Water price increase

[DirtyDawg]

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

Guests may also bring non-alcoholic beverages as carry-on items on boarding day. Non-alcoholic beverages may not exceed 12 standard (17 oz.) cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/food-drink-onboard-policy

WOW, that's low for some people.

Are we now going to have hundreds of water smuggling threads around here?

 

 

[whitecap]

9 minutes ago, long4acruise said:

To compare water pricing against another cruiseline: HAL is charging $37.99 (incl 18% service charge ) for twelve 12-oz cans!  That's $3 per 12 oz can.

Guests aren't allowed to bring on any plastic bottles of water either at embarkation or at the port. Guest can bring on up to six liters or twelve cans (500 ml or less) per stateroom.

As a potential customer of HAL, these types of restrictions and charges would certainly make me look twice at booking with them.  We have cruised on Princess, RCCL, Carnival, Disney and Celebrity and to date, as shown by our status on Princess, we have found Princess to be the most reasonable with most things, drink packages aside.  We have sailed on Oasis, Harmony and Allure a number of times and have enjoyed every cruise.  We have back to back 7 day cruises on the Adventure coming up and are really looking forward to it but with that said, we are always very conscience of pricing and restrictions.  

[DirtyDawg]

22 minutes ago, whitecap said:

I surely do hope that RCCL would not stoop to doing that, just to make a few extra bucks.  If they do, well, that will tell you something about RCCL.

It will tell us that RCCL is looking out for the people they should be looking out for ...

 

Their bankers and bondholders. 😁

[whitecap]

2 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

It will tell us that RCCL is looking out for the people they should be looking out for ...

 

Their bankers and bondholders. 😁

And I don't begrudge any business trying to make money for its shareholders and investors but it is like I've told business owners who have prepared "estimates" for work I needed done, "I don't mind you making a profit and I applaud you wanting to put your child through college, but I'm not going to pay for their degree."  I am always looking for a fair price for the service I need and that applies to cruise lines as well.  

[Joseph2017China]

22 hours ago, whitecap said:

And I could understand that once an item becomes "popular" that it may cause a slight increase but Doubled?  I kind of think that doubling the price may actually be taking advantage of your customers.  But thats just me.

Any price of water is taking advantage of you.  Water is free on the ship, but in a bottle it cost money.  I think two decades ago, bottled water was only for hikers and campers not it seems people carry water with them where they are.  So the price is whatever people are willing to pay.  It is a profit stream.  

 

So free water went up.  Soda went up.  All packages went up.  Either pay it, or just drink the free stuff like I do for my entire life.  (Still alive)

[DirtyDawg]

6 minutes ago, whitecap said:

And I don't begrudge any business trying to make money for its shareholders and investors but it is like I've told business owners who have prepared "estimates" for work I needed done, "I don't mind you making a profit and I applaud you wanting to put your child through college, but I'm not going to pay for their degree."  I am always looking for a fair price for the service I need and that applies to cruise lines as well.  

So what's a fair price Royal should charge for the bottled water?

Edited March 9, 2023 by DirtyDawg

[firefly333]

14 minutes ago, whitecap said:

As a potential customer of HAL, these types of restrictions and charges would certainly make me look twice at booking with them.  We have cruised on Princess, RCCL, Carnival, Disney and Celebrity and to date, as shown by our status on Princess, we have found Princess to be the most reasonable with most things, drink packages aside.  We have sailed on Oasis, Harmony and Allure a number of times and have enjoyed every cruise.  We have back to back 7 day cruises on the Adventure coming up and are really looking forward to it but with that said, we are always very conscience of pricing and restrictions.  

And when I'm on carnival for instance I miss my 5 free drinks and 2 days of wifi rcl gives me. I did cheers twice e but its wasted on me as I hardly drink. I like having the option of specialty coffee or fresh squeezed oj and maybe a drink or not. Dont use all 5 vouchers but it's nice having the option which other lines dont give me.

[whitecap]

1 minute ago, Joseph2017China said:

Any price of water is taking advantage of you.  Water is free on the ship, but in a bottle it cost money.  I think two decades ago, bottled water was only for hikers and campers not it seems people carry water with them where they are.  So the price is whatever people are willing to pay.  It is a profit stream.  

 

So free water went up.  Soda went up.  All packages went up.  Either pay it, or just drink the free stuff like I do for my entire life.  (Still alive)

As has been mentioned here, some bottled water has a specific taste that people like and some have added or natural ingredients that people want.  I have no problem with ship water, after all, I drink the coffee, tea, lemonade; I brush my teeth and bath with that water and I, like you, am still alive and kicking.  But for those, including my DW, who like the taste and ingredients of some bottled water, it is exactly as you stated, "So the price is whatever people are willing to pay.  It is a profit stream."    

[whitecap]

6 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

So what's a fair price Royal should charge for the bottled water?

That is a very good question.  To answer it, one would have to know the actual cost to RCCL, per bottle or per case or per thousands of cases.  If twelve 1 liter bottles cost RCCL $5.00, maybe charging passengers $31.00 is a little excessive.  My point was only that RCCL, or any cruise line, shouldn't "take advantage".  Provide a service at a reasonable price.  To double your price, all at once, to me is excessive.  

[dliteu]

I just paid $64 with the tax for a 24 pack. On Harmony for next year

[DirtyDawg]

5 minutes ago, whitecap said:

That is a very good question.  To answer it, one would have to know the actual cost to RCCL, per bottle or per case or per thousands of cases.  If twelve 1 liter bottles cost RCCL $5.00, maybe charging passengers $31.00 is a little excessive.  My point was only that RCCL, or any cruise line, shouldn't "take advantage".  Provide a service at a reasonable price.  To double your price, all at once, to me is excessive.  

It's excessive for you, that's OK. But why not let the market determine if it's excessive for a majority of cruisers? Thanks for starting this thread and providing this information about the price increase but I'll let the market decide if this is an excessive increase.  I won't be buying their bottled water at $31 because I don't get enough utility from the stuff. But others may get enough utility to pay $31. If there are enough of them, the price will stick, if not Royal will reduce their price. 

[DirtyDawg]

2 minutes ago, dliteu said:

I just paid $64 with the tax for a 24 pack. On Harmony for next year

So are you 🙂 or are you 😒 about that?

[whitecap]

2 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

It's excessive for you, that's OK. But why not let the market determine if it's excessive for a majority of cruisers? Thanks for starting this thread and providing this information about the price increase but I'll let the market decide if this is an excessive increase.  I won't be buying their bottled water at $31 because I don't get enough utility from the stuff. But others may get enough utility to pay $31. If there are enough of them, the price will stick, if not Royal will reduce their price. 

And that is exactly what I have said all along.  If the customer is willing to pay it, they will keep charging it.  Each person must make their own decisions about what they are willing to pay for the cruise, excursions or other services.  If you like the food at the specialty restaurants and are willing to pay the price, go for it, enjoy.  Others may feel that their money is best spent elsewhere.  

[Ryder101]

6 hours ago, adolfo2 said:

We had previously "booked & paid" for a 24-bottle case of water... waiting for them to cancel 😞

When's your trip? Post if they do please.

[Jerseygirl1416]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:06 AM, cruiselvr04 said:

This doesn’t have anything to do with ship water since we drink it only for a week or two but do inform yourself about the ph of the brand you drink at home.  It can vary a lot.  A higher ph is better for you but it doesn’t have to be super high like the 9.0 brands. It can make a difference if you drink a lot of bottled water.  We switched to pure life from Aquafina for this reason.

PH level in water is irrelevant because once it goes through your stomach acid it all becomes the same. The new alkaline water is a scam.

[Jerseygirl1416]

On 3/8/2023 at 10:50 AM, crewsweeper said:

Water is water, folks.  But there can be taste differences depending on what you are used to drinking. However, All bottled water is just bottled water. Smart Water doesn't make you smarter than tap water. Evian is all marketing, thus being better is simply in your head.  Why are you paying more for water than you do for gas? The Evian is over $9 a gallon.😮

Spring water is just that, water from a spring. Purified water is just tap water they’ve filtered. 

[The Scurvy Pirate]

It's starting to make the refeshment package look more reasonable....  it's only a matter of time before the coffee card price increases.  It has been $31 for as long as I remember (and never goes on sale).

[crewsweeper]

33 minutes ago, Jerseygirl1416 said:

Spring water is just that, water from a spring. Purified water is just tap water they’ve filtered. 

Spring water also comes through boreholes and all spring water is supposed to be tested before bottling.  But there's NOTHING unsafe about either spring or purified water, It's a matter of taste and what biases we all carry in our heads.  Drinking water on land out of your kitchen tap may carry impurities caused by your pipes and the water system's pipes.  So that still begs the question about buying water on board ship where purified ship water is free and bottled water (maybe be spring may not be) has to be purchased at rather extreme prices..

[whitecap]

I see this morning that the prices have changed for the water package:  Twelve 1 liter bottles is now $23 (was $31) and the twenty four, 1 liter bottles has gone to $41 (was $55).  

RCCL monitoring CC or was the listed prices yesterday a mistake.  Regardless, the new price is certainly better, which makes DW 🤩 and that makes me 😀

[roseoftx]

It still has the list price as $39, for 2 different cruises one lists it as 40% off at $23 and one at 20% off at $31.  But in the grand scope of things, that's only about a dollar a day difference. 

Edited March 10, 2023 by roseoftx

[whitecap]

3 minutes ago, roseoftx said:

It still has the list price as $39, for 2 different cruises one lists it as 40% off at $23 and one at 20% off at $31.  But in the grand scope of things, that's only about a dollar a day difference. 

And don't forget, they add that 18% gratuity.  Just checked and prior to checkout, there it was, $7.37 gratuity.  

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, whitecap said:

RCCL monitoring CC or was the listed prices yesterday a mistake.

Neither likely, just good ole RCI dynamic pricing.

[zoepipes]

That's the beauty of cruising - you can spend as little or as much as you like.   Nobody is "steering" us anywhere.  I'm good with the ship's water.  You can bring water onboard with you if you're set on bottled water, but I prefer my "one" bottle of wine (my husband will be carrying the other, ha!)

Edited March 10, 2023 by zoepipes
addition

[sandc4e]

Noticed this as well this morning.  Glad we booked our water months ago, it's almost triple to what we paid.

 

[ShillyShally]

On 3/9/2023 at 8:27 AM, dliteu said:

I just paid $64 with the tax for a 24 pack. On Harmony for next year

Check today, it's on sale!