Question about repricing balcony after turning Diamond Plus

[chiguypaul]

I want to book a balcony on a sailing for December 2025. I’m currently Diamond and will be Diamond Plus in January 2025. I noticed the “Discounts on Balcony” Diamond Plus benefit. If I booked now, and then after I become Diamond Plus, will RCL apply the DP discount to my existing sailing? I will ask RCL, but would like to know if others have done this and what their experience has been. Thanks.

Edited Thursday at 05:05 PM by chiguypaul

[leaveitallbehind]

First of the balcony discount is not combinable with most promotional fares, so it may not be applicable to your particular sailing at the booked fare.  You can check to compare the fares to see which is better, the fare you booked under or one with the discount to see which provides the best fare.

 

You would have to check with RCI or your TA once you have reached D+ to confirm any additional incremental savings available to be applied on the next booked cruise as it won't be applied automatically. 

Edited Thursday at 05:40 PM by leaveitallbehind

[HicksRA]

I tried that once and was told I’d have to rebook at the current rate to use the additional discount, thus it would have cost more to use the discount than to leave it as it was. 

[Ken at the beach]

1 hour ago, chiguypaul said:

I want to book a balcony on a sailing for December 2025. I’m currently Diamond and will be Diamond Plus in January 2025. I noticed the “Discounts on Balcony” Diamond Plus benefit. If I booked now, and then after I become Diamond Plus, will RCL apply the DP discount to my existing sailing? I will ask RCL, but would like to know if others have done this and what their experience has been. Thanks.

Unless you are booked in a group your booking will be repriced at the current rate.  Most likely not worth it for the $25 added discount. 

 

If it is in a group booking then it can be repriced based on the original fare up to the hardstop date for the group which is usually 120 days prior to sailing

[Ken at the beach]

1 hour ago, chiguypaul said:

If I booked now

Book now. Book as soon as you decide on the cruise you are going on.  It is pointless to wait wither for the extra discount or for those waiting to book on board.  The vast majority of times that you wait and extra savings will be lost as the price most likely will have gone up.  

[firefly333]

25 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

Book now. Book as soon as you decide on the cruise you are going on.  It is pointless to wait wither for the extra discount or for those waiting to book on board.  The vast majority of times that you wait and extra savings will be lost as the price most likely will have gone up.  

I agree up to a point. Book when you see a price you can live with. But imo royals pricing power is eroding. There are signs the economy is softening and royal is running into a wall on ever increasing prices. You too have seen some better prices you posted as have i. 

 

If 6 other travel stocks all said bookings are slowing its naive to think royal is immune. ..though what will be popular to some degree is impossible to predict. So book ahead is good advice. But I believe there will be more good last minute deals too. I'm ready to pounce if only I had more free time. Prices are not going up like before from what I'm seeing though. Some like that Panama transit though if you wanted a balcony book asap. Or if you are picky about your cabin book sooner not later. 

[nelblu]

2 hours ago, chiguypaul said:

I want to book a balcony on a sailing for December 2025. I’m currently Diamond and will be Diamond Plus in January 2025. I noticed the “Discounts on Balcony” Diamond Plus benefit. If I booked now, and then after I become Diamond Plus, will RCL apply the DP discount to my existing sailing? I will ask RCL, but would like to know if others have done this and what their experience has been. Thanks.

It's only $24-$25 difference in the balcony discount between the 2 tiers.  Yes, you call up and they will reprice it.

[not-enough-cruising]

9 minutes ago, nelblu said:

It's only $24-$25 difference in the balcony discount between the 2 tiers.  Yes, you call up and they will reprice it.

They will reprice it at current rate; may well lose money on the transaction 

[nelblu]

34 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

They will reprice it at current rate; may well lose money on the transaction 

I did it when I became D+ and wasn't repriced.  The Op can easily ask if any impact other than the minor $ gain.

Edited Thursday at 08:20 PM by nelblu

[Ken at the beach]

51 minutes ago, nelblu said:

It's only $24-$25 difference in the balcony discount between the 2 tiers.  Yes, you call up and they will reprice it.

They will reprice it at current rates.  The days of getting it repriced at the same rate ended about 4 years ago.

[Ken at the beach]

8 minutes ago, nelblu said:

I did it when I became D+ and wasn't repriced.  The Op can easily ask if any impact other than the minor $ gain.

And how many years ago was that.  Things have changed

[nelblu]

11 minutes ago, Ken at the beach said:

And how many years ago was that.  Things have changed

Yes, it was some years ago, but we don't really know of the outcome.  Plus, the OP has the flexibility to evaluate the + & - of the decision.

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[firefly333]

Also ask if any obc different. I think I usually get a $50 obc for booking early. If you are within I think 6 months can lose this when repricing. When I hit 340 pts i couldn't reprice close in. Group rates were withdrawn about 4 months out. Cant reprice of course within final payment. Though they finally kicked in took longer than I hoped. Had to wait first for pts to add. So 4 months since I do group rates mostly plus the days for my pts to post. Got there in sept, couldnt reprice last week of January. 

[Ken at the beach]

30 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Yes, it was some years ago, but we don't really know of the outcome.  Plus, the OP has the flexibility to evaluate the + & - of the decision.

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Yes we do know the outcome.  The policy changed several years ago.  It's very simple.  The booking wiill be repriced st today's rate unless it is in a group as I had previously mentioned.