Cruise Planner Sales Bad

[baelor]

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Do you have a coin to flip?

No, but I do have a bevy of RCI cruisers who may be able to draw on prior experience. 😄

[luckyinpa]

is there any other line that routinely changes pricing by day, by ship. by hour? i'm pretty sure NCL and Princess and celebrity have basically a fixed price for the booze. why does royal change by day, by ship , by week anyway? seems to really really irritate the passengers. why would a cruise like do this to the big spenders? 

[Biker19]

7 minutes ago, baelor said:

No, but I do have a bevy of RCI cruisers who may be able to draw on prior experience. 😄

Which will mean virtually nothing in helping to answer your question.

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

why does royal change by day, by ship , by week anyway?

$$$

[baelor]

Just now, Biker19 said:

Which will mean virtually nothing in helping to answer your question.

Not if there are predictable patterns that play out with most/all cruises.  For all I know, RCI routinely jacks prices up like this and invariably drops them three days later.

[Biker19]

6 minutes ago, baelor said:

Not if there are predictable patterns that play out with most/all cruises. 

That's my point, there aren't any. Pricing for both the cabin price and some planner items totally depends on that particular ship/date selling pattern.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Biker19

[baelor]

Just now, Biker19 said:

That's my point, there aren't any. Pricing for both the cabin price and some planner items totally depends on that particular ships'/date selling pattern.

Thanks; good to know!

[firefly333]

I purchased a 25% off excursion. I already had one booked another day same cruise at 30% off. 

 

The dinners and drink are ridiculous.  Says sale but all are up. No way. Luckily I get bogo with diamond plus for 2. Works for me. They are always trying to discount something onboard. 

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, baelor said:

What are the odds the price will go down soon?  Ours went 66-72 for an August sailing.  One of our group is extremely reluctant to buy at the new price, and I may have a hard time persuading him, so if a drop is expected, I can just wait it out.

I'll take a wild guess and say there will be a Memorial Day sale with better prices. If you don't see one that week, then for an August sailing I might just accept whatever price it is at that point.

Edited April 19, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[EntropyGuardian]

If you book an excursion or something else now, then memorial day comes and prices drop doesn't it say it can take 30 days to be refunded and there may be a few associated with cancelling in the fine print? 

 

People are talking like it takes two clicks to rebook but that scares me that I won't have the cash back to snag a new deal.

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, EntropyGuardian said:

People are talking like it takes two clicks to rebook but that scares me that I won't have the cash back to snag a new deal.

OBC already in the planner gets credited right away when you cancel a planner purchase with it, but otherwise, yes, the credit can take a while (recent reporting suggests maybe a week)

[2chiefs]

Will we ever see the $18 drink package again! LOL

[Ozark_Kid]

For our Alaska cruise next month we got the surf & stream 4 devices for $39.99.  Today they are asking $20.99 for 1 device.  It’s good to watch the price of your cruise after you book too.  Our Cruise has dropped over $700 which we have been refund some and the rest OBC.  The change in prices only makes me happy because I only lock in on a price that is good for us.  If it later drops more I see it as a better bargain that I didn’t have to get.

[Sunshine3601]

3 hours ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

It's ridiculous! $99/day for the beverage package?! They are nuts.

 

You would have to drink 8 $13 drinks to make it worthwhile at that price.    

[Sunshine3601]

1 hour ago, EntropyGuardian said:

If you book an excursion or something else now, then memorial day comes and prices drop doesn't it say it can take 30 days to be refunded and there may be a few associated with cancelling in the fine print? 

 

People are talking like it takes two clicks to rebook but that scares me that I won't have the cash back to snag a new deal.

Majority of my refunds for cruise planner items have taken 3 to 7 days.   Depends on the credit card company too.    some seem to take longer to process refunds than others.    

[Jerseygirl1416]

Anyone know the current Voom surf cost on board?

[ceo418]

This is probably a silly question...but do the beverage packages ever sell out? My husband would like to upgrade his soda package to the refreshment package for our cruise in September, and I thought I'd see if they have any sales around Memorial Day before making the switch.

[Jerseygirl1416]

9 minutes ago, ceo418 said:

This is probably a silly question...but do the beverage packages ever sell out? My husband would like to upgrade his soda package to the refreshment package for our cruise in September, and I thought I'd see if they have any sales around Memorial Day before making the switch.

No but the cruise planner closes within a couple of days of the cruise 

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

Anyone know the current Voom surf cost on board?

 

Likely some figure a bit higher than above.

[bayportkat]

8 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I was truly hoping to see some decent internet prices.    Surf and stream is 20.99 and surf is 16.99 for 3 of our future cruises.   Guess I'll book now and keep checking back

What are the lowest prices to look for?  I am seeing these prices for our August cruise and wondering if I should stick it out and wait?   Do you know if the soda package alone ever goes up?  We have it for 8.99 so adding the soda and room we would only be paying $17 per day for internet- just not sure if it is worth it .  Does it ever go lower than that?

[Sunshine3601]

21 minutes ago, bayportkat said:

What are the lowest prices to look for?  I am seeing these prices for our August cruise and wondering if I should stick it out and wait?   Do you know if the soda package alone ever goes up?  We have it for 8.99 so adding the soda and room we would only be paying $17 per day for internet- just not sure if it is worth it .  Does it ever go lower than that?

I figure I will just book at current sale for internet then if I see a better price I will just cancel that order and rebook at the lower price.    Yes, this can be done with any cruise planner purchase.    

 

Our Son had soda package for $6.99 for our March sailing - that was a black friday sale from Nov 2021.    I have not seen anything lower than $8.99 in a couple of months.  

I think they charge $4 or $4.50 per soda so if you drink more than 2 sodas per da then it is worth it.    

[Sunshine3601]

26 minutes ago, bayportkat said:

What are the lowest prices to look for?  I am seeing these prices for our August cruise and wondering if I should stick it out and wait?   Do you know if the soda package alone ever goes up?  We have it for 8.99 so adding the soda and room we would only be paying $17 per day for internet- just not sure if it is worth it .  Does it ever go lower than that?

I doubt we will see these prices ever again at this rate, but the Nov 2021 black friday sail has voom surf at $9.99 / day and surf & stream I think was $15.99.   The 2 device package was something like $24 or $25 for surf n stream per day.     

   

[ARandomTraveler]

16 hours ago, bayportkat said:

What are the lowest prices to look for?  I am seeing these prices for our August cruise and wondering if I should stick it out and wait?   Do you know if the soda package alone ever goes up?  We have it for 8.99 so adding the soda and room we would only be paying $17 per day for internet- just not sure if it is worth it .  Does it ever go lower than that?

Take my reports of prices below with a grain of salt because I'm basing this info purely off my own 2 booked cruises and what I've read on cruise critic from other people.

 

Based on my limited knowledge and "research" these seem to be the most common low prices that you should look for, other than maybe Black Friday sales. And of course the more popular ships and sailing routes tend to have these low prices less often than some of the older ships or less common travel routes.

 

Prior to Covid, the soda package was selling for the same price that it goes for today ($8.99). That one doesn't seem to change much, regardless of ship, sailing date etc. other than some infrequent reports of Black Friday sales.

 

The refreshment package was usually going for $19.99 at it's lowest pre-Covid, now it seems to be $23 at its lowest.

 

The alcohol package for "most" ships pre-Covid was, I think, in the $55 range, but now the lowest price seems to be $58, but that appears more frequently on the southern Caribbean routes, because there are so many port days (and even at that price, with 5 or 6 port days, $58 isn't a very good deal).
 

For western and eastern routes, and even some Alaska and Europe routes, I see reports of $62 being the most common low price. 
 

For ultimate dining, it sounds like $189 is the low price to look for, but seems rare-ish. My southern Caribbean route had it listed for $169/person for a week, and now it's been $219 for a month, which I've gathered is a terrible price for a ship with only 3 specialty restaurants and 6 port days (no sea days so no lunches). But on a bigger ship with a couple sea days, it's not the worst price, but it could be better, so I'm holding out for $189-$200.
 

Edited April 20, 2022 by ARandomTraveler

[The Scurvy Pirate]

I tend to keep track of the cruise planner prices and noticed that on April 5, 2021, the "base" prices for UDP, UBP and internet on the two cruises I had booked went up 10%.  This year, yesterday, they seemed to have gone up another 10% (even taking into consideration the newest "sale").  Crazily, UDP on 8 day Explorer went from $192 (sale)/$216(regular) to $280/$296 last week.  UBP BOGO sale price went from $66 to $73 with this most recent sale, while including internet went from $83 to $90.  It's cheaper ordering those separately now.  Also, going back several years ordering a dozen roses for the room was $75 - $79 and now its $110.

[CruisingHogFan]

Can’t expect to see prices from 2021 or before and probably will continue to go up just like everything else