Fallout from Drink Package Price Mistake??

[Samanthac25]

Who remembers the drink package price mistake several weeks back where many people were able to purchase their unlimited deluxe beverage package for $18? I think it's great that RC owned their mistake and let everyone who purchased at that price keep it (I wish I were one of them 😕) ...BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now? I've sailed on numerous RC cruises and have always been able to purchase the drink packages on sale, typically around $42-48/day. I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made. I am wondering if everyone else will end up paying for that deal of a lifetime by the drink packages not going on sale like the usually do? Of course, this is just a theory, I hope it's way wrong 😆.

[John&LaLa]

I don't think the two are related. 

[PMGS247]

The next morning they were back to pricing for maximum profit.  There's a mathematical analysis going on behind the scenes moving the price around to the optimum profitability at any given moment.  No connection, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot to overprice out of spite.  They'll keep the price set where people are buying it until people aren't buying it and adjust.

[Joseph2017China]

9 minutes ago, Samanthac25 said:

Who remembers the drink package price mistake several weeks back where many people were able to purchase their unlimited deluxe beverage package for $18? I think it's great that RC owned their mistake and let everyone who purchased at that price keep it (I wish I were one of them 😕) ...BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now? I've sailed on numerous RC cruises and have always been able to purchase the drink packages on sale, typically around $42-48/day. I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made. I am wondering if everyone else will end up paying for that deal of a lifetime by the drink packages not going on sale like the usually do? Of course, this is just a theory, I hope it's way wrong 😆.

Prices of drink packages have been creeping upward on all cruise lines.  (NCL hides the price in the cruise fare).  The price of the actual drinks are pretty low.  A $12.00 drink cost less than $1.00 to make.  So even at $18.00, a small profit is made.  So the mistake was a loss of profit, but not a lost of cost.  Big difference.  For each cruise, RCCL looks at the total income of ancillary services to meet a targeted profit goal.  There are many ways to make up the loss profit, so I doubt they would only use the drink package as a way. 

[Iamcruzin]

20 minutes ago, Samanthac25 said:

Who remembers the drink package price mistake several weeks back where many people were able to purchase their unlimited deluxe beverage package for $18? I think it's great that RC owned their mistake and let everyone who purchased at that price keep it (I wish I were one of them 😕) ...BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now? I've sailed on numerous RC cruises and have always been able to purchase the drink packages on sale, typically around $42-48/day. I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made. I am wondering if everyone else will end up paying for that deal of a lifetime by the drink packages not going on sale like the usually do? Of course, this is just a theory, I hope it's way wrong 😆.

If that isn't the sale price then there is still hope. 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Iamcruzin

[njship3]

I originally purchased at $52/day, kept watching and the week of Labor Day cancelled and re-purchased at $48/day for our November cruise.

[ryano]

13 minutes ago, Joseph2017China said:

 A $12.00 drink cost less than $1.00 to make.  So even at $18.00, a small profit is made.  

 

This is exactly what I said here when it first happened and was quickly told I was wrong.  

[sixesandeights]

My opinion is that is was NOT a pricing mistake.  It was done intentionally.  They release a few cruises with the prices at $18.  They make a big deal about honoring the "mistake" and then stop discounting the package as deeply moving forward.  The masses don't look at Royal, but instead now "blame" it on the $18 mistake.  It is a brilliant strategy....

 

6&8

[Clarea]

54 minutes ago, Samanthac25 said:

......BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now?...

 

Royal charges what the market will bear, very simple.

[h20skibum]

56 minutes ago, Samanthac25 said:

I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made.

One of our cruises next year is listed at $55, so it varies by ship and sail date

[ryano]

11 minutes ago, sixesandeights said:

My opinion is that is was NOT a pricing mistake.  It was done intentionally.  They release a few cruises with the prices at $18.  They make a big deal about honoring the "mistake" and then stop discounting the package as deeply moving forward.  The masses don't look at Royal, but instead now "blame" it on the $18 mistake.  It is a brilliant strategy....

 

6&8

 

If it was in fact done intentionally, that only further proves my point that they are still making money at 18.00 a day per person. 

Edited September 12, 2019 by ryano

[JR_Angus]

It is true that the prices vary ship and sail date. Since the $18. deal, the price for the package for our Oct 2019 cruise has switched several times between $44. & $47. never lower or higher.

[sixesandeights]

3 minutes ago, ryano said:

 

If it was in fact done intentionally, that only further proves my point that they are still making money at 18.00 a day per person. 

You seemed to have missed my point....They allowed a very small number of people to buy at $18 (thus taking a likely short term loss) so that they could drive up the overall price long term.  This in no way proves your point which I do not agree with at all. 

[dswallow]

They are not losing money at $18/day on the drink package; they are just not making as much money as they could.

 

But the noticed slightly higher prices after that "glitch" all seem related to increased onboard prices. So I doubt it's really related; just coincidental. We also are seeing some experimenting -- like actually charging $X for the first person in a cabin and $X/2 for the second, implicitly making a solo passenger pay more on average, onboard, too. The last official info from RCCL about drink package pricing stated a range aboard ships of $63 to $70 depending on ship/sailing for 2019 dates, and we're seeing a higher top-end on many sailings, now. And we're even seeing some conflicts in the sale prices in the cruise planner indicating onboard prices should be a certain level and going aboard to find them much higher. On the other hand, they also seem more often to offer a 25% discount on the first day of a sailing, too, matching common Cruise Planner advance pricing.

 

I'm not so sure some of that is even just random ineptness in the design of the system. 🙂

 

But for the most part, as capacity stays tight, and demand for drink packages remains at whatever levels RCCL wants to see, there's not a lot of incentive to offer it at lower prices.

[ryano]

38 minutes ago, sixesandeights said:

You seemed to have missed my point....They allowed a very small number of people to buy at $18 (thus taking a likely short term loss) so that they could drive up the overall price long term.  This in no way proves your point which I do not agree with at all. 

 

I couldnt care less if you agree or not.   Its my opinion of which Im totally allowed.   You have NO idea how many people bought the package.  

[CruiseKeeper]

1 hour ago, sixesandeights said:

My opinion is that is was NOT a pricing mistake.  It was done intentionally.  They release a few cruises with the prices at $18.  They make a big deal about honoring the "mistake" and then stop discounting the package as deeply moving forward.  The masses don't look at Royal, but instead now "blame" it on the $18 mistake.  It is a brilliant strategy....

 

6&8

 

I thought so as well but just had dinner with the Hotel Director on the Voyager,  who assured us that it was a giant error on their part and they took it as a learning experience in this day and age of immediate digital postings and possible costly blunders.  Could that have been the party answer?  I believed him.  

[MandyMooToo]

3 minutes ago, CruiseKeeper said:

 

I thought so as well but just had dinner with the Hotel Director on the Voyager,  who assured us that it was a giant error on their part and they took it as a learning experience in this day and age of immediate digital postings and possible costly blunders.  Could that have been the party answer?  I believed him.  

 

I do not think we will ever really know what happened.  He could have been telling you the truth, who knows?  I personally lean towards it being a mistake.  But either way, I do not think the current package prices have anything to do with the $18 "glitch."  The prices have always fluctuated and were doing so before the $18 package.  It has just become the convenient excuse for many that are frustrated with the most recent prices.  I agree that the higher cost stinks but it has not gotten to a point that I am not willing to pay it...yet.  When it does then I will go back to purchasing bottles of water, sodas, coffees and bar drinks individually as before.  And if too many people do that then the prices will go back down some.

[flamingos]

We'll be keeping track - we will not drink enough to justify $52/day, so we got the soda/coffee package and we'll see how much we add to it by purchasing alcohol.  I suspect the total will still be appreciably less than $52/day.

[MandyMooToo]

4 minutes ago, flamingos said:

We'll be keeping track - we will not drink enough to justify $52/day, so we got the soda/coffee package and we'll see how much we add to it by purchasing alcohol.  I suspect the total will still be appreciably less than $52/day.

 

We have a 6 day cruise booked in March and this is actually what I am thinking about doing.  I plan to try and keep track of what we would have spent on this September cruise to see if the scenario you are mentioning would be a better value for us.

[LeeW]

Four cruises booked with $52/$56/$65/$65 prices currently.  The only thing I have noticed is higher prices on big ships and 2020.  Not seeing any sales yet on shore excursions for 2020 either.  Constant sales of various prices on 2019 cruises.

[atush]

2 hours ago, Samanthac25 said:

Who remembers the drink package price mistake several weeks back where many people were able to purchase their unlimited deluxe beverage package for $18? I think it's great that RC owned their mistake and let everyone who purchased at that price keep it (I wish I were one of them 😕) ...BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now? I've sailed on numerous RC cruises and have always been able to purchase the drink packages on sale, typically around $42-48/day. I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made. I am wondering if everyone else will end up paying for that deal of a lifetime by the drink packages not going on sale like the usually do? Of course, this is just a theory, I hope it's way wrong 😆.

It moved for many, mine dropped from $61 to $52.  Labor Day Weekend

[JuliaMS]

pricing varies by ship and sailing. My cruise that leaves in 3 weeks (13 nights on Adventure) is currently $47. Labor day it was $44. Same with shore excursions, they keep changing. I regularly log on just to check pricing on drink packages and everything else in the planner. It's supply and demand. 

[MandyMooToo]

As of now the package is $56 on our 9/29/19 Allure cruise, $51 on our 3/1/20 Empress cruise and $55 on our 11/1/20 Freedom cruise.  We paid less for the Allure sailing on Black Friday last year and were able to get the glitch price for the November Freedom cruise. 

[tigstoy]

2 hours ago, sixesandeights said:

My opinion is that is was NOT a pricing mistake.  It was done intentionally.  They release a few cruises with the prices at $18.  They make a big deal about honoring the "mistake" and then stop discounting the package as deeply moving forward.  The masses don't look at Royal, but instead now "blame" it on the $18 mistake.  It is a brilliant strategy....

 

6&8

I agree it wasn't a "mistake".  I think it may have been planned as a marketing strategy to begin with.

Here is my reason why.

We purchased the package at about 10 pm that night.  Many hours after it was first reported.  I thought it had already been fixed.  We thought let's gamble.  If they don't honor it, we cancel and nothing lost.  If they do honor it, then it is a big Win.

I called a couple we are traveling with (March 2020).  He tried purchasing it but the website was being a PITA like it can be at times.  He finally gets it in his cart and the site locks up.  He gives up and says "Oh well.  I tried."

Fast forward to two days later.  He is out of town and misses a call FROM Royal Caribbean.  They leave a message.  The message says we saw you had the drink package in your cart but it did not process.  If you call us back in 24 hours, we will honor that price.

Hmmmmmmmmmm
Now do you really think they always monitor a suspended purchase in the carts?

IF he had contacted THEM and asked for it to be honored, they could have still said no and I wouldn't have been surprised.  But that isn't the case.  THEY contacted HIM to honor the sale.

I think Royal Caribbean may have had a very creative marketing strategy planned or turned it into a very cost effective marketing opportunity.

1 - They own their mistake
2 - They honor the price

3 - They come out smelling like a rose.

 

You can't put a price on the advertising they got out of everyone talking about it or the positive PR they got for honoring the price.

This probably could be one of the cheapest advertising and marketing strategies ever used.  They may not make a ton off the sale but can almost look at it as free advertising.

[HBE4]

3 hours ago, Samanthac25 said:

Who remembers the drink package price mistake several weeks back where many people were able to purchase their unlimited deluxe beverage package for $18? I think it's great that RC owned their mistake and let everyone who purchased at that price keep it (I wish I were one of them 😕) ...BUT I am wondering if this mistake is causing some fallout on drink packages now? I've sailed on numerous RC cruises and have always been able to purchase the drink packages on sale, typically around $42-48/day. I've been checking the cruise planner every day and the price hasn't budged from $65/day since that $18 deal-of-a-lifetime mistake that RC made. I am wondering if everyone else will end up paying for that deal of a lifetime by the drink packages not going on sale like the usually do? Of course, this is just a theory, I hope it's way wrong 😆.

 

They did raise the price of the on-board drink package  pretty significantly this year, from $57-$63 to $63-$70. That's a 11-13% jump in price.

 

Makes sense that the pre-cruise "sale" price in the cruise planner would start creeping up as well.

 

Looking forward to 2020 and the on-board  price will hit a high of $89.  With a 25% sales, the price is still $62.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/beverage-packages