Insane prices for Oasis class ships in the Summer!

[Judyrem]

7 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

First off, only gamble if you enjoy it.  Laura is at the Prime Tier, but at the lowest acceptable level.  She gets there by gambling a little, but on a lot of cruises.  This usually doesn't get you much other than free drinks, and 1 free cruise a year.

 

Other than the Empress fill in, most of these cruises were out well before the GGG sales show up.

 

The Freedom was booked on 4/17 for a 9/15 sailing.  It was a tax day promo

The Empress was a promo to fill the ship when Cuba cancelled. I even got a couple offers and I rarely gamble.  Booked 6/10 for a 7/13 sailing

The Mariner cruises were a promo called Summer Sizzle. She qualified for an inside cabin and a guest would pay half. The loophole was you could just say solo for free.😉

6/28 was booked on 4/9

7/8 was booked on 5/10

8/12 was booked on 4/22

9/9 was booked on 6/27

 

FWIW, the first three 'free' cruises have cost around 2 grand in casino losses. 😱🤣

 

I am going to start gambling!🤪

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, John&LaLa said:

FWIW, the first three 'free' cruises have cost around 2 grand in casino losses. 😱🤣

 

 

Ha, I do that all the time, year after year. Except that it's spread across a dozen different land casino's and a few on various islands, in addition to Casino Royale.  Most I ever get is a free room (Sun - Thurs only) at one of Atlantic City's better run-down casino hotels.

 

It really does help to concentrate your loses to one area.

[John&LaLa]

14 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Ha, I do that all the time, year after year. Except that it's spread across a dozen different land casino's and a few on various islands, in addition to Casino Royale.  Most I ever get is a free room (Sun - Thurs only) at one of Atlantic City's better run-down casino hotels.

 

It really does help to concentrate your loses to one area.

 

Laura has already qualified for 2020 Prime, so I imagine she'll slow down. 😉

 

So, back on topic. Summer cruises are typically expensive,  but those who have the ability to be patient or lucky can find some deals. 

 

We sail Harmony on Aug 18 for $2,600 total in a GS.

[ryano]

16 hours ago, HBE4 said:

 

Nah, they are just making you book earlier.  They want to lock in customers as soon as possible.

 

I usually book my vacations (land and sea) 3-6 months out. But now, seeing how crazy high the prices are, I'm either going to have to wait until the last minute and hope for a price drop, or book 2 years out.  For someone like me who doesn't even know what I want to do this weekend, that's a tall order.

 

 

True on booking much earlier.  I dont even look inside 9 months being I have to have an accessible cabin.   It would be awesome to book 3-6 months out! 

[Sigma Cruiser]

42 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Laura has already qualified for 2020 Prime, so I imagine she'll slow down. 😉

 

So, back on topic. Summer cruises are typically expensive,  but those who have the ability to be patient or lucky can find some deals. 

 

We sail Harmony on Aug 18 for $2,600 total in a GS.

So John, is this rate based upon applying your (Laura's) Prime offer? Both me and the wife work to qualify for our Prime status and are starting to understand more of the benefits...each year after speaking to the right Casino Royale customer service rep.

[Judyrem]

56 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Laura has already qualified for 2020 Prime, so I imagine she'll slow down. 😉

 

So, back on topic. Summer cruises are typically expensive,  but those who have the ability to be patient or lucky can find some deals. 

 

We sail Harmony on Aug 18 for $2,600 total in a GS.

Bugger! How did you do that???????????????????

[John&LaLa]

20 minutes ago, Sigma Cruiser said:

So John, is this rate based upon applying your (Laura's) Prime offer? Both me and the wife work to qualify for our Prime status and are starting to understand more of the benefits...each year after speaking to the right Casino Royale customer service rep.

 

Nope, this was a published rate. A CC member saw it and told her TA. We use the same TA. He reserved me a cabin. 

 

Thanks to Elken and Ken

 

We are using Laura's 2019 prime cert for the Symphony birthday cruise 

Edited August 2, 2019 by John&LaLa

[John&LaLa]

5 minutes ago, Judyrem said:

Bugger! How did you do that???????????????????

 

Well connected. 😉

 

Actually,  there are close to a dozen of us that got this deal

[molly361]

49 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Nope, this was a published rate. A CC member saw it and told her TA. We use the same TA. He reserved me a cabin. 

 

Thanks to Elken and Ken

 

We are using Laura's 2019 prime cert for the Symphony birthday cruise 

You're welcome

[Judyrem]

Was this  bargain on CC or Facebook?

 

 

I guess I'm not "in with in crowd, don't know the in crowd knows".😉😜

Edited August 2, 2019 by Judyrem

[ABoatNerd]

An alternative to the excessively high prices for the typical artificial cruise experience; take the family on a driving trip and see your own country.

 

In my experience in Canada and the USA, few families have a real appreciation for the amazing landscape, people, animals, food of their own country.

 

The young folk should see their own landscapes so they better appreciate their country and have some base for making decisions in the future.

 

Cruising is just one of many travel options available to everyone.

 

 

 

 

[SpongeAlan]

Finally back into that sweet spot where I can take the kids again "NOT" during the summer.  Got 2 insides on Oasis out of NJ in May 2020 for $1700 each. Never thought I was ever going to be able to get on an Oasis Class ship for anywhere near that.

 

Now lets see a nice drop in the Drink package and I will be Golden!!

[John&LaLa]

7 hours ago, molly361 said:

You're welcome

 

Elken 🤔

 

Subliminal combination of your names?

[John&LaLa]

6 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

An alternative to the excessively high prices for the typical artificial cruise experience; take the family on a driving trip and see your own country.

 

In my experience in Canada and the USA, few families have a real appreciation for the amazing landscape, people, animals, food of their own country.

 

The young folk should see their own landscapes so they better appreciate their country and have some base for making decisions in the future.

 

Cruising is just one of many travel options available to everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

Been there, done that. 😁

Edited August 2, 2019 by John&LaLa

[Judyrem]

36 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Been there, done that. 😁

Yes, I am running low on places to go......😉👀

 

BTW, I love/d Canada especially Banff and Lake Louise.

[kidless]

On 7/29/2019 at 4:49 PM, molly361 said:

It's not just the Symphony and not just the summer.  Mariner prices for November/early December are crazy as well.  Over $900 for an inside for 3 nights and around $1250 and up for a balcony.  

Mariner is crazy high. We’ve been looking for little get away cruise! But they are way to high! 

[kidless]

On 8/1/2019 at 3:36 PM, ryano said:

Prices are way up on all RC cruises it seems................   Royal is pricing me out Im afraid 

Prices up while quality & service is down. #IMHO 

[ABoatNerd]

12 hours ago, kidless said:

Prices up while quality & service is down. #IMHO 

 

Which is why my household and friends no longer cruise. 

 

Until the value improves for the consumer, cruising is banished.  Will monitor the cruise industry to see if the situation improves in the future.

 

Our TA commented recently that her cruise bookings are down put her bookings for land tours are way up. While that is only one TA, it is interesting.

 

Cruising is just one travel option

 

 

[molly361]

12 hours ago, kidless said:

Mariner is crazy high. We’ve been looking for little get away cruise! But they are way to high! 

Hoping they come down after final payment date- we will see

[LuCruise]

Our Mariner cruise next summer has KSF with this latest "sale", which surprised me.  It's the final week leading up to labor day,  but thought that week is still typically excluded.  Doesn't make a difference for us though since only our younger one gets the "free" price and its still a bit more than our booking.  We booked last December and prices really shot up since then (i.e. the KSF is against going rate).  

[molly361]

15 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Our Mariner cruise next summer has KSF with this latest "sale", which surprised me.  It's the final week leading up to labor day,  but thought that week is still typically excluded.  Doesn't make a difference for us though since only our younger one gets the "free" price and its still a bit more than our booking.  We booked last December and prices really shot up since then (i.e. the KSF is against going rate).  

We also have the MA booked for next August.  the 24th.  Got a not so great refundable rate, booked quite a while ago and the price is not $500 more, for 4 nights  crazy

[LuCruise]

16 minutes ago, molly361 said:

We also have the MA booked for next August.  the 24th.  Got a not so great refundable rate, booked quite a while ago and the price is not $500 more, for 4 nights  crazy

Yes we are the week after you.  We booked close to opening time (when onboard a cruise last Dec) and same here, about $500 increase for refundable.  Our specific room as well is now in the higher range (higher deck), whereas when we booked, all the rooms in the category were the same.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, ABoatNerd said:

Until the value improves for the consumer, cruising is banished. 

Cruising is still a good value, perhaps you mean quality. CEO Fain seems to think RCCL is well positioned even during the inevitable recession that is coming.  

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Our Mariner cruise next summer has KSF with this latest "sale", which surprised me.  It's the final week leading up to labor day,  but thought that week is still typically excluded.  Doesn't make a difference for us though since only our younger one gets the "free" price and its still a bit more than our booking.  We booked last December and prices really shot up since then (i.e. the KSF is against going rate).  

I use to Cruise every yr over Labor Day, Single Father with 3 kids and was Cheaper that week even with my kids then weeks before. First time did that with my Ex was 4 named Hurricanes/Storms that week. We were rocking. First time did that with my kids we got home day before 9/11...

[HBE4]

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Our Mariner cruise next summer has KSF with this latest "sale", which surprised me.  It's the final week leading up to labor day,  but thought that week is still typically excluded. 

 

Many school districts have kids going back a week or two before Labor Day. I always thought that was weird as Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer but then again, their summer vacation beings early June.