BOGO'S Back

Well the base rate did not go up. It didn't change. The discounting of course changed from 30% off for two people to 50% off one person, as a result, the overall rate increased $89 each.

Not really news as I projected this one.

Here is my take. If the price per all the restrictions goes down, jump on it. If it has gone up, consider yourself fortunate. That is all I have to say about that.

Did anyone notice that the RCI Home Page is showing up as it used to prior to her facelift!!

Not for me Patti, I don't see any difference from the last few weeks.

Very odd pricing...

My Allure cruise went from $1151 to $959 (closer to pricing a couple months ago). But when I plug in for 4 people, the overall cost is still up. Yes, Guest #2 is half off BUT Guest #3 & #4 are close to Guest #1. Hmmm. So still stateroom one category down fro ours is $1000 more than we paid for it back in December (can't check our exact stateroom category since they are sold out)

I booked a cruise 5/29/15. Today that cruise with BOGO is over $2500 more.

As Mr. T would say " I pity the fool " that believes this is a bargain. :eek::eek:

I agree....just looked at a sailing we have booked for 10/16....almost $800 more with this "sale"

Just checked our NYE 2015 cruise. Tried without logging in, and the PPG show up as a $65 pp OBC ($12.95x5x2=$129.50). When I log in and do the same mock booking, my D+ discount shows up, but the $65 OBC disappears.

In the end it's all moot, since the overall cost went up by $300 from yesterday, and is now 2.5X what we booked for last year:eek:

I don't understand the complaints. If you can do math, you would know that the BOGOHO is equivalent to 25% off the first 2 passengers, and the 30% sale was 30% off the first two passengers. 25% < 30%.

And because the BOGOHO only takes money off of pax #22, C&A members get the full value of the balcony discount, rather than 70% of the value under the 30% off sale, because it's applied to pax #1 before any discounts are taken.

On the one cruise I have booked in 2016, the base fare for the category hasn't changed for any of the passengers since I originally booked it a few months ago. And this is the third different sale since I started tracking the prices.

1) BOGOHO + 1/2 off 3 & 4

2) 30%

3) BOGOHO

For someone sailing with 3 or 4 in a cabin, the first sale was the best price. For someone sailing with 2 in a cabin, the second option was the best price.

This current sale isn't the best for either assuming no change in base price, but the difference between the 30% and 25% is only 5%, and for people with the balcony discount, the difference is 5% of the base fare - 30% of the balcony discount.

I have yet to see a base price change on any sailing that I've been following or researching over the last 16 months since these sales have started that directly coincided with the start of a sale.

Category of my NOTS cruise remains sold out so no change.

My 11/5/16 HOTS C2 balcony had already increased from $370pp base fare to $559. Today it jumped another $40pp to $599.

My 11/22/16 IOTS JS jumped $61pp from yesterday. (In addition, I booked during the BOGO half off 2nd/3rd/4th so the grandsons were only $249pp.)

My 3/4/17 HOTS B1 increased $61pp since yesterday.

I was able to grab all my upcoming bookings at prices I was happy with - which remain the best deals Royal offered on them to date - so I am not complaining. :D

~ Judy

Has anyone been successful in getting a rate reduction?

Category of my NOTS cruise remains sold out so no change.

 

My 11/5/16 HOTS C2 balcony had already increased from $370pp base fare to $559. Today it jumped another $40pp to $599.

 

My 11/22/16 IOTS JS jumped $61pp from yesterday. (In addition, I booked during the BOGO half off 2nd/3rd/4th so the grandsons were only $249pp.)

 

My 3/4/17 HOTS B1 increased $61pp since yesterday.

 

I was able to grab all my upcoming bookings at prices I was happy with - which remain the best deals Royal offered on them to date - so I am not complaining. :D

 

~ Judy

FWIW in my experience it is possible to get price reduction on sold out category. We are doing a JS and then the RS for our retirement cruising in 2017. Obviously the RS became sold out when I booked it. I noticed a reduction on the JS and called TA. Never asked about RS since it had no pricing anymore.

Guess what, I got reductions on both. Happy Days.

So the moral is?... Don't worry about "sales". Today, by far and away hands down any sale does not mean a thing.

Like John&Lala recently posted (I think) regarding his recent Freedom cruise, there were only 40 people at the M&M on the entire ship of 3600 with an overwhelming percentage of new(er) cruisers. New(er) cruisers are buying into the "sales". Our entire culture is based on "sales", discounting and bargains... not base prices. Almost everything we all buy is "on sale", we never pay full price for anything.

I feel that these sales are working, else RCL would not promote them. There'd be a different "sale" if the current BOGO's, drink packages etc weren't working for RCL.

I really appreciate the advice from all of the experienced cruisers. In your opinion, when is the best time to book a cruise for March 2016?

I really appreciate the advice from all of the experienced cruisers. In your opinion, when is the best time to book a cruise for March 2016?

No way to predict. Book now for best choice of staterooms.

I really appreciate the advice from all of the experienced cruisers. In your opinion, when is the best time to book a cruise for March 2016?

May 2014, sorry

:)

I really appreciate the advice from all of the experienced cruisers. In your opinion, when is the best time to book a cruise for March 2016?

I'd book now. In the off chance that prices actually drop between now and your final payment date, you can get the price reduction. The final payment date on a March 2016 cruise isn't until sometime in December, so you have five months to watch the prices for a reduction. Who knows, maybe these sales will end sometime in the next five months and you'll actually be able to see real prices again.:)

May 2014, sorry

So True:eek:

Has anyone been successful in getting a rate reduction?

Yes , I just got a reduction this morning on my transatlantic cruise.

I booked the first day of the sale 30/30 for the Mediterranean on the Harmony of the Seas for september 2016. today with the BOGO sale my cruise has increased from $ 725

I really appreciate the advice from all of the experienced cruisers. In your opinion, when is the best time to book a cruise for March 2016?

No way to predict. Book now for best choice of staterooms.

Yep

May 2014, sorry

How true :(

I was a pro at booking after the final payment date... always always got better deals... but only up to May 2014 when the very first BOGO was introduced. Absolutely 100% the very best time to book was after final payment about 30-60 days before sailing.

Today everything has changed... the very best time to book is as early as possible. If you look at my signature below, I have never ever booked this early for cruises, and every one I booked within a few days of the itinerary being released. All of them have gone up in price. RCL's business model has changed and the earlier you book, the better it is. So book now and continue to monitor prices just in case a sale does come up for your cabin category that happens to give you a price break... just don't count on it, be happy with your booked price and selection,

Whatever you choose have an awesome cruise! :D

May 2014, sorry

And May of 2015 for Harmony. Not that you could book for 2016 but certainly for 2017. Definitely seems to be the earlier the better.

Price updates for one I was watching in Australia:

Pre BOGO

Explorer Feb 2017- OS 4070

Explorer Feb 2017- GS 3314

BOGO Prices:

OS-4363

GS-3553

Some "sale".

Both our October 2015 Oasis GS and our May 2016 Freedom GS are up $300 since yesterday. You'd think they'd give it at least it one day to look like a sale. :rolleyes:

My Anthem cruise went down $254 today under BOGO but my Harmony cruise went up $276 today. You win some, you lose some.

30/30 is better if you booked balcony, otherwise, the BOGO could be a good promo if they didn't jack up the prices...

They can't fix the easiest web site glitches but they can sure program price increases at the stroke of midnight on "Sale" day. :rolleyes:

FWIW in my experience it is possible to get price reduction on sold out category. We are doing a JS and then the RS for our retirement cruising in 2017. Obviously the RS became sold out when I booked it. I noticed a reduction on the JS and called TA. Never asked about RS since it had no pricing anymore.

 

Guess what, I got reductions on both. Happy Days.

Thanks for this tip. I doubt if I could do better for my NOTS cruise (I booked 2 connecting balconies for us and grandsons during the Celebrate & Save BOGOHO when base rate was at lowest ever and came with $100pp OBC) but will keep this in mind. Ya never know. :)

May 2014, sorry

ROTFL! :D.

Also shedding a tear as this may be closer to the truth than we realize. :(

~ Judy