Hideaway - updated price

[colesc15]

I noticed today that the "base price" for Hideaway on Coco cay shot up today on every upcoming cruise we have booked. Looks like the days of $19.99-$39.99 are gone and seems to be an average price of $69 pp now. It felt worth it at the lower price, but doesn't seem like it at $70. Stinks they took the dj away from oasis lagoon to try to get people to pay for Hideaway. 

[Sunshine3601]

$69 pp is ridiculous.   Definite pass for us

[SUgwoz]

18 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

Stinks they took the dj away from oasis lagoon to try to get people to pay for Hideaway. 

For many, people consider the removal of the DJ at the Oasis pool a positive. 

[LobsterStalker]

37 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

I noticed today that the "base price" for Hideaway on Coco cay shot up today on every upcoming cruise we have booked. Looks like the days of $19.99-$39.99 are gone and seems to be an average price of $69 pp now. It felt worth it at the lower price, but doesn't seem like it at $70. Stinks they took the dj away from oasis lagoon to try to get people to pay for Hideaway. 

Exactly what I said .

The first time Someone said that I didn't believe it , until I saw it for myself . Just makes it such an obvious moneygrab when you take (away) something that Sooo many enjoyed , and make it "Ïf you want that you now have to pay for it " .

Against my principles I booked Hideaway and did really enjoy it ... but 

 

Cheers

[orville99]

51 minutes ago, colesc15 said:

I noticed today that the "base price" for Hideaway on Coco cay shot up today on every upcoming cruise we have booked. Looks like the days of $19.99-$39.99 are gone and seems to be an average price of $69 pp now. It felt worth it at the lower price, but doesn't seem like it at $70. Stinks they took the dj away from oasis lagoon to try to get people to pay for Hideaway. 

Wouldn't pay for it if it was free. Worse beach design on the island.

[bajathree]

Sounds to me like they are setting themselves up for a Labor Day sale. Raise prices now to bring back to normal and call it a sale.

[Tlbecker1]

We enjoyed Hideaway, but we only paid $20/pp.  it isn’t worth more than that for us.

[ARandomTraveler]

2 of my upcoming cruises go to Coco Cay, and the base price went up to $69 on mine as well. One is being sold for no discount. The other is being sold at a discounted rate of $64.99. Prior to this is was in the $35-$45 range (always listed on sale).
 

I'm not interested either way, but the fact that they raised the price probably means they've been selling more spots than expected, or, as @bajathree mentioned, they may just be preparing their base rates for a "big sale."

[Engineroom Snipe]

1 hour ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We enjoyed Hideaway, but we only paid $20/pp.  it isn’t worth more than that for us.

Add some insult to injury:

 

Our ship is the second ship to arrive at 9am with a larger ship arriving at 7am. The gangplank goes down at 9:30am. By the time we would get to any destination is roughly 10am. They announce at 4pm to start clearing out and get back to the ship.

 

So you want two cruisers to pay $108? As you stated, we paid $20.00/pp for a heated pool on our last cruise. That was a great deal. The food choices were not as good as the main island free offerings. The shrimp and fries were excellent but every other food offering was less than included offerings available elsewhere on the island.

 

The only advantage this part of the island has is the heated pool.

 

I leave that advantage as the ONLY reason to pay the price of admission.

 

NOT paying it on my next cruise in November.

 

 

Edited August 20 by Engineroom Snipe
grammer dog nab it!

[ahahn078]

I noticed as of this morning they discounted a lot of shore excursions for CocoCay...just about everything EXCEPT Hideaway Beach. No way am I paying around $70 for that! 

[nbajam]

I think I win.  My Feb 15 Icon sailing has Hideaway priced at $99 with 0 discount offered.  That’s an easy pass.

[Casino Comp Chick]

I paid $36.99 for October and March, one is now on “sale” for $64.99, the other is $69.00.

 

I thought a couple of my friends booked it when I did, nope! 4 of my 6 booked it.
I guess I will not see them that day.

[Engineroom Snipe]

7 hours ago, nbajam said:

I think I win.  My Feb 15 Icon sailing has Hideaway priced at $99 with 0 discount offered.  That’s an easy pass.

 

Dynamic pricing yet again as they bounce the prices now and then like a fisherman's bait hook.

 

The highest price I have seen listed is $69. Your price is a significant difference even from my high prices.

[firefly333]

On 8/19/2024 at 5:47 PM, colesc15 said:

I noticed today that the "base price" for Hideaway on Coco cay shot up today on every upcoming cruise we have booked. Looks like the days of $19.99-$39.99 are gone and seems to be an average price of $69 pp now. It felt worth it at the lower price, but doesn't seem like it at $70. Stinks they took the dj away from oasis lagoon to try to get people to pay for Hideaway. 

I think it depends where your ship is coming from as from Galveston it's always been full price is 79. I have never seen it at 69, it's been as low as 71.99. I booked harmony from Galveston when it was released and watched hideaway bay since it was released. Now it's more only 5% off, but it's never been as low as 69. So saying it's been updated and changed when it's been 79 since day 1 is a generalization from Florida ports. 

 

I saw a blogger who inaccurately to me said its changed. Nope not out of Galveston. We always had this higner full price of 79. 6 cruises out of texas this year and I'm on the oct to coco cay booked immediately. Never seen the low prices like out of florida. Dynamic pricing at it's best and then a certain blogger making assumptions based only on Florida prices. They take advantage of those out of texas for the same excursions. .. just saying read that inaccurate blogger and here saying it's gone up .. nope stayed the same. 

 

[twangster]

Royal will always test the market to see what people are willing to pay.  If they sell out quickly at $X that's a sign that market demand is there and the price can go higher.  Then they try selling it at $Y and see how the market responds.  

 

This is no different compared to anything else at Royal and it is how Royal maximizes revenue and margin.  

 

If you are an investor it's great.  If you are a consumer then maybe not so much.  However if the price increases and stays at the higher price then you can only blame fellow cruisers who are willing to pay more than you.  

 

Specialty dining pricing is much higher than I am willing to pay but others are willing to pay the higher prices so the prices remain higher.  You'll see this with everything at Royal.  From Voom to shore excursions to dining to beverage packages.

[island lady]

We are going there for free on the 9th on Serenade.  😉  

 

Thus we will go just to check it out, stay a bit if we want, or "been there done that" and leave. 

 

Won't pay to go to that area.  

[Thisguylikestocruise]

It’s $99 on my cruise in February. I prefer the food at the buffets and free amenities throughout the island. Hideaway is one and done for us. 

[orville99]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Royal will always test the market to see what people are willing to pay.  If they sell out quickly at $X that's a sign that market demand is there and the price can go higher.  Then they try selling it at $Y and see how the market responds. 

In marketing terms, that strategy is often referred to as "pricing to pain" - keep raising prices until you get pushback, then implement "sales" off of that pain point to find the sweet spot for pricing.🤑

[PhillyFan33579]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I think it depends where your ship is coming from as from Galveston it's always been full price is 79. I have never seen it at 69, it's been as low as 71.99. I booked harmony from Galveston when it was released and watched hideaway bay since it was released. Now it's more only 5% off, but it's never been as low as 69. So saying it's been updated and changed when it's been 79 since day 1 is a generalization from Florida ports. 

 

I saw a blogger who inaccurately to me said its changed. Nope not out of Galveston. We always had this higner full price of 79. 6 cruises out of texas this year and I'm on the oct to coco cay booked immediately. Never seen the low prices like out of florida. Dynamic pricing at it's best and then a certain blogger making assumptions based only on Florida prices. They take advantage of those out of texas for the same excursions. .. just saying read that inaccurate blogger and here saying it's gone up .. nope stayed the same. 

 

Assuming your information is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t, one can conclude that people cruising out of Texas are willing to pay higher prices than people cruising out of Florida when it comes to Hideaway Beach (at least in the past). 

[firefly333]

3 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Assuming your information is accurate, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t, one can conclude that people cruising out of Texas are willing to pay higher prices than people cruising out of Florida when it comes to Hideaway Beach (at least in the past). 

Out of texas people were so excited when this year royal added this new 8/6 option where the 8 day went to coco cay they booked up this itinerary like it was so exciting. Omg we can get to coco cay without driving. At one point I saw my cabin over 1700 pp before taxes and fees. This route was just added this year. Some of the excitement has died down, but it was a lot of excitement when this route first dropped. Takes 8 days to get to the bahamas. 

 

I did feel taken advantage of when I saw threads of people getting super cheap rates to hideaway. For texas these 6 dates were a super exciting add to the usual only western. There is a reason harmony is cheaper, the ports are so boring. Texans have done western to death. It was part of why I moved to PC this hear to get access to more ports. 

[BecciBoo]

We'll be doing Hideaway Hideout cabana thanks to my lovely daughter and hub.  One and done for us probably.  I guess you can say we've done it all that we care to do...from now on the Lagoon pool and south beach will be our go to.  We consider our Icon in a couple weeks our big blow out cruise, the most we've ever spent, including our Celebrity cruises...the last hurrah!  About time to start road trips/camping...........😂

Edited September 1 by BecciBoo

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, BecciBoo said:

  About time to start road trips/camping...........😂

Those have gotten expensive too! My last road trip to the mountains for a weekend getaway (in an Airbnb though, not camping) still cost me $2000 for just 3 days.

 

Not meaning to turn this into an "is cruising cheaper than a land vacation" thread, but I've got a 4-night cruise booked out of Florida, and the cruise, plus airfare, plus a night in a hotel cost me under $1000 this month. 

[Hoopster95]

2 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

My last road trip to the mountains for a weekend getaway

 

North America travel costs are a total rip off. If you price out 4-5 star Europe/Asia/South American land travel itineraries they are less than a cruise. I have a ton of proof of this and have posted in various threads over the past few years.

 

14 hours ago, nbajam said:

I think I win.  My Feb 15 Icon sailing has Hideaway priced at $99 with 0 discount offered.  That’s an easy pass.

 

That's disgusting.... but not surprising. The human psychology is that we all have to belong to a special "club"  to feel better about ourselves and pay to get into it. We all need to say "I payed for a better day than you peons over there in the free area". Royal is a king of exploiting this.

[Hoopster95]

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I think it depends.... your ship

 

 

 

This 100%. If low sales for a specific sailing, price will drop. RC Dynamic pricing as has already been said a thousand times. Capitalism at it's best... this is expected for a capitalistic economy and a business which has to answer to their shareholders.

 

Royal knows if you can afford $2000-$5000 per person for a 7 day on Icon, you can easily afford $100 at Hideaway. Personally, I hope everyone here books Hideaway at huge prices and go there just to sit on loungers and do nothing all day (same as they would in any other area)... I'll be having a ball snorkelling, jet skiing, and playing volleyball @ Southbeach with pretty much just as good food.

[gavvy]

The thing is you put anything behind a wall and sell it as exclusive and people will buy it.

 

Royal are testing the price point here and was probably part of the business plan all along. If the price sticks it's because enough people are willing to pay it.

 

Same happened with the beach club. Start low then see how far you can push it.