It pays to check for price drops often

[cincicruisers]

Checked prices today and Navigator in December dropped $150 and the Oasis foe September went down $400.

 

happy cruising

[molly361]

What dates and categories?

[L454S]

Agree, and they sometimes don't stay down for long on a given cruise......

 

On our upcoming Allure TA, we found 3 price drops between August(booking) and February(final pay). One of these deals was thankfully announced on our roll call thread. We booked at $1255PP D8, and ended up $839PP D2. So yes, check often and browse the roll call.

[johnjen]

I haven't done these price checks on RCL in years.

 

Is there a quick method in checking on the price rather than going through the whole setting up for the cruise online?

[Clarea]

I haven't done these price checks on RCL in years.

 

Is there a quick method in checking on the price rather than going through the whole setting up for the cruise online?

Other than using some other site, I don't know of a quick way on Royal's site.

[johnjen]

I've been checking by going through step by step as if booking the cruise all over again. I'm thinking there might be an easier method to check on our cruise pricing.

[StGeorgeCruisers]

How do you check if you've booked using a military discount or resident rate? When we book our cruise we call a RCCL rep to check for discounts. I never know if rates drop for us.

[Clarea]

How do you check if you've booked using a military discount or resident rate? When we book our cruise we call a RCCL rep to check for discounts. I never know if rates drop for us.

The only way I know is to ask whoever booked your cruise to send you Royal's Guest Copy of your booking confirmation. It will show any special rates you received on that document.

[monctonguy]

You can check for any and all discounts like that by doing a dummy booking. I do it often, and have saved hundreds if not thousands so far on the few cruises I have taken with RCI.

 

Of course if you booked with a TA, you could call them each day to check but really...

 

Resident rate and military options are there when doing a quote..

[SRV FAN]

I've been checking by going through step by step as if booking the cruise all over again. I'm thinking there might be an easier method to check on our cruise pricing.

 

 

Yep... There are sites (can't mention them here) that monitor cruise ship prices constantly... You can just check that site regularly or sign up for them to email you when the price changes... I have saved a lot of $ by using them...

[BOAZ5]

I check prices daily. Only takes a few minutes. We have also save thousands. We are booked for Alaska next June and have caught 2 price drops already. As mentioned above, proceed with a mock booking in the category you are currently booked. Be sure to enter your state, and check the box for any military, law enforcement, fire or senior discount. The last 2 price drops have been valid for existing reservations. 5 minutes on the phone and we saved money both times. If the sale price is for new reservations only, you can usually cancel and re-book the same cabins for the reduced rate. Re-booking takes longer, but can save you some serious cash. Keeping in mind that a re-booking could possibly result in a lost cabin. The RC agents are great at cancelling and immediately grabbing the cabin back from the inventory, but there is always a chance they could lose it to another agent. You should discuss this with the RC agent. If it is the last cabin or your favorite cabin, you would need to weigh the pros/cons. Good Luck!!! It is always a great day when I catch a price drop. Saved over $500 pp on the Allure a couple summers ago. We had 10 people, so that was a great day!!!

Edited October 13, 2015 by BOAZ5

[akpilk]

Just don't look after you've paid in full! Ours just dropped 600 for the 5 of us but there is nothing we can do ;(.

[BOAZ5]

Just don't look after you've paid in full! Ours just dropped 600 for the 5 of us but there is nothing we can do ;(.

 

Great point! I don't pay it off until final payment. We always leave a small balance prior to final payment for just that reason. I stop checking prices after final payment too. Although, we got upgraded on our 1st RC cruise when the price dropped after final payment. They gave us a choice of OBC or upgrade. We took the upgrade and got our first balcony stateroom. No going back now!!!

Another thing to take into consideration is OBC. If your current price came with OBC, the price drop may not include OBC. You have to decide if the drop is enough to justify losing the OBC.

Edited October 13, 2015 by BOAZ5

[rt1092]

Some times C&A discounts don't apply to a sale price. I put it on hold and then call Royal to get the exact price then finalize.

I also have trouble booking a "single supplement" (350+ points = 150%) They have to get the okay from "loyalty" before they can issue a price.

[Charger2008]

I think the chances of our cabin prices going down are slim to none :D Latest price check has our cabin price up $4,660 from what we booked at :eek:

[ZandZ]

I check a minimum of twice a week. This new sale just got me a total of $500 off on the two I have booked for 2016. And prior to that i was able to re-book from a 5 day balcony to a 7 day ocean view for a lot less. The balcony is not a deal breaker for me, especially traveling with kids. So don't just check your booking, check other cruises within a time frame that would work for you....

 

 

I have never found a drop on an upcoming cruise. it's always the ones that are far out...

[lmccray]

Thank you for this information! This is the cruise itinerary I've been looking at.

 

Checked prices today and Navigator in December dropped $150 and the Oasis foe September went down $400.

 

happy cruising

[oldschoolpinball]

not so much when it comes down to after final payment date.This is there one place that Royal does not stand out to me:mad:

Edited October 13, 2015 by oldschoolpinball

[widallas]

Yep... There are sites (can't mention them here) that monitor cruise ship prices constantly... You can just check that site regularly or sign up for them to email you when the price changes... I have saved a lot of $ by using them...

 

If you google cruise price drop, some will come up. Just got an alert yesterday for a price drop on our upcoming cruise...saved about $120 on the interior cabin even with a loss in OBC. (For the balcony, it would have wiped out our OBC and only saved us a bit so it wasn't worth it.) We just called the TA and they did the work with RCCL.

 

It was a paid service, but $5 to monitor five cruises...well worth it, and we will continue to use it!

[ken_nyc]

I have checked daily and only found a drop and an increase in onboard credit twice and that was within the first week after I booked. So far it has either remained the same or it has slowly gone up. I liked the old website better for mock booking as it was easy to change the cabin category (ex. D5 to D7).

[sunnyv]

I have checked daily and only found a drop and an increase in onboard credit twice and that was within the first week after I booked. So far it has either remained the same or it has slowly gone up. I liked the old website better for mock booking as it was easy to change the cabin category (ex. D5 to D7).

I agree, is there a way to even check or book a different category than the one displayed? (if they display D4 is there a way to check a D6 or D3?)

[Clarea]

I agree, is there a way to even check or book a different category than the one displayed? (if they display D4 is there a way to check a D6 or D3?)

Yes, you have to find a stateroom in the desired category that is available (using trial and error, or some other website) and enter it the "change stateroom" field. It will then display other staterooms in that category. Simple, right.:rolleyes:

Edited October 14, 2015 by clarea

[DragonOfTheSeas]

Yes, you have to find a stateroom in the desired category that is available (using trial and error, or some other website) and enter it the "change stateroom" field. It will then display other staterooms in that category. Simple, right.:rolleyes:

 

I was able to use the trial and error method the last time I used the site. . . . but, it is a pretty poor way to select cabins.

 

I find that interesting since I think the Celebrity website is easy to use. While they have a few less ships--RCL should be dealing with all of the same variables as the Celebrity site. The 2 sides of the same company should talk to each other.

[Clarea]

I was able to use the trial and error method the last time I used the site. . . . but, it is a pretty poor way to select cabins.

 

I find that interesting since I think the Celebrity website is easy to use. While they have a few less ships--RCL should be dealing with all of the same variables as the Celebrity site. The 2 sides of the same company should talk to each other.

I don't think it's a matter of Royal's web people not being able to make the site easy to use. The site as it stands now is what they want, for reasons I cannot fathom. Part of me thinks the website is so difficult to use so that they can break the automated price checking services that use the website to periodically check prices. However, I can't see how taking the easy category selection away from us fits into my theory.

[orville99]

Yes, you have to find a stateroom in the desired category that is available (using trial and error, or some other website) and enter it the "change stateroom" field. It will then display other staterooms in that category. Simple, right.:rolleyes:

 

Yep. Now in the habit of having my "other site" open before I even try to search cabins on RCL.