Zoom and Surf

[megnut78]

I had my cruise booked for October on the Symphony that got canceled. I had already paid for 4 devices for the Internet package. I had paid approximately $150 for the week.

I have rebooted on the Oasis for January and went on yesterday to book the internet package and they now want almost $45 per day ($315) for the same exact thing. It more than doubled. 

 

Is there ever a rhyme or reason to their pricing and does it go down at certain times? Thank you!

[GTO-Girl]

12 minutes ago, megnut78 said:

I had my cruise booked for October on the Symphony that got canceled. I had already paid for 4 devices for the Internet package. I had paid approximately $150 for the week.

I have rebooted on the Oasis for January and went on yesterday to book the internet package and they now want almost $45 per day ($315) for the same exact thing. It more than doubled. 

 

Is there ever a rhyme or reason to their pricing and does it go down at certain times? Thank you!

A couple of weeks ago I booked a June 2021 cruise for my family.  At that time the internet package was 45% off and dumb me failed to book it!!!   I too am hoping for another good sale!!

 

Royal seems to have sales periodically so you need to keep checking constantly.  They usually have a good sale around Thanksgiving, but I am hoping for one sooner.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, megnut78 said:

 

Is there ever a rhyme or reason to their pricing?

No.

[yogimax]

Whatever the customer is willing to pay

[twangster]

Unlike some other cruise lines that have fixed pricing on packages such as drink packages or internet packages Royal really gets into data analytics. 

 

They study and pour over details and figure out how to maximize every last penny.  They know for example how far out the typical cruiser is more likely to make a cruise planner purchase.  Using these data trends they manipulate pricing to maximize revenue.  

 

The argument is that other cruise lines are leaving money on the table by offering products and services at fixed rates.   By understanding consumer trends and manipulating pricing Royal can optimize and capitalize on consumer behavior. 

 

The result as the consumer is what you see.  Cheap one day, expensive another.  Sometimes when they raise prices too high that also drives consumer behavior.  People stop buying and supply and demand principles kick in.  Lower demand drives prices lower.   

 

Ultimately we the consumer can influence prices.  If collectively no one buys a product at a certain price point the price will come down.  If sales trends are up they'll occasionally test the market by raising prices.  If consumers continue to purchase at the higher prices that becomes the new normal price.  

[firefly333]

2 hours ago, megnut78 said:

I had my cruise booked for October on the Symphony that got canceled. I had already paid for 4 devices for the Internet package. I had paid approximately $150 for the week.

I have rebooted on the Oasis for January and went on yesterday to book the internet package and they now want almost $45 per day ($315) for the same exact thing. It more than doubled. 

 

Is there ever a rhyme or reason to their pricing and does it go down at certain times? Thank you!

Last sale the key was $15ish a day and includes zoom. 

 

My ta says there will always be another sale if you missed the last.

[bigrednole]

If a customer needs it, charge them what they want. But, you are also looking at it without a sale price. Wait for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I will have about $1,500-$2,000 of package purchases for my cruise that day.

Edited September 17, 2020 by bigrednole

[jean87510]

as the above poster stated, wait for black Friday/cyber monday or just keep checking daily. Lowest I had it was $11.49 for 1 unit. You can always get royal to give you the difference.

[cruiseguy1016]

If you had already paid for the internet package and RCI cancelled the cruise, you should have been able to transfer the package to your new cruise. This is the same thing as the $18 drink package that people got to over. Call RCI and ask them to honor the price you had paid. You didn't cancel the cruise, they did. They should honor the price you originally paid.

[Ashland]

40 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

If you had already paid for the internet package and RCI cancelled the cruise, you should have been able to transfer the package to your new cruise. This is the same thing as the $18 drink package that people got to over. Call RCI and ask them to honor the price you had paid. You didn't cancel the cruise, they did. They should honor the price you originally paid.

Wow I didn't know those $18 drink pkgs. were able to transfer.

I also didn't think internet pkgs.transferred . I thought you were given two options

1. A full refund back to the credit card you used for your cruise planner purchases.

2. a 125% credit to be used for onboard (cruise planner) items on your next booked cruise.

[rockmom]

42 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

If you had already paid for the internet package and RCI cancelled the cruise, you should have been able to transfer the package to your new cruise. This is the same thing as the $18 drink package that people got to over. Call RCI and ask them to honor the price you had paid. You didn't cancel the cruise, they did. They should honor the price you originally paid.

It hasn't worked that way.  All cruise planner purchases are cancelled and refunded and you must re-book them for any new cruise.  Same with any Lift & Shift cruises that you move out a year.  Cruise planner purchases are canceled and refunded and you need to buy them again.  If the cruise was canceled by them, they have offered 125% of what you spent in the planner as OBC to use on a new cruise.  IF that is sent to you when they cancel the cruise, it will be outlined in the email and there's a short window of time to opt in to that, otherwise they process the refund for any planner purchases, back to the original form of payment.