What's going on with RCCL Pricing

[orville99]

26 minutes ago, RD64 said:

But how many people will cancel when the final payment date comes, and the price hasn’t dropped the price point they were expecting?

From what we have seen with ships sailing full, not many if any. BTW, I had a typo…the Celebrity cruise is in January 2025.

[orville99]

Just now, Pandamonia said:

hard to say.  They vary so much it’s impossible to tell what the real price is. 

RCL is counting on that…

[Tin can]

1 hour ago, Pandamonia said:

 

well that’s because it’s school holidays and the worst possible month to travel. Demand is always high that month no matter what. 

A good point but I’ve not seen such high August demand from Southampton 11 months out before.

 

I’ve just done a mock booking 7 day cruise in June for the three of us in a balcony and it’s nearly £4k 😳

 

I really thought with ship fatigue from another Anthem season and the new MSC Euribia arriving that it may have thrown us some really good deals but I’m not seeing them.

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Tin can

[TravelinTess]

10 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

Well Royal just CUT its prices in Europe so clearly bookings are NOT going the way they want. This is for 2024 Europe. 

 

Also they think Ultimate Dining Package is now worth £460 HAHAHA This used to be £190. Then £300 and now £460 in less than 2 years for the same old crappy chops grill and very mediocre food coming out of most of the "speciality" restaurants. 

 

Bookings in 2023 were hot but 2024 onwards is not looking anywhere near as good and I've got this directly from my own TA. 

 

30 countries are forecast to be in recession soon. 5-6% Base rates globally and mountains of debt. The only people who have any money are the boomers, everyone else is screwed under a mountain of debt and rising finance costs. 

Yes- Europe prices saw a huge drop last week. I repriced our 7/24 Anthem out of Southampton and saved just shy of 1k. I'll take it! Our 3/24 Allure almost doubled in price and now looks to be sold out for rooms that hold 3. 

[RoyalC]

Is some of this demand leftover vouchers from the pandemic? Or is it the unvaxxed pent-up demand? 

But I see other lines are more reasonable with pricing, so leaning toward vouchers messing things up. Is this data posted in earnings reports?

[baldilocks]

11 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

Well Royal just CUT its prices in Europe so clearly bookings are NOT going the way they want. This is for 2024 Europe. 

 

Also they think Ultimate Dining Package is now worth £460 HAHAHA This used to be £190. Then £300 and now £460 in less than 2 years for the same old crappy chops grill and very mediocre food coming out of most of the "speciality" restaurants. 

 

Bookings in 2023 were hot but 2024 onwards is not looking anywhere near as good and I've got this directly from my own TA. 

 

30 countries are forecast to be in recession soon. 5-6% Base rates globally and mountains of debt. The only people who have any money are the boomers, everyone else is screwed under a mountain of debt and rising finance costs. 

Us Boomers are facing inflation with very small COLA raises. Some Boomers have a large pot of $$$, but we certainly do not. Our medical insurance will go up $350 a month beginning January 1st. The company I retired from decided to completely change the way they will handle medical insurance.  

[budmeister]

I stopped booking. I would normally have 3 booked now, 9/24 and 1/25. I kept my 1/24, which is almost twice my usual price. It never went down from being booked last year. We will be exploring land vacations next year.

[bjlaac]

I started this thread because while we all knew prices were increasing I'm not sure any of us are seeing the overall RCL picture.  There have been lots of reply's here with great information.  Some seeing increases and other decreases which is great to see. Like most of you, I can only speak or post on trips I've booked, or interested in booking, and we are getting priced out, at least with RCL.

 

Now you can never really compare cruise lines because they off different things that might be gold to me and crap to others,  but generally speaking, RCL, NCL, Hal and even Carnival are similar mainstream cruise lines.  We generally sail out of NY/NJ on longer cruises and since we've been to just about every Island south of NY and could care less about itinerary.  We are loyal to no one cruise line, have over 100 sailing days on multiple lines and just like being at sea. 

 

We moved over to RCL exclusively just as the pandemic was ending mostly because the menus on RCL far exceeded NCL and have been sailing 3 and 4 times a year with them.  Then with the recent menu changes last January (we hated it), gave NCL a try and discovered the pendulum on food has swung back int their favor in our opinion.  We still sail RCL as we like the solarium for the winter cruises so RCL has its pluses too.

 

So what's my point about pricing?  Try booking a winter cruise in January 2024 on either line out of NY or NJ and you will find a 10 Getaway sailing on NCL and an 11 say sailing on RCL  The cheapest NCL pick you own cabin balcony for 3 is $4,225 which includes their booze plan, remove the booze plan and free dining offers and that drops to $3,531.  Thesame comparable cabin on the anthem is just under $5,000 and includes nothing but port taxes.  So on a per night basis RCL $454 per night compared to NCL's $353 ($422 with booze) per night.

 

Something is just not right with RCL pricing in this partof the world.  Whether it be excess vouchers or pent up demand, I don't know but there are other options that folks like me will be exercising.

 

ps: I chose 3 person Balcony cabin example because we have the same cruise booked in December on the getaway out of NY for 3.

[OCSC Mike]

6 minutes ago, bjlaac said:

Try booking a winter cruise in January 2024 on either line out of NY or NJ and you will find a 10 Getaway sailing on NCL and an 11 say sailing on RCL  The cheapest NCL pick you own cabin balcony for 3 is $4,225 which includes their booze plan, remove the booze plan and free dining offers and that drops to $3,531.  Thesame comparable cabin on the anthem is just under $5,000 and includes nothing but port taxes.  So on a per night basis RCL $454 per night compared to NCL's $353 ($422 with booze) per night.

 

 

So NCL is cheaper than RCL if you're booking fairly last minute for a long sailing out of NY/NJ in January, got it.

 

That's a pretty specific set of criteria and helpful for anyone looking for that exact type of cruise but not a good way to make general comparisons, IMO.

[adolfo2]

21 hours ago, bjlaac said:

For the first two 11 nighter's price are basically the same, maybe a little higher, however, the January 27th sailing is beyond ridiculous. It becomes an 12 nighter and comes in at $5,379 for a sail away interior cabin and balconies over $10,000 for 2.  What the heck is going on?

Buddy of mine booked that specific 12-nighter in Jan 2023 and paid $3,500 for 2C balcony for two. That same balcony...TODAY is $13,282 😕 I don't know what's going on!!!

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, adolfo2 said:

I don't know what's going on!!!

 

Supply and demand.

[LuCruise]

18 hours ago, orville99 said:

How true. Every one of the cruises that we currently have booked (we always book as close to schedule release date as possible) have more than doubled in price since we booked. Some of our summer 2024 to April 2025 cruises have more than tripled.

Same here.  I do wonder though when they release the next group that covers Dec 2025 and spring 2026, that the starting price will be closer to what we are seeing as current prices.  If this is the case, we will probably be taking a cruise break...or cruising a lot less.

[OCSC Mike]

2 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

I do wonder though when they release the next group that covers Dec 2025 and spring 2026, that the starting price will be closer to what we are seeing as current prices.

 

You're not alone. I'd like to believe they will be somewhere in between older, lower prices and current inflated prices but only time will tell.

[orville99]

15 minutes ago, LuCruise said:

Same here.  I do wonder though when they release the next group that covers Dec 2025 and spring 2026, that the starting price will be closer to what we are seeing as current prices.  If this is the case, we will probably be taking a cruise break...or cruising a lot less.

I expect that we will be doing two things differently if prices remain elevated:

1) cutting back on our RCL cruises to 2-3/year instead of 5-6 and

2) Booking more on Celebrity and other cruise lines like Princess and HAL where we also have some level of status.

Edited October 9, 2023 by orville99

[LuCruise]

23 minutes ago, orville99 said:

I expect that we will be doing two things differently if prices remain elevated:

1) cutting back on our RCL cruises to 2-3/year instead of 5-6 and

2) Booking more on Celebrity and other cruise lines like Princess and HAL where we also have some level of status.

Yeah similar.  DH and I can book off season and we don't mind if it's an older ship so it's easier (or try another line as you mention).  The sad thing is we find Royal an amazing family holiday with our kids (university and high school) so those are the ones we are stuck to the highest prices on specific ships.  Not sure how many years we have left to travel with them but may need to find another vacation or try a family friendly ship on another line with say, NCL.

[BecciBoo]

I am just as shocked at the booking mock ups these days also! 😲  Looking at Alaska cruises seems so reasonable but when port fees/tax is added it gets astronomical, they are more than the cruise fare!

 

Our income cannot keep up with this.

[smokeybandit]

I just booked a Christmas 2024 cruise, 7 night in a GS, for one of the cheapest fares I've ever paid for a 7 night GS.

 

Deals are out there still.

[Jetdriver787]

40 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I just booked a Christmas 2024 cruise, 7 night in a GS, for one of the cheapest fares I've ever paid for a 7 night GS.

 

Deals are out there still.

Yes, I agree with you. We’ve taken or booked three additional cruises, that we had no intention of taking this year, just because the price was an absolute  bargain. That said, most of the offerings are breathtakingly ridiculous!  If people are buying at those prices (and presumably they must be) then I admire their business acumen, and if it was my company I would do the same. I am not sure it’s a truly sustainable position (and likely neither are they,) but in the meantime……Why not?

[Lakelife4me]

This just makes me shake my head. It was said before, Royals prices are going through the roof because people are willing to pay these prices. After taxes and fees, I paid 6 grand (total for my wife and myself) for a JR suite splurge next March 17th. That same Jr Suite Guarantee is now $5250.00 per person.

 

The Ultimate Family Townhouse on Icon of the Seas is 80K and up for a week. I have seen it as high as $101,000. For grins, I priced it out for an Eastern sailing April of 2026 and it was 97K for 2.

 

Wait for it......................................................................It's sold out for all of 2024 from what I understand.

 

If I had 100K to spend for a weeklong cruise, I wouldn't be a cruise ship. I would be on my very large personal yacht.   🤨🤭😁

[RoyalC]

Going Gone sale just posted- prices are higher for the sale than the current rates- over $200 per person on Explorer in December I was watching. Even the Nov. Panama cruise is higher. I guess since these prices do not post during sale times anyway it should not change but who knows.  

[OCSC Mike]

14 minutes ago, RoyalC said:

Going Gone sale just posted- prices are higher for the sale than the current rates- over $200 per person on Explorer in December I was watching. Even the Nov. Panama cruise is higher. I guess since these prices do not post during sale times anyway it should not change but who knows.  

 

Some prices in the flier have been screwy over the past month. There was a terrible price listed for my Allure cruise later this month but quite a good price on the site before, during, and after the the sale.

 

That said, some other prices in the flier are quite good.

Edited October 9, 2023 by OCSC Mike

[firefly333]

I personally have 10 more booked on rcl nd dont see prices still going higher. The rate increases seem to have stopped. There have been posts of some deals on GGG sale. Everything I read says prices are mostly even or some deals. The fact 6 months ago a price went up is already in the past, not a current rate increase.

 

You always can find some other cruiseline with a lower price if you hand pick the data. I dont see continued peace increases nor do any posters just they say prices went up at some point since they booked. Seems like past history to me. 

[torpeedo]

Not sure all these bookings cruise lines are bragging about will actually be secured after final payment time.  Booked on an Adventure in January in a JS.  I checked and all but one OS are available and nearly all the GS are also available.  I wouldn't book it either at the crazy prices.  Given there are a few still booked, who knows if they will actually make the final payment.

[irishgal432]

5 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I just booked a Christmas 2024 cruise, 7 night in a GS, for one of the cheapest fares I've ever paid for a 7 night GS.

 

Deals are out there still.

what ship?

[smokeybandit]

1 minute ago, irishgal432 said:

what ship?

Brilliance out of New Orleans