Cruise Planner Experience-Liberty of the Seas

[cruisinfly]

Hi,

 

I wanted to share my experience using the cruise planner for my upcoming Liberty of the Seas Cruise in June (7 nights).

 

I booked the cruise at the end of March and started purchasing items from the cruise planner on April 1st. I have cancelled and repurchased nearly everything due to cost reductions in the cruise planner. It's rather annoying because you pay right away and the cost is charged to your credit card.  When you cancel and repurchase, the new purchase is charged right away and the refund goes back on your credit card a few days later.

 

I had to put a spreadsheet together to keep track of all the changes and charges.

 

I also realized that the prices can change overnight, either increasing or decreasing, with no rhyme or reason so it pays to check as often as possible.  I even had a price decrease in the same day!

 

I've cancelled and repurchased the Deluxe Beverage Package twice, the Refreshment package once, the 3-night specialty dining package once, and a scuba tour once. 

 

Altogether, cancelling and repurchasing saved me nearly $800 so far. That's over the time period of less than 1 month.

 

I've also noticed that some shore excursions disappear from the planner after I purchase them and reappear several days later. Sometimes the cost goes up, sometimes it goes down.

 

The "Jamaica Margaritaville Snorkel, Catamaran, beach break" tour that I booked disappeared and a very similar tour with the nearly the same name (the word "snorkel" removed) appeared at $1.00 less per person.  I think it's a different tour but can't be totally sure because the tour description is very similar and video is the same.  Despite the "disappearing shore excursions", my reservations still remain in my order history so I'm pretty sure the excursion only disappears for new purchases and not existing purchases.

 

Some examples of my price reductions are:

 

--Deluxe Beverage Pkg. went from $429.52 down to $404.74 then down to $379.96 per person.

--Refreshment Pkg. went from $214.76 down to $165.20 per person.

--Cozumel Scuba Tour went from $590 down to $445 (for 5 people).

--3-night Specialty Dining Pkg. went from $395 down to $345 (for 5 people).

 

I'll keep checking periodically for future reductions because I like spending less money.  It's actually pretty easy to cancel and repurchase. Because prices can go up (they did for a scuba tour in Grand Cayman), I recommend purchasing an item if you are happy with the price and following up by checking regularly for cost reductions.

 

I am amazed at the large amount of money I've already spent "on the cruise" and I haven't even boarded yet!

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kylaner3]

I did the same thing for beverage pkg. Originally had the $404, repurchased the $379. Saved enough to pay for an excursion. Which June Liberty cruise are you on? We are on Liberty in June.

[cruisinfly]

Hi kylaner3,

 

June 16th.  How about you?

[kylaner3]

Hi Cruisinfly,

We are on June 2...32 days!!

[HBE4]

On 4/26/2019 at 1:34 PM, cruisinfly said:

Altogether, cancelling and repurchasing saved me nearly $800 so far. That's over the time period of less than 1 month.

 

That is awesome!  Congratulations. I know it's a pain but well worth it.

 

 

On 4/26/2019 at 1:34 PM, cruisinfly said:

the "Jamaica Margaritaville Snorkel, Catamaran, beach break" tour that I booked disappeared and a very similar tour with the nearly the same name (the word "snorkel" removed) appeared at $1.00 less per person.  I think it's a different tour but can't be totally sure because the tour description is very similar and video is the same.  Despite the "disappearing shore excursions", my reservations still remain in my order history so I'm pretty sure the excursion only disappears for new purchases and not existing purchases.

 

I did that. When I booked via the Cruise PLanner, both tours (with and without the word Snorkel) were offered. There was about a $10 difference. I believe it's the same tour as there is only 1 Margaritaville catamaran - they charter the Red Parrot - and since the tour is most of the day, there is no way they can do both.

 

The snorkel part - which lasts only 35 - 45 minutes max may be optional. Perhaps they'll see which tour is more popular before determining whether to offer it or not?  There were a few people on my tour (which included snorkeling) that were confused as they did not think snorkeling was included.  My guess is that they booked the other one for $10 less and got free snorkeling

 

 

[cruisinfly]

Thank you, HBE4 and Kylaner3.

 

Was the Margaritaville tour worth it?

 

Kylaner3, please share your experience with us when you cruise!

[Houstonkid]

We just got off of LOS on 4/14. Previous to the cruise date I also checked stateroom prices. While looking one day I noticed that if I move 4 doors down (Balcon on 9) that I would save $500. Once I called RCI to switch they stated the room was actually $200 less than what I was seeing online. In the end we saved $700 and the room ended up being perfect.

 

We booked for May 2020 and I will be checking prices once a week until then on cabins and drink packages.

[kylaner3]

58 minutes ago, Houstonkid said:

We just got off of LOS on 4/14. Previous to the cruise date I also checked stateroom prices. While looking one day I noticed that if I move 4 doors down (Balcon on 9) that I would save $500. Once I called RCI to switch they stated the room was actually $200 less than what I was seeing online. In the end we saved $700 and the room ended up being perfect.

 

We booked for May 2020 and I will be checking prices once a week until then on cabins and drink packages.

That's an amazing savings for just moving 4 doors down!  Wow! I would do that in a heartbeat.  You are not in the room that much that it would make a difference. Good for you!

[HBE4]

3 hours ago, cruisinfly said:

Thank you, HBE4 and Kylaner3.

 

Was the Margaritaville tour worth it?

 

It is, if you love party cruises!  The entire staff is extremely professional, funny, engaging and just a lot of fun to be around. There are two staffs - the Margaritaville staff, which is like the cruise director/activities managers on Royal and then the crew of the catamaran. There is basically 4 parts: 

 

- snorkeling. No booze is served before snorkeling  which is why it might be optional depending if the passengers are into snorkeling or partying. It's the first hour of which 40 minutes is dedicated to the snorkeling.  It was pretty good, not great. But better than expected. The catarmarn staff handles this portion of the tour.

 

- Once the snorkeling is over, the music is cranked up, the booze starts flowing. The Margaritaville staff will then try to get people dancing. This part is about an 30 minutes.

 

- beach break is next. You are provided a lounge chair, umbrella, a place to buy lunch and more drinks. The Margaritaville staff is with you and will try to engage people in scavenger hunt, dance contest and of course, drinking games. This part is a little over an hour, maybe 90 minutes.

 

- back on the boat, more free drinks, more music, more dancing. Think line dancing or limbo dancing.

 

- The final part is heading over to the Margaitaville Restaurant.  At this point, some people elect to go their own way or you can follow the Margaritaville staff  to the swim up bar for......you guessed it...more music and dancing.  Once its over, the ship is a short walk away.

 

I loved it and I'm 55 years old. There was a wide range of ages and nobody was obnoxiously drunk, just a fun buzz. The only downside is the only free drinks were on the catamaran itself, you have to pay for food and bevy's at the beach and at the restaurant.

 

Would I do it again? Probably. I like to think I'm still 21.