new to RC, what are good discount rates for pre-cruise purchases?

[roseoftx]

I read a variety of posts that say to watch the rates and buy when you think its good and rebook if it gets lower, but just wondered what is good?   Excursions seems to all be 10%, internet is 10% right now too, but see people talking about it being lower.  Photos are 25%-30% for the packages now.

 

I can purchase them but in the back of my head it says to watch until it looks reasonable but no idea what that means.  

 

Or maybe asked differently, what is a good price for the various services in your opinion for someone that is not a frequent traveler?

Edited October 15, 2022 by roseoftx

[Merion_Mom]

A good price is what you are willing to pay, what you consider value for your dollars, what works with your budget.

[roseoftx]

I guess I was looking for something a bit more specific.  Like if I asked what was a good price for a pound of applies.  We are doing a Feb sailing so there is still black Friday (maybe) and other opportunities in between and I was just hoping to recognize a good or bad price from others experience.  For example, the streaming package right now is $24 for 1 device with 10% which could be the best the every do or the least? Having never sailed before I don't know. I also get that the percent off is a bit made up, I saw the price increase even though the percent off they claimed did not. 

[FionaMG]

Pay no attention to the percentages; they are meaningless. Look only at the bottom line.

If you check prices once a day (only takes 5 minutes, in your coffee break for example) you start to get a feel for the prices.

Every 2-3 weeks there will be a cruise planner "sale". Some things will go down a bit, some will stay the same and some will actually go up.

A sale has just recently ended so you can expect the $24 internet price to go down to about $20 when the next sale comes along.

Sometimes prices go down even when there is no sale which is why it's worth checking daily, although I admit to not having seen this happen myself post-covid.

Note that prices vary from ship to ship and sail date to sail date, so if someone posts about a fantastic price on something on their sailing, there is no guarantee you will see that same price on yours.

Hope this helps.

Have fun planning! 😊

[RogueMonk]

18 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

A good price is what you are willing to pay, what you consider value for your dollars, what works with your budget.

That was helpful.

[livingonthebeach]

18 hours ago, roseoftx said:

I read a variety of posts that say to watch the rates and buy when you think its good and rebook if it gets lower, but just wondered what is good?   Excursions seems to all be 10%, internet is 10% right now too, but see people talking about it being lower.  Photos are 25%-30% for the packages now.

 

I can purchase them but in the back of my head it says to watch until it looks reasonable but no idea what that means.  

 

Or maybe asked differently, what is a good price for the various services in your opinion for someone that is not a frequent traveler?

 

Look for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

It's like hitting a moving target.  We have only found prices to go down from "normal" during big holiday sales like Black Friday or Labor Day.  The problem is unless you track the "normal" prices you don't know.  If you think it's a good deal then buy it.  If it goes down enough cancel and rebook.  I tracked DBP for months for our upcoming Thanksgiving cruise on Wonder.  I fully expected a holiday cruise to be high.  Lowest was $68, then $72, and then $78.  Just before Labor Day it went to $78 and then the "sale" was $72.  After the sale back to $78 and yesterday $73.  We bought all day passes for Coco Caye Beach Club about five months ago for $125.  They went to almost $200 and have stayed there.  

[nasa1974]

I have a March cruise and over the last few weeks the prices have varied $5 overall. Not a deal yet. Hoping for something during Black Friday to cyber-Monday.

[Merion_Mom]

5 hours ago, RogueMonk said:

That was helpful.

 

There is no numerical answer to the OP's question, as any experienced Royal Caribbean cruiser knows.  The OP wants someone to give that kind of data, and it doesn't exist.  The OP doesn't even mention a ship, and many prices are ship-dependent.

[roseoftx]

13 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

There is no numerical answer to the OP's question, as any experienced Royal Caribbean cruiser knows.  The OP wants someone to give that kind of data, and it doesn't exist.  The OP doesn't even mention a ship, and many prices are ship-dependent.

 

I guess that is why the post started with "new to RC".   Several of the answers have been very helpful and some less so, but thanks to everyone.     

[rockmom]

40 minutes ago, roseoftx said:

 

I guess that is why the post started with "new to RC".   Several of the answers have been very helpful and some less so, but thanks to everyone.     

I'm probably not going to me much help either, but as someone else said, you need to totally ignore the percent off or a 'buy one get one....x amount off'.  The reason is that the 'onboard' price/base price changes quite a bit as well.  So always throw things in your cart, then go all the way to the check out page where you'd need to enter payment info,  to see what gratuities, taxes and fees might get added and that's your final price.  As far as Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales go, I have seen years where it's been great, years where it's not so great.  My gut is telling me that this might be a not-so-great year, especially for things like the Deluxe Beverage Package or Unlimited Dining packages.  Where you tend to get the best deals are on things like the soda or refreshment packages (no booze), or wifi.  Speaking of wifi, if you're going to purchase it for more than one person, it will always be a better deal to purchase it for one person but for multiple devices.  Quite a bit of savings over buying a 1 person, 1 device for everyone, and it works just fine to do 1 person, 2, 3 or 4 devices.  

 

Black Friday will normally actually start the day before Thanksgiving, and if you follow these boards, you'll start to see people posting what 'deals' they have scored.  I have 3 cruises I'm going to be 'shopping for', so am hoping to get a great deal on something, but as I said, not sure this will be a 'bargain' year.  I hope I'm wrong.  

[rockmom]

58 minutes ago, roseoftx said:

 

I guess that is why the post started with "new to RC".   Several of the answers have been very helpful and some less so, but thanks to everyone.     

Also, not sure you're aware, but the prices can be all totally different, even on the same ship, with some sailings having better deals on Cruise Planners things like drink packages.  So what one person might be seeing for their ship/sailing, could be completely different that what you'll see when you log into your cruise planner.  And they can vary widely.  That is part of the reason people can't give you a solid answer.  

[CanHardlyWait4NextYear]

1 hour ago, roseoftx said:

 

I guess that is why the post started with "new to RC".   Several of the answers have been very helpful and some less so, but thanks to everyone.     

Here is some black and white help. Given your date of Feb you can wait on black Friday sales for internet, drinks, etc. They will not sell out, so whatever the black Friday sale is will still probably be a few bucks savings. Now thinks like shore excursions could sell out by end of November for February. Don't wait. Buy now and if black Friday sale is better you can risk canceling and rebooking if it still has a lot of inventory. It's risky. You have to keep checking how close to sold out/popular things look. That's why I say hold off mostly on things they cannot run out of like drinks, internet, etc. But I wouldn't on things that have space limitations like excursions or anything there may only be enough room for x amount of people. Late November then becomes too close to February. I have things I cannot get now for May at any price because they are sold out. But still holding out for black Friday for beverages etc. Hope this helps.

(Just noticed you mentioned photo packages. They won't ever run out of them. Lol. Hold out for black friday) Again, excursions act now. 

Edited October 16, 2022 by CanHardlyWait4NextYear
Edit

[happy cruzer]

The advice to buy what you want and the cancel and buy at the lower price is good.  It was very easy to do for a dining package.  The credit/refund showed up really quickly.

[lcpagejr]

15 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

It's like hitting a moving target.  We have only found prices to go down from "normal" during big holiday sales like Black Friday or Labor Day.  The problem is unless you track the "normal" prices you don't know.  If you think it's a good deal then buy it.  If it goes down enough cancel and rebook.  I tracked DBP for months for our upcoming Thanksgiving cruise on Wonder.  I fully expected a holiday cruise to be high.  Lowest was $68, then $72, and then $78.  Just before Labor Day it went to $78 and then the "sale" was $72.  After the sale back to $78 and yesterday $73.  We bought all day passes for Coco Caye Beach Club about five months ago for $125.  They went to almost $200 and have stayed there.  

Finding similariies to our cruise on Odyssey over Thanksgiving. DBP has varied from $68 -$73,,, over last 90 days. Doesn't appear it will drop any lower. Ill grab the $67 price next time they put on a "sale" which seems every 2-3 weeks 

Edited October 16, 2022 by lcpagejr

[rudeney]

We booked our last cruise (which we return from a week ago) back in March.  I checked prices in Cruise Planner each day.  I didn't have the opportunity to get any Black Friday prices, but every holiday - Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day - had a "sale" that did offer the lowest prices. 

 

My advice: Check every day because sometimes they make mistakes, like when on some cruises, The Key was offered at less than the price of Voom by itself.  Even if not, you'll get an idea for the range of prices and be ready to jump when what you want bottoms out.  

[roseoftx]

11 hours ago, CanHardlyWait4NextYear said:

Here is some black and white help. Given your date of Feb you can wait on black Friday sales for internet, drinks, etc. They will not sell out, so whatever the black Friday sale is will still probably be a few bucks savings.

(Just noticed you mentioned photo packages. They won't ever run out of them. Lol. Hold out for black friday) Again, excursions act now. 

A couple of really helpful posts, thanks again to everyone.  It's funny because while I agree, they never run out of photos, they are one of the more expensive ones.  so when I see $112 for 10 photos (25% off), it still sounds expensive but again with nothing to compare it to, it might be a good deal.  But the "they won't run out of it" gauge is probably a good place to start.   I get I can buy it now and re-book it again when its lower and have already done that for some things.  And certainly, will book anything left by end of November.

[rudeney]

Besides shore excursions, I think the only things they "run out of" are The Key and the UDP.  

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

3 hours ago, lcpagejr said:

Finding similariies to our cruise on Odyssey over Thanksgiving. DBP has varied from $68 -$73,,, over last 90 days. Doesn't appear it will drop any lower. Ill grab the $67 price next time they put on a "sale" which seems every 2-3 weeks 

Good luck and let us know if it drops that far.  I bought at $72 about a week after it had been $68 and I haven't seen it below $72.  Even if it went to $68 again I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle to cancel and rebook for $5 a day.  

[rudeney]

2 hours ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

Good luck and let us know if it drops that far.  I bought at $72 about a week after it had been $68 and I haven't seen it below $72.  Even if it went to $68 again I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle to cancel and rebook for $5 a day.  

 

To save $35 on the DBP, I'd cancel and rebuy.  I probably wouldn't do that with shorex, The Key or UDP for fear of it being sold-out when trying to re-purchase.