Generally, if you’re planning a cruise and putting together your costs, you can easily Google how much a drinks package will cost per day for your chosen cruise line. However, for Royal Caribbean this isn’t the case.
Royal Caribbean uses and has used for some time, a dynamic pricing system for its drinks packages, meaning each sailing will have a different price.
Factors such as location, length of the sailing, time of the year and more, all playing a role. Royal Caribbean has been contacted for an explanation on how their pricing model functions.
Dynamic pricing is usually based around commodities that fluctuate in cost, like fuel. Some guests feel that, since alcohol does not go up and down not suffer from scarcities, linking it to a “dynamic” pricing sounds spurious.
The difference can be substantial. A recent post in an Australian Royal Caribbean Facebook group garnered attention as the drinks package dropped to just $92 per guest, with many passengers saying it’s the lowest price they’ve ever seen for the deluxe beverage package. Many cruisers commented on the post saying they’d saved themselves hundreds of dollars by booking the superior price.
However, sometimes the dynamic pricing has the opposite effect and cruisers are unhappy about paying extra, despite getting the same product.
For example, another cruiser reported the current price for the same package for her cruise is $191 per day. Over a 10-day cruise, that $99 difference would amount to an extra $990 to splash out, and given that the package has to be purchased by both adults in a cabin, that’s an extra $1980 for those who might wish to opt for the deluxe beverage package on their cruise.
You can see in the below images a deluxe beverage package down to $92 per day and another at $143, but that was previously at $191 per day, demonstrating the vast difference between what some customers are paying for the same service.
Other major cruise lines sometimes do sales on their drinks packages, but have a set price. This not only means that passengers all pay an equal amount but also that passengers can budget ahead of time. As soon as they see the price of a cruise fare, they can know how much it will cost after adding a drinks package, but Royal Caribbean cruisers won’t know until they book the cruise and enter their cruise planner.
The drinks package hack
- If you notice the price on your drinks package has decreased, you’re not totally out of the luck. Simply put, you can cancel your drinks package, then instantly rebook at the current price.
- While this is a handy tip, it not only can leave you short of cash as you wait your refund on the cancelled package, but also requires constant monitoring of price changes, rather than simply booking your cruise and package and then relaxing.
- Furthermore, it’s worth knowing that on sale days such as Black Friday, the drinks package generally drops in price a bit. Therefore, if you don’t want to go through the pain of checking the price every few days, it’s at least worth having a double check if you see an email about Black Friday sales or others promotions.
Why do Royal Caribbean do dynamic pricing?
- While this question can’t be answered exactly without insight from Royal Caribbean themselves, the way the prices are generally structured offers some insight.
- Generally, drinks packages are more expensive on shorter cruises and a bit cheaper on longer cruises. This is likely due to the fact that while a cruiser might go crazy for mojitos for a few days and get the value for their package, they are less likely to sustain this over a longer cruise. Therefore, it could be argued that dynamic pricing makes a cruiser less likely to get their money’s worth.
- In saying the above, the aforementioned $92 package is for an eight-day cruise, which isn’t particularly long. Therefore, dynamic pricing may also lead to cruisers finding particularly good deals.
- However, while some cruise faithfuls spend a lot of time scanning online forums and refreshing their cruise planner for price updates, many cruisers who love getting on a ship just as much, simply don’t engage in these price monitoring activities. This means they may be at a disadvantage against other slightly more astute or alert cruisers, and end up paying a premium.
Have your say. Do you prefer a drinks package with a fixed price, or a dynamic and changing price like Royal Caribbean?
