when the sailing is first released, or right at the last minute when the ship isn't sold out yet. Otherwise, don't expect much of a sale.

 

 

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It's indicated that it's an average. No confusion and this has been covered ad-nauseum ever since the introduction of these sales.

[Biker19]

I have a BOGO-related (what does that stand for?!) question. I'm a complete newbie, going on our first cruise this weekend - Freedom of the Seas.

 

We want to go for a Chops Grille on any one of the nights next week. I see on our Cruise Planner it is €31.50 per person, which is great.

 

But now I have also seen in the Cruise Planner a 'BOGO' offer, where it is €27.00 per person to dine in two speciality restaurants, providing you dine on the first two nights.

 

Am I missing something here? Any sort of catch? Or does this actually mean I can have 2 x Chops Grilles for less than the price of 1?!

 

The 27 euros PP is per venue. BTW you can get almost that kind of discount sometimes on board, especially the first night.

[RoLoHa]

I have a BOGO-related (what does that stand for?!) question. I'm a complete newbie, going on our first cruise this weekend - Freedom of the Seas.

 

 

 

We want to go for a Chops Grille on any one of the nights next week. I see on our Cruise Planner it is €31.50 per person, which is great.

 

 

 

But now I have also seen in the Cruise Planner a 'BOGO' offer, where it is €27.00 per person to dine in two speciality restaurants, providing you dine on the first two nights.

 

 

 

Am I missing something here? Any sort of catch? Or does this actually mean I can have 2 x Chops Grilles for less than the price of 1?!

 

 

My understanding of the Specialty dining BOGo for night 1 and 2 is that you don't get to pick the restaurant you are going to. You will get a notice in your cabin of which one. There are some opportunities to change, but limited.

 

 

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[ColoradoGurl]

It's indicated that it's an average. No confusion and this has been covered ad-nauseum ever since the introduction of these sales.

 

 

Is it? I haven't bothered to look in a long while. When the sales first came out almost 2 years ago, it wasn't mentioned, but that's good they do now. It still makes it confusing for people trying to price out a cruise for 4 people.

 

 

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[ColoradoGurl]

Generally its all just smoke in mirrors.I book my cruise at regular price last yr,now its bogo and it still comes out to same as regular price.. Just depends how the numbers are done.. Raise the base price and its bogo... Lower the base price and its regular price... Marketing ploys

 

 

Yep. I purchased my current cruise on a BOGO 30% off. The current BOGO 60% is $400 per person more than I paid even though it's a "better" sale.

 

 

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Edited October 19, 2016 by ColoradoGurl

[Bo of the Seas]

The 27 euros PP is per venue. BTW you can get almost that kind of discount sometimes on board, especially the first night.

 

My understanding of the Specialty dining BOGo for night 1 and 2 is that you don't get to pick the restaurant you are going to. You will get a notice in your cabin of which one. There are some opportunities to change, but limited.

 

Thank you both for your help :)

 

We'll see how we get on when we board.

[ramja96]

I have a BOGO-related (what does that stand for?!) question. I'm a complete newbie, going on our first cruise this weekend - Freedom of the Seas.

 

BOGO = Buy One, Get One - as in, buy one fare, get the fare for the second person free.