New Cruise Planner User Interface and New Up Front Gratuities on Dining and Drinks Packages

[RFerrington]

There may already be a topic on this.  If there is, I apologize...I have not seen it.

 

There is a new User Interface with the Cruise Planner showing up on my Symphony bookings in 2022.  Since my first Symphony booking is for Feb 12, 2022, this is where I first saw it.  It is also on my 12 March 2022 Symphony sailing but we are Star Class on that one so I had not been checking CP prices and didn't notice until today.

 

At first glance, it appeared that the prices were lower in the new interface (the new UI Unlimited Dining Package had a sales price of $163.99pp.  I had previously paid $179pp in the old CP).  Thank goodness I did NOT cancel the old purchase; instead, I put the new packages into my cart and when I got to the very end, it was going to charge me $60.19pp for gratuities on top of the $163.99 (for a total of $224.18).  So I cancelled the purchase and kept my old UDP's for $179.  Will I be charged gratuities when I get on the ship ?  Who knows....but I will dispute it if they do.  But for now, it appears that they are beginning to charge grats on pre-purchased packages.  This does not surprise me...those pre-purchasing dining and drinks packages had been avoiding additional grats for some time but they are rectifying that situation, it seems.

 

Beware of what looks like a lower price !  $60.19 is 37% of $163.99 !  Yikes.  That is a huge gratuity !

Edited April 14, 2021 by RFerrington

[RFerrington]

Oh....forgot to add....  It appears as though the Deluxe Drinks Package plus Voom combo options are gone with the new UI.  I did not see any DBP option that included any Voom at all.  Maybe they are hidden somewhere, but I didn't see it in either the dining packages link or the internet options link.

 

Gratuities have always been applicable in the pre-purchased drinks packages but I don't know if they are now charging 37% grats on those now, also.  I will have to go and see what they are charging.

[happy cruiser1234]

Oh no!  I just cancelled my dining package this morning because i saw it was cheaper.  I hadn't got around to re-booking it yet as I got busy doing other things.... After seeing your post I do see the grats are added on at the end now.  Well that's a bummer for me.  

Thanks for the heads up.

[sandebeach]

I wonder if this is only for certain ships? I am looking at my Allure January 2022 cruise. The Unlimited Dining Package is $168/pp and when I check out, the total is $336 for 2, and it says with an asterick that gratuities are included. 

[davekathy]

9 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

There may already be a topic on this.  If there is, I apologize...I have not seen it.

 

There is a new User Interface with the Cruise Planner showing up on my Symphony bookings in 2022.  Since my first Symphony booking is for Feb 12, 2022, this is where I first saw it.  It is also on my 12 March 2022 Symphony sailing but we are Star Class on that one so I had not been checking CP prices and didn't notice until today.

 

At first glance, it appeared that the prices were lower in the new interface (the new UI Unlimited Dining Package had a sales price of $163.99pp.  I had previously paid $179pp in the old CP).  Thank goodness I did NOT cancel the old purchase; instead, I put the new packages into my cart and when I got to the very end, it was going to charge me $60.19pp for gratuities on top of the $163.99 (for a total of $224.18).  So I cancelled the purchase and kept my old UDP's for $179.  Will I be charged gratuities when I get on the ship ?  Who knows....but I will dispute it if they do.  But for now, it appears that they are beginning to charge grats on pre-purchased packages.  This does not surprise me...those pre-purchasing dining and drinks packages had been avoiding additional grats for some time but they are rectifying that situation, it seems.

 

Beware of what looks like a lower price !  $60.19 is 37% of $163.99 !  Yikes.  That is a huge gratuity !

In the past when we ordered the BPs thru our CP pre cruise we paid gratuities at the time of the purchase (checkout). Once on the ship and ordering our drinks we didn't pay additional gratuities. Are you saying/guessing  BPs bought pre cruise are now going to be charged additional gratuities when ordering drinks on the ship? 

[sandebeach]

I am now looking at Symphony for Oct 2022 and I see the new Interface. Right now I can not book dining or beverage packages, this is what it says.

Amazing experiences coming soon

Please check back later to see what’s available for your cruise.

Continue shopping

[vistapat]

I just checked the 3-Day package for our 4/25/22 Hawaii to Vancouver.  The price was $109.00 per person, and it stayed the same at checkout.  Sounds like it might be a glitch (Royal's IT - go figure🤣) or they're being quite selective about which cruises they're adding the gratuities to.

 

Pat

[RFerrington]

3 minutes ago, davekathy said:

 Are you saying/guessing  BPs bought pre cruise are now going to be charged additional gratuities when ordering drinks on the ship? 

No, I am saying that with the Dining Packages you now pay your gratuities at the time you purchase them in the CP (just like you've always done with the drinks packages).  In the past, you did NOT pay up-front grats on the pre-purchased dining packages.

 

Since you are (and always have been) paying gratuities for the beverage packages (and now, the dining packages too) up front, you will not have to pay again onboard.  I am concerned that MAYBE they may try and charge me gratuities on my specialty dining since I did NOT pay gratuities when I purchased my dining package (before the new UI was installed).  I guess I won't find out until someone sails who has the old UDP and alerts the rest of us.

[RFerrington]

6 minutes ago, vistapat said:

I just checked the 3-Day package for our 4/25/22 Hawaii to Vancouver.  The price was $109.00 per person, and it stayed the same at checkout.  Sounds like it might be a glitch (Royal's IT - go figure🤣) or they're being quite selective about which cruises they're adding the gratuities to.

 

Pat

Is that a Symphony cruise ? I think this new UI only applies to Symphony sailings in 2022.

[RFerrington]

8 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

I am now looking at Symphony for Oct 2022 and I see the new Interface. Right now I can not book dining or beverage packages, this is what it says.

Amazing experiences coming soon

Please check back later to see what’s available for your cruise.

 

Continue shopping

Maybe October is too far out.  I don't have any Symphony sailings past March of 2022 so I don't know.  I know that I am able to purchase on some of my later 2022 bookings but those are not Symphony sailings.

[happy cruiser1234]

When my cruise planner for Symphony switched over to the new interface I could not access my previous purchases and they made my hubby the main person on the account.  He has never used cruise planner before, so i had to create a profile for him so that I could access the purchases.  I cancelled my dining package from there.  

[happy cruiser1234]

5 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

Is that a Symphony cruise ? I think this new UI only applies to Symphony sailings in 2022.

I think you're right about that, because my Odyssey and Oasis sailing are still using the old interface.  I see big problems with the new interface, so hopefully IT fixes the issues before switching over completely. 

[RFerrington]

Ok....I realize I made a mistake.  The gratuity on the UDP is only 18% not 37%.  I was calculating the grat on just 1 package instead of 2.  Sorry for the confusion.

 

 

[Merion_Mom]

3 minutes ago, happy cruiser1234 said:

I think you're right about that, because my Odyssey and Oasis sailing are still using the old interface.  I see big problems with the new interface, so hopefully IT fixes the issues before switching over completely. 

 

My cruises, too - none on Symphony.

[RFerrington]

Agreed.  Only the Symphony cruises seem to be using the new UI right now.  All of my other cruises still have the old UI AND the old prices (no grat on UDP that I can see).

 

..and speaking of prices, I have noticed that the new "sale" prices are higher than the most recent "sales" prices. I guess the prices are up to stay.  I'm glad I purchased everything that I could in advance.  I had the feeling that CP prices would go up eventually and stay up.  I guess "eventually" has come.

[twangster]

Mariner and Symphony are test ships for the new UI.

 

Mariner cruises after Oct. 2021

Symphony cruises after Jan. 2022.

[rockmom]

I have cruises booked on Indy, Harmony, Navigator, Odyssey, Freedom--and the only one with the new UI is Symphony. I'm not a fan.  I did notice that when I click on my calendar in that new layout that it doesn't put in arrival or departure time for each port like it does on the other/older version.  The new layout is quite flashy but not very user friendly. 

[twangster]

"My Royal Cruise" flyer:

 

https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/general_info/21075365_My_Royal_Cruise_Consumer_Flyer-4.pdf

 

[RFerrington]

Thanks.  I don't have any Mariner cruises booked past 9-20-21 so I didn't know that Mariner was using the new UI also.

 

Other than the new up-front dining gratuity and lack of drinks+Voom bundling, I like the new UI.

[soremekun]

It's official and permanent.  They used the word "enhance".

[dswallow]

Perhaps someone who sees the new UI could do us a favor and show it to us.

The simplest way to do this is to capture a screenshot of each page from a desktop internet browser. And as it's likely to need scrolling use a browser extension such as GoFullPage (for Chrome/Edge - https://gofullpage.com/) which can take a single image of an entire scrollable page.

 

Then once you have those, either post them here or if you prefer or find it easier, email them to me (doug at 2150 dot com) and I'll make a PDF from them and post it here.

I use this method to capture snapshots of current cruise planner pricing at various times, for example:

As of today, (4/14 - 4/20/2021 sale)

http://www.2150.com/files/cc/Adventure_2021.06.12/Cruise_Planner_2021.04.14.11.00.pdf

 

As of 4/3/2021 (after the previous sale ended)

http://www.2150.com/files/cc/Adventure_2021.06.12/Cruise_Planner_2021.04.03.23.00.pdf

 

As of 3/27/2021 (the 3/26 - 4/1/2021 sale)

http://www.2150.com/files/cc/Adventure_2021.06.12/Cruise_Planner_2021.03.27.22.00.pdf

 

As of 3/25/2021 (prior to any sale)

http://www.2150.com/files/cc/Adventure_2021.06.12/Cruise_Planner_2021.03.25.11.00.pdf

 

 

[pstone1]

49 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

Thanks.  I don't have any Mariner cruises booked past 9-20-21 so I didn't know that Mariner was using the new UI also.

 

Other than the new up-front dining gratuity and lack of drinks+Voom bundling, I like the new UI.

Mariner has had the new UI for months.  I have a B2B booked and bought the UDP for both as soon as Dining was available.  There were no added charges to the package price.
 

I don’t care for the new format, so I usually skip those two Mariner bookings when looking at Cruise Planners for the rest of my reservations. 

[vistapat]

4 hours ago, RFerrington said:

Is that a Symphony cruise ? I think this new UI only applies to Symphony sailings in 2022.

 

No - it's the last leg of the Ovation Trans-Pacific.

[davekathy]

4 hours ago, RFerrington said:

No, I am saying that with the Dining Packages you now pay your gratuities at the time you purchase them in the CP (just like you've always done with the drinks packages).  In the past, you did NOT pay up-front grats on the pre-purchased dining packages.

 

Since you are (and always have been) paying gratuities for the beverage packages (and now, the dining packages too) up front, you will not have to pay again onboard.  I am concerned that MAYBE they may try and charge me gratuities on my specialty dining since I did NOT pay gratuities when I purchased my dining package (before the new UI was installed).  I guess I won't find out until someone sails who has the old UDP and alerts the rest of us.

The only reason I questioned what you said about the BP package was you said, "...This does not surprise me...those pre-purchasing dining and drinks packages had been avoiding additional grats for some time but they are rectifying that situation...". Now we're on the same page. 

[dswallow]

24 minutes ago, davekathy said:

The only reason I questioned what you said about the BP package was you said, "...This does not surprise me...those pre-purchasing dining and drinks packages had been avoiding additional grats for some time but they are rectifying that situation...". Now we're on the same page. 

 

I've never been forced to pay gratuities for specialty dining under the Unlimited Dining Package. Though I think I most always tipped $10 (dining alone) and a couple dollars for each drink I may have gotten (drink package all the time), maybe a couple times more for specific reasons. So I can't say nobody ever tried to chase me down or anything if I didn't put down any tip. 🙂 To some extent I figured since they know I ate at a specialty dining location and not in the main dining room, somehow they probably factor at least that into however the daily gratuity amount may get allocated around. Not that that amount itself, alone, would be much.

 

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by dswallow