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Delux Drink Package - Watch out - Deceptive Not a sale !


TTraub1250
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It has been $52/person/day for many weeks and today it is advertised as BO get 50% off.  When you put it in your cart it comes out at $52/day/person, so there is no real sale. This is deceptive advertising to me and Royal Caribbean must have hired people from the airline industry, who have less integrity,  and are dragging down the "brand".  Oct 2018 paid $39/person/day on this same ship.... Anthem of the Seas.  

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Thank you for this post. I'm on Allure in March and while this is the lowest price it has been, I was under the impression from reading other posts that a good price is always less than $50. I think I'll hold out for a better price. I'm so disappointed though. I was really looking forward to getting everything booked today.

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believe the numbers, the final ones.  there is no way they are going to sell a drink package for 52 and second one 26.  They are saying they think the onboard prices will be 70 or so and you get bogo half off of those prices if buy today.   so 70 + 35 = 105 for 2, similar to 52x2= 104.

 

look at the bottom number and decide if it's worth it, they will always do their bogo odd calculations.

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Just spoke to a rude customer service person who insisted that the price was$59/day and this indeed was a sale price. Total BS as we have been watching the price since we booked a month ago. This is making me question our decision to try RCL after many years on HAL - they never do deceptive advertising like this.

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11 minutes ago, sherin65 said:

Thank you for this post. I'm on Allure in March and while this is the lowest price it has been, I was under the impression from reading other posts that a good price is always less than $50. I think I'll hold out for a better price. I'm so disappointed though. I was really looking forward to getting everything booked today.

The prices of the drink packages for 2019 have gone up.  If the price for our summer cruise on Allure gets to about $50, I think that's about as low as it will go.  I will book when it gets there, and if it goes lower, I will cancel and rebook.  

 

I, too, was hoping the deluxe package would drop for Black Friday, but so far, no luck.  I still am holding out hope for Cyber Monday, but doubtful it will go lower.  

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Ok, let me explain (not that you will be happy, or should be...)

 

The prices for the 2019 Deluxe Package have been listed as "25% off onboard prices" for some time. That is what you previously purchased at when you got them for $52. Today for Black Friday they are listed as BOGO 50% off, or buy one get one 50% off, but it is based on the full onboard price NOT the 25% off onboard price. Guess what full price + 50% off your 2nd one is? Its the exact same thing as saying 25% off each, which you guessed it, is what the price has been for weeks and months. In your case, $52. Is it a deal? Absolutely not, but it isn't a lie either.

Edited by canyonblue737
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I think it is deceptive as the banner states buy one get one 50% off...the advertised price is $49 and it should be half of $49 for the second, but when you put it in the cart, it states price reflects discount and both people are paying $49, so there is actually only a few dollar discount over the last few days when the price was $52.  Not very nice and not a "sale"

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We are diamond+ so we don't get the package as the free drinks are adequate. Our daughter is coming on the cruise with us. Has RCI gone back to the old ways and making everyone in the cabin buy a package? I guess I never thought of it before because we didn't need it but now I am having a hard time with this. 

 

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The BOGO clearly states the displayed price includes the discount already applied. 

 

Price Shown Reflects Your Discount

 

The BOGO 50% is based on onboard prices not the last sale price from some other day.  

 

As humans it's easy to quickly glance and make assumptions but if you fully read everything it isn't deceptive.

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10 minutes ago, gottogocruisin said:

 Has RCI gone back to the old ways and making everyone in the cabin buy a package?

Yes, but if you call, you get around that requirement in the planner - many have reported being able to buy just one package in a cabin, just can't do it online.

 

BTW, feel free to give your daughter some of your D+ drinks.

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Having sailed frequently and use to pricing all over the map.... there is a huge difference in each advertisement on the same ship for different sailings and of course advertising for different ships.  If you look at the screen shot, in my post it only says BO get one 50% off with a $52. price.  It says nothing of on board pricing on the specific ship on that specific sailing.  So your ship and your sailing is most likely different,  and does not apply to ours.  My original caution still valid, which may not be the same for yours.  

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1 minute ago, TTraub1250 said:

 My original caution still valid, which may not be the same for yours.  

That caution should be obvious to all RCI customers ever since the "fake" sales started in 2014 - the thing that has happened more recently is that the "fake" sales have been extended to other/all purchases besides cabins.

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31 minutes ago, twangster said:

The BOGO clearly states the displayed price includes the discount already applied. 

 

Price Shown Reflects Your Discount

 

The BOGO 50% is based on onboard prices not the last sale price from some other day.  

 

As humans it's easy to quickly glance and make assumptions but if you fully read everything it isn't deceptive.

Exactly. It always says that. The price shown is the price per person. I was also hoping it would be lower but oh well.

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RIGHT! Don't say it's a sale when it's not.  It was $49/day 2 days ago.  Today it says "BOGO 50% off"  Black Friday Sale!  And guess what the price still is: $49/day.  What a joke...I assumed when I checked out the discount would come off, thus really would be a sale, but no.  It was still $49/day.  What upsets me is that last week when it was listed at $49/day it did not say it was a % discount over onboard pricing.  There was no banner across it stating it was discounted.  Now today there is the BOGO banner across it with the same pricing. Just disappointing is all.😞

Edited by Keri's Cruisin'
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1 hour ago, TTraub1250 said:

It has been $52/person/day for many weeks and today it is advertised as BO get 50% off.  When you put it in your cart it comes out at $52/day/person, so there is no real sale. This is deceptive advertising to me and Royal Caribbean must have hired people from the airline industry, who have less integrity,  and are dragging down the "brand".  Oct 2018 paid $39/person/day on this same ship.... Anthem of the Seas.  

Screenshot (277).png

This is not deceptive. It has been on sale for 25% , now its bogo, which is the same thing.

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41 minutes ago, gottogocruisin said:

We are diamond+ so we don't get the package as the free drinks are adequate. Our daughter is coming on the cruise with us. Has RCI gone back to the old ways and making everyone in the cabin buy a package? I guess I never thought of it before because we didn't need it but now I am having a hard time with this. 

 

 

gottogocruisin, I'm not sure this is still the case or applies in your situation, but we were told our kids would have our status (Diamond), even though we've cruised far more often than they have. And sure enough, that is the case. We were on the Harmony earlier this year and my son, who hasn't cruised in quite a while and would never have reached that status on his own, was indeed Diamond. He was in a separate cabin, so didn't have to buy the drink package, but he got all the Diamond perks, including access to the Diamond Lounge and his three free drinks per evening on his card. 

Edited by RadioPeri
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12 minutes ago, Keri's Cruisin' said:

RIGHT! Don't say it's a sale when it's not.  It was $49/day 2 days ago.  Today it says "BOGO 50% off"  Black Friday Sale! 

 

There is no requirement that a new sale has a lower price compared to the last sale.  So this sale has the same price as the last sale for your sailing.  

 

No where did Royal state that Black Friday sales would be for everything you might possibly buy from Royal Caribbean.

 

it is cheaper than the onboard price.  That makes it a sale price.

 

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4 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

There is no requirement that a new sale has a lower price compared to the last sale.  So this sale has the same price as the last sale for your sailing.  

 

No where did Royal state that Black Friday sales would be for everything you might possibly buy from Royal Caribbean.

 

it is cheaper than the onboard price.  That makes it a sale price.

 

 

Stop making sense. You’re messing with the CC keyboard lawyers who always complain about “fraud”, “deception”, and the biggie - “bait and switch”.

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Agree that the banner advertisement can be confusing although I don't know if it is actually deceptive.  Regardless, we were able to save about $60 per person (total $240 savings on our upcoming Symphony BTB).  I watch the prices carefully and this is the cheapest I've seen for the drink package for our cruise.  I've seen prices vary between ships so this may not be the case in all situations.

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As a frequent solo cruiser I'll add that I'm very appreciative and grateful that I'm eligible for BOGO dining and drink package offers for the second guest when there is no second guest buying that dining or drink package.  

 

Thank you Royal Caribbean. 

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2 minutes ago, WI-Cruiser said:

Agree that the banner advertisement can be confusing although I don't know if it is actually deceptive.  Regardless, we were able to save about $60 per person (total $240 savings on our upcoming Symphony BTB).  I watch the prices carefully and this is the cheapest I've seen for the drink package for our cruise.  I've seen prices vary between ships so this may not be the case in all situations.

 

People just do not wish to read that the price posted is the sale price. I was trying to decide if this was the cheapest for my symphony sailing.I thought it was cheaper last week? I think Ill hold off, I have till November.

But I have a Harmony coming ups I think Ill bite.

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55 minutes ago, TTraub1250 said:

Having sailed frequently and use to pricing all over the map.... there is a huge difference in each advertisement on the same ship for different sailings and of course advertising for different ships.  If you look at the screen shot, in my post it only says BO get one 50% off with a $52. price.  It says nothing of on board pricing on the specific ship on that specific sailing.  So your ship and your sailing is most likely different,  and does not apply to ours.  My original caution still valid, which may not be the same for yours.  

 

See your screen shot? The price has an asterisk next to it. Click through to the link and guess what it says next to the asterisk note "price shown reflects your discount" and further if you put it on your cart it actually shows that "discount applied as 25% off each package, same as BOGO 50% off".

 

PS: While I wish they would have lowered the price more (who doesn't) I actually appreciate that no matter how the sale is structured the actual price list is the price you pay. Why? Because it makes it easy to figure out if you are getting a better deal. Imagine if they listed the regular price on the image but YOU had to do the 25% off or BOGO 50% or whatever and each week because the sale was structured different you would need to recalculate... this is easier, if I log on and see the price is lower IT IS lower because it already includes whatever the "creative" way of expressing the sale is this week. It bottom lines it for me. Right now your number is $52. If you log on Monday, a month from now, or whenever if that number drops below $52 you can get a better price, no fine print to understand.

Edited by canyonblue737
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