Royal’s “creative” math

[sjb317]

Royal has a sale Kids Sail Free sale that ends tonight on select sailings so silly me thought I would take advantage of this for a 7 day cruise on Rhapsody next spring.  The week I wanted was a “select sailing” so I put in info for two adults and one 4 year old.  The cheapest OV was listed at $514pp plus taxes and fees of $127.90pp.  Child was listed as free.  I picked the cabin and checked the itemized cost to find: 

 

 

OV for 3 passengers $2663.00

Flash sale  -$75.

Kids sale free -$1048. (Not sure where they get this price)

Taxes & fees $383.85

Total cost $1923.85

 

Seemed like a lot to me, so I priced the same category price with 2 adults only. This time listed price is $682pp plus same amount for taxes& fees. Now the itemized cost is:

 

OV for 2. $1918.

Flash sale. -$75.

BOGO sale  -$480 ( Again, not sure how they come up with this)

Taxes & fees $255.90

Total cost $1618.90

 

I realize the list price is an average of final price after sales are adjusted, but adjusting for taxes & fees, why does my kids sail free kid cost me $177.05?😂😂

 

Sherri🙂

 

 

 

[Clarea]

Could be taxes and port fees for the child.

 

Also, I can tell you from where they pull out those numbers, but it would be considered bad taste.

[twangster]

It's possible an OV cabin that can accomodate three guests cost more than an OV cabin with just two beds.

 

Not the person charges, simply the cabin category.  A 1V cabin can be different than a 2V cabin which can be a different from a 3V cabin.  All the same kind of cabin but different categories within that type.  Two adults booking a 1V may be a different price than two adults in a 2V and different again for two adults in a 3V.  

 

Not all OV are equal.  

 

Can you see if the same category is being priced with the kid on the booking?

 

 

Edited April 15, 2019 by twangster

[molly361]

1 minute ago, twangster said:

It's possible an OV cabin that can accomodate three guests cost more than an OV cabin with just two beds.

 

Not the person charges, simply the cabin category.  A 1V cabin can be different than a 2V cabin which can be a different from a 3V cabin.  All the same kind of cabin but different categories within that type.  Two adults booking a 1V may be a different price than two adults in a 2V and different again for two adults in a 3V.  

 

Not all OV are equal.  

 

Can you see iff the same category is being priced with the kid on the booking?

 

 

Winner winner!!!!

[sjb317]

6 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Could be taxes and port fees for the child.

 

Also, I can tell you from where they pull out those numbers, but it would be considered bad taste.

All of my figures took in to account the taxes and fees😂

 

Sherri🙂

[sjb317]

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

It's possible an OV cabin that can accomodate three guests cost more than an OV cabin with just two beds.

 

Not the person charges, simply the cabin category.  A 1V cabin can be different than a 2V cabin which can be a different from a 3V cabin.  All the same kind of cabin but different categories within that type.  Two adults booking a 1V may be a different price than two adults in a 2V and different again for two adults in a 3V.  

 

Not all OV are equal.  

 

Can you see if the same category is being priced with the kid on the booking?

 

 

I wrote in my post that both were the same category.  I also did a pricing for 3 adults last night in the same OV category, list price for this was $620. plus taxes/fees. Itemized charges: 

 

OV for 3 $2663.00

Flash sale. -$75.

BOGO -$730.

Taxes/fees $383.85

Total. $2241.85

 

It must have something to do with the 3rd person.🤔 

 

Sherri🙂

[Glide_Path]

-I use to be confused as well with their weird math.... but so far it seems to be a real "kids sail free" sale.

Royal price their cabins that holds 3 passengers at a much higher premium than a 2 passenger cabin.

 

-Go back and reprice the same 3 person cabin with 3 adults, and compare it with 2 adults+ 1 kiddo, you "should" see where the "free" comes in. 

[sjb317]

1 minute ago, Glide_Path said:

-I use to be confused as well with their weird math.... but so far it seems to be a real "kids sail free" sale.

Royal price their cabins that holds 3 passengers at a much higher premium than a 2 passenger cabin.

 

-Go back and reprice the same 3 person cabin with 3 adults, and compare it with 2 adults+ 1 kiddo, you "should" see where the "free" comes in. 

I had the same cabin for my 2 adults as I did for my 2 plus 1 kid. 😂

 

Sherri

[Glide_Path]

5 minutes ago, sjb317 said:

I had the same cabin for my 2 adults as I did for my 2 plus 1 kid. 😂

 

Sherri

Son of a ....... just when I thought i had everything figured out!.....  in that case, please refer to the 2nd sentence in Bob's post. 

[papaflamingo]

Best not to try to understand it.   I'm pretty sure Royal Caribbean is a believer in Common Core Math.  Better to look at a cruise and say "yeah, that's worth the money," and book it, or "gee, it's not worth the money" and don't book it. How they arrived at the bottom line is irrelevant.  Only the bottom line counts.  

[fsjosh]

Some of the difference is to get the kids sail free, you don't get the bogo offer on the second guest. You are paying full price on passenger 2 on the KSF pricing. That doesn't account for why the initial pricing is different unless they do indeed price the cabin different depending on how many people are in the cabin. 

[Ashland]

The KSF worked out great for us...Repriced our booking made this past January and saved $$$'s !!

[Milwaukee Eight]

12 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

Could be taxes and port fees for the child.

 

Also, I can tell you from where they pull out those numbers, but it would be considered bad taste.

Is that similar to an inside cabin where no Sun Shines?

[Clarea]

4 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Is that similar to an inside cabin where no Sun Shines?

 

Very.

[Iamcruzin]

All of their promotions are nothing but Smoke and Mirrors. 

Edited April 16, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[Deseo1578]

As far as I understand the promo , it is combinable so you do get kids sail free and the 50% second guest.

[Iamcruzin]

3 minutes ago, Deseo1578 said:

As far as I understand the promo , it is combinable so you do get kids sail free and the 50% second guest.

That's how I understood it as well. I did several mock booking like the OP and I can't figure out the math. When booking a Royal Caribbean cruise you need to book through an accountant not a travel agent.

[Judyrem]

9 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Best not to try to understand it.   I'm pretty sure Royal Caribbean is a believer in Common Core Math.  Better to look at a cruise and say "yeah, that's worth the money," and book it, or "gee, it's not worth the money" and don't book it. How they arrived at the bottom line is irrelevant.  Only the bottom line counts.  

LOL, so true.

[Tapi]

Most of these sails are bogus. I have a good friend who used to work reservations for Carnival, and once a month, they used to have “The Biggest One Day Sale Ever”. Prices would be exactly the same as on no -sale days. Yet, they’d watch the digital counter on the wall (that showed how many bookings the department  had for the day) and it would soar. By the end of the day, they’d have on average double the number of bookings as on a regular day. Once again, no real sale, just a catchy name that got a lot of people to book a cruise on that specific day. 

 

I’ve only priced out one cruise on Royal with a KSF promo (Bermuda out of Baltimore early summer) when it was truly KSF. Substantial savings of almost $1,000. Every other time it’s not a huge difference, and like the OP found out, sometime you actually pay more. 

 

I have found other cruise lines to be more honest and do offer true KSF sales. We’ve sailed twice on MSC because of this, and we have a Norwegian cruise booked. Their KSF made it financially feasible to book a Haven suite! 

[sjb317]

Messed up post😂

Edited April 16, 2019 by sjb317

[sjb317]

After much debate, we decided to go ahead and book so my husband called Royal the next morning.  Here is the final pricing as broken down on our invoice from Royal:

 

Cruise fare for 2:  $1147.00.   3rd passenger (child)  $475.   The total is $56 more than price I was getting on internet but this is a different cabin, although  same category.

 

There are 2 categories listed as Free Kids NRD (non refundable?)  Under the first one, passenger 1 gets $42 off price, #2 gets $500 off and #3 (child) gets $235 off.  The 2nd Free Kids NRD gives #1 nothing, #2 gets $95 off and #3  gets $190.  #1 gets the Flash sale discount of $75.  

 

Taxes/fees are less than yesterday, $118.29 vs. $127.90.

 

Bottom line is passenger #1 total is$1148.29, #2 is $670.29 and the child is taxes/fees only.   However, the total cost of all three is $1936.87 which is $13.02 more than price online.

 

My head is spinning😂😂😂😂

 

Sherri🙂

Edited April 16, 2019 by sjb317

[Tree_skier]

I don't understand all the angst over Royal's marketing. Look at the bottomline and if the price works great.  If it doesn't don't book. Just about every retail establishment in the world does the same thing unless they trying clearance certain products. Car dealers list the MSRP and inflated price they and you know is completely irrelevant to the final sale price, JC Penny has an inflated retail price that they expect to sell very little at.  They know that the vast majority will wait until the big sale... Going all the time but at different times for different items.  It's not deceptive... It's called marketing.

[Iamcruzin]

8 minutes ago, sjb317 said:

After much debate, we decided to go ahead and book so my husband called Royal the next morning.  Here is the final pricing as broken down on our invoice from Royal:

 

Cruise fare for 2:  $1147.00.   3rd passenger (child)  $475.   The total is $56 more than price I was getting on internet but this is a different cabin, although  same category.

 

There are 2 categories listed as Free Kids NRD (non refundable?)  Under the first one, passenger 1 gets $42 off price, #2 gets $500 off and #3 (child) gets $235 off.  The 2nd Free Kids NRD gives #1 nothing, #2 gets $95 off and #3  gets $190.  #1 gets the Flash sale discount of $75.  

 

Taxes/fees are less than yesterday, $118.29 vs. $127.90.

 

Bottom line is passenger #1 total is$1148.29, #2 is $670.29 and the child is taxes/fees only.   However, the total cost of all three is $1936.87 which is $13.02 more than price online.

 

My head is spinning😂😂😂😂

 

Sherri🙂

You can't make this up. The great mathematicians are all turning in their grave.

[schmeed]

7 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I don't understand all the angst over Royal's marketing. Look at the bottomline and if the price works great.  If it doesn't don't book. Just about every retail establishment in the world does the same thing unless they trying clearance certain products. Car dealers list the MSRP and inflated price they and you know is completely irrelevant to the final sale price, JC Penny has an inflated retail price that they expect to sell very little at.  They know that the vast majority will wait until the big sale... Going all the time but at different times for different items.  It's not deceptive... It's called marketing.

 

Well said.  People need to stop trying to figure out the system and just purchase what they can afford.

 

As long as it does NOT cross into a bait and switch situation...that is completely different...

 

Edited April 16, 2019 by schmeed

[PopeyeDaSailor]

22 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

Could be taxes and port fees for the child.

 

Also, I can tell you from where they pull out those numbers, but it would be considered bad taste.

 

It's definitely taxes and port fees.  That's actually pretty cheap for an extra person.

 

I'm leaving on Symphony on May 11th this year with my two kids and we're staying in a Grand Suite that I definitely wouldn't have been able to afford without KSF deal.