Why doe RCCL play games with their prices?

[Lysingers]

I have been checking every day for the past six weeks, hoping that there would be a rate drop for the Enchantment of the Seas Aug. 11, 2011 Canada/New England cruise out of Baltimore. My family and I took the exact same trip last summer and would like to do it again, but since the prices are a good bit higher than we paid last year for a quad cabin, we have held off in hope that they might come down some, especially since the ship if still quite underbooked. Well, I got excited about an hour ago, when I checked and discovered that prices had indeed come down $160.00 per person----that is, for the first two people in the cabin. They went up $160.00 for the 3'rd and 4'th persons, so the end price is exactly the same!! Why does Royal Caribbean bother pretending to reduce their prices, only to increase them somewhere else? I read someone elses post last week about how they noticed they qualified for a military discount after they had already booked, which discounted the first two people in their cabin $200.00 each, but likewise raised the price of their 3'rd and 4'th people $150.00 each, netting them a reduction of just $100.00. That certainly cheapened their military discount, didn't it. It just doesn't seem right to me.

[Paulxyz2004]

I don´t think anybody will know why they price the cruises the way they are other then themselves;)

 

I can see why you are disappointed about this but I can´t see it as being unfair or playing games with the pricing.

 

Not everbody books quad cabins and I would even venture to make an uneducated guess that the minority books quad cabins.

 

So for the potentially majority it actually is a price drop. This goes for your example as well as for the military discount example. The discount is not cheapened in general, but only if you are looking for a tripple/quad.

 

I can certainly think about reasons for this pricing structure, like i.e. tripples and quads are selling good, but they need to sell more doubles. So they discount the doubles but not tripples and quads.

[sparky-elpaso]

I don't know how old your kids are (I'm assuming the 2nd 2 are children) but you could book 2 adjoining cabins and get the savings and everyone would have more room - and 2 bathrooms.

[DonnaK]

I don't know how old your kids are (I'm assuming the 2nd 2 are children) but you could book 2 adjoining cabins and get the savings and everyone would have more room - and 2 bathrooms.

 

I was going to say the same thing. On summer sailings, the 3rd/4th rate isn't usually much of a savings. Instead of booking a D1 quad, we've found that it is generally cheaper to book an E or D3 category cabin for ourselves and an inside across the hall for the kids. On Oasis/Allure, with the C&A balcony discount, it was actually the same price to put our kids their own balcony rather than an inside!

 

If the kid's cabin is next door, or directly across the hall, then it is NOT required to book one adult into each cabin, so the kids can be booked into their own cabin from the start.

[sherilyn70]

It's about supply and demand. 4 people is harder to book than 2 so they can still charge you the going rate. You have less rooms to pick from for your setup. However for the couple that is booking a room for only 2 they are now more likely to book at the lower rate.

[Mark_K]

I have been checking every day for the past six weeks, hoping that there would be a rate drop for the Enchantment of the Seas Aug. 11, 2011 Canada/New England cruise out of Baltimore. My family and I took the exact same trip last summer and would like to do it again, but since the prices are a good bit higher than we paid last year for a quad cabin, we have held off in hope that they might come down some, especially since the ship if still quite underbooked. Well, I got excited about an hour ago, when I checked and discovered that prices had indeed come down $160.00 per person----that is, for the first two people in the cabin. They went up $160.00 for the 3'rd and 4'th persons, so the end price is exactly the same!! Why does Royal Caribbean bother pretending to reduce their prices, only to increase them somewhere else? I read someone elses post last week about how they noticed they qualified for a military discount after they had already booked, which discounted the first two people in their cabin $200.00 each, but likewise raised the price of their 3'rd and 4'th people $150.00 each, netting them a reduction of just $100.00. That certainly cheapened their military discount, didn't it. It just doesn't seem right to me.

It's not a game, inventory and yield management is serious business.

[amybear912]

Why??

 

Because they can...

 

They, like any business, have the right and duty to their shareholders to make money...

 

While it may be unfair to you, it becomes an enticement to folks like me who do not need to book 4 in a cabin... We are only 2 so that rate drop becomes much more lucrative to me...

[pcur]

The weekly Tuesday promowave specials are just now starting to show August sailings. The next month is where the prices will drop, if they are going to drop. If the ship is not full, then I would definitely expect a price drop.

 

Keep checking.

[marci22]

What prices are you seeing for the cabin you want (1 & 2 and 3&4)?

[Cruising89143]

If prices for triples and quads are rising then RCI may be reaching their limit on these cabins but they may still have plenty of doubles left to sell thus the lowering of the price.

[CaptData]

One other thing if you book your kids in a separate cabin they do not get the Military discount. It is only available to the member and his room only. So be careful if you book a second room and expect something else.