Royal Caribbean BOGO Sale: Illusion or Reality?

[cruiseaddict1972]

Hello everyone!

 

My wife and I just completed a 7-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Independence of Seas and had a great time. Our stateroom was a D1 Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony. The price of this cruise (including taxes, fees, and cruise care) was $1,700.10. We booked it 15 months prior to sailing when the cruise was made available for booking and received BOGO 1/2 off. Awesome price!

 

We booked a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Freedom of the Seas for September 18th 2016 for the exact same stateroom we had on the Independence. We received BOGO 1/2 off and the out the door price is a whopping $2,500!

 

Here is my issue. Did Royal Caribbean jack up their prices and are using the BOGO promotion as a smoke and mirror tactic to fool the consumer to thinking that the near identical cruise and the identical ship was worth the additional $800? I'm rather upset about this.

 

What are your thoughts?

[TheTruthCanHurt]

all of their sales are pretty much a hoax.

the bogo.. the labor day weekend sale. the 48 hour sale.. etc etc...

 

These sales are put out their to confuse new guests into thinking they are getting a deal, and to frustrate the rest of us that actually know what the cruise should cost.

 

I would not pay any attn to the sales. just look at the bottom price

[cruiseaddict1972]

all of their sales are pretty much a hoax.

the bogo.. the labor day weekend sale. the 48 hour sale.. etc etc...

 

These sales are put out their to confuse new guests into thinking they are getting a deal, and to frustrate the rest of us that actually know what the cruise should cost.

 

I would not pay any attn to the sales. just look at the bottom price

 

 

Any pointers in getting a better price on the cruise?

[TheTruthCanHurt]

Any pointers in getting a better price on the cruise?

 

it's really tough now. I used to get great deals the closer it got to a sailing. maybe 4 months out. But in the last year.. it seems to be that if you book 1 + year out the price seems to be much better. There are a couple of important things to note

 

1. sometimes a reseller has better deals with on board credit. ( especially if you have no status with the cruise line) so definitely check the major cruise travel agent sites. unfortunately I cant list them here

 

2. Only pay the minimum deposit when you book. Take a look weekly at the sailing after you initially book. If the price goes down, you can call whoever you booked it with and they will adjust the price. You can do this all the way up until final payment is due. depending on the sailing it's usually from 60 to 75 days out. BUT if you pay the whole cruise upfront.. when the price changes it gets messy. More than likely instead of crediting your credit card you will get On board credit... Just easier to pay when you have to , not up front... HOWEVER if you are NOT from the united states. Many people also have to deal with the currency exchange rates and prefer to pay off the reservation when the exchange rate is more favorable for them. That is not something I have to deal with.. but certainly a big consideration ( and understandably so ) for many cruisers

[sredish]

Any pointers in getting a better price on the cruise?

 

Gosh, to me that seems awful high for a balcony that far in advance. We paid $1600 out the door for a western on Navigator in a hump balcony that we booked over a year out, but I did think that was a bargain. $1600 - $1800 seems about right to me for what we've paid in the past for a balcony, so adding $1000 to that seems awful pricey. Maybe just watch for price drops over the next few months, and in the mean time search for the same cruise but just over a different week/month.

Edited September 9, 2015 by sredish

[Sherri914]

I'm assuming you were comfortable with the $2500 price you've signed up for or you wouldn't have booked. But we can always hope a better deal will come along! I do the same thing.

 

For example, our upcoming November Oasis cruise was booked in August of last year. Since then we've repriced this cruise reservation at least 3 times, each time taking advantage of either a price drop or a promo being offered. The last one was within probably 2 months of our original booking date, and we haven't seen better pricing since. Believe me, I check daily.

 

Right now - WITH the current BOGOHO sale - the cabin next door to ours on our upcoming cruise is being offered at over $1100 MORE than what we paid, and with no substantial OBC (we're getting $200). So it's timing more than anything.

 

Keep checking the website.

[cruisenfever]

it's really tough now. I used to get great deals the closer it got to a sailing. maybe 4 months out. But in the last year.. it seems to be that if you book 1 + year out the price seems to be much better. There are a couple of important things to note

 

1. sometimes a reseller has better deals with on board credit. ( especially if you have no status with the cruise line) so definitely check the major cruise travel agent sites. unfortunately I cant list them here

 

2. Only pay the minimum deposit when you book. Take a look weekly at the sailing after you initially book. If the price goes down, you can call whoever you booked it with and they will adjust the price. You can do this all the way up until final payment is due. depending on the sailing it's usually from 60 to 75 days out. BUT if you pay the whole cruise upfront.. when the price changes it gets messy. More than likely instead of crediting your credit card you will get On board credit... Just easier to pay when you have to , not up front... HOWEVER if you are NOT from the united states. Many people also have to deal with the currency exchange rates and prefer to pay off the reservation when the exchange rate is more favorable for them. That is not something I have to deal with.. but certainly a big consideration ( and understandably so ) for many cruisers

With Holiday Sailing Final Payment is due 90 days prior to departure.

 

Also, if you pay off your balance prior to the final payment date set by RCI, there is no problem getting a refund back to the credit card you used to make your payment with.

[LilBlackDress]

What are your thoughts?

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!!

 

Once upon a time the BoGo sale had meaning. Its been almost 2 years of one sale or the other... As others have stated, just look at the bottom line, nothing else matters...

 

Book as far advance as possible, keep an eye one the price drops and call RC to have them adjust it or call your TA!!

Edited September 9, 2015 by LilBlackDress

[cruiseaddict1972]

I'm assuming you were comfortable with the $2500 price you've signed up for or you wouldn't have booked. But we can always hope a better deal will come along! I do the same thing.

 

For example, our upcoming November Oasis cruise was booked in August of last year. Since then we've repriced this cruise reservation at least 3 times, each time taking advantage of either a price drop or a promo being offered. The last one was within probably 2 months of our original booking date, and we haven't seen better pricing since. Believe me, I check daily.

 

Right now - WITH the current BOGOHO sale - the cabin next door to ours on our upcoming cruise is being offered at over $1100 MORE than what we paid, and with no substantial OBC (we're getting $200). So it's timing more than anything.

 

Keep checking the website.

 

We booked the cruise so we would not loose the cabin.

[EGG]

ILLUSION Even if this were the new higher price, it is actually a price increase since the "sale" precludes you from using some of your other sources of OBC and/or your credit card points.

[Sherri914]

We booked the cruise so we would not loose the cabin.

 

We do the same thing. My best advice would be to keep an eye on the prices. Do mock bookings. If you see a better price, call! If it's simply a price drop, they'll adjust your reservation. If it's a promo they're offering (like OBC, drink package, wifi, etc), you will have to reprice your cruise under the current fares, and unfortunately the fares are typically inflated during these promos to make up for whatever perk they're offering at the time.

[Lionesss]

We have always monitored the price of the cruise we booked on three sites, one of course is RCI (which you can access thru CC) and the other two are not permitted to be listed here.

 

We have always got a price reduction and/or OBC by daily monitoring what we paid versus the current price on all of our previous 7 RCI cruises.

 

On occasion but not always we have gotten the discount after a RCI "sale", that has not been the case recently, guess they made it more challenging..................I like challenges.

 

I guess it's my internet game to play.

 

Sea Ya

[bigharley]

I usually book my cruises about 10 to 11 months out and have always got what I consider a good price. We were on the Oasis last November, which I paid $2,050 for a balcony. I booked it in February and the price only went up as I checked it regularly. I'm sailing on the Navigator on the 20th of this month, which I paid $2,050 for two interior rooms. I booked this one in February. It seems that January - February is the best time to book a cruise, if you are sailing after the summer peak season.

[molly361]

I'm not sure what you call it but it is NOT a sale in my opinion. Like the others said just keep watching prices. When it gets close to final payment if you still don't like that price you can always cancel.

 

$2500 for September sounds high to me as well. I would think ( hope) the price would come down.

[BillOh]

What are your thoughts?

I ONLY BOOK CRUISES FOR THE TWO OF US, I DON'T KNOW HOW BOGO AFFECTS LARGER FAMILIES

 

 

Initially it was real. I booked Freedom for 2015 while on Jewel in 2014. Prior to boarding I had looked at the price of the cabin I wanted months ahead. During that time BOGO raised its not yet ugly head. We paid about $900 less than I what I was prepared to pay for the 2 of us. It was a great deal. Shortly after we got home, prices on MOST cruises went up dramatically, but after the BOGO pricing it was about what it was before, or close to it.

 

I'm now paying wiht BOGO close to the same for my upcoming Oasis cruise as the other two I did on Allure. When I booked it, I basically said, "Just give me the final dollar total" the way I did when I recently purchased a car. The dealer tried to give me all these scenarios and I just said Final price, with my trade it, give me the figure.

 

That said, we discovered a really good sale or sales dealing with Adventure in San Juan, I have been following closely and no a lot about the ship and the itinerary, but perhaps sailings are slacking off prior to her upcoming re-fit? Again I just asked the final total and booked a JS for less than the d1 we had on jewel in 2014.

Edited September 9, 2015 by BillOh

[LuvBNatC]

it's really tough now. I used to get great deals the closer it got to a sailing. maybe 4 months out. But in the last year.. it seems to be that if you book 1 + year out the price seems to be much better.

 

Not necessarily true. RCCL SAYS they aren't discounting close to the sail date, but they lie.

 

I booked my upcoming October cruising on Vision OTS over a year ago. In the past 2 weeks, I've seen the price for my inside cabin go $500 lower than I'm locked into, during a so-called "Going, Going, Gone" sale.

 

During that same sale, I tried to upgrade to a balcony (which had dropped a whopping $4,000 from what it had been), but was unable to do so because the sale price was for "new bookings only."

 

Lesson learned? All prices are suspect, and "sale" means nothing. Unless you must have a specific cabin, you'd do just as well to wait for a "sale" after the final payment date. Or book whenever you see a price you can live with.

 

And they've been fluctuating prices within the same day lately.

 

If they have ships to fill and time's running out, they DO discount.

[Big_G]

Not necessarily true. RCCL SAYS they aren't discounting close to the sail date, but they lie.

 

 

That's not really what Royal said but it is the version that has been perpetuated here on Cruise Critic. I do agree that pricing has been frustrating.

[jsswish]

We booked with the NextCruise desk on-board our last cruise, and after booking and thinking about the price, I felt a bit perplexed as well (and slightly nauseated).

 

We sailed on the Liberty in August (9 nights), balcony E1 cabin, and paid about $3,200 with grautities pre-paid, and I can't remember if that included trip insurance or not.

 

Now we're booked on the Anthem for April 8th, 1 night longer cruise (10), balcony D3 cabin, and our total with pre-paid gratuities is a hair over $4,700!

 

I don't know if it's the timing of the cruise, the ship, balcony difference or all of the above, but the increase seems outrageous to me. Obviously we booked it, so we're still moving ahead, I'm just shocked at the price difference.

 

I will do like others suggested and do mock bookings every so often and if I notice a large price drop I'll say something to our travel agent.

Edited September 9, 2015 by jsswish

[marci22]

You booked the BOGO when it first came out in May 2014 and those prices were good. After a couple of weeks the prices went up. Subsequent BOGOS have been lame.

 

The only other 'sale' that I noticed that was good was that 30/30 thing they had (in June this year?) I booked something then and I haven't seen it cheaper. Wish I had made more bookings.

[Honey-B]

We booked Harmony for June next year on the BOGO half price. 7 night med cruise which on the RCI website was priced at £1099pp. Total cost of our holiday including pre paid gratuities and our flights £2262.96. It worked out just over £400 saving so there is a saving to be made. [emoji3]

[cruisenfever]

We booked 2 cruises on Anthem in a FJS for April of 2017 while on Quantum last December. Thought we got a great price. We added a 3rd cruise 2 weeks ago because the same cabin was still available.

 

2 weeks ago they opened up the BOGOHO for Anthem sailings and after doing a reprice, we saved approx. $1000 on 3 cruises. We are happy.:D

Edited September 9, 2015 by cruisenfever

[rudeney]

IMHO, any "sale" that lasts for months is not a "sale" - it's "the price". They can advertise a balcony stateroom as "$1,500/person, double occupancy", or "$3,000 for two" or "$2,000 with BOGOHO!", or "$4,000 with 25% off!", or "Book an ocean view for $2,200and upgrade to a balcony for only $800 more!" No matter how they slice it, it's $3,000 for the room.

[monctonguy]

Best advice for RCI is to book as far out in advance, put the min deposit down, and check back regularly for their promotions to see if it goes down. If it does you can take advantage and if not, you can cancel with your deposit back up to 60 days before cruise time.

 

The BOGO sales are mostly smoke and mirrors...but you will sometimes find a price reduction with them..or through a separate travel company and save some $$. I know I have a cpl times now. I have learned to play the game with RCI.

[jsswish]

Best advice for RCI is to book as far out in advance, put the min deposit down, and check back regularly for their promotions to see if it goes down. If it does you can take advantage and if not, you can cancel with your deposit back up to 60 days before cruise time.

 

The BOGO sales are mostly smoke and mirrors...but you will sometimes find a price reduction with them..or through a separate travel company and save some $$. I know I have a cpl times now. I have learned to play the game with RCI.

 

Probably good advice. When we booked Liberty it was closer to 9/10 months out, with Anthem more like 7, so I'm assuming that added to the increase. Also when we booked Liberty there were 3 date options, we picked the one with the lowest price. With the Anthem booking, I'm pretty sure the 4/8/16 sailing has the highest price.

 

When we initially sat down to book we said we wanted to look at dates no sooner than a year out, but we were on a cruise high and left with what we had. Next time I'm thinking we'll come home, unwind, and revisit what we might want to do next over the coming weeks instead of during a half hour meeting on the ship.

Edited September 9, 2015 by jsswish

[Baron Barracuda]

Anthem prices seem to have gone parabolic. When Quantum debuted last fall prices were in nosebleed territory. However because it was first sailings on new class of ship you could understand why. At that time balcony prices for late 2015 / 2016 Anthem sailings were much lower, running around the $200pp/day that Explorer had been charging for comparable sailings. This July I booked a d1 for my daughter on the 9 day 6/16/16 sailing for $4100 all in (but before diamond discount). Figured that since I had an X cruise coming up this month I'd be smart, wait and book Anthem while aboard that one and get the extra obc. Well, not so smart. In the last month ALL balconies on Anthem sailings for next June jumped by $1,000 per cabin. Hopefully I'll be able to snag a better deal between now and June.

 

By the way, there are web sites (run by ta, so don't think I can list here but you can find anything using google) that track and chart price changes by cabin category by sailing date. You can see every change since the sailing opened for booking. Interesting info, and you can see some really big moves up and down. Mostly up. Too bad they can't predict future prices.