Fallout from Drink Package Price Mistake??

[twangster]

Voom is increasing in price.  Related to the $18 drink screw up?  No.  Just Royal testing the waters to see what the market will bear.

 

Cabanas increased in price big time.  Related to the $18 drink screw up?  No.  Just Royal testing the waters to see what the market will bear.

 

Bottom line - the market dictates pricing.  If they price too high the market responds and stops buying.  If sales trends are not impacted, Royal has found the new normal.

Edited September 12, 2019 by twangster

[grod19]

4 hours ago, Joseph2017China said:

A $12.00 drink cost less than $1.00 to make. 

 

That is a big assumption to make.  When you just factor in the cost of the ingredients you are probably correct, however you have to factor in the overhead costs.  The costs to refrigerate the product, the bartender labor costs, etc all add up.  Even the cost of fuel is contributing to the drink price since the fuel is providing power for the fridge and lights.  If it were possible to gather every penny that goes into the cost to the cruise line for a drink I think it would be higher than most expect.  

 

That being said, as others have pointed out, the market drives the price and the cruiseline is focused on overall profit so they don't have to drill down to every penny.

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, sixesandeights said:

My opinion is that is was NOT a pricing mistake.  It was done intentionally.  They release a few cruises with the prices at $18.  They make a big deal about honoring the "mistake" and then stop discounting the package as deeply moving forward.  The masses don't look at Royal, but instead now "blame" it on the $18 mistake.  It is a brilliant strategy....

 

6&8

Except that it wasn't a few cruises, it was pretty much all sailings from Feb. through Dec. of 2020

[seasidemama]

Not related to drink package but generally as to pricing:

 

 

prior to labor day sale I had voom offered at 30% off. I was tracking pricing. Labor Day sale comes along, cruise planner shows a whopper 60% off for same package. Guess what: it was exactly the same amount TO THE PENNY it was with the 30%.

 

Personally I dont believe they make mistakes with pricing. I think price points and “sales” are very carefully calculated.

 

I don’t know how much the drink package was as we don’t buy it and I wasn’t paying much attention.

[ONECRUISER]

2 hours ago, CruiseKeeper said:

 

I thought so as well but just had dinner with the Hotel Director on the Voyager,  who assured us that it was a giant error on their part and they took it as a learning experience in this day and age of immediate digital postings and possible costly blunders.  Could that have been the party answer?  I believed him.  

Also those that got sale price Honored were lucky. In the past when online pricing errors were caught price was not. This included bunch people paying for a Cruise, some paid in Full, then given the choice pay correct price or have booking canceled... Every sailing Royal has a goal for Liquor sales. That is reason one week they offer 10 drink card and next they dont. It's another way to make a minimum in Liquor sales for that Cruise...

[Tree_skier]

2 hours ago, LeeW said:

Four cruises booked with $52/$56/$65/$65 prices currently.  The only thing I have noticed is higher prices on big ships and 2020.  Not seeing any sales yet on shore excursions for 2020 either.  Constant sales of various prices on 2019 cruises.

I'm like you... I have four cruises booked.  $52/$52/$65/Price not listed yet.  The $52 prices are Adventure and Radiance and the $65 is Allure.  I got Adventure at $47, I'm still hoping that the others come down some.

[Joseph2017China]

50 minutes ago, grod19 said:

 

That is a big assumption to make.  When you just factor in the cost of the ingredients you are probably correct, however you have to factor in the overhead costs.  The costs to refrigerate the product, the bartender labor costs, etc all add up.  Even the cost of fuel is contributing to the drink price since the fuel is providing power for the fridge and lights.  If it were possible to gather every penny that goes into the cost to the cruise line for a drink I think it would be higher than most expect.  

 

That being said, as others have pointed out, the market drives the price and the cruiseline is focused on overall profit so they don't have to drill down to every penny.

A $12.00 drink cost less than $1.00 to make. 

A shot of whiskey cost less than $0.40 wholesale.  A splash of soda is about $0.03 out of a gun.  Payroll for bartender making 25 drinks per hour (which is conservative) is about $0.15 per drink.  (bartenders work for tips, with a small hourly pay).  I'm still under $0.60.  Throw in all the cheap soda and water purchased and it gets even lower per drink.  Bar sales are ancillary sales.  Designed for bringing profit.  I'm not going to have 18 drinks per day, so at 7 drinks, there is still a $1.40 profit per drink poured. 

 

Overhead cost, such as electricity which is free (ship pays for fuel to power generators) and rent (seriously, there is no rent for a bar).  The overhead is paid for by your ticket price.  Everyone pays for employees, fuel, and behind scenes employees.  Those cost will exist with or without bar sales.  A ship is not like a restaurant.  The structure is not the same.  Bar sales, retail sales, cupcakes sales, pictures all contribute to profit, and very low "extra cost". 

 

Anyway, $18.00 was only a loss of profit, not a loss of cost.

 

[Solitarycruiser]

I purchased the drink package with Voom (wi-fi) for one device for $54.00 a day.  Normally Voom is $13.99 a day so I got the drink package at $40.00 a day.  I am on the TA leaving 1 March 2020.

[BillOh]

6 hours ago, h20skibum said:

One of our cruises next year is listed at $55, so it varies by ship and sail date

And week to week, and the only think consistent is Royal's inconsistency.    We have had beach beds 2 years in a row at coco - cay, and they werne't available until just a month ago. Back then the water park cabanas were $799.   This week they dropped to $299.  Including 6 water park admissions, this isn't too bad.   Pictures in 2 weeks!

[karena1]

7 hours ago, Samanthac25 said:

Who remembers the drink package price mistake several weeks back where many people were able to purchase their unlimited deluxe beverage package for $18? I think it's great that RC owned their mistake and let everyone who purchased at that price keep it (I wish I were one of them 😕) ...BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now? I've sailed on numerous RC cruises and have always been able to purchase the drink packages on sale, typically around $42-48/day. I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made. I am wondering if everyone else will end up paying for that deal of a lifetime by the drink packages not going on sale like the usually do? Of course, this is just a theory, I hope it's way wrong 😆.

I personally think the increase in Bev Pkg prices is Totally due to the "glitch" of the $18 per day price.  Navigator alone has gone from $70 per day to $81 per day on the ship, so a huge increase AND no announcement ahead of time that prices were going up.  I got a lot of the $18 glitch packages, so not complaining that I have to pay more for the couple I did not get the great deal on.

Edited September 12, 2019 by karena1