More Pricing Shenanigans

[SafetyHarbor]

Oh Royal, why can't you get your stuff together... We get it, demand for travel is high and prices will remain elevated; no problem.  But please stop playing games with the pricing on a daily basis.  I keep a spreadsheet to do weekly (and sometimes semi-weekly-ish) check-ins on pricing for the cruise itself as well as all the extras: Here are a few highlights:

 

On 04/03/23 we booked 2 connecting balcony rooms on 03/30/24 8 night Odyssey out of FL; Total cost with taxes $8,472.16 (ouch, but that's a different story...) This included total discounts of $5,484 and included both taxes and gratuities.

 

Today's price with the extra $200 "kicker" and larger discount was $8,796.64, which ostensibly includes $6,032 in discounts. And yes, room class is the same. The "sale" price is $320 more expensive, due to the cruise base price rising almost $900 between the two.  I call shenanigans.

 

Then to make it worse, we had also purchased a number of add-ons including the UDP for our family of four at $257.99 per.  No problem.  It's advertised today for $170.99 so I did what anyone would do, attempted to cancel then rebook at the lower price. However, it's suspiciously "sold out". 10 months in advance. I instead booked the 3 night package which coincidentally was the same price as when we originally booked the UDP. Of course by using the term "coincidentally" I mean no such thing. More shenanigans. I'm willing to wager that in a week when this "sale" is over, they'll mysteriously have more capacity to sell the UDP again at the original price. 

 

Good stuff, Royal.  Good stuff. 

[Sunshine3601]

I would call about the UDP, especially if you already cancelled your plan.

Cruise fare, sale no sale not a surprise.   We have seen this many times.

[not-enough-cruising]

Nothing new here, business as usual for many many years 

[Biker19]

28 minutes ago, SafetyHarbor said:

I call shenanigans.

The pricing on cabins has been like that for almost 10 years when RCI started it continual "sale" regime. RCI simply makes up some number as the "MSRP" of the cabin and then discounts it as a marketing ploy - nothing new.

Edited May 25, 2023 by Biker19

[vswan]

I booked for November (not holiday, so should be a shoulder season cruise) on Easter Sunday when my daughter was here - she and I going. There was some "sale" going on, but I didn't pay any attention to what it was, since there is always some kind of sale. I thought the price was high, but booked anyway. Since I'm before final payment I have been watching the "sales." Every sale I've checked is much higher than what I paid. I paid gratuities upfront, knowing a number of cruise lines are raising those often now too.

 

Seeing the prices now I feel like I got a deal. I don't see prices decreasing anytime soon. They are to far in debt and to much demand. It's not just cruise prices that go up and down with a sale and change retail prices - look at the airlines and hotels. The fuller they get, the more they can charge.

[Cruise a holic]

Yes I agree.  So many games!  Hopefully you can reinstate you UDP.   Call corporate if you must.  Such nonsense!  We are all anxious to cruise, and some people have unlimited funds and do not mind the increases.  

[SafetyHarbor]

So just another funny update. One hour later and the UDP is mysteriously now available, for $330 per person. Son of a...

[mramella]

The UDP that we purchased for our Icon cruise next March mysteriously just jumped in price by over 30%! Yikes! I need to run a business where I can increase prices by 30% over night! That's awesome!

[SafetyHarbor]

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

I would call about the UDP, especially if you already cancelled your plan.

Cruise fare, sale no sale not a surprise.   We have seen this many times.

Yes, just got off the phone with them.  There's nothing they can do, nor do they feel it's unfair to list a price online that can't actually be purchased since "sales come and go within minutes".  And they can't honor the price originally paid anymore.  The CSR's advice was to "keep checking multiple times each day, and when a better price comes up call us to make sure it's still available" before cancelling/rebooking. What a business model.

[craig01020]

Unfortunately, it's not just Royal.

[voyager70]

I just book at a price I’m comfortable with leave it at that. Having sailed with Royal for as long as I have I don’t even bother with their so-called sales and promotions. But I understand the frustration.

 

[goldfish65]

Got me thinking about the psychology of these practices...they get you so emotionally invested and time-invested, you become more entrenched as their customer. 

[firefly333]

3 hours ago, SafetyHarbor said:

So just another funny update. One hour later and the UDP is mysteriously now available, for $330 per person. Son of a...

I've booked pay restaurants individually. Last sale, they all went up $2  each, not much. Today each one is up another $5 each. So $7 each x 5 bookings. Each sale they raise the price. Got a lot of izumi lol. Even taste of royal is up $7, just in the last month or so. 

[sowhat]

Royal Caribbeans policy  of dynamic  pricing or fluid  pricing  stops people from  booking cruises
Like sale ends it X number of days, when  the sale never ends and in fact the price often  increases  with the new amazing sale.
If I look at the price, if it states  the  ends in X days, I wait for the next superb  sale
If the price increases,  I save by not booking 
If by any slim chance  the decreases , I save because  of lower pricing.
We were going to book a fly cruise direct  with Royal Caribbean and had a quoted price over the telephone but when we agreed to book, the price increased with no explanation, so we never booked  it.

[not-enough-cruising]

4 minutes ago, sowhat said:

Royal Caribbeans policy  of dynamic  pricing or fluid  pricing  stops people from  booking cruises
Like sale ends it X number of days, when  the sale never ends and in fact the price often  increases  with the new amazing sale.
If I look at the price, if it states  the  ends in X days, I wait for the next superb  sale
If the price increases,  I save by not booking 
If by any slim chance  the decreases , I save because  of lower pricing.
We were going to book a fly cruise direct  with Royal Caribbean and had a quoted price over the telephone but when we agreed to book, the price increased with no explanation, so we never booked  it.

Not enough to be of consequence, and the company knows that.  For every party that declines to book, there are more that accept the terms, and fill the ships (at a maximized profit margin).  Airlines do the same thing, no price is locked in until the credit card has been authorized.

 

As a customer, I can understand the frustration.  As a shareholder, I appreciate the companies performance.

[Ourusualbeach]

33 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

no price is locked in until the credit card has been authorized.

True if you are booking direct but if you are booking through a TA they can put holds on cruises to lock in the pricing.  Holds range from days to 30 days depending on how far from the sailing date you are.

[PhillyFan33579]

5 hours ago, SafetyHarbor said:

Oh Royal, why can't you get your stuff together... We get it, demand for travel is high and prices will remain elevated; no problem.  But please stop playing games with the pricing on a daily basis.  I keep a spreadsheet to do weekly (and sometimes semi-weekly-ish) check-ins on pricing for the cruise itself as well as all the extras: Here are a few highlights:

 

On 04/03/23 we booked 2 connecting balcony rooms on 03/30/24 8 night Odyssey out of FL; Total cost with taxes $8,472.16 (ouch, but that's a different story...) This included total discounts of $5,484 and included both taxes and gratuities.

 

Today's price with the extra $200 "kicker" and larger discount was $8,796.64, which ostensibly includes $6,032 in discounts. And yes, room class is the same. The "sale" price is $320 more expensive, due to the cruise base price rising almost $900 between the two.  I call shenanigans.

 

Then to make it worse, we had also purchased a number of add-ons including the UDP for our family of four at $257.99 per.  No problem.  It's advertised today for $170.99 so I did what anyone would do, attempted to cancel then rebook at the lower price. However, it's suspiciously "sold out". 10 months in advance. I instead booked the 3 night package which coincidentally was the same price as when we originally booked the UDP. Of course by using the term "coincidentally" I mean no such thing. More shenanigans. I'm willing to wager that in a week when this "sale" is over, they'll mysteriously have more capacity to sell the UDP again at the original price. 

 

Good stuff, Royal.  Good stuff. 

I assume you are new to RCI. What you have seen is how RCI has been pricing cruises, drink packages, etc. for at least ten years if not longer. What you call shenanigans is actually a marketing plan/sales plan that has worked very well for RCI for a long time. If you don’t like RCI and their prices that literally can change every hour, there are other cruise lines with more static pricing. 

[not-enough-cruising]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

True if you are booking direct but if you are booking through a TA they can put holds on cruises to lock in the pricing.  Holds range from days to 30 days depending on how far from the sailing date you are.

Very true, I take advantage of the "hold" option regularly with my TA

[BobNoxious]

The pricing and "sales" have always been like that.  I remember a website with "fish" in the name that used to price out all the cruises and graph them for you daily.    I've heard of a newer one with "plum" in the name but have not yet tried.

[Biker19]

22 minutes ago, BobNoxious said:

I've heard of a newer one with "plum" in the name but have not yet tried.

Has a similar pricing trend graph as the fish site did.

[SafetyHarbor]

37 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I assume you are new to RCI. What you have seen is how RCI has been pricing cruises, drink packages, etc. for at least ten years if not longer. What you call shenanigans is actually a marketing plan/sales plan that has worked very well for RCI for a long time. If you don’t like RCI and their prices that literally can change every hour, there are other cruise lines with more static pricing. 

Just the opposite, we've cruised many years with them. The cruise pricing itself isn't the issue (we're locked in to the better rate anyway, and the increase was just an amusing "here we go again" anecdote).  The real issue I have is that they advertised a certain price for the UDP which induced me to cancel my existing UDP reservation (you can't book the UDP twice, then cancel the higher priced reservation because it won't let you book it if you already have it), then stated that the UDP was "sold out" when I tried to rebook it.  Less than an hour later they re-advertised it a higher price, and when called out on it the CSR admitted the information they provided on their website was not true.

 

I'm totally ok with dynamic pricing because it benefits people who care about the price and are willing to check pricing frequently to get a better deal, while also allowing the company to earn as much profit as they like from uninformed or unmotivated travelers.  This is the form of capitalism I like the most, the one that allows both the traveler and shareholder a chance to win.  Just don't cheat, which is essentially what they did, because they designed a system that allowed it to happen.  I'm not going to stop cruising RC because of it, and $160 doesn't mean anything when you consider it's just a part of a $10k cruise, but they should be called out when a part of their business is conducted in an ethically-dubious manner.

[Boz575]

4 hours ago, SafetyHarbor said:

Yes, just got off the phone with them.  There's nothing they can do, nor do they feel it's unfair to list a price online that can't actually be purchased since "sales come and go within minutes".  And they can't honor the price originally paid anymore.  The CSR's advice was to "keep checking multiple times each day, and when a better price comes up call us to make sure it's still available" before cancelling/rebooking. What a business model.

That’s nonsense. It has been reported quite a bit lately here and on different boards that this drastic UDP sales price reduction is a glitch that is never for sale. I’d fight them tooth and nail because I’ve not seen once where this sale price was real and not another of their IT CP glitches. Keep calling until you get the right CSR. 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Boz575

[S.A.M.J.R.]

2 hours ago, sowhat said:

Royal Caribbeans policy  of dynamic  pricing or fluid  pricing  stops people from  booking cruises

THAT explains why the ships are so empty!

[sowhat]

12 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

THAT explains why the ships are so empty!

Stops me and people  whom I explain  thier  pricing system to  who never cruised .

Edited May 25, 2023 by sowhat

[neverlaysup]

Celebrity is up to the same shenanigans. Below is the sale price for the drink package yesterday (50% off) and today (50% off),