No more Military discounts?

[orville99]

18 hours ago, RFerrington said:

They're still around, but just as rare as they've always been.

Not as rare as the LEO discount. We were batting zero on those.

[RFerrington]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Not as rare as the LEO discount. We were batting zero on those.

🥹

We don't qualify for this one but frankly, I have never heard of ANYone getting it.  Why even have it ?

[bigque]

Glad I saw this post as I went to check on my upcoming cruise in June and there is currently a military discount that had not been there over the year and a half I booked this cruise! Woohoo! 😎

[Engineroom Snipe]

13 minutes ago, RFerrington said:

🥹

We don't qualify for this one but frankly, I have never heard of ANYone getting it.  Why even have it ?

As my TA explained to me:

 

I qualify for LEO, Veteran, and over 55.

 

I have seen LEO and first responder discounts on a few cruises this past year but it was in the last ninety before embarkation.

 

I book almost as soon as the cruises are listed on the TA's website. I normally get to pick my room for the same price as Royal's GTY of the selected cabin class.

 

I get a small amount of OBC from my TA and in most cases OBC from Royal. My deposit is fully refundable until 120 days when final payment is due as part of my TA's contract with Royal regardless of the length of cruise.

 

If I try to apply the discounts in most cases, the deposit becomes non-refundable.

 

I am not sure if it would be worth the 4 to 5% savings to lose my ability to refund unless my cruise was within the 120 embarkation period when the full amount would be due upon booking anyway.

 

If you click discount check boxes for all of the discounts, it normally defaults to 55 plus discount because all of the them are the same percentage and it only allows one discount in most of my mock bookings.

 

I could click any one of them and get the same discount and the deposit changes to non-refundable.

 

 

 

 

[PhillyFan33579]

I have never received a military discount on any RCI cruise. I assume they exist since it is an option on the website and people have mentioned getting one like in this thread, but I guess I always pick the wrong cruise ship/dates. 
 

Just an FYI, I have gotten several military discounts on Celebrity cruises. 

[Engineroom Snipe]

6 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have never received a military discount on any RCI cruise. I assume they exist since it is an option on the website and people have mentioned getting one like in this thread, but I guess I always pick the wrong cruise ship/dates. 
 

Just an FYI, I have gotten several military discounts on Celebrity cruises. 

In thirty-five years of cruising, I only applied for one military discount on Royal which was worth about 10% off of the cruise but conditioned that with non-refundable deposit. I had insurance and knew, short of something going catastrophic, we would make that cruise. I took it and saved some money.

 

Maybe once in my lifetime considering my cruise experiences.

 

TA's pricing is so good that I have never been able to get a price adjustment on any of my cruises to date.

 

I am hoping this changes because I might have lost my house on a bet about the timeline of the Baltimore shipping channel. I need all of the discounts I can get!

 

😬

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just discovered this thread today, and more importantly RCCL's handling of their "randomly applied" military appreciation perk. If I might ask, how does one let RCCL know (or get pre-certified) they are retired military, as both my DW and I are? Also, since the Military perk seems to be a hit and miss deal based on the specific cruise, kind of like Disney, how can one tell if the military perk is even available when searching for RC itineraries?

[Biker19]

25 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Also, since the Military perk seems to be a hit and miss deal based on the specific cruise, kind of like Disney, how can one tell if the military perk is even available when searching for RC itineraries?

I don't think there's a filter for that particular perk - you'd have to search each sailing.

[Ken at the beach]

27 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask, how does one let RCCL know (or get pre-certified) they are retired military, as both my DW and I are?

You don't.  You just select that criteria when you are booking a cruise and if a discount is available you get it.  You may or may not be asked for proof of eligibility at the pier.

[Ken at the beach]

29 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Also, since the Military perk seems to be a hit and miss deal based on the specific cruise, kind of like Disney, how can one tell if the military perk is even available when searching for RC itineraries?

If you are just going by lowest price in your search criteria and you have selected Military as a qualifier then does it really matter if the discount is given for that cruise.  You will see the lowest priced cruises and cruises without a military discount could be a lot less than ones that have the discount applied.

 

Just make sure you enter all of your qualifiers (senior, police, military and residence) and you will see the lowest rates for each cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

I don't think there's a filter for that particular perk - you'd have to search each sailing.

 

2 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

You don't.  You just select that criteria when you are booking a cruise and if a discount is available you get it.  You may or may not be asked for proof of eligibility at the pier.

Thanks! We'll definitely have to remind our TA to look for the military discount if we ever decide book a cruise with RCCL again.

[Ken at the beach]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

I don't think there's a filter for that particular perk - you'd have to search each sailing.

Never understood why someone would limit themselves to only searching for sailings with a Military (or any) discount applied and leave many other cruises that quite possibly have a lower rate not shown.

[Ken the cruiser]

20 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

Never understood why someone would limit themselves to only searching for sailings with a Military (or any) discount applied and leave many other cruises that quite possibly have a lower rate not shown.

I guess the same goes for why Disney and RCCL only offer it on selected cruises whereas NCL, X, HAL, and PCL offer it unconditionally on all of their cruises.

But that’s cool. Every cruise line has their own rules of engagement when booking one of their cruises. The key is to attempt to know most of those rules prior to booking a cruise. That’s where CC forums come in so handy.😁

[Ken at the beach]

8 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I guess the same goes for why Disney and RCCL only offer it on selected cruises whereas NCL, X, HAL, and PCL offer it unconditionally on all of their cruises.

But that’s cool. Every cruise line has their own rules of engagement when booking one of their cruises. The key is to attempt to know most of those rules prior to booking a cruise. That’s where CC forums come in so handy.😁

Celebrity also offers it on all sailings. 

 

Edit, I see you said X

Edited yesterday at 03:11 PM by Ken at the beach

[nelblu]

I had not seen a state resident discount in a while in sailing from Bayonne.  A few months ago a CC member mentioned an on going promo. Did a mock booking for an Easter sail in ‘25 on Odyssey and sure enough I took advantage of it. Not only this promo, but also the 340+ S.S., balcony and even a minor flash sale $ amount. 

Edited yesterday at 03:22 PM by nelblu

[ONECRUISER]

Use to be closer to Sailing, 3-6months when Royal would add Military Discount on harder to fill or last minute Cruises. 3 Months ago they offered great discount on my 4 already Booked Feb-April 2025 cruises on Jewel. Was only offered for about a Month, my repricing saved me another $1900. I Book when dates are released, 500-600 days out, checking for reductions or Discounts added after is worth my time watching prices every week.

[keishashadow]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Disney

CCL, X & RCCl offers it to those with a DD214 honorable discharge.  Can’t remember, think minimum service date of 2, could be 4 years.  

 

On DCL, Only active military, retired or DoD employees.

 

[not-enough-cruising]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

Thanks! We'll definitely have to remind our TA to look for the military discount if we ever decide book a cruise with RCCL again.

I keep a copy of my DD-214 in my passport, but have never been asked for it.

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, nelblu said:

I had not seen a state resident discount in a while in sailing from Bayonne.  A few months ago a CC member mentioned an on going promo. Did a mock booking for an Easter sail in ‘25 on Odyssey and sure enough I took advantage of it. Not only this promo, but also the 340+ S.S., balcony and even a minor flash sale $ amount. 

We get pretty lucky with TX state resident discount

[cruiseguy1016]

31 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I keep a copy of my DD-214 in my passport, but have never been asked for it.

 

I qualify for the First Responder discount. I have been lucky enough to get the discount a few times but I also have never been asked for "proof" that I am a First Responder.