More Pricing Shenanigans

[atxcarter]

8 hours ago, marci22 said:

I've been watching the price of the 3 night dining package on my cruise. Today it is showing at $78.99 per guest!  Of course it is -Sold out-

Haha - same here! I refresh every once in awhile to see if I can book it, but if not, then 🤷‍♀️

[taglovestocruise]

17 hours ago, sowhat said:

So why are they  advertising   on television at great  expense  when the ships are full.



 

Royal announced last week that fleet wide they are sailing at 102%, Caribbean sailings are returning to 108% for summer travel.  

[Tree_skier]

18 hours ago, sowhat said:

So why are they  advertising   on television at great  expense  when the ships are full.



 

Businesses don't stop advertising just because business is good. 🙂 

[notscb]

54 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Businesses don't stop advertising just because business is good. 🙂 

Very true. When I worked at a big company who likes to advertise with a lizard (pre-covid), the owner billionaire wanted to put another billion into marketing efforts on top of what they were already spending, despite being absolutely huge already.  It's a business function, and it's clearly working for RCL.

Edited May 31, 2023 by notscb

[MrMarc]

I have seen the low price advertised and then shown as sold out.  The interesting thing is that someone in Canada looking at the same item at the same time was seeing a different price, and when I called they told me a third price.  Maybe I'm naïve, but I don't think it is an intentional sales tactic.  Based on what happened to me I would guess is that their servers are not updating properly, and there is something in place to prevent a sale at too low a price because of the UBP problem a few years ago.  In my case, I called and they sold it to me at the lower advertised price.

[neverlaysup]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:00 PM, sandy toes said:

Isn't that simple supply and demand? Yesterday, sold a bunch, now today not as many to sell , so they charge more for fewer total items. 

No, most feel that their intention was to silently raise drink prices and have this sale where they are still cheaper than normal. Tomorrow we will see if they lower the normal pricing or they keep it higher. There has never been supply and demand pricing for packages on Celebrity or Royal.

[sowhat]

6 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Royal announced last week that fleet wide they are sailing at 102%, Caribbean sailings are returning to 108% for summer travel.  

Royal  Caribbean  only quotes  the  percentage  on  two people per cabin,.
They never quote   ships load on maximum design  capacity

[sowhat]

On 5/29/2023 at 10:13 PM, CruisingHogFan said:

You might want to read the shareholders report before you say bookings are slow

 

From another  post here on cruise critic regarding  Royal Caribbean  pricing

 

 

Its just timing, the ships are not sailing full out of the UK and Europe so royal is playing pricing games. you just need to learn how they play them

Edited May 31, 2023 by sowhat

[mramella]

The shenanigans continue. The UDP for our upcoming Icon cruise in March 2024 is showing $168.99 per person. Once you click on it, it says "Sold Out." LOL. 

 

[RB9643]

On 5/30/2023 at 7:54 PM, MrMarc said:

 Maybe I'm naïve, but I don't think it is an intentional sales tactic. 

 

Yes, you are definitely naive.

 

 

[ONECRUISER]

On 5/30/2023 at 4:03 PM, taglovestocruise said:

Royal announced last week that fleet wide they are sailing at 102%, Caribbean sailings are returning to 108% for summer travel.  

Yup, back to Pre-CV numbers. Funny thing is I only Sail on longer 10+ nites on Radiance Class Ships and been almost 3 decades since I was on a 100% plus Capacity Ship. 

[MrMarc]

22 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

Yes, you are definitely naive.

 

 

Yes, I'm sure there are people at RCCL who just sit there and randomly change prices on certain servers, or perhaps they had their IT department purposely program this into their system so they could sell a few more packages.  It's a plot.

[pstone1]

Here’s a good one!  When we have a few cruises in a row, we usually order 24 bottles/cans of water from the Planner to be delivered to our cabin on the first cruise . The bottles/cans are 16 oz and the price has always been around $20. Today, in the Cruise Planner, with the Pre-Cruise Savings, the price of that same water in the Cart at Checkout is $64.88!  🤣  🤣 🤣  They really have lost their minds!

[Ret MP]

On 5/29/2023 at 5:57 PM, sandy toes said:

I just last week had 2 cruises drop, one late 24, and they asked me if I wanted a charge credit or an OBC. I took the charge credit. The other cruise is past final payment and I thought what the...and called. I was given an OBC. Don't know if I have been blessed by the person answering the line or by King Titan himself used some magic but I got a refund 4 months after booking, and 42 days prior to sailing an OBC. ALWAYS call and try. 

But, you are missing my point.  Which is:  They can drop the hammer at any point and decline to give the price guarantee outside of the 48-hour rule and use their stated/publicized policy as justification for doing so.