Is Royal starting to Bend?

[9876]

Yes. NCL had publicized not discounting and they are discounting also.

[Paulette3028]

Their definition of "last minute" is flexible, anywhere from 30 to 10 days out.:rolleyes: So if a ship really isn't selling well, they'll drop the price 11 days out and claim that they aren't doing it last minute.

 

I don't believe they will claim they weren't doing it last minute.... the goal of the announcement that they were going to minimize last minute discounting was to set the stage for less and less discounting close to sail date. I believe they have done just that....they are doing much less discounting close to sail date. I don't believe in their previous announcements they said they would "NEVER" offer a discount, but don't expect them close to to sail date.

 

Lowering the price of cabins 6 weeks prior to cruising (if you are looking at Thanksgiving 2015 timeframe) is not last minute, even though it is after final payment has been required to be made by those already booked to sail.

[molly361]

When they made that announcement about not discounting last minute so as not to get folks that book early mad, the ONLY way that would work is if they did NOT drop rates at all after final payment.

 

And we all know that is NOT going to happen. So it really doesn't matter if they drop them a week out or the day after final the people that booked a year or more out are not going to like it

 

It doesn't matter if it was the $129 rates on the EN or MJ a week out that they had in the past or yesterdays $600 balcony rates on the OA and AL a month ahead, people that booked early are not going to like it.

Edited October 11, 2015 by molly361

[mollyeilis]

They say in print months ago that they will not Discount.

 

 

What they said in print was this:

 

"As a result in March we adopted a new policy that we would not do any last minute discounts on bookings in North America. Depending on the type of cruise, that last minute may be 10, 20 or 30 days out, but from that point on we will hold our price at the prior level."

 

What the other poster said is true. This means they can discount at 11 days from sailing and still call it "not last minute discounting" because their definition of "last minute" will vary from cruise to cruise, and can mean as close-in as 10 days from sailing.

 

It's hardly "we're not going to discount".

 

Lots and LOTS of leeway...

[mcatmcat]

What they said in print was this:

 

 

 

What the other poster said is true. This means they can discount at 11 days from sailing and still call it "not last minute discounting" because their definition of "last minute" will vary from cruise to cruise, and can mean as close-in as 10 days from sailing.

 

It's hardly "we're not going to discount".

 

Lots and LOTS of leeway...

 

 

Once again, royal is not straight forward in their practice. You can't please everyone in life but for me they want to me with god and the devil at the same time. I like royal but their fake sale and business practice are horrible.

[rt1092]

I got in on the deal yesterday for the Oasis. I put it on hold and worked it out today. I didn't know how much it was with the single supplement (150%) You need someone from loyalty to put the price in.

I was told it was an IT Glitch (LOL) It was allowing us to double and triple up on discounts. (like the old days). But they honored the price.

[The_Big_M]

What they said in print was this:

 

 

 

What the other poster said is true. This means they can discount at 11 days from sailing and still call it "not last minute discounting" because their definition of "last minute" will vary from cruise to cruise, and can mean as close-in as 10 days from sailing.

 

It's hardly "we're not going to discount".

 

Lots and LOTS of leeway...

 

Spot on.

 

The restrictions that are being suggested have never been claimed by Royal and hence there's nothing to 'bend.'