RCCL Holding back cabins

[steveru621]

Too many people are under the impression corporate America is out to screw you.  All I'm asking for is proof.  Is that so bad?

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, steveru621 said:

 

Quote?  or interpretation?  

Quote.  

[steveru621]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Quote.  

 

I have not seen any quotes.  Frankly, I have no idea why outside of group TAs this would be true.  

[amby6063]

Interesting. We are booked for symphony on January 7th in 3 balcony guarantees. Looking now for a 2 person cabin the only option is a boardwalk, Central Park, or gty. No option to book an OV cabin on their website (or Costco). 

 

for the cabin with 4 people there are only 5 boardwalks, 2 central parks and quite a few OV balconies. 
 

So curious where we’ll all end up. I wonder if they’re holding cabins back or if it’s just an almost full sailing! 

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, steveru621 said:

 

I have not seen any quotes.  Frankly, I have no idea why outside of group TAs this would be true.  

They are holding back inventory to release later in tje booking cycle when prices are higher...pretty simple. 

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, steveru621 said:

Frankly, I have no idea why outside of group TAs this would be true.  

As most RCG decisions, and especially Liberty (the CEO, not the ship), it's likely about $.

[steveru621]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

They are holding back inventory to release later in tje booking cycle when prices are higher...pretty simple. 

 

Give me the quote.  Is that so hard?  How could you possibly know?  I'm absolutely saying all I want is proof, NOT INTERPRETATION.  You have always been an excellent source of info.  All I'm asking for is proof RCI is trying to screw its customers.

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, steveru621 said:

 

Give me the quote.  Is that so hard?  How could you possibly know?  I'm absolutely saying all I want is proof, NOT INTERPRETATION.  You have always been an excellent source of info.  All I'm asking for is proof RCI is trying to screw its customers.

Or since a few of us have told you exactly what was said why dont you do some research and find it yourself if you don't believe us.  

[seasidemama]

1 hour ago, steveru621 said:

 

Quote?  or interpretation?  

 

If you google 5/4/23 investor call transcript, you will find it. Here's the actual pertinent part:

 

 

"Jason Liberty -- Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Well, we actually, through the COVID period, had kind of shifted how we go to market with our inventory. We used to kind of put everything out there and all the suites would be sold basically right off the bat. And then you would kind of work your way down to the inside cabins.

Well, now we hold back inventory and we release it, based off, of the much more sophisticated revenue management models that we have today. And so, all of that takes into account, you know, the demand environment we are seeing and that's why I think sometimes when we get into conversations around what percent booked are you? How does it relate to this period versus that period? What we are really focused on is optimizing yield. And so, there might be periods where, you know, quarter over quarter or year over year, we want to be in a stronger book position or less -- or lesser than what we were booked in a previous period because what we're focused on is maximizing yield, which, sometimes, you know, comes with us having more inventory to sell."

[steveru621]

1 minute ago, seasidemama said:

 

If you google 5/4/23 investor call transcript, you will find it. Here's the actual pertinent part:

 

 

"Jason Liberty -- Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Well, we actually, through the COVID period, had kind of shifted how we go to market with our inventory. We used to kind of put everything out there and all the suites would be sold basically right off the bat. And then you would kind of work your way down to the inside cabins.

Well, now we hold back inventory and we release it, based off, of the much more sophisticated revenue management models that we have today. And so, all of that takes into account, you know, the demand environment we are seeing and that's why I think sometimes when we get into conversations around what percent booked are you? How does it relate to this period versus that period? What we are really focused on is optimizing yield. And so, there might be periods where, you know, quarter over quarter or year over year, we want to be in a stronger book position or less -- or lesser than what we were booked in a previous period because what we're focused on is maximizing yield, which, sometimes, you know, comes with us having more inventory to sell."

 

Excellent. That's all I asked for.  I'm not trying to say you are wrong. I am deeply disappointed that RCI and RCG will screw their customers.  To all those I doubted, I'm ashamed and humbled.

[steveru621]

18 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Or since a few of us have told you exactly what was said why dont you do some research and find it yourself if you don't believe us.  

 

I apologize.  How many times have you heard, I'm positive.  I just read a post that said there are no NFL games on RCI TV.  (in MAY) again sorry.

[seasidemama]

29 minutes ago, amby6063 said:

Interesting. We are booked for symphony on January 7th in 3 balcony guarantees. Looking now for a 2 person cabin the only option is a boardwalk, Central Park, or gty. No option to book an OV cabin on their website (or Costco). 

 

for the cabin with 4 people there are only 5 boardwalks, 2 central parks and quite a few OV balconies. 
 

So curious where we’ll all end up. I wonder if they’re holding cabins back or if it’s just an almost full sailing! 

 

I'm looking at July/August 2024 sailings for 3x in room- only the following balcony options on multiple sailings are available: boardwalk guarantee, central park balcony guarantee, OV balcony guarantee. OV w/large balcony is the only balcony category with actual cabins available. Large balcony is pricing out at just under $2,000 pp for three in a room. Range between $1,680-$1,980 pp depending on the sailing.   I very much doubt all these sailings a year out are almost sold out..

Edited August 7, 2023 by seasidemama
typo

[Eddie Wilson]

Isn’t holding back some inventory, then releasing them.with higher prices closer to the sail date theoretically accomplishing the same thing as the “Royal Up” bidding game as the sail date gets close?  Better forRCL as they collect all the added revenue, not a split fee with the Royal Up vendor. 

 

I think knowing the the hold back happens encourages one to plan/book even earlier than they have in the past. 

 

Alternatively, I believe it also encourages some folks to utilize a TA, if they have blocks of rooms, which incurs a commission.  

 

Eddie

[seasidemama]

17 minutes ago, Eddie Wilson said:

Isn’t holding back some inventory, then releasing them.with higher prices closer to the sail date theoretically accomplishing the same thing as the “Royal Up” bidding game as the sail date gets close?  Better forRCL as they collect all the added revenue, not a split fee with the Royal Up vendor. 

 

I think knowing the the hold back happens encourages one to plan/book even earlier than they have in the past. 

 

Alternatively, I believe it also encourages some folks to utilize a TA, if they have blocks of rooms, which incurs a commission.  

 

Eddie

 

I don't think the hold back is very well known. I think people truly believe cruises are almost full 12 months ahead of sailings and are grabbing what they think is the last availability at exorbitant prices (as of late) - which is the point of this RCL marketing strategy. Actually brilliant if you think about it... Free hype yielding very high returns. I do think at some point the strategy will backfire and prices will have to drop significantly to fill the large inventory of empty cabins. I don't think it will happen this year, but with the state of the economy and people racking up high APR debt, covid lockdown fever getting farther and farther in that rear view memory and future cruise credits exhausted - that's when the big bang will happen.   What might also happen is in the interim, cruisers who were die hard RCL loyalists who chose to try other lines because of prices will stay with those other lines...  I anticipate the earning calls to be much different when that happens. Just my 2 cents.  

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, Eddie Wilson said:

Isn’t holding back some inventory, then releasing them with higher prices closer to the sail date theoretically accomplishing the same thing as the “Royal Up” bidding game as the sail date gets close?

The revenue is likely higher with this new scheme and the timing of the bookings is likely further out than Royal ups.

[Ourusualbeach]

The other thing that you get with holding back inventory is that better cabins come on the market later in the booking cycle.  Instead of all the good ones being taken early on they are released gradually.  This was readily apparent with the release of Utopia who by the way is the first ship using Royals new revenue management tool.  When Utopia was release there were entire decks or sections of decks that were not available to book.

[orville99]

28 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The other thing that you get with holding back inventory is that better cabins come on the market later in the booking cycle.  Instead of all the good ones being taken early on they are released gradually.  This was readily apparent with the release of Utopia who by the way is the first ship using Royals new revenue management tool.  When Utopia was release there were entire decks or sections of decks that were not available to book.

One thing that should help soothe the mood of people who book those few that show as available is that as additional inventory in a particular category is released, a quick call to RCL usually results in the ability to switch cabins w/o any additional cost. We have "preferred" cabins that we always try to book, but when we were booking our B2B Wonder cruises none of them were available. The matching category cabins a few doors down were all that showed, so we booked one of those. About a month later our "preferred" cabin popped up on all six cruises, so we called RCL and had all six moved. Cost us $0 additional to do that.

 

I guess if you can't get the cabin you want but can book the category you want, keep checking the booking site to see if anything else in that category shows up

Edited August 7, 2023 by orville99

[Ourusualbeach]

4 minutes ago, orville99 said:

One thing that should help soothe the mood of people who book those few that show as available is that as additional inventory in a particular category is released, a quick call to RCL usually results in the ability to switch cabins w/o any additional cost. We have "preferred" cabins that we always try to book, but when we were booking our B2B Wonder cruises none of them were available. The matching category cabins a few doors down were all that showed, so we booked one of those. About a month later our "preferred" cabin popped up on all six cruises, so we called RCL and had all six moved. Cost us $0 additional to do that.

 

I guess if you can't get the cabin you want but can book the category you want, keep checking the booking site to see if anything else in that category shows up

Exactly.

[scooby1]

They will be holding some things back but the reality is that bookings for flights and on land holidays is way up. In the UK Jet2 has a 35% increase in bookings, RCL is the same. The bounce back is significant and like it or not more people seem to have the money or want to cruise. 

 

RCL are going to want to maximise income for shareholders it's as simple as that. If people are still willing to pay for the high trip costs, holidays and more then they love that and many people are. Will it back off, time will tell but not anytime soon. 

[orville99]

Just now, scooby1 said:

RCL are going to want to maximise income for shareholders it's as simple as that. If people are still willing to pay for the high trip costs, holidays and more then they love that and many people are. Will it back off, time will tell but not anytime soon. 

One thing that we have seen firsthand is that waiting to book in the hopes of getting a lower price seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird. Every single one of the cruises that we have booked between now and April 2025 (all booked shortly after the itineraries were first released) have more than doubled in price, and about a third of them are now showing at more than 3X the price we paid when we booked.

[scooby1]

1 minute ago, orville99 said:

One thing that we have seen firsthand is that waiting to book in the hopes of getting a lower price seems to have gone the way of the dodo bird. Every single one of the cruises that we have booked between now and April 2025 (all booked shortly after the itineraries were first released) have more than doubled in price, and about a third of them are now showing at more than 3X the price we paid when we booked.

Yeah agreed, we just came back off Anthem and it was Very Very full almost at full capacity and it felt it but people are willing to pay. There were cabins available at the very end a little cheaper but if you had kids you couldn't book the ship is full. 

We have looked for a cruise next year this time with another company and already it's showing full for kids. They are getting booked up earlier and faster than ever before and if you wait for that bargain, it 'might' come but you might also lose out. 

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, scooby1 said:

Yeah agreed, we just came back off Anthem and it was Very Very full almost at full capacity and it felt it but people are willing to pay. There were cabins available at the very end a little cheaper but if you had kids you couldn't book the ship is full. 

We have looked for a cruise next year this time with another company and already it's showing full for kids. They are getting booked up earlier and faster than ever before and if you wait for that bargain, it 'might' come but you might also lose out. 

We wanted to add our 10 yo grandson to an existing booking for next July, and the cost of adding him as a third person in our cabin would have cost more than the total we originally paid for the two of us.😱

[Pratique]

The airlines and hotels hold back inventory using similar thinking to make sure they still have seats/rooms to sell (or use for re-bookings) on short notice and to increase revenue. They probably teach this stuff in business school. Will it backfire? Probably not but even if it does they will be able to adjust without going bankrupt.

 

Not sure why customers expect these companies to be more generous? They are all seeking to maximize profit. At least Royal is open about what they are doing.

[Cigar King]

We had a B2B booked on Freedom in a 2BR GS.  It was cancelled due to the ship going into drydock.  We were offered basically the same dates, but on Oasis.  There were no, that we could see, 2BR GS available though.  Our TA was able to contact Royal and they had (we were told) rooms saved and we were able to get the rooms.

[RoperDK]

I am trying to do this "within the rules".  Everyone talks about their TAs that hold group space and even their suites are available with a refundable rate.  There are literally thousands of TAs out there.  So how did you find your TA?  No need to post a name or website, but how did you finally stumble across your go to person. Pure luck? A conversation in the Diamond lounge?  Hopefully this is allowed.  I am truly curious.