RCCL Drink Package Price Increase

[oviedo45]

I booked my RCCL Christmas Cruise (pre-Christmas) for Dec 20, 2019 - Mariner of the Seas - in July - as soon as the drink package had the buy one get one 50% I bought it.  So $185/per person (cabin).

 

I usually check to see if any new sales come up and was looking at my March 2020 cruise - same ship - and now it is "on sale" at $65/day - advertised as buy one get one free - total price two people $460.  (Note, the same price is now displayed on my December cruise ).  Did I miss an announcement of a price increase?  I've never paid more than $55/day for drinks packages - and have been on 2 cruises the past 3 years. 

 

Also, my RCCL guy let me know the March cruise dropped in price over $300 and the December 2020 cruise on Harmony went up $700.  Glad I locked them in and appreciate that he checks pricing for me and advises when there has been a drop. 

[Clarea]

Prices vary ship to ship, cruise to cruise, all the time.  No announcements of price changes are made by the cruise line.  RC may tout different "percent off" numbers to try to fool people into believing there's some sort of fantastic sale going on, but the percent numbers are just BS.

[DISFANS3]

My DBP on the Harmony for May 2020 went down last week, so I did the cancel and rebook. Not much but I did save 70 bucks ..

[legaljen1969]

2 hours ago, oviedo45 said:

I booked my RCCL Christmas Cruise (pre-Christmas) for Dec 20, 2019 - Mariner of the Seas - in July - as soon as the drink package had the buy one get one 50% I bought it.  So $185/per person (cabin).

 

I usually check to see if any new sales come up and was looking at my March 2020 cruise - same ship - and now it is "on sale" at $65/day - advertised as buy one get one free - total price two people $460.  (Note, the same price is now displayed on my December cruise ).  Did I miss an announcement of a price increase?  I've never paid more than $55/day for drinks packages - and have been on 2 cruises the past 3 years. 

 

Also, my RCCL guy let me know the March cruise dropped in price over $300 and the December 2020 cruise on Harmony went up $700.  Glad I locked them in and appreciate that he checks pricing for me and advises when there has been a drop. 

It never really is BOGO.   Just know that whatever the price says for a given day is the price you will pay "per person per night."   Don't pay any attention to what the sale says or the banners say.   The price it says is the price you pay.

[oviedo45]

Just now, legaljen1969 said:

It never really is BOGO.   Just know that whatever the price says for a given day is the price you will pay "per person per night."   Don't pay any attention to what the sale says or the banners say.   The price it says is the price you pay.

Yes, I've learned to just put it in the cart and go from there.  I'm still surprised at the price jump - I'm going on the exact same ship so I guess I will play the waiting game - thanks all

[ReneeFLL]

1 hour ago, DISFANS3 said:

My DBP on the Harmony for May 2020 went down last week, so I did the cancel and rebook. Not much but I did save 70 bucks ..

Maybe not that much in the scheme of things, but that's $70.00 that you now have to spend on other things. 👍

[legaljen1969]

17 minutes ago, oviedo45 said:

Yes, I've learned to just put it in the cart and go from there.  I'm still surprised at the price jump - I'm going on the exact same ship so I guess I will play the waiting game - thanks all

I am on Brilliance for Christmas week, and mine has gone up and down at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks.  I last locked in at $52 pp/day.  It has been between $56 and $65 for well over two months now.  I just check in the morning and the evening. If it goes below $52 pp/day I will cancel and rebook. I would LOVE to get it for a little less but I am not too hopeful.  

Your prices will probably go up and down too quite a few times.  It may even change 2-3 times in one day.  They are crazy.

 

[Milwaukee Eight]

Making up for the $18 glitch. 

[John&LaLa]

3 minutes ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Making up for the $18 glitch. 

 

Honestly, that's about all it's worth to me

[oviedo45]

Just now, legaljen1969 said:

I am on Brilliance for Christmas week, and mine has gone up and down at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks.  I last locked in at $52 pp/day.  It has been between $56 and $65 for well over two months now.  I just check in the morning and the evening. If it goes below $52 pp/day I will cancel and rebook. I would LOVE to get it for a little less but I am not too hopeful.  

Your prices will probably go up and down too quite a few times.  It may even change 2-3 times in one day.  They are crazy.

 

It's at $65 with a banner that says buy one get one 50% off which is shown (no discount off of the 65) so I will keep trying - thanks

[Milwaukee Eight]

21 minutes ago, oviedo45 said:

It's at $65 with a banner that says buy one get one 50% off which is shown (no discount off of the 65) so I will keep trying - thanks

Prices posted online are almost always based off of current onboard prices (which seems to be around $80 these days). 

[CTCruiser76]

Our Mariner in May was $60 a few days ago, so I booked it, the next day, it went up to $65. - The price fluctuates often, but I am hoping that there will be a black Friday special and I will cancel and rebook. 

[Scoobydobe7]

Just off the 7 day indy Saturday..bought DPB on ship first day for 390.00 per person...Glad I waited, I was not planning  on it because everytime I checked prices online it was  900.00 to 1,000.00 for 2

[EDiamond22]

were on a 8 night in Jan, price when it first came out was like 48pp (wish i grabbed it then) now its been bouncing 55pp, 59pp and 64pp figured at this point ill see what black friday and cyber monday bring. if nothing good ill just book it at what ever its at. ideally trying to get it at the best price possible but really with what they charge per drink and the amount i drink, safe to say even at 65 ill be getting my moneys worth lol

[Sigma Cruiser]

I see that no one saw the price of the drink package for the Odyssey for November 2020 is north of $80 per person per day.

[Coralc]

26 minutes ago, Sigma Cruiser said:

I see that no one saw the price of the drink package for the Odyssey for November 2020 is north of $80 per person per day.

 

 Cruise Critic needs a WOW button like Nextdoor has. 🙄

[Iamcruzin]

5 hours ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

Prices posted online are almost always based off of current onboard prices (which seems to be around $80 these days). 

And when we boarded Anthem in June they were running the same BOGO at the same price that was on my Cruise Planner. So when are they selling it at the $60,$70 and $80 price?

[EDiamond22]

2 hours ago, Sigma Cruiser said:

I see that no one saw the price of the drink package for the Odyssey for November 2020 is north of $80 per person per day.

how long is the cruise? i wonder if that plays a roll aswell? one would hope on the longer ones they might consider keeping it on the lower end.
 

[Coralc]

They don't. 

[twangster]

Three night cruises are the most expensive - they know people can drink a lot for three days straight plus these tend to be over the weekend.

 

Four night cruises comes in a close second but usually a few bucks cheaper.

 

Five/Six tend to run between the short cruises and seven nights.

 

Seven night is where you see the most volatility.  These are largely affected by sales trends.  If your exact sail date is selling well they may not discount it anymore.  Same ship a week later might have slow sales so they offer a deal.

 

Holiday cruises often never get a break.  The week before or after can be $20 cheaper.  

 

Long cruises can be odd.  They can be high and not moving much then all of sudden they'll go down to $42 or even $39.  

 

Grandeur seems to have it's own thing going.  With a strong and loyal base that frequent the ship there can be a lot of people who tend not to buy the DX so often you will see better pricing on her right from the start.

 

While other cruise lines offered a fixed price that isn't Royal.  For all ships and sail dates it fluctuates based on sales trends.  Royal is all about data analytics.  If demand is high so will be prices.  When demand is soft prices might be discounted.  Same ship a week later is a completely different thing.  That's why with the upcoming Black Friday deals some people may win and some won't see any changes.  

 

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Holiday cruises often never get a break.  The week before or after can be $20 cheaper.  

Our Christmas cruise on Oasis has been up and down a fair bit.  It’s currently at $58 and has been higher and i’ve seen it as low as $51.  Not as low as other sailings but lower than I expected given it’s a holiday sailing. 

[twangster]

12 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Our Christmas cruise on Oasis has been up and down a fair bit.  It’s currently at $58 and has been higher and i’ve seen it as low as $51.  Not as low as other sailings but lower than I expected given it’s a holiday sailing. 

 

That's encouraging.  Hopefully they learned from the past that keeping holiday prices fixed high had a negative impact on sales.

[flippergirl]

My guess is that prices are high now to make it seem like a deal when they go on sale for black friday.

[Milwaukee Eight]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

 

Three night cruises are the most expensive - they know people can drink a lot for three days straight plus these tend to be over the weekend.

 

No deals yet on next years Presidents Cruise. 

[Ourusualbeach]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

That's encouraging.  Hopefully they learned from the past that keeping holiday prices fixed high had a negative impact on sales.

Should have also mentioned that once on-board the prices I’ve seen have definitely been higher. It’s definitely better to purchase everything you want ahead of time.