Is there such a thing as "group rate" for Royal Caribbean?

[screenname2004]

I was asking couple of agents for quote for a cruise we are looking to book. More than one agent gave us a refundable deposit quote and said the deposit is refundable because the rate is a "group rate". Is this one of the "perk" RC allows its agents to provide?

[Clarea]

I can get refundable and non-refundable group rates from our travel agent.

[not-enough-cruising]

Anyone can get the option of refundable VS non refundable (except suite guests)

 

 

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[Clarea]

One thing that does change with a group booking - full deposit is required. So if someone makes an onboard booking with reduced deposit and then wants to move that to a group booking, the full deposit must be made.

[not-enough-cruising]

One thing that does change with a group booking - full deposit is required. So if someone makes an onboard booking with reduced deposit and then wants to move that to a group booking, the full deposit must be made.

 

 

 

Once again, I have learned something new today.

 

 

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[smplybcause]

And if you're a solo you have to pay the deposit for 2 people. [emoji849] 4 hours in and I'm still correcting the mess from royal not specifying this from the beginning.

 

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[ATSEAMYLIFE]

Our TA almost always books us in an agency group. We get agency and cruise lines perks and the group rate. As stated the only down side is full deposit has to be made at time of booking with the group. Our cruise before last I booked while on Allure for an Oasis a year out. It was a reduced deposit with some OBC for booking on board. They let me do a 24 hr hold so I Emailed my TA to see if it was a good deal and if I could transfer my booking to her and get more OBC and agency group perks, which she said I could do. I paid the reduced deposit on board, got home, transferred the booking to my TA, and paid the full deposit. I got two OBC's and some other TA perks. Sadly that was before "non-refundable" deposits.

[boscobeans]

Contact RC directly and see what they offer:

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/group-travel

 

Contact a TA that has done group bookings.

 

There are perks, good luck.

 

bosco

[hapster85]

Anyone can get the option of refundable VS non refundable (except suite guests)

 

 

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Yes and no. My only option when checking interline lately, has been non-refundable. It's definitely made things more complicated when deciding how and when to book, but October 2019 on Freedom was enticing enough that I rolled the dice. Hoping the wife's schedule doesn't force us to change it.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

And if you're a solo you have to pay the deposit for 2 people. [emoji849] 4 hours in and I'm still correcting the mess from royal not specifying this from the beginning.

 

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Even if you get the single supplement?

 

 

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[smplybcause]

Even if you get the single supplement?

 

 

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Yup, I'm paying the same amount as my parents in a room two doors down minus the 2nd person's taxes and fees. Some rule that royal didn't communicate well to at least my travel agent. Booked a solo balcony in their group sailing, charged a 250 deposit. A month later I get an email my cruise was canceled and after TA had to call royal they said solos in group sailings have to pay "full deposit" meaning deposit as if there were 2 in it. Had to pay the extra 250 as the redid my booking.

 

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[RocketMan275]

I was asking couple of agents for quote for a cruise we are looking to book. More than one agent gave us a refundable deposit quote and said the deposit is refundable because the rate is a "group rate". Is this one of the "perk" RC allows its agents to provide?

 

Your TA has booked a 'group' of cabins. The TA will get certain perks from RCCI for the booking. Usually, the group booking comes with a number of points that the TA can pocket for herself or can use to buy on board perks for her clients. (This is where the free bottle of wine the TA gives as a present comes from.)

[nav88]

RC considers most any discount a Group rate which impact other promos you can receive .

[Mellowjourney]

When we booked our family cruise (FOS March 2018), we were told that group rate applies to 8 cabins or more. We were booking 8 cabins so it worked out very nicely. We also got $100 per cabin OBC and 2 bottles of champagne per cabin. We did have to pay the full deposit of $500 per cabin upfront which was refundable. We didn't mind paying a deposit up front. It was $4000 less that we needed to pay at final payment.

[scorpluvsdolphins]

Yup, I'm paying the same amount as my parents in a room two doors down minus the 2nd person's taxes and fees. Some rule that royal didn't communicate well to at least my travel agent. Booked a solo balcony in their group sailing, charged a 250 deposit. A month later I get an email my cruise was canceled and after TA had to call royal they said solos in group sailings have to pay "full deposit" meaning deposit as if there were 2 in it. Had to pay the extra 250 as the redid my booking.

 

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If you are paying the same as your 2 parents, then you are NOT getting the 150% single supplement. Do you have over 340 points with Royal?

 

 

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[smplybcause]

If you are paying the same as your 2 parents, then you are NOT getting the 150% single supplement. Do you have over 340 points with Royal?

 

 

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Didn't know you were referring to the reduced one. And, well, when I was first booking in online before I called I entered my friend's diamond c&a to see if they added the balcony discount on the group rate and the price was the same as it was for me that's not high enough to get a balcony discount yet.

 

So if they don't allow the balcony discount for group sailings I wouldn't be surprised if they don't allow the reduced single supplement.

 

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[Russ Lomas]

Pretty well everything I have read above I can confirm due to my recent experience booking a group with RCCL for our 2020 cruise. We pay in Canadian funds, so the numbers are a little different.

 

I am told that all cabins booked in the group are refundable. The deposit we had to pay was $530 per cabin (Canadian). I had previously used one of my old Next Cruise certificates to book a cabin on this cruise we were changing into a group block and moving my reservation into this block, so I had to put up the extra almost $500 deposit (which took away one of the great benefits of using the Next Cruise certificate originally). I can also confirm you have to pay that same deposit for a single person in a cabin, which kind of sucks to pay the extra up front, but it also goes the other way and you only have to pay that same amount if you have a cabin with 4 people in it, which we do.

 

 

When we booked our family cruise (FOS March 2018), we were told that group rate applies to 8 cabins or more. We were booking 8 cabins so it worked out very nicely. We also got $100 per cabin OBC and 2 bottles of champagne per cabin. We did have to pay the full deposit of $500 per cabin upfront which was refundable. We didn't mind paying a deposit up front. It was $4000 less that we needed to pay at final payment.

 

The perks for booking a group differ from cruise to cruise. A person in this thread said each cabin was given $100 OBC and 2 bottles of champagne. We only received a $50 OBC per cabin, but even then, it is still better than receiving no extra perks at all. We book our groups over the school March Breaks when cruise ships always sell out easily, so maybe that is why we are offered less of a bonus per cabin than the other individual mentioned. By the way, which sailing are you on in March 2019 on the Freedom, because we have the March 10th, 2019 booked for our families that year.

[Mellowjourney]

Pretty well everything I have read above I can confirm due to my recent experience booking a group with RCCL for our 2020 cruise. We pay in Canadian funds, so the numbers are a little different.

 

I am told that all cabins booked in the group are refundable. The deposit we had to pay was $530 per cabin (Canadian). I had previously used one of my old Next Cruise certificates to book a cabin on this cruise we were changing into a group block and moving my reservation into this block, so I had to put up the extra almost $500 deposit (which took away one of the great benefits of using the Next Cruise certificate originally). I can also confirm you have to pay that same deposit for a single person in a cabin, which kind of sucks to pay the extra up front, but it also goes the other way and you only have to pay that same amount if you have a cabin with 4 people in it, which we do.

 

 

 

 

The perks for booking a group differ from cruise to cruise. A person in this thread said each cabin was given $100 OBC and 2 bottles of champagne. We only received a $50 OBC per cabin, but even then, it is still better than receiving no extra perks at all. We book our groups over the school March Breaks when cruise ships always sell out easily, so maybe that is why we are offered less of a bonus per cabin than the other individual mentioned. By the way, which sailing are you on in March 2019 on the Freedom, because we have the March 10th, 2019 booked for our families that year.

 

We had two Canadian teachers in our group, so we sailed during their spring break this last March. March 25-31, 2018.

[Russ Lomas]

We had two Canadian teachers in our group, so we sailed during their spring break this last March. March 25-31, 2018.

Guess I was not paying attention when I read your original post. I thought you were sailing the Freedom in 2019, but now realize you said in March 2018. We sailed the Freedom in March 2016 and March 2017 and will be on her again in March 2019. Guess we just missed you in March 2018. Hope you enjoyed your cruise.

[doug0105]

My agent and I contacted royal group sales ,and they no longer offer room discounts or perks for group bookings.  The ta can offer a $50 room credit out of there commission 

[Jimbo]

[Ourusualbeach]

29 minutes ago, doug0105 said:

My agent and I contacted royal group sales ,and they no longer offer room discounts or perks for group bookings.  The ta can offer a $50 room credit out of there commission 

Royal absolutely does still offer group rates to TA's including a group amenity based in the sailing but most people choose the $50 OBC as well as an early booking bonus of $50 for booking directly into a group more than 6 months in advance (this is not combinable with the C&A balcony discount)

 

All your agent needs to do is log onto cruising power and they can view the group rates and create their own group.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Ourusualbeach

[boscobeans]

1.  There are special rates an agent can provide for staterooms on sailings where their AGENCY reserves a large block of cabins in certain categories. These rates are very often very low and even have some additional perks as well from the agency.

2.  There used to be some perks offered by Royal Caribbean for small groups of friends or relatives that will be cruising together and create their own group.

The amount used to be EIGHT CABINS if I recall, and those group bookings are available to anyone or any travel agent.

 

This was true in the way back, when I had my agency. TODAY ???

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by boscobeans

[ATSEAMYLIFE]

7 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

2.  There used to be some perks offered by Royal Caribbean for small groups of friends or relatives that will be cruising together and create their own group.

The amount used to be EIGHT CABINS if I recall, and those group bookings are available to anyone or any travel agent.

 

For many years our TA was getting us the eight cabin discount or OBC, most of us took the OBC.  Then RCL dropped the flat number of eight for some type of formula you needed a physics degree from Yale to understand.  It's been several years since we had enough in our own group to worry about a discount.  Most times our TA sticks us into an agency group booking for any discounts or perks.  

[boscobeans]

2 minutes ago, ATSEAMYLIFE said:

 

Most times our TA sticks us into an agency group booking for any discounts or perks.  

Our agent for the last 20+ years always gets us what we want and at outrageous prices. Our upcoming 11 night Caribbean was part of a VERANDA GUARANTEE group and we wound up with an unobstructed, not attached midship port side veranda on deck 8. Reduced deposit, moderate OBC, specialty dining (one night for 2)  and at a price that could never be beat any other way.