BOGO not really BOGO

[octoberdana]

Just priced a lower category room for our upcoming cruise room price listed as $919 per person and yet the BOGO credit is only $786. Is the BOGO just a percentage?

[Merion_Mom]

Just priced a lower category room for our upcoming cruise room price listed as $919 per person and yet the BOGO credit is only $786. Is the BOGO just a percentage?

 

When you are pricing on the website, the number that pops up IS the BOGO-adjusted price, not the starting price from which they calculate the BOGO.

[ccspinner]

BOGO does not take into account the Tax tip or port charges

[octoberdana]

BOGO does not take into account the Tax tip or port charges

 

Right but the room rate says $919 refundable, or $889 non-refundable and then shows an additional $240 per person in port charges, plus another line item for tax. The BOGO credit is only $783 meaning that only part of the per person charge is BOGO.

[dswallow]

When you get to the final booking page you'll see a detailed breakdown of the price. If you select to see it per-guest you'll see how it breaks down. Most everywhere, Royal Caribbean factors in all the discounts and then shows pricing as per-person for the selected occupancy, so it mis-represents where the 50% off amount really comes from since the prices you see most everywhere else have the discount spread across all the occupants.

 

While the below post that I copied here from another thread was geared more towards how the solo pricing gets calculated out, this still does show how the numbers work in practice:

 

 

There's a combination of confusing things RCL does that sort of hide what really is happening whenever they have these "sales" where a percent-off happens on the 2nd passenger.

 

They show the per-person/double occupancy rate with the percent off already taken and then the total for the two people split evenly between them. This leads one who sees that amount as a per-person cost to think they should be getting a percentage off that price. And that's the problem -- the promoted sale says "X% off the second passenger" but the prices they then show as the first and second passenger prices have that percentage taken off, the total for the two people added together and then split evenly.

 

Let's take a booking I made today as an example.

 

Anthem of the Seas, 11/25/2017, 7 nights.

For pp/do it shows rates starting at $659pp/do for a balcony cabin. When I pick that, it then shows two options: $631pp/do for a non-refundable guarantee, or $865pp/do for a refundable choose-the-room fare.

 

When I pick the $865pp/do fare, I get a page with different Balcony categories, and for this example, I pick the one at $865, which is a Deluxe Obstructed Ocean View Stateroom w/Balcony. Clicking through a cabin assignment with no premium, I end up at a summary page showing:

 

Guest 1:

Cruise Fare - $1,191.00

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Guest 2:

Cruise Fare - $1,191.00

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Crown&Anchor Discount $76.00

BOGO50 discount - $577.00

 

Average cost per person - $1,013.25

 

 

Now, to find RCL's magic $865 pp/do fare that I originally picked really came from, look at the $1,013.25. Subtract the taxes & fees, of $148.75, and you get $864.50, which is rounded up for purposes of those initial screens to $865.

 

Further note how the discounts are stacked... First, my Crown&Anchor Discount is subtracted from the total cabin fare ($2,382 - $76 which is $2,306). Divide that in half to get the discounted per-person/double occupancy cabin price, which is $1,153. Take 50% of that off the second-person cost which is $577 (rounded up from $576.50).

 

So what RCL has done here is to factor in all my discounts, including the current BOGO50 offer, and show that to me as a per-person/double-occupancy rate.

 

Now let's do the same thing again, but for 1 person. On the room type selection page, I have an option of a $1,318 Balcony starting price. When I pick that, I now have 2 options, a $1,261 non-refundable guarantee, or a $1,297 refundable you-choose-the-room. I pick the $1,297 option, which is the Deluxe Obstructed View stateroom, which I pick next. Clicking through the cabin selection, at the summary page I see these items:

 

Guest 1:

Cruise Fare - $1,786.50

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Crown&Anchor Discount - $57.00

BOGO50 discount - $433.00

 

Average cost per person - $1,445.25

 

And when we subtract the taxes & fees from that $1,445.25, we get $1,296.50.

 

So what is this solo price made up from?

 

$1,786.50 is 150% of the $1,191.00 per-person/double-occupancy price. Subtract the Crown&Anchor Discount ($1,786.50 - $57.00) which gives us $1,729.50. Split that in half so we can attribute a portion to a "second-person" which is $864.75. Now take 50% of that as the BOGO50 discount, which is $432.375 (RCL rounds that up, too, to $433).

 

Now, look at that magic $865 from the per-person double-occupancy price we saw on one of the earlier pages. Notice how it's the same magic $865 (rounded up from $864.75) that we calculated out from the rates presented as the solo pricing? So, sort of kind of, the single rate is 200% of the double occupancy rate, which corresponds to what RCL says is the standard of their solo pricing on most cruises. But look at the math. We calculated all this out starting with 150% of the per-person/double-occupancy fare. It's simply the current discount, which applies solely to the second-person cost of a cabin, makes it appear, in the end, that the solo pricing is 200%. Wait for another sale where the discount as being applied to the first person fare, too, and you'll see that calculates out a bit differently for solo fares.

 

 

Every step along the way, RCL is doing all those calculations to show you the effective per-person rate after all the discounts are applied. Yet they love describing the discounts in terms that never quite can be figured out by anyone until they make it to the final summary pages showing all the real starting fares.

 

Heck, even after completely describing that step by step, even I get a little confused about it. :) But it's there, plain, simple math.

[Ourusualbeach]

Right but the room rate says $919 refundable, or $889 non-refundable and then shows an additional $240 per person in port charges, plus another line item for tax. The BOGO credit is only $783 meaning that only part of the per person charge is BOGO.

See post #2

[cruizinmimi]

dswallow - thank you for that breakdown:o ; it's a good one albeit...still confused!

[baileybrad]

When you get to the final booking page you'll see a detailed breakdown of the price. If you select to see it per-guest you'll see how it breaks down. Most everywhere, Royal Caribbean factors in all the discounts and then shows pricing as per-person for the selected occupancy, so it mis-represents where the 50% off amount really comes from since the prices you see most everywhere else have the discount spread across all the occupants.

 

While the below post that I copied here from another thread was geared more towards how the solo pricing gets calculated out, this still does show how the numbers work in practice:

 

 

There's a combination of confusing things RCL does that sort of hide what really is happening whenever they have these "sales" where a percent-off happens on the 2nd passenger.

 

They show the per-person/double occupancy rate with the percent off already taken and then the total for the two people split evenly between them. This leads one who sees that amount as a per-person cost to think they should be getting a percentage off that price. And that's the problem -- the promoted sale says "X% off the second passenger" but the prices they then show as the first and second passenger prices have that percentage taken off, the total for the two people added together and then split evenly.

 

Let's take a booking I made today as an example.

 

Anthem of the Seas, 11/25/2017, 7 nights.

For pp/do it shows rates starting at $659pp/do for a balcony cabin. When I pick that, it then shows two options: $631pp/do for a non-refundable guarantee, or $865pp/do for a refundable choose-the-room fare.

 

When I pick the $865pp/do fare, I get a page with different Balcony categories, and for this example, I pick the one at $865, which is a Deluxe Obstructed Ocean View Stateroom w/Balcony. Clicking through a cabin assignment with no premium, I end up at a summary page showing:

 

Guest 1:

Cruise Fare - $1,191.00

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Guest 2:

Cruise Fare - $1,191.00

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Crown&Anchor Discount $76.00

BOGO50 discount - $577.00

 

Average cost per person - $1,013.25

 

 

Now, to find RCL's magic $865 pp/do fare that I originally picked really came from, look at the $1,013.25. Subtract the taxes & fees, of $148.75, and you get $864.50, which is rounded up for purposes of those initial screens to $865.

 

Further note how the discounts are stacked... First, my Crown&Anchor Discount is subtracted from the total cabin fare ($2,382 - $76 which is $2,306). Divide that in half to get the discounted per-person/double occupancy cabin price, which is $1,153. Take 50% of that off the second-person cost which is $577 (rounded up from $576.50).

 

So what RCL has done here is to factor in all my discounts, including the current BOGO50 offer, and show that to me as a per-person/double-occupancy rate.

 

Now let's do the same thing again, but for 1 person. On the room type selection page, I have an option of a $1,318 Balcony starting price. When I pick that, I now have 2 options, a $1,261 non-refundable guarantee, or a $1,297 refundable you-choose-the-room. I pick the $1,297 option, which is the Deluxe Obstructed View stateroom, which I pick next. Clicking through the cabin selection, at the summary page I see these items:

 

Guest 1:

Cruise Fare - $1,786.50

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Crown&Anchor Discount - $57.00

BOGO50 discount - $433.00

 

Average cost per person - $1,445.25

 

And when we subtract the taxes & fees from that $1,445.25, we get $1,296.50.

 

So what is this solo price made up from?

 

$1,786.50 is 150% of the $1,191.00 per-person/double-occupancy price. Subtract the Crown&Anchor Discount ($1,786.50 - $57.00) which gives us $1,729.50. Split that in half so we can attribute a portion to a "second-person" which is $864.75. Now take 50% of that as the BOGO50 discount, which is $432.375 (RCL rounds that up, too, to $433).

 

Now, look at that magic $865 from the per-person double-occupancy price we saw on one of the earlier pages. Notice how it's the same magic $865 (rounded up from $864.75) that we calculated out from the rates presented as the solo pricing? So, sort of kind of, the single rate is 200% of the double occupancy rate, which corresponds to what RCL says is the standard of their solo pricing on most cruises. But look at the math. We calculated all this out starting with 150% of the per-person/double-occupancy fare. It's simply the current discount, which applies solely to the second-person cost of a cabin, makes it appear, in the end, that the solo pricing is 200%. Wait for another sale where the discount as being applied to the first person fare, too, and you'll see that calculates out a bit differently for solo fares.

 

 

Every step along the way, RCL is doing all those calculations to show you the effective per-person rate after all the discounts are applied. Yet they love describing the discounts in terms that never quite can be figured out by anyone until they make it to the final summary pages showing all the real starting fares.

 

Heck, even after completely describing that step by step, even I get a little confused about it. :) But it's there, plain, simple math.

Thank you for traversing the world of pricing "discounts" that are Royal Caribbean.

[Debitoo]

When you get to the final booking page you'll see a detailed breakdown of the price. If you select to see it per-guest you'll see how it breaks down. Most everywhere, Royal Caribbean factors in all the discounts and then shows pricing as per-person for the selected occupancy, so it mis-represents where the 50% off amount really comes from since the prices you see most everywhere else have the discount spread across all the occupants.

 

While the below post that I copied here from another thread was geared more towards how the solo pricing gets calculated out, this still does show how the numbers work in practice:

 

 

There's a combination of confusing things RCL does that sort of hide what really is happening whenever they have these "sales" where a percent-off happens on the 2nd passenger.

 

They show the per-person/double occupancy rate with the percent off already taken and then the total for the two people split evenly between them. This leads one who sees that amount as a per-person cost to think they should be getting a percentage off that price. And that's the problem -- the promoted sale says "X% off the second passenger" but the prices they then show as the first and second passenger prices have that percentage taken off, the total for the two people added together and then split evenly.

 

Let's take a booking I made today as an example.

 

Anthem of the Seas, 11/25/2017, 7 nights.

For pp/do it shows rates starting at $659pp/do for a balcony cabin. When I pick that, it then shows two options: $631pp/do for a non-refundable guarantee, or $865pp/do for a refundable choose-the-room fare.

 

When I pick the $865pp/do fare, I get a page with different Balcony categories, and for this example, I pick the one at $865, which is a Deluxe Obstructed Ocean View Stateroom w/Balcony. Clicking through a cabin assignment with no premium, I end up at a summary page showing:

 

Guest 1:

Cruise Fare - $1,191.00

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Guest 2:

Cruise Fare - $1,191.00

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Crown&Anchor Discount $76.00

BOGO50 discount - $577.00

 

Average cost per person - $1,013.25

 

 

Now, to find RCL's magic $865 pp/do fare that I originally picked really came from, look at the $1,013.25. Subtract the taxes & fees, of $148.75, and you get $864.50, which is rounded up for purposes of those initial screens to $865.

 

Further note how the discounts are stacked... First, my Crown&Anchor Discount is subtracted from the total cabin fare ($2,382 - $76 which is $2,306). Divide that in half to get the discounted per-person/double occupancy cabin price, which is $1,153. Take 50% of that off the second-person cost which is $577 (rounded up from $576.50).

 

So what RCL has done here is to factor in all my discounts, including the current BOGO50 offer, and show that to me as a per-person/double-occupancy rate.

 

Now let's do the same thing again, but for 1 person. On the room type selection page, I have an option of a $1,318 Balcony starting price. When I pick that, I now have 2 options, a $1,261 non-refundable guarantee, or a $1,297 refundable you-choose-the-room. I pick the $1,297 option, which is the Deluxe Obstructed View stateroom, which I pick next. Clicking through the cabin selection, at the summary page I see these items:

 

Guest 1:

Cruise Fare - $1,786.50

Taxes & Fees - $148.75

 

Crown&Anchor Discount - $57.00

BOGO50 discount - $433.00

 

Average cost per person - $1,445.25

 

And when we subtract the taxes & fees from that $1,445.25, we get $1,296.50.

 

So what is this solo price made up from?

 

$1,786.50 is 150% of the $1,191.00 per-person/double-occupancy price. Subtract the Crown&Anchor Discount ($1,786.50 - $57.00) which gives us $1,729.50. Split that in half so we can attribute a portion to a "second-person" which is $864.75. Now take 50% of that as the BOGO50 discount, which is $432.375 (RCL rounds that up, too, to $433).

 

Now, look at that magic $865 from the per-person double-occupancy price we saw on one of the earlier pages. Notice how it's the same magic $865 (rounded up from $864.75) that we calculated out from the rates presented as the solo pricing? So, sort of kind of, the single rate is 200% of the double occupancy rate, which corresponds to what RCL says is the standard of their solo pricing on most cruises. But look at the math. We calculated all this out starting with 150% of the per-person/double-occupancy fare. It's simply the current discount, which applies solely to the second-person cost of a cabin, makes it appear, in the end, that the solo pricing is 200%. Wait for another sale where the discount as being applied to the first person fare, too, and you'll see that calculates out a bit differently for solo fares.

 

 

Every step along the way, RCL is doing all those calculations to show you the effective per-person rate after all the discounts are applied. Yet they love describing the discounts in terms that never quite can be figured out by anyone until they make it to the final summary pages showing all the real starting fares.

 

Heck, even after completely describing that step by step, even I get a little confused about it. :) But it's there, plain, simple math.

Now I remember why I hated math in school.....;p

[bingo3]

If you watch prices regularly, you see the prices are increased before the "sales". I booked a year in advance and every "sale" since has been higher than what I booked in the first place.

[datolim]

Don't mind me asking, what is BOGO.

[Merion_Mom]

Don't mind me asking, what is BOGO.

The letters stand for

 

Buy

 

One

 

Get

 

One

 

The promotion is used all over, not just by Royal Caribbean - after BOGO you could see "Free", "50% off", "30% off", "60% off", "Half off", etc.

[Merion_Mom]

If you watch prices regularly, you see the prices are increased before the "sales". I booked a year in advance and every "sale" since has been higher than what I booked in the first place.

Try thinking of them as pricing structures. "Sale", to some people, means price reduction, and it's not necessarily that. Kids sail free helps some people. 60% off second guest helps some people. Etc., etc., etc.

 

And over time, if a cruise is selling well, prices DO rise. It's the nature of the market. Therefore, the fact that the fare is higher than what you paid just means that you should pay yourself on the back for catching the fare at its lowest point.

[kenzie]

If you watch prices regularly, you see the prices are increased before the "sales". I booked a year in advance and every "sale" since has been higher than what I booked in the first place.

 

Hi - I am interested in booking 5 cabins for the 31 December 17 on Allure, researched prices during July but could not book at the time as one of the party was obtaining permission from work for holidays, prices have now risen quite a lot, e.g an inside cat L from $2141 to over $2400 - I thought I would wait for them to hopefully return to the original level, do you think they will as they have just been going up over the last 2 weeks, since the end of the July sale in fact. There still appears loads of insides on the Allure available. We wanted 2 insides and 3 ocean balconies.

[Clarea]

Hi - I am interested in booking 5 cabins for the 31 December 17 on Allure, researched prices during July but could not book at the time as one of the party was obtaining permission from work for holidays, prices have now risen quite a lot, e.g an inside cat L from $2141 to over $2400 - I thought I would wait for them to hopefully return to the original level, do you think they will as they have just been going up over the last 2 weeks, since the end of the July sale in fact. There still appears loads of insides on the Allure available. We wanted 2 insides and 3 ocean balconies.

Price trends are unpredictable. However, I would expect holiday cruise prices to have the least likelihood of going down.