It pays to check your booking prices

[Hoopster95]

Since Radiance is the only comparable with much fewer balconies, it makes sense that Ovation would be less. It might be Hawaii but it's still a re-positioning cruise where sub $100 pppd is the norm (except maybe Serenade).

 

Ovation's itinerary is inferior compared to past Radiance sailings.

[PCWalton1]

Ovation's itinerary is inferior compared to past Radiance sailings.

 

I guess it would depend on what you call inferior. It's not making the usual stop in Kauai which is never long enough to do meaningful exploring. Instead we get the opportunity to cruise the Na Pali coast, something Radiance never does. I have seen it from a helicopter but look forward to the cruise by.

 

It's not stopping at Hilo, instead we get an extended stay in Lahaina until 11 pm the 2nd night. We get to enjoy two Lahaina evenings. Radiance's September 2019 cruise has no overnights.

 

On top of that we get to stop in Seattle after leaving Vancouver. We've cruise out of our home of Seattle but not had the opportunity to play tourist for the day.

 

The final kicker for us is currently our balcony cabin is cheaper than a balcony cabin on the Radiance Sep 2019 cruise.

So for us it's far from inferior. :D

[Hoopster95]

we get the opportunity to cruise the Na Pali coast, :D

 

Yep, this might end up being the hilight of the cruise! I truly hope for great weather for you during those 4 hours.

Re the itineraries I immediately saw the trade off of Hilo and Kauai not being on Ovation's itinerary.

You're a great salesman Bill, trying sell the fact that having to spend money to travel to get on a ship which then turns around the next day and goes right back to your home as a positive! ;p

[oceanseagle12]

I check mine too. Often, the prices go up and up. Then I just tell myself how good my original deal is and am glad I booked when I did!

 

 

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[DeltaOne]

This is crazy good, it dropped again today. We are now at $2,359.60:D

 

Edit: Also our OBC went up from $76 to $100

 

Our Haven room on the Breakaway in March 2018 went down a full 30% from the time we booked until final payment was due. I was very happy!

 

Our combined OBC also went up significantly, ending at $400. However, spending $400 on board was hard to do...partly due to all the perks we had and partly due to restrictions on what you can use OBC for. I used most of the OBC for additional tips to crew members that went above and beyond, but you can't use OBC for the daily service charge and they wouldn't let us cash it out at the casino either. We ended up buying a lot of liquor and perfume that we will use but normally wouldn't have purchased on the ship.

[JBSteelerfan]

Glad you posted this. I looked at our Hawaii itinerary (other direction in May) and saved about $350. Thanks!

[mkam2821]

Mine have all gone the other way unfortunately.

 

Not sure why you say unfortunately if it seems that you booked at the lowest rate and it went up from there then you obviously got a good buy!

[Biker19]

I looked at our Hawaii itinerary (other direction in May) and saved about $350.

Look for more drops before final - lot of inventory left.

[Flip2cruise]

Not sure why you say unfortunately if it seems that you booked at the lowest rate and it went up from there then you obviously got a good buy!

I know in my case, I never look at a cruise as an investment that I want to appreciate in value. I would always prefer that the price go down.

 

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[lovelife]

 

I don't think checking is a waste of my time, do you? :D

 

I'm on this sailing and happened to check yesterday and got a $1,000 reduction on my balcony cabin. Woo Hoo!! :D

[goncruzn]

I definitely check the prices of my cruises just about every day after I book. We originally had a 2 BR grand suite booked for my upcoming cruise. After checking several times for price reductions, we lucked out on a 2 BR Aquatheater suite over $800 less than what we were paying for the 2 BR grand suite. We jumped on that right away. Got elevated from Sky class to Star class for less money.

[PCWalton1]

Yep, this might end up being the hilight of the cruise! I truly hope for great weather for you during those 4 hours.

Re the itineraries I immediately saw the trade off of Hilo and Kauai not being on Ovation's itinerary.

You're a great salesman Bill, trying sell the fact that having to spend money to travel to get on a ship which then turns around the next day and goes right back to your home as a positive! ;p

I didn't want to also mention that we like Ovation better than Radiance for fear of being shunned 🤣

 

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[John&LaLa]

I didn't want to also mention that we like Ovation better than Radiance for fear of being shunned 🤣

 

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I get that when I mention I like CATS

 

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[PCWalton1]

I get that when I mention I like CATS

 

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I liked Cats too, especially in the second act when there was more room to stretch out.

[Hoopster95]

I didn't want to also mention that we like Ovation better than Radiance for fear of being shunned 🤣

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I'm with you here!! Cannot wait to get back on Q Class again

Heck.... you want shunned? Let's have a chat about how awesome DD was/could've been/should've been :evilsmile::evilsmile::evilsmile:

 

I liked Cats too, especially in the second act when there was more room to stretch out.

 

Lol! :p

[pcur]

I am in price checking hell right now, as we have 7 cruises booked for next year: a b2b2b and a b2b2b2b. So, I can't look at changing/upgradng cabins since we want the same cabin on both the triple and the quadruple b2b's.

 

Instead, I look for price and obc. So far I have 2 left to switch from a refundable to non-refundable for a lower price, but I'm waiting for the obc promos to get better. Right now they have dropped the obc's since the last promo.

 

The problem is my TA's web site doesn't show RCCL obc, so I have to ghost-book the cruises to see that, plus add in senior and state potential discounts. Then, I have to go over to the TA's web site, knowing the obc, and check what price I can get from them.

 

It's time consuming, but so far I've been able to increase the obc, and get a few price drops.

[migirl2014]

Question regarding price checking...when you enter the information on the RC website, do you go off the base price or do you need to take the "test" booking almost to the point where you book the cruise? I called Royal Caribbean as their base price on our cruise invoice shows $942 more than the base price on the website.

 

When I called Royal Carribean, I was told it was all a formula. (I was told that the website pricing is deceptive and you have to learn how to understand all the fees).

 

Any help or suggestions will be much appreciated!!!

[Biker19]

You need to go through the booking process up till the payment page - that will show the final/total price.

[Clarea]

Question regarding price checking...when you enter the information on the RC website, do you go off the base price or do you need to take the "test" booking almost to the point where you book the cruise? I called Royal Caribbean as their base price on our cruise invoice shows $942 more than the base price on the website.

 

When I called Royal Carribean, I was told it was all a formula. (I was told that the website pricing is deceptive and you have to learn how to understand all the fees).

 

Any help or suggestions will be much appreciated!!!

Take it to the point where you see the total price, including taxes.

[migirl2014]

Thanks for the help.

[JBSteelerfan]

Found another price drop today, so everyone might want to check again!

[pcur]

I got a price drop on one of my cruises, too. However, the RCCL obc is lower. They tried to warn me (through my TA) that I was losing $75 in obc. The cabin price drop was $251.......the RCCL rep wasn't doing the math, obviously.

[wgeo]

Is there anyway to check for prices on a category that is sold out? We booked one of the family staterooms (8000) on the Radiance and there are no more rooms in that category available for me to check pricing on. Does that just mean there won't be any price drops for those rooms? thx

[feelingnauti]

Just re-booked our Bermuda cruise next April and saved $470.00! Doing the happy dance! :D

[Biker19]

Is there anyway to check for prices on a category that is sold out? We booked one of the family staterooms (8000) on the Radiance and there are no more rooms in that category available for me to check pricing on. Does that just mean there won't be any price drops for those rooms? thx

You'd have to call and unlikely you'd get any price drops.