Kids Sail Free is a joke

[stellgod]

First time posting here in a long time. I just wanted to share my disappointment and have a good laugh. I just booked a sailing for November and noticed the prices seemed off. I was supposed to have 30% off and Kids sail free (sailing with 2 12 and unders). Noticed I got the 30% off, but the kids were still charged. I checked the terms and noticed that every day kids are off from school are excluded from this promotion. Check this out:

 

Kids Sail Free applies to new bookings made between December 4 - 26, 2019. Kids Sail Free provides free cruise fare for 3rd guests and higher who are 12 years old or younger as of cruise departure date, booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad occupancy stateroom.  Kids Sail Free applies to select 4-night or longer Alaska, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, CaribNE, Coastal, Europe, Hawaii, Repositioning and all Serenade of the Seas Alaska 2020 sailings departing between January 4, 2020 - December 17, 2020. Offer excludes Odyssey of the Seas Europe sailings, President’s Day sailings (Sailings between February 14 – 17, 2020), Spring Break sailings (Sailings between March 14 – 23, 2020), Holy Week/Easter sailings (Sailings between April 3 – 17, 2020), Peak Summer sailings (Sailings between May 15 – August 31, 2020) and Thanksgiving sailings (Sailings between November 21 - 28, 2020). Taxes, fees, and port expenses are additional and apply to all guests.

 

What days are they expecting parents to book with these limitations? What a joke. Lol.

[marci22]

They don't need to offer promos for those dates. 

[Merion_Mom]

RC is a business. The point of KSF is to sell berths that otherwise not be purchased. 

[BNBR]

This doesn't make it a joke.  Of course Kids Sail Free is to fill the ship when kids are typically in school.  When out of school, no reason to offer that promotion.  We have had a couple of cruises with REALLY good prices using the KSF promotion.  Just take your kid out of school for a few days...

 

Ever buy an annual pass for a theme park?  Lots of different levels and blackout dates.  That's how these promos work.  It's about generating revenue during otherwise slow times.

Edited December 18, 2019 by BNBR

[Galatz]

Good thing Jewish schools have off in January 🙂

[wolfcathorse]

looks like kids sail free if they're pulled out of school. Bad news for teachers, good news for students. But not a message I'd want to send to my kids...hey! School's not important when you want to do something fun!

[stellgod]

I understand what everyone is saying, but it's still a joke. What dates do you expect parents to actually use? It's a marketing gimmick to get people on the website. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's a joke.

 

I just thought I'd share the laugh with everyone else.

[Clarea]

3 minutes ago, stellgod said:

I understand what everyone is saying, but it's still a joke. What dates do you expect parents to actually use? It's a marketing gimmick to get people on the website. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's a joke.

 

I just thought I'd share the laugh with everyone else.

 

Pretty much all of Royal's "sales" are marketing gimmicks.

[blackshirt]

For someone with preschoolers or home schoolers are anyone just willing to take their kids out of school to take advantage of the sale, I’d say it’s not a joke to them.

[stellgod]

1 minute ago, blackshirt said:

For someone with preschoolers or home schoolers are anyone just willing to take their kids out of school to take advantage of the sale, I’d say it’s not a joke to them.

You bring up a good point, but how many would you say that is though? When your marketing is only applicable to 2% of your targeted audience, would you really say it's effective?

[blackshirt]

1 minute ago, stellgod said:

You bring up a good point, but how many would you say that is though? When your marketing is only applicable to 2% of your targeted audience, would you really say it's effective?

I have no idea but I just came off a back to back on Liberty and saw a whole lot more school age kids on both sailings than I expected and it was definitely too early for Christmas break.

[neverbeenhere]

13 minutes ago, Galatz said:

Good thing Jewish schools have off in January 🙂

Sounds like an opportunity for some to change teams. 

[stellgod]

1 minute ago, neverbeenhere said:

Sounds like an opportunity for some to change teams. 

Or at least go to a Jewish school...

[awestover89]

2 minutes ago, stellgod said:

You bring up a good point, but how many would you say that is though? When your marketing is only applicable to 2% of your targeted audience, would you really say it's effective?

 

I would guess the amount of people with kids under 6 compared to the people with kids age 6-12 is probably quite a bit higher than 2%. There are also several areas where school doesn't start until September, so an early September sailing would be possible. Plus schools have several days off that aren't related to specific holidays and would therefore qualify for the sailings available; teacher in-service days, conferences, conventions, etc. School districts with large Jewish, Muslim, or other populations may have those holidays off as well.

 

My family in New Jersey has been able to take advantage of the KSF promo several times with great results, and it's constantly referenced here on CC as one of the best actual sales available. I'm sorry that it didn't work for you, but it's a great sale that a lot of people have been able to take advantage of to great benefit.

[rimmit]

31 minutes ago, stellgod said:

First time posting here in a long time. I just wanted to share my disappointment and have a good laugh. I just booked a sailing for November and noticed the prices seemed off. I was supposed to have 30% off and Kids sail free (sailing with 2 12 and unders). Noticed I got the 30% off, but the kids were still charged. I checked the terms and noticed that every day kids are off from school are excluded from this promotion. Check this out:

 

Kids Sail Free applies to new bookings made between December 4 - 26, 2019. Kids Sail Free provides free cruise fare for 3rd guests and higher who are 12 years old or younger as of cruise departure date, booked in the same stateroom as the first two qualifying guests in a triple or quad occupancy stateroom.  Kids Sail Free applies to select 4-night or longer Alaska, Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, CaribNE, Coastal, Europe, Hawaii, Repositioning and all Serenade of the Seas Alaska 2020 sailings departing between January 4, 2020 - December 17, 2020. Offer excludes Odyssey of the Seas Europe sailings, President’s Day sailings (Sailings between February 14 – 17, 2020), Spring Break sailings (Sailings between March 14 – 23, 2020), Holy Week/Easter sailings (Sailings between April 3 – 17, 2020), Peak Summer sailings (Sailings between May 15 – August 31, 2020) and Thanksgiving sailings (Sailings between November 21 - 28, 2020). Taxes, fees, and port expenses are additional and apply to all guests.

 

What days are they expecting parents to book with these limitations? What a joke. Lol.

sometimes you can find a sailing that starts JUST before the blackout and then you maybe miss a day of school.   Or you just flat out miss school,  or miss part of school.  It’s definitely not a joke though.  We have saved thousands of dollars using KSF.  It is not a joke to us at all.

 

X does kids sail free sometimes without blackout dates in case you are interested.  If your kids don’t need all bells and whistles of RCI it’s a great option.  We actually enjoy X more than RCI theses days and we have an 8 and 4 year old.

[blueridgemama]

There are a lot of kids who are home schooled thus can take vacation anytime and a lot of parents who are willing to take their kids out of school for vacations. For those,  the kids sail free sale is a big p!us. Just because it doesn't apply to you doesn't make it a joke.

 

In my day, kids were never allowed to take vacations during the school year when classes were in session. Yes, I'm old😊

[mjkacmom]

19 minutes ago, awestover89 said:

 

I would guess the amount of people with kids under 6 compared to the people with kids age 6-12 is probably quite a bit higher than 2%. There are also several areas where school doesn't start until September, so an early September sailing would be possible. Plus schools have several days off that aren't related to specific holidays and would therefore qualify for the sailings available; teacher in-service days, conferences, conventions, etc. School districts with large Jewish, Muslim, or other populations may have those holidays off as well.

 

My family in New Jersey has been able to take advantage of the KSF promo several times with great results, and it's constantly referenced here on CC as one of the best actual sales available. I'm sorry that it didn't work for you, but it's a great sale that a lot of people have been able to take advantage of to great benefit.

Looks like jersey week is not blacked out, we’ve taken several cruises the first week in November, my kids miss 2 days of school. Of course they aren’t t going to offer KSF during school breaks, the whole point is to fill cabins. I wish I took my kids out more in elementary.

[awestover89]

2 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Looks like jersey week is not blacked out, we’ve taken several cruises the first week in November, my kids miss 2 days of school. Of course they aren’t t going to offer KSF during school breaks, the whole point is to fill cabins. I wish I took my kids out more in elementary.

 

Yeah, my MIL does the first week of September often, NJ schools don't usually start until the Monday after labor day, so like this year the first day of school was September 9

[stellgod]

So, to summarize this thread. I need to live in New Jersey, homeschool my kids, or be Jewish to take advantage of the deal. Anyone know of affordable places to live in Jersey?

[Husky1987]

Cruises sail at capacity week after week.

 

Call it a "fake sale", "marketing gimmick", "joke", or whatever you want to call it....it works.

[twangster]

Some public school systems are year round.  They are in school for several weeks then out of school for several weeks.  That makes for great vacation opportunities off peak.

 

Very few sales or promotions in life don't have restrictions.  Just because it doesn't apply to everyone doesn't make it a joke.  Of course a promo is going to have a limited target audience.  Why would they put premium peak dates on sale?  If you "owned" a travel business would you discount dates that are in high demand and guaranteed to sell out?

[ATG]

We were on harmony in October and there were LOTS of school age children.  Many people said they had year round school and this was their fall break.

[lovescats5]

One reason we chose to home school.  Although we have gotten good prices on Anthem for Thanksgiving when school is out.  But this is like all sales promos.  It will apply to some but not everyone.  Not sure it is any different than any sales.  The grocery stores don't let you buy next week what is on sale this week.  If you take your kids out of school many times you can take along school work for doing while you are sailing.  Know that is not great but it can be a lesson that there is fun and then you need to do what is necessary for the fun.  Good luck finding a good cruise that works for you.

[dodgestang]

45 minutes ago, stellgod said:

So, to summarize this thread. I need to live in New Jersey, homeschool my kids, or be Jewish to take advantage of the deal. Anyone know of affordable places to live in Jersey?

 

People in Jersey take so many trips to get away from there for a reason.

 

<rim shot>

 

It was a joke....come on now....I have a beach house in OC so I'm allowed to make jokes about Jersey 😉

[Galatz]

58 minutes ago, stellgod said:

 Anyone know of affordable places to live in Jersey?

Affordable? In NJ? Now thats a joke!