Royal Carribean Pricing

[porsche9five1]

Would like some feedback on how the loyal RCCL customer feels about the actions taken in the past 2 weeks regarding the fact the neither RCCL nor Celebrity can be competitively priced. It sounds like price fixing to me? Anyone else feel this way. As a customer and shareholder, these tactics will drive the cruising consumer to look elsewhere.

 

It shocks me that these ideas are considered as a stractegic marketing plan. If it ait' broke don't fix it. I wish Mr. Fain and his exectuive team would live by these words.

 

RCCL is remain a domiant player in the cruising world, but I would love to see trend charts from royal prior and post this pricing decision.

 

you thoughts are welcomed!!!!!

[wblynch]

My opinion is that it sucks and I hope the policy damages RCCL financially so that they will see what a stupid idea it is.

 

Obviously, the line won't listen to customers. So, apparently, we must vote with our wallets.

 

I vote to book my next year's 2 cruises on Princess lines.

[jrm9999]

As a customer, I can't tell you if it will be good or bad for me until it all shakes out and that could be a few months. However my prediction is that you will find the pricing in the end just as competitive as it has been. It will all come down to what you are willing to pay. If prices are high and ships not filling up, then the price will go down and if demand high the price high.

[desertheat]

Spoke with my TA today and the company is no longer booking any cruises on RCCL or Celebrity. She did say .... this won't last long .... hmmmm! We'll see.

[FinelyCruising]

At some point we run out of islands to see on predictable ships. That leaves Windstar or Seaborne for example....

[paljoeysmom]

Thought I would chime in on this subject. My TA also told me he no longer goes out of his way to sell RCCL or Celebrity. I did read an article from one of the TA's in my Cruise Group that stated CARNIVAL & PRINCESS, where following suit with RCCL early next year.

 

There are large Internet TA's that are giving deals like a $50 MasterCard or American Express gift card if you book cruises with them where a total of $2k or more is spent.

 

BTW, the TA in my cruise group LOVES the new policy. He stated that now everyone is on the same playing field, whether your agency is 1 person or 400 people.

[porsche9five1]

I say we speak out loud and clear. Here are a few e-mail address I think we should send to. The Executive MAnagement Teram of RCCL

 

Richard D. Fain

Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd

Chairman & CEO

(305) 539-6603

RichardFain@rccl.com

 

Luis E. Leon

Executive Vice President &

Chief Financial Officer

lleon@rccl.com

 

agoldstein@rccl.com

 

jwilliams@rccl.com

[FinelyCruising]

Pardon me for speaking up/out of turn but yout TA probably did not discount and thinks the playing field has been leveled by this recent event.

[Firefighterhoop]

I know it looks bad, but Travel agents can still reserve blocks of rooms at a group rate and sell them at that.

 

Also a lot of advertised deals from Travel agents, wern't. They would say like 30percent off or 200.00 off, but the prices were jacked up before hand so It looked like you were getting a deal from your travel agent but you wernt.

 

Im not too worried about it, and I dont thing RCCL will lose anything financally, and it will help the smaller town travel agents too.

[NOTYOURAVERAGECRUISER]

If Mr Fain has to drop prices to fill his ships, this will speak volumes more than any letters. I doubt lower yields will be tolerated.

[Croozin Soozin]

the new policy isn't going to bother me a bit - I've never used an online agent or an agent who rebated.I've always been happy with my TA and the price she gave me - I use coupons and my C&A discount.

 

hmmmm, I wonder if there are any more like me out there who aren't bothered by the new policy. I have no intentions of switching to another cruiseline.

[NOTYOURAVERAGECRUISER]

the new policy isn't going to bother me a bit - I've never used an online agent or an agent who rebated.I've always been happy with my TA and the price she gave me - I use coupons and my C&A discount.

 

hmmmm, I wonder if there are any more like me out there who aren't bothered by the new policy. I have no intentions of switching to another cruiseline.

I commend you for that. There's a lot to be said for sticking with someone who has given you great service. The issue is with others who already knew what they wanted, didn't really need any servicing and could save $hundreds by booking online. Now they must pay the same as someone who needs their hand held (I'm not saying you're that type; only wish to illustrate the dilemma)

[jrm9999]

the new policy isn't going to bother me a bit - I've never used an online agent or an agent who rebated.I've always been happy with my TA and the price she gave me - I use coupons and my C&A discount.

 

hmmmm, I wonder if there are any more like me out there who aren't bothered by the new policy. I have no intentions of switching to another cruiseline.

 

It does not bother me either. In the end I think prices will be similar to how they have always been or will adjust accordingly to the market. Will I stick to RCCL? I won't be completely loyal to any cruiseline. I felt that way before this change. I will book with whoever provides the best combination of ship, itinerary, price or anything else I find important. Currently I like the RCCL ships and overall experience and am willing to pay for it. However even with the policy change I still feel confident that I can get what I am looking for at a competitive price in the future.

[jrm9999]

I commend you for that. There's a lot to be said for sticking with someone who has given you great service. The issue is with others who already knew what they wanted, didn't really need any servicing and could save $hundreds by booking online. Now they must pay the same as someone who needs their hand held (I'm not saying you're that type; only wish to illustrate the dilemma)

 

There are quite a few people making the case that they feel they should pay less because they don't need hand holding. I certainly agree that there is a difference here and can understand the concerns. Thinking of this, I would like to know everyones opinions on this hypothetical situation:

 

Assume TA commissions were eliminated completely and cruise prices adjusted. You then have an option to book direct with no frills service for a lower price OR to book through a TA for the same price, but pay the TA a service fee on top of the cruise price.

 

1. Would you book direct or with a TA?

2. What do you think would be a fair "service fee" to pay the TA? A percent of the booking? a flat fee? would the fee be per booking, per cabin or per person?

3. Should the TA have a sliding service fee based on how much service is provided?

[dougp26364]

So far I'm not really seeing any big problem with RCI prices. They remain competitive on the itenerarys I'm interested in. So long as they are competitive on price, I don't see that it's going to make any difference to them.

 

Someone posted that Carnival and Princess will be doing the same thing in January. There's an article on Cruise Daily that says only Carnival is going to do this and their policy is less restrictive than RCI's. I think it said that the restriction would only be on advertised pricing and that TA's could quote prices lower.

 

On both Itenerary's I've looked at, Carnival and RCI are pretty much it for the port combinations we want. Both are priced similarly for the same type of cabins I'm interested in. All things being equal, I'll stick with RCI for this cruise.

 

However, in 2006 we're thinking about either Hawaii, Panama Canal or Alaska. There is more compitition on those routes. In the past, I might not have shopped the other lines other than to glance at their prices. Now, I'll look harder at what others have to offer and at what price. If RCI is competitive and we're still happy with their service, we'll stay with them.

 

It's going to take some time before everyone really knows how this will affect them.

[bUU]

The real question RCI cares about is whether the net-effect of the policy is positive or negative. Given that many of its most loyal customers seem to have no problem with it, and given that the policy supports other objectives, it looks like the policy is here to stay in some form, although perhaps not exactly in its currently form.

[Apex Cruiser]

In response to jmr999 here's my take. I book on board to get the credit. Therefore my TA does not usually do anything more than provide a discount and maybe get two or three calls total before a cruise. So let's eliminate the commission and I'd be happy to pay a service fee per call, say $10 to $25 depending on complexity and length. I currently pay a commission for something I do myself and for my TA to match lower rates for me if they drop. So that is worth something how much is a big question should it be a straight $ fee or a percentage fee? How about they get 25% of any cruise fare drop they can get me. I end up ahead as I was prepared to pay a higher price anyways and they have a good incentive to find me that lower price.

 

In terms of the pricing policy as a customer and stockholder I have two different views. As a customer I want my commission discounts. As a stockholder I want a higher bottom line. If this policy results in a higher bottom line then fine but I have my doubts. One thing that is driving this IMO is unsaid by RCCL. They have no new ships coming on line until 2006. Therefore if demand is going up they do not have an increased supply of berths to meet it. A perfect opportunity to get better yields by a bit of a price squeeze if demand remains strong. If they see demand weaken then I think the policy will change quickly otherwise it provides RCCL a great opportunity to control their products price. ;)

[NOTYOURAVERAGECRUISER]

As a stockholder I want a higher bottom line. If this policy results in a higher bottom line then fine but I have my doubts. One thing that is driving this IMO is unsaid by RCCL. They have no new ships coming on line until 2006. Therefore if demand is going up they do not have an increased supply of berths to meet it. A perfect opportunity to get better yields by a bit of a price squeeze if demand remains strong. If they see demand weaken then I think the policy will change quickly otherwise it provides RCCL a great opportunity to control their products price. ;)

You don't get a higher yield by eliminating discounting. You get it by raising prices. If people will readily pay a higher price (because discounting is gone) the way to get it to the bottom line is to RAISE the base price (before commission) and keep this discounting in place.

[WeirdEyes]

I'm not happy about the new policy either, but it really doesn't matter because I'm still going to book with RCCL simply because I love the Voyager-class ships. The new pricing will cut into my budget, which means I'll spend less on the ship. (We hardly ever spend money in ports except on souveniers.) So, as long as I can afford the price, I'll keep cruising RCCL. I don't like it, but I'll suck it up and pay. I'm also hoping that with this new policy more people will not book on RCCL and then the prices will drop to get people on-board. When or if that happens, I'll be all over it requesting a new rate.