When Does the Music Stop?

[skwak]

Hello:

I see the same packages changing prices every day as our cruise draws near. Is there a point in time when RCCL freezes the prices before the cruise and that is the final discounted price?

Trying to understand the game!

Thanks!

 

[Mpadovani2]

Not sure the prices ever stop changing. But for those that have made final payment, there are no price adjustments after that. As final payment draws near, there will be cabins released from people who will cancel or change and prices might go down for some time as last minute bookers snatch them up.

 

[skwak]

Sorry - I should have clarified. I meant the prices on beverage plans and excursions. When does that music stop?

 

[Mpadovani2]

Sorry, I misunderstood. Not sure about the beverage and dining packages. I do know that people sometimes wait til day 2 or 3 of the cruise and are able to snag discounts and/or coupons at reduced costs. Can work well of one is not a huge drinker.

 

[Capt_BJ]

as I recall you can make no changes inside of 3 days b4 ..... until you get on board that is .....

 

[starvenger]

I don't know that the sale carousel ever stops.

If you see a 30% discount on the drink package I'd snag it as I doubt it gets any better than that.

I think excursions run 10-20% off, usually 10% when there's a sale. If you're doing a tour that's exclusive to the cruise line, then that's fine, but I don't think it's enough to offset the price savings from going direct through a 3rd party.

With that said, peace of mind that the ship won't leave without you: priceless. If you don't have that comfort level about booking with the 3rd party companies, go through the ship. For example, if I'm doing anything that involves the phrase "take the ferry to Playa del Carmen", I'm booking through the ship. Otherwise, my comfort level is pretty high with 3rd party companies.

 

[Capt_BJ]

If you see a 30% discount on the drink package I'd snag it as I doubt it gets any better than that.

With the creative math I've seen RCL use when offering 'deals' I'd not pay too much attention to 'X percent off' or even BOGO ... I mean 30% off what price????

IME if you see the booze package under $50 a day per person that's a pretty good deal and I'd jump on it. I've heard folks say they got this for WAY under $50 but IME $51/day was the best I've snagged. {but we SELDOM book more than a couple of months out}

AND BTW ... the lowest price will NOT be offered on the last day IME ....... but maybe you already saw that from the previous line .....

So far as waiting until day X after sailing ...... the ships monitor the per customer spending CLOSE (understatement) ..... if bar tabs are low, deals emerge .... ditto for unsold excursions. Folks mention the 'drink card' ...... these have never been available day ONE of any cruise of ours ..... BUT sometimes appeared in the latter half of a cruise. And I've read that RCL clamped down on these a couple of years ago so they are much less frequently offered (I've not seen them offered on our last several RCL trips)

 

[OKW Lover]

Agree with @Capt_BJ above. The pricing/sale situation is very dynamic. Having sailed RCL many times I've seen this variance happen quite a bit. As suggested, monitor the emails for a while and when you see one that looks good, jump on it then.

 

[Capt_BJ]

well I'd say not the e-mails so much .....

once we book an RCL cruise (and we hardly ever book more than 2 months out) I start logging in every day to check the prices ..... and they change pretty much every day . . .

Since we get in the game so late is probably why I never get the 'best' prices others have reported, but I'm not complaining. Last minute cruising is one advantage of a retirement home a few minutes from the terminal . . .

 

[starvenger]

If you see a 30% discount on the drink package I'd snag it as I doubt it gets any better than that.

With the creative math I've seen RCL use when offering 'deals' I'd not pay too much attention to 'X percent off' or even BOGO ... I mean 30% off what price????

IME if you see the booze package under $50 a day per person that's a pretty good deal and I'd jump on it. I've heard folks say they got this for WAY under $50 but IME $51/day was the best I've snagged. {but we SELDOM book more than a couple of months out}

AND BTW ... the lowest price will NOT be offered on the last day IME ....... but maybe you already saw that from the previous line .....

So far as waiting until day X after sailing ...... the ships monitor the per customer spending CLOSE (understatement) ..... if bar tabs are low, deals emerge .... ditto for unsold excursions. Folks mention the 'drink card' ...... these have never been available day ONE of any cruise of ours ..... BUT sometimes appeared in the latter half of a cruise. And I've read that RCL clamped down on these a couple of years ago so they are much less frequently offered (I've not seen them offered on our last several RCL trips)

Fair point. The dynamic pricing thing does tend to mess up the math. Couple that with an exchange rate messing with the numbers (I see prices in CAD) and it can get more than a bit confusing.

I've rarely seen any sort of price break during the last few days as well. I suppose at that point they're either gonna get you on the ship or they won't get you at all.

I've never seen a drink card on Day 1 either. Earliest I've seen was Day 4 - on Allure last year and on Harmony the year before. Since these are bigger ships with a lot of families they'd probably fall into that "low bar tab" metric.