In the 1970s and '80s, cruises became a booming vacation option by offering a more-or-less all-inclusive pricing structure. One fare covers room, board, and access to a roster of destinations that might otherwise cost more to reach.
But as everyone knows, the current era of the mainstream travel industry is not all-inclusive. Airlines, hotels, and cruises have all learned how to extract amenities that used to be part of the base price and charge travelers extra to access those features.
On mass-appeal cruise lines like Royal Caribbean, it's well understood that the base fare only covers the bare minimum. Customers are now used to shelling out extra cash for alcoholic drinks, Wi-Fi, higher-quality dining, and other perks. (Click here for a rundown of what 12 of the biggest cruise lines don't charge extra for.)
Buying those add-on packages is now an accepted pre-cruise ritual. Weeks or months before a scheduled voyage, travelers log into the cruise line's app or website to select which amenities packages they'd like to add on to the price.
On Royal Caribbean, once you have pre-bought a drinks package via the app, you'll see something like this:
But Royal Caribbean slips a curveball into the purchasing process: That price could be different tomorrow.
From day to day, the cruise line frequently adjusts the price for many pre-purchased packages based on availability, temporary discounts, and how slowly they're selling, among other reasons.
How can you know if a cruise package price is a good price?
Our first piece of advice about Royal Caribbean's package prices is to ignore both the alleged "real" price (in this example, it's the slashed-out $1,470.00) as well as the "XX% OFF" claim. Those numbers are essentially theoretical; the alleged sticker price is so ridiculous and packages are so routinely discounted that few people ever pay that high number. It might as well not exist.
The only number you should be thinking about is the price per night. Divide the price you're quoted by the number of nights of your cruise.
If you like the per-night price, then you should add that package to your bill.
But even if you don't like the per-night price, you should consider adding that package to your bill.
Why?
You can rebook Royal Caribbean package prices if the rate goes down.
Unknown to many, when you pre-buy a package on Royal Caribbean, it's still possible to cancel and repurchase if the price goes down later.
Grabbing a package price doesn't have to be permanent. As long as you're still at home during the period before your cruise, you can change your mind on a package purchase and opt for a cheaper deal if the price goes down.
And the price frequently does go down as the sailing date comes closer.
Royal Caribbean is known to launch frequent temporary sales on its package prices. As long as you remember to keep checking for new discounts, you stand a strong chance of finding a lower rate.
You'll be allowed to dump the package with the higher price and rebook a package with the lower price—without penalty.
Don't believe us? The interwebs are full of testimonies from Royal Caribbean customers who swapped a higher price for a sale price later on.
"Last night at midnight, the delicious drink package was $87.99 for my excursion. This morning at 7:30am, it is $77.99," writes a Royal Caribbean passenger named Julie Moore on the page for the Royal Caribbean Cruise Tips, Tricks, and Deals Facebook group. "Similarly, the tour I was looking at was $114.99 all week, last night $128.99. This morning, $107.99."
"I’m going on Icon in April as well and just rebooked the CoCo [Cay] Beach Club from $250 to $150 pp!! Crazy diff!" reports Reddit user Szwarko.
"Saved $332 by checking drink package price about once a week," writes Redditor ManyRanger4.
"It took two hours for the app to reflect my cancelled package and allow me to rebook at the better price," explains Redditor CodenameBear. "Keep checking!"
"Watch the pricing like it’s your part time job," advises a Royal Caribbean passenger named Lisa Costello on Facebook.
Even if you never find a better price, you'll still have the original package purchase to use.
Tips for finding and rebooking Royal Caribbean package deals
• Enable push notifications on the Royal Caribbean app to learn about flash sales.
• Sales are particularly common around Presidents Day weekend, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and other holidays.
• Check for lower prices at different times throughout the day.
• The free service RoyalPriceTracker.com can alert you to publicly announced price drops and flash sales. If you're proficient at computer setups, you can install an automation created by a regular cruiser that checks new prices against the specific elements in your cruise portfolio.
• Placing an item in your shopping cart will not lock in the price; you must purchase it.
• If you find a better price and cancel your original purchase online, Royal Caribbean's system usually takes a few hours to reset and give you the option to buy the same item at the lower price.
• It may help to log out of the Royal Caribbean app between canceling the old package and buying the lower-priced new one.
• If you call a customer service agent instead of canceling and rebooking online, the agent may simply reprice the option you already bought.
• It may take as long as a week or so to see the original amount refunded to your credit card, but the replacement purchase will be logged as soon as you make it.
• Try not to rebook if the sailing date is a few days away; some customers report rebooking can be more difficult close to departure.