RCCL Spectrum: Activities & Entertainment Prices

[ajfrickleton]

Hi, 

 

I've been on a quantum class ship twice and i've never had to pay for iFly, shows, or North Star. 

 

Is this a recent change i was unaware of or is this only on the spectrum? 

 

I have booked a back to back cruise and prices are the same on both.

 

Thanks. 

[Ken at the beach]

Normal for sailings out of China.  

[Joseph2017China]

2 hours ago, ajfrickleton said:

Hi, 

 

I've been on a quantum class ship twice and i've never had to pay for iFly, shows, or North Star. 

 

Is this a recent change i was unaware of or is this only on the spectrum? 

 

I have booked a back to back cruise and prices are the same on both.

 

Thanks. 

Simple answer - not really simple, but the answer based on questions I asked several years ago.  All businesses in China, have a partnership, where they are partnered with a Chinese company.  Even Disney has a partnership.  Very specific criteria is met, including a more price fixed structure. The rooms are sold to a wholesale distributer who sells to travel partners in China for mostly groups.  Some rooms are held out for international guest. The whole sale rooms are fixed price and seldom change.  There is a lack of spending on the ship from bar sales and shopping so the ship needs to make money.  They lower the price of drinks on the ship, (price fixed).  So they make the extra money needed on the casino, and all the other items.  Basically, instead of making it inclusive, they are permitted to sell it like this.  So the primary customer, Chinese citizens can choose what to buy or not buy.  Not a great answer for most of us reading, but it is part of doing business in China.

[BaikG]

For the China sailings on Spectrum and Quantum, the VIP Two70 Shows, North Star, iFly, Sky Pad, and Laser Tag carry a fee. All shows are all still free, but they sell a VIP package for the Two70 shows with front section seats and a cocktail, usually for those who weren't able to reserve the show onboard. China is a very specialized market and especially for Spectrum, they are experimenting with the prices right now as on my sailing, the price for Laser Tag has been anywhere from USD 5 to USD 40 per person and Sky Pad is just a ridiculous price of USD 45 for the VR and USD 25 for the non-VR. They are trying to get as much revenue, which is why they replaced Boleros with Star Moment where they charge USD 100 an hour for the private rooms, replaced the non-revenue gym with more suites, included an extremely overpriced Japanese Pharmacy, and have their own version of The Key called Royal Premier at USD 50 per person per day with no free lunch or free internet, but just access to the Solarium and a free WOW Band you can get for USD 5.

[icsys]

This is an interesting read.

I was thinking maybe we should try a far-east cruise around China and Japan.

 

I was aware that Chinese guests tend to spend less onboard, with the exception of the casino, but never considered that all the usual 'inclusive' activities are likely to be chargeable.

 

I can't see any mention of these upcharges when browsing the Asia cruise deals on the website so it would be very disappointing to only find out about the 'extra' fees once you have booked!

 

Is this only for the ships that depart from China? (some visit China from Singapore) 

Edited June 17, 2019 by icsys

[Biker19]

38 minutes ago, icsys said:

Is this only for the ships that depart from China? 

Quantum should return to China as well.