Cruise lines make getting the best price on your cruise a challenge. Prices vary and while booking early often brings you the best deal, that's not always true. Sales can offer better prices and promotions like "kids sail free" or "half-off the second passenger" can make a big difference (but sometimes they don't).
To further confuse things, Royal Caribbean (RCL) offers what it calls the "Best Price Guarantee." That gives you some protection, but you won't get a refund. The cruise line shared the details on its website.
Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price within 48 hours from the time you booked— just give us a call or online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment.
So, if prices drop, you won't exactly lose the money and onboard credit can be used for drink packages, specialty dining, internet, onboard purchases, and more, but you won't get your cash back. And, the cruise line won't automatically give you the lower price. You need to track it (or have your travel agent track it) and ask for it (which you can do multiple times if the price keeps going down).
Royal Caribbean further complicates things by also using variable pricing for "Cruise Planner," purchases. That's things like drink packages, specialty dining, internet, and excursions that you generally book before you cruise.
It's all challenging (and a little exhausting) because, unlike your cruise fare, Cruise Planner purchases can be canceled and repurchased if the price goes down. Take both of these moving targets together and you can see why people get excited by Royal Caribbean's Black Friday sales, which are generally considered the best deals it offers on cruises and on Cruise Planner items.
If only it was that simple.
Image source: Daniel Kline/TheStreet
1. Royal Caribbean Cruise Prices Vary Wildly
The cruise line has a variety of sales on cruise fares. They include:
- Instant Savings: This offers up to $600 off, depending upon the length of your cruise and the cabin you book (longer cruises and higher-end categories save more).
- 30% Off Every Guest: A fairly simple offer, the savings get applied at checkout.
- Kids Sail Free: Kids means 12 and under, and the children in question must be staying in the same room as two qualifying adults.
All of those seem nice, but to know what you're actually saving you would have had to be tracking the price for that cruise before these sales. Cruise prices vary wildly based on demand/sales for each cruise.
Any of these promotions might be a good deal, but in some cases, you're not really saving any money. "Kids Sail Free" usually offers the best deal because in a normal case you pay the same for the third or fourth person being in a room as you did for the first two.
For an in-depth breakdown of these deals click here.
2. The Cruise Planner Deals Are Good (Except When They Aren't)
Most cruise lines offer fixed prices for add-ons like drink packages, Wi-Fi, and dining packages. They may vary based on the length of the sailing, but they're generally fixed.
Royal Caribbean does not do that. Prices vary based on demand and the company uses an algorithm that makes it hard to know when you're actually getting a deal. To further confuse things, the cruise line shows its Black Friday deals on Cruise Planner items in percentages.
Yes, it might offer the Deluxe Beverage Package at 30% off showing the original price as $100 (per night, per adult in the cabin, plus 18% gratuity). In that case, $70 might seem like a good deal, but someone else might have paid $64 per night a few days before the "sale."
There are often deals to be had on these items, but sometimes what looks like a deal isn't. If you didn't check the price of these items often before Black Friday, you may not actually know what counts as a good deal.
Roughly, the Deluxe Beverage Package -- the priciest Cruise Planner item aside from some excursions and cabanas at the cruise line's private island -- is a good deal when it's $70 per day or less. If you see it priced in the $60s, you should buy it.
3. Book Your Cruise Deals, But Be Vigilant
Royal Caribbean makes it hard to know when you're getting the best deal. A good travel agent will keep track of the price of your cruise fare and make the needed changes if the price goes down.
But, when it comes to "Cruise Planner" purchases, it's really all on you. Some people will buy something, then cancel it and purchase it again for even a slight price drop. You can do that, but the problem is that it takes a few weeks for your refund to process. So, if you buy and cancel multiple times, you can end up with a lot of money tied up in the process.
In most cases, if you get a deal you're happy with it's best to sort of be content with that unless the price really drops.
Royal Caribbean's Black Friday sales are going on now and generally run through Thanksgiving weekend (although the company may have different deals for Cyber Monday).
