Question for you price watchers

[packedandready]

Are the internet packages ever more than 35% off? Right not the package I'm looking at is 35% off. Everyone talks about the black friday sales so didn't know if it would be any benefit to wait, or just get it now.

[rockmom]

4 minutes ago, packedandready said:

Are the internet packages ever more than 35% off? Right not the package I'm looking at is 35% off. Everyone talks about the black friday sales so didn't know if it would be any benefit to wait, or just get it now.

Hard to say if there will be a better deal, however--and I cannot stress this enough. Don't go by percentage off because they tend to use varying 'base prices'.  Always look at the price itself, after you put it into the cart.  And for things that may have a gratuity, go the the payment page to see how much more that adds.   

Edited November 1, 2021 by rockmom

[cruiseguy1016]

8 minutes ago, rockmom said:

Hard to say if there will be a better deal, however--and I cannot stress this enough. Don't go by percentage off because they tend to use varying 'base prices'.  Always look at the price itself, after you put it into the cart.  And for things that may have a gratuity, go the the payment page to see how much more that adds.   

 

^^^ This ^^^

Royal plays so many games with their pricing, a "beginner" will not know which way is up. When you find a price that you are willing to pay, book it. Keep an eye on the price to see if it goes down. If it does, purchase at the new price AND THEN cancel the old one.

[alexgtp]

just buy it. If it drops you can always cancel and re-book at cheaper price. Also never look at the % off. Look at total price for the X amount of day's, and see if that is a good price or not.

[rockmom]

28 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

^^^ This ^^^

Royal plays so many games with their pricing, a "beginner" will not know which way is up. When you find a price that you are willing to pay, book it. Keep an eye on the price to see if it goes down. If it does, purchase at the new price AND THEN cancel the old one.

The only problem is that for some things, like drink packages or excursions, it won't let you buy it twice, so you have to research a little bit.   It will tell you that you have already purchased that.  But for things like a multi-device Voom wifi package, you can then buy it under one of the other passenger's name and then cancel the other one. Ditto for something like a cabana.  But in most cases, you can see what the current price is by clicking on it, or many times someone on your roll call might be able to look for you.  It's remembering to add in the 18% on top of things like drink or dining packages, so you know what the final total would be.  

[brillohead]

53 minutes ago, rockmom said:

The only problem is that for some things, like drink packages or excursions, it won't let you buy it twice, so you have to research a little bit.   It will tell you that you have already purchased that.  But for things like a multi-device Voom wifi package, you can then buy it under one of the other passenger's name and then cancel the other one. Ditto for something like a cabana.  But in most cases, you can see what the current price is by clicking on it, or many times someone on your roll call might be able to look for you.  It's remembering to add in the 18% on top of things like drink or dining packages, so you know what the final total would be.  

It's not that complicated.... just cancel first and then repurchase under the same name, rather than trying to purchase a second one and then cancel the first one.  

For the OP -- I second/third/fourth what others said:  If it's a price you can live with, go ahead and purchase it now, then periodically check for a lower price.  

FWIW, I've found that the very BEST prices can be found on Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend.  But I'll still go ahead and purchase what I want before then if the price is acceptable to me, because we all know that RCI stands for Really Consistently Inconsistent.... better safe than sorry!

I also found in pre-COVID times that prices would go up the last 6 weeks or so before the sailing, and not go down again, even if other sailings had a sale price.  So I always make sure to have everything lined up two months before the cruise, just in case.

[Cruiser1862]

 Not.sure if you use a TA or not. I do and really feel mine does a great job. I have gotten 2 price reductions so far totally $450. That’s huge to me. She gets alerts and checks them out making sure it’s “apples to apples”.  I’ve used her for many years and have been very pleased. No work or stress on my part. 😀

[DCPIV]

2 hours ago, rockmom said:

Hard to say if there will be a better deal, however--and I cannot stress this enough. Don't go by percentage off because they tend to use varying 'base prices'.  Always look at the price itself, after you put it into the cart.

 

Absolutely 100% true.  

[rockmom]

52 minutes ago, Cruiser1862 said:

 Not.sure if you use a TA or not. I do and really feel mine does a great job. I have gotten 2 price reductions so far totally $450. That’s huge to me. She gets alerts and checks them out making sure it’s “apples to apples”.  I’ve used her for many years and have been very pleased. No work or stress on my part. 😀

I don't believe TAs can buy things for clients in the cruise planner now, only the guest can access the cruise planner.  Yes, a TA can watch for cruise fare sales/price drops, but this conversation is about cruise planner items like wifi, drinks, etc.  

[YankeesFan4Life]

53 minutes ago, rockmom said:

I don't believe TAs can buy things for clients in the cruise planner now, only the guest can access the cruise planner.  Yes, a TA can watch for cruise fare sales/price drops, but this conversation is about cruise planner items like wifi, drinks, etc.  

My TA said they can call and buy things like the drink package and UDP etc...

[rockmom]

21 minutes ago, YankeesFan4Life said:

My TA said they can call and buy things like the drink package and UDP etc...

Interesting. I know a quite a few months back, some of the TAs we have on these boards were saying that they used to be able to do that, but now they could not. Maybe that was for online purchases as it requires your username and password to get into the cruise planner site.  

[Cruiser1862]

3 hours ago, rockmom said:

I don't believe TAs can buy things for clients in the cruise planner now, only the guest can access the cruise planner.  Yes, a TA can watch for cruise fare sales/price drops, but this conversation is about cruise planner items like wifi, drinks, etc.  

sorry, I misunderstood. 

[deliver42]

Could be Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or nothing. They are still bleeding money, so I'm not expecting much this year. They could also make any sail new bookings only.