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

[tinkr2]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

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. 

 

It has been 25% off. I am sure they will honor that price for a singles it is the same thing.

[twangster]

[DCRedRaider02]

I noticed that there’s a $120 service charge for the drink package. Does this mean that tipping is not expected from the bar tenders when getting a drink? If not, what’s the purpose of the charge?

[timf2001]

This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.  Especially on the newer ships, there are really only 2 levels of discount - 20% off onboard price (the everyday pre-cruise sale price), and 25% off onboard price (the once every couple weeks sale price).  They can change the terminology all they want, but ultimately it's either 20% off or 25% off.  And for the record last week, the onboard price did match the expected amount that the discounted prices were calculated from.

[TTraub1250]

Truth in advertising laws.  Why, because companies like to be deceptive. Should you have to know to click on the "*" to get the rest of the discount or no discount information ?  No !  Why not act with "integrity" and be very clear on what is being charged $ and improve your "brand management" !   I have a tendency to spend more money with companies with integrity, do socially responsible acts, and have high levels in their customer relationships.  The employees are rated on customer service relationships, why shouldn't the marketing/pricing department be also rated on their integrity and transparency ?   As a stock holder I know it takes 10X the work to get a new customer vs keeping current customers.  Thus as an owner of the company, I want too keep every customer we already have, and not throw deceptive advertising pricing at them. 

[twangster]

3 minutes ago, TTraub1250 said:

Truth in advertising laws.  Why, because companies like to be deceptive. Should you have to know to click on the "*" to get the rest of the discount or no discount information ?  No !  Why not act with "integrity" and be very clear on what is being charged $ and improve your "brand management" !   I have a tendency to spend more money with companies with integrity, do socially responsible acts, and have high levels in their customer relationships.  The employees are rated on customer service relationships, why shouldn't the marketing/pricing department be also rated on their integrity and transparency ?   As a stock holder I know it takes 10X the work to get a new customer vs keeping current customers.  Thus as an owner of the company, I want too keep every customer we already have, and not throw deceptive advertising pricing at them. 

 

I'm sorry to hear you won't be sailing Royal any more but that does give me more cabins to pick from.

 

Thanks!

[kands6191]

38 minutes ago, canyonblue737 said:

 

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.

 

I look at this a little differently.  When I go into a store in the mall and I see a sign over a rack that says "25% off", I know that I will check the price tag of the item and then calculate what 25 % off would equal.  Yes, there are some stores that like to advertise their Clearance section as a certain percentage off and then put in small print that the markdown is already reflected on the updated price tag.  However, I find that most regular sales require the buyer to do the math based on the price tag of the item.

 

I think the problem occurs because Royal does not establish an actual "base price" for the drink package.  It constantly fluctuates with each ship and sailing.  I do not like their method of advertising sales and I completely understand what I am reading.  I just think their method turns a lot of people off and leaves a bad taste in their mouth.  

[Biker19]

18 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

 Especially on the newer ships, there are really only 2 levels of discount - 20% off onboard price (the everyday pre-cruise sale price), and 25% off onboard price (the once every couple weeks sale price).  They can change the terminology all they want, but ultimately it's either 20% off or 25% off.  

One has to be careful using absolutes.

 

[Biker19]

3 minutes ago, kands6191 said:

 I just think their method turns a lot of people off and leaves a bad taste in their mouth.  

Once you know how the fake sales works, why would it? You could take you business elsewhere or accept the way RCI sales work - it's pretty obvious no amount of grumbling on CC or elsewhere will change things.

[Artemus]

Imo, the drink package has gotten ridiculously expensive. I no longer spend my time doing the math trying to figure out if I should get it.

[bte52]

Please allow me to add my name to the list of folks thanking your for this post. I came here to write one myself on this subject and there was yours. I purchased our deluxe drink packages of a May 2019 sailing several weeks ago. Received the Black Friday notice of Buy One and Get One 50% off. Called in to change and learned what was explained here in the post. I DO NOT CARE what anyone says. It may not be a lie but it is HIGHLY DECEPTIVE. Shame on the RCCL Marketing department!

[twangster]

A retail store offering a sale is a very different model from a company that sells items one price once onboard and offer pre-cruise discounts.

 

Now if your retailer operated a website where pre-shopping sales were offered vs. full price in-store that would be a fair comparison.

 

There is no standard drink package price.  It's more on short sailings.  It's more expensive on some ships.  Mariner 3 night cruises over the weekend are party cruises with likely the highest consumption of any ship so they often have the highest drink package prices onboard and pre-cruise.  12 night Grandeur sailing have a track record of not seeing massive alcohol consumption so they can often be the cheapest drink package price.  That historical data allows them to reduce the cost of the drink package on Grandeur and still make money.  

 

They are after all a for-profit business.

 

If you don't like the drink package don't buy it.  Simple. 

[gerif]

It’s not just RCI that employs this type of pricing. My local supermarket is always running BOGO specials on various items. I just know that the price on each of these items is higher than a few days before when there was individual pricing. I just have to factor that in. 

[twangster]

10 minutes ago, Artemus said:

Imo, the drink package has gotten ridiculously expensive. I no longer spend my time doing the math trying to figure out if I should get it.

 

I don't disagree with you.  As my papa always said, "you don't have to drink to have a good time".

 

Fortunately I now get a D+ onboard discount and I can wait a day or two to buy the package onboard saving hundreds and avoiding drink fatigue later in the cruise..  

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

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.

 

Uh-Oh!  😱

 

LOL

[HBE4]

 

There are usually 3 components to the RCC "sales" confusion.

 

1) The "base" price is never listed which makes comparisons hard. Since the "base" on-board price varies from ship-to-ship & itineraries, most casual cruisers won't know what the base price is.

 

2) The same sale will have the wording changed each week even though the sale price does not change (i.e. 25% off vs. BOGO free).

 

3) Sales that never end and go on long after the little Sale Countdown clock has expired. Sometimes it's just a extra sale price reverting back to the original sale price (i.e. 25% off going back to 20% off).

 

While none of the above is deceptive, #3 is annoying since after awhile, people will come to think that is the "base" price and then become frustrated when the math does not work. That might have been me for the first 2 or 3 cruises.

 

As others have said, pay for what you are comfortable paying and you can always cancel & rebook later.

 

 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, HBE4 said:

1) The "base" price is never listed which makes comparisons hard. 

Just hope they don't bring the non-existent cabin pricing model to other items. How about 90% off some made up price - would that be better or worse than the current scheme?

[MizDaisy]

One very quick (I hope) question....first time cruising on Royal Caribbean, and it's a bit different than what I'm used to...if I buy the drink package, do I pay for it online, or will it be charged to my onboard account once I get there? Thanks in advance.

[HBE4]

29 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Just hope they don't bring the non-existent cabin pricing model to other items. How about 90% off some made up price - would that be better or worse than the current scheme?

 

Worse. At best, equally confusing.

 

But don't give them ideas.  You know they read the boards and set corporate policy based on what they read here. 😉

Edited November 23, 2018 by HBE4

[twangster]

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

There are usually 3 components to the RCC "sales" confusion.

 

1) The "base" price is never listed which makes comparisons hard. Since the "base" on-board price varies from ship-to-ship & itineraries, most casual cruisers won't know what the base price is.

 

For many items there is no standard price. Voom, dining packages, drink packages.  Why?  Because different ships have different circumstances.  If they were required to publish a standard price it would be like a hotel room in certain states where they are required to print the 'standard' room rate on the back of the door.  The holiday inn express that cost $79 the other day has a standard room rate of $495.  Boy did I get a deal! 

 

Be careful what you wish for. 

 

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

2) The same sale will have the wording changed each week even though the sale price does not change (i.e. 25% off vs. BOGO free).

 

3) Sales that never end and go on long after the little Sale Countdown clock has expired. Sometimes it's just a extra sale price reverting back to the original sale price (i.e. 25% off going back to 20% off).

 

The alternative would be infrequent sales that are easily missed.  I'll gladly take the frequent sales at the same price.  

 

Be careful what you wish for. 

 

7 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

As others have said, pay for what you are comfortable paying and you can always cancel & rebook later.

 

Agreed.  Don't like the sale price, don't buy it.  

[Thorben-Hendrik]

3 hours ago, Stx3me said:

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.

RCI will scam you wherever they can and get away with it!

[smokeykat]

3 hours ago, KimPossible1 said:

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"

We are on Adventure of the Seas in July. Our deluxe drink package price has been showing as $52 pp and today it dropped to $49 pp. Went and bought it. If it goes down more before your cruise you can cancel and rebook at the lower price. Black Friday is the only day I have ever seen the lowest discounts. Royal's sale wording is deceiving. You can't go by that because it is off the on board pricing and we have no idea what that really is!

[Froggy1369]

So the bottom line. Is $944 for deluxe beverage package on the 8 night cruise Anthem in January the best I will probably see? 

[smokeykat]

14 minutes ago, MizDaisy said:

One very quick (I hope) question....first time cruising on Royal Caribbean, and it's a bit different than what I'm used to...if I buy the drink package, do I pay for it online, or will it be charged to my onboard account once I get there? Thanks in advance.

Pay for it online. If you have any onboard credit you can apply that to it through your cruise planner.

[gottogocruisin]

2 hours ago, RadioPeri said:

 

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. 

This is only her 2nd cruise so I am sure she does not qualify, but thanks for telling me. I will, as Biker19 suggested, call when the price is down lower. The last cruise my husband and I took, the price came down until 3 weeks prior to boarding. We didn't need it but I was watching it to know how to book this one.