Strange pre-cruise marketing “Sale” trick for CocoCay Floating and Beach Cabanas

[ReadyToCruise2]

On our planned November 2021 cruise on the Oasis, the high price for the CocoCay Floating Cabana ($1,699) and Beach Cabana ($1,599) have stayed the same since we booked in May.  Every week or so a banner will appear in the picture saying “Over $800 in Savings” and below the price it will say “Price Shown Reflects Your Discount”.  But the price is exactly the same as it was before the apparent sales pitch.  The next week the banner and discount note is gone without the price changing.  The discount banner then returns the following week (again with no actual price change).  It doesn't help to add the item to your cart to see if the price drops $800.

 

On other items when a sale hits, the price changes.  But not on these.  I've seen other posts where the price has dropped for the Cabanas for certain cruises. Wonder if Royal Caribbean is just trying to trick people into thinking they are getting a better deal when they see this Savings banner.

[smokeybandit]

Of course they're trying to trick people. Every company does that.

[TheBucketLister]

This happens on a bunch of different things in the Cruise Planner.  A lot of the times those banners, don't match the actual price/percent off when you either look at the price after clicking on it or adding it to the cart.

[MeHeartCruising]

If the “list price” (which may never be shown publicly) is $2499 for the cabana, then the $1699 price they offer it to you is indeed discounted $800.  They don’t always have to show it as “on sale”.  So it doesn’t always need to have a banner.  They can still sell it at $1699 if they want.

[HicksRA]

Welcome to Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. 
Where the prices are made up and the sales don’t matter….

[not-enough-cruising]

Marketing 101

[Merion_Mom]

Caveat emptor.

[ReadyToCruise2]

41 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

If the “list price” (which may never be shown publicly) is $2499 for the cabana, then the $1699 price they offer it to you is indeed discounted $800.  They don’t always have to show it as “on sale”.  So it doesn’t always need to have a banner.  They can still sell it at $1699 if they want.

Maybe.  But I dug a little deeper into this practice at the Federal Trade Commission.  Since they established their normal pricing for this for over 6 months at $1699, I believe the FTC would find this a deceptive pricing tactic to imply that today $1699 was a $800 savings.  Especially when on many other items when they have the sale banner, the discounted price is lower than that previously shown.

[brillohead]

5 hours ago, ReadyToCruise2 said:

Maybe.  But I dug a little deeper into this practice at the Federal Trade Commission.  Since they established their normal pricing for this for over 6 months at $1699, I believe the FTC would find this a deceptive pricing tactic to imply that today $1699 was a $800 savings.  Especially when on many other items when they have the sale banner, the discounted price is lower than that previously shown.

Pretty sure that the sales are off the "on board price" rather than the "normal Cruise Planner price".  So your argument doesn't hold water.

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, brillohead said:

Pretty sure that the sales are off the "on board price" rather than the "normal Cruise Planner price".  So your argument doesn't hold water.

 

^^^ This

[Moltar]

15 hours ago, ReadyToCruise2 said:

Maybe.  But I dug a little deeper into this practice at the Federal Trade Commission.  Since they established their normal pricing for this for over 6 months at $1699, I believe the FTC would find this a deceptive pricing tactic to imply that today $1699 was a $800 savings.  Especially when on many other items when they have the sale banner, the discounted price is lower than that previously shown.

 

This definitely holds water.  It is wrong to put it simply.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Moltar

[SConnolly]

Marketing 

Edited October 11, 2021 by SConnolly
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[nelblu]

I've got a 5 niter on Mariner in December.  Went to the cruise planner to price some excursions.  One of them caught my eye Labadee Experience, Cozumel, Mexico.  So I look at the details and it describes Labadee, Haiti port of call.😜  Cruise only stops in Cozumel and Nassau.