Royal Carribean rates are getting higher

[Baron Barracuda]

Little to no chance of this happening .... but if it did imagine how high Royal's rates would jump

 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article229069589.html

[Sherri914]

6 minutes ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

 

Which ship?

 

2015 was on Oasis.  We were the next to last aft boardwalk balcony, Deck 11.

 

2020 is Allure (which will be post-dry dock / update).  We booked last aft balcony, Deck 11.   This category comes w/ the 2 Johnny Rockets dinners (which isn't much), rock climbing lessons and a special time for access, and a free soda package for two. 

 

We just switched to Deck 10, Central Park, the cabin just beyond the living wall, which has the double-sized balcony, and with the latest sale, the cost is $250 less.  This category comes with lunch at your choice of two specialty restaurants, some sort of gambling / casino lessons from a pro (which doesn't do much for me, but that might intrigue some), and a bottle of red wine delivered to the cabin.  

 

With switching cabins to Central Park, i'm now down under what we paid in 2015.  That wasn't the goal for switching, but it's always nice to save.  The reason we switched is that after the refit for Allure, they're installing the giant purple slides and that would obstruct the water view, so it seemed pointless to be in that cabin at that point.  

[ONECRUISER]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Sure, during the next recession.

Careful what you wish for... Most expensive Cruises were in 1980's into 90's. Could never afford a Balcony Cabin back then, if ships even had one, not cheap like are today. But right after 9/11 were my cheapest. Once paid $9 each for the 2 of us with the $50 each Port for total of $118 for a 5 nite. Paid for that cruise after rolling my coins from my coin jar. Then did 7 nites on brand new Explorer right after 9/11 and Anthrax scare, paid only $799. This inc Port Tax in a Jr Suite all to myself, was no single supplement, ship sailed only 80% of double occupancy Full...

Edited April 11, 2019 by ONECRUISER

[Johnamac123]

1 hour ago, Johnamac123 said:

There are websites that will watch a given cruise/category for you and notify you by email if the price falls below a specific price, all for a minimal ($1) fee. Look for a fishy site. 

The fishy site is evidently a dead site for some users. Look for others....

[Crazy planning mom]

Disregard

Edited April 11, 2019 by Crazy planning mom

[Crazy planning mom]

1 minute ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Disregard

 

[John&LaLa]

13 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Sure, during the next recession.

 

Cant wait 😇

Everything is cyclical 

[John&LaLa]

11 hours ago, LuCruise said:

 

I check daily for the ones where a price drop is possible.  Usually a "sale" (i.e. current price) lasts a few days... and then gets extended... but doesn't take long to check.

 

I find in general though that prices are rising and its best to book early. For example, the same Mariner cruise is costing us $1000 more for next summer than it did last summer (exact same date).  And for our Anthem, Navigator, Mariner, Harmony bookings...I've just watched the price go up and up.

 

My theory is all these amplifications that Royal is doing, is driving the cost up.

 

Mariner was in China last summer. This year it's in Pt Canaveral.  Are you comparing Mariner to Msjesty?😱

[LuCruise]

6 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Mariner was in China last summer. This year it's in Pt Canaveral.  Are you comparing Mariner to Msjesty?😱

Yes Mariner.  It was amped and returned to the US starting in Miami before moving to Port Canaveral.  See my signature.  I have a whole review from our August cruise.

 

P.S. To add to my post...now that I think if it, the ones that are going up are the cruises booked when school is out (except for Harmony which fluctuated near opening day , but then did a bug jump in price).  

Edited April 12, 2019 by LuCruise

[John&LaLa]

2 hours ago, LuCruise said:

Yes Mariner.  It was amped and returned to the US starting in Miami before moving to Port Canaveral.  See my signature.  I have a whole review from our August cruise.

 

P.S. To add to my post...now that I think if it, the ones that are going up are the cruises booked when school is out (except for Harmony which fluctuated near opening day , but then did a bug jump in price).  

 

My bad, I got the summers mixed up. 

[orville99]

What we've seen over the past several years - since May 2014 when the never ending BOGO "sale" started - is that the best prices on cruises are always when the itineraries are first released. We currently have 14 cruises booked - some long, some short; some on new ships, some on small ships; but all booked within the first few weeks of their release - and the price for the category we book is up significantly on every cruise, all the way through April 2021. As an example, we booked a standard OV Balcony on Harmony for the 3/28/21 cruise on 2/10. Fast forward exactly two months, and the price for that same category (actually the cabin next to the one we booked) is now $300 more than what we paid. On the Harmony cruise we have booked for this May, the cost of an interior cabin is now higher than the cost we paid for a large OV balcony on the hump.

 

IMO, The later you start to look for cruises, the higher your starting (reference) price is. While you may see the price go down from there the next time you check, the price "drop" is almost always off of a price that has steadily increased between its original issue date, and when you first looked. It's the old "we mark them up so we can mark them down" shell game.

[twangster]

Here is a graph of cruise price index from a site called cruisemarketwatch.com over a 10 year period.  The peaks are the summer season and the troughs are the low season in early December between US thanksgiving and Christmas each year for 10 years.  The dashed line through the middle represents the overall trend over the 10 years.

 

So yes, prices are rising.  Basically cruising is popular so based on simple supply and demand, prices are rising because demand is higher.  

[A2Mich]

On 4/11/2019 at 10:55 AM, Sherri914 said:

Last cruise we took was Nov 2015.  We always go in November.  We booked August 2014 for a November 2015 cruise.  Great prices on two boardwalk balconies (firs time in that category, and we actually loved it because it was a lower balcony price and we had the last two aft, so we had great ocean - wake - views.  After initial booking, i checked weekly at a minimum, and we repriced a total of 4 times as different sales took effect.  

 

Fast forward to 2019, we booked same category, similar itinerary, for November 2020 (so quite a ways off).  The initial booking price for this trip four years later is very close to what we paid four years ago for the same cabin, same time of year, similar itinerary.  That said, I will continue to look weekly for price drops and will reprice if needed.

 

We did change categories though last week w/ the new BOGO sale.  We switched from a boardwalk to a central park balcony.  I was able to snag on of the double-sized balconies.  They don't show that way on the deck plans, but there are two on decks 10, 11 and 12 that have double-sized balconies for the same price.  Looking forward to a new experience in Central Park this time. 

 

Our last cruise was also 2015 on Freedom.  We had a Promenade Family cabin then.  Fast forward to our upcoming 2020 cruise on Harmony...we have a family balcony cabin on a much newer ship, for only about $800 more than our Freedom cruise.  I’m quite happy with the price.