mramella

Yep, our Icon cruise that we booked way back in October of 2022 for March of 2023 (in 10 weeks 🙂) is up nearly 3 fold. A 300% increase! Insanity! I would've never paid that much! We paid $7k total for one balcony room and one "spacious" interior room for 4 people total (2 per room). Last time I checked, the price was over $20k! I mean, c'mon man! 😳

And just like that... $89.99 gone, plus tip! LOL!

Our March '24 Icon cruise is up nearly 300% since we booked it back in October of '22. 😳

At $89.99, that's $1 per second. LOL!

Yep, not included 😞. What a bummer. I would expect nothing less from RCCL at this point...

My kids' spring break starts on Friday, March 8th through Sunday, March 17th. We're on the March 9th Icon cruise.

Yep, welcome to the party! The March '24 Icon cruise that we booked way back in October of 2022 (the day the cruise became available for sale) is now more than 3 times the cost. Yep, you read that right! More than 3 times the cost now! Crazy!!!

Good point! Usually, we do not eat breakfast 🙂. UDP for lunch and dinner is quite a bit! 🙂

In the Gratuities Breakdown picture above, I noticed Dining Staff gratuities amount is $7.25 per day. We have the Unlimited Dining Package on our upcoming Icon cruise (March of '23), for which I've already paid the 18% gratuity. We do not plan to go to the MDR or the Windjammer. I think I might go ahead and remove the gratuities and give my Statement Attendant cash. That seems fair to me, since I've already paid 18% for the UDP.

Looks great! When does Icon set sail for the US for official delivery to RCCL?

Same thing for me... We booked our March '24 Icon cruise nearly one year ago (October '22). We booked 2 rooms (one balcony and one inside room). 2 adults, 2 children. Grand total was roughly $7k. Same itinerary, same rooms now is nearly $20k! Yep, you read that right! $20k! I do not know who in their right mind would pay $20k for one balcony and one inside room. I'd be happy to sell my reservation for $15k. Any takers? LOL!

I've got to believe the lines will get shorter as the price continues to skyrocket. For our March '24 Icon cruise the price is $189. Ouch! To put that into perspective, the price for our March '22 Wonder cruise was around $85 (which I thought was too expensive then). We did not participate in '22 and we definitely won't participate in '24.

Sure wish I could resell my March '24 Icon reservation. I'd be looking at nearly a 300% return! I'd be willing to give 10% to the big guy (in this case RCCL, not JB).

Looks pretty cool! I'd book it for our March Icon cruise, however, my wife and I will have our 13 and 15 year old boys with us, so we'll have to pass. Sure hope a lot of people go to Hideaway Beach! Less crowded at the free side of CocoCay! Lol!

Yes, agreed. We try to book our cruises the moment they're available for booking, well in advance, so that we can get the lowest price possible. We're going to pass this time around. Too rich for our blood. Also, on side note, the cost of our March 2024 Icon cruise for the exact same room categories has nearly tripled in price since we booked back in October of 2022. That is insanity! $20k now for 2 rooms (one balcony and one "spacious" interior). 4 total passengers (wife, me, two sons 15 and 13). Not sure who would pay that kind of money, but guess people do... Crazy... We paid $6,800 total.

I checked prices for March of 2026 using the exact same room categories that we booked last October of 2022 for our March 2024 Icon cruise. Over $5,000 price increase! Yikes!

Agreed, otherwise, they've just devalued their UDP product overnight. Guess it's a lot like airline miles. Used to be if you flew 20k miles, you'd get a free roundtrip ticket in the US. Now, it's points based, which means airlines just increase the points needed for a free roundtrip ticket, and thus devalue your points. Easy peasy, lemon squeezey.

In October of 2022, we booked our Icon March 9th, 2024 cruise for roughly $7k total for 2 cabins (one balcony and one inside room). 4 people total (wife, our two teenage boys and me). Same cabins now are nearly $20k total. Yep, you read that right! Nearly 3 times what we paid back in October of 2022. Insane!!! I would never, ever pay 20 large.

Yep, agreed! I can understand and appreciate price increases that are roughly in-line with inflation, but increases that are 4 and 5 times the rate of inflation are not reasonable (at least not for me). So, I will vote with my wallet and will not participate 🙂. I love the freedom to choose!

Interesting to hear the specialty restaurants are not full... The best businesses continue raising prices until finally the consumer stops buying. Maybe that's starting to happen with Royal, at least for the speciality dining options, but not for the cruise fare itself... Per the article above: "The wings went up too: 12 wings: $10 to $13.99." I'm not very good at math, but I think that's a 40% increase... Holy moly! That's gotta be nearly 4 or 5 times the rate of inflation. I need to run a business like that! "Fries: $3 to $5.99." Again, not very good at math, but I think that's a 100% increase. LOL.

Easiest thing for Royal to do is simply up the allowance from $20 per day to perhaps $30 per day. Problem sovled 🙂. FAT CHANCE!

...at this time...

The biggest thing I've learned from these comments and the comments located here is that Royal's pizza is not good. Perhaps Royal should consider upping their pizza game first before even considering charging one red cent for it.

These guys are constantly challenged, at the highest of levels within the RCCL organization, to come up with ways to cut corners, save money, and maximize profits. Nothing wrong with it, in my opinion. I'm all for maximizing profits! It's a publicly traded company, and the number one priority (even above customers and employees) is return on shareholder value. Period. The trick is walking the fine line to not upset and alienate your customer base to the point where they no longer buy your product or service. So until that happens, yep, you better believe it, you continue looking for ways to cut corners, save money, and maximize profits! Mark my words, soon, Sorrentos pizza will no longer be included in your cruise fare! I won't buy it! LOL! But I'll probably still cruise on RCCL (for the time being, or until the constant cuts, nickel and diming, etc. become too much for me).

We booked 2 rooms for March of 2024. One balcony and one inside room. 2 people in each room. Total was around $6,800. Same cruise is now nearly $20k. Yep, you read that right! $20k! Anyone want to buy it off me for $15k? That’s a $5k discount! LOL!