Many people are unaware of the best way to save money in the long term on a Royal Caribbean cruise is by taking advantage of a price drop.
To be fair, the cruise line does not do a very good job of advertising their price match option. Even some travel agents are unaware of how it works. Plus, it's limited to residents of certain countries.
I cruise a dozen times each year, and the ability to reduce my fare after a price drop has easily saved me save thousands of dollars.
With cruise prices only seeming to go up, this strategy won't necessarily work on every cruise you have booked. But I've been pleasantly surprised when it does work.
Here's how Royal Caribbean's price match works and when you can use it.
You can reprice up until final payment date
For residents of select countries, you can re-price your cruise all the way up until the final payment date if there is a price drop.
Royal Caribbean uses dynamic pricing for all of its cruises. This means the cost of the cruise fare can vary from sailing to sailing, and with its algorithm, could change minute to minute.
First and foremost, this only applies to residents of the United States, Canada, and a few others. Notably residents of the United Kingdom cannot utilize this.
If the price of the exact cabin category you booked drops below what you paid and you're before the final payment date, you can have the cruise line match the lower price.
It has to be for the exact same cabin category, meaning the exact cabin category code needs to match. Remember, there are sub categories of cabins beyond inside, oceanview, balcony, or suite. So if you booked a category 5D Balcony on Mariner of the Seas, the price has to have dropped for another 5D Balcony on Mariner for the same sailing as you.
Your travel agent can do it for you. If you booked directly with Royal Caribbean, then you need to call them and ask for the price adjustment.
To be honest, not all travel agents or even phone agents at Royal Caribbean are aware of this strategy. I've heard back from cruisers who have been denied a price adjustment because the person they talked to was unaware of the policy.
As long as you're before final payment date, a resident of an applicable country, and the fare you're trying to match is the exact room category on your specific sailing, you should be able to do it. Call back and speak to someone else who should know about it. Or better yet, work with a really good travel agent that does this all the time.
What if there's a price drop after final payment?
If the price goes down after your final payment date, you're out of luck and there's nothing else to be done.
Royal Caribbean won't adjust the price of any fare if the price goes lower.
One thing to keep in mind is if the price goes down for a higher category cabin after final payment date and it costs more than you paid, it's been my experience they'll let you pay to upgrade to that cabin.
Not to be confused with the Royal Caribbean Best Price Guarantee
Often the ability to price match is mixed up with another policy, the Best Price Guarantee.
This is similar, but would apply whether or not you're past final payment or not.
Within 48 hours of booking a cruise, Royal Caribbean will honor any price drop.
- If you're before final payment, you can get a refund for the price difference
- If you're after final payment, you can either get an upgrade to a higher room at the same price or get the difference back as a non-refundable Onboard Credit.
This policy is far more well advertised and because it works even after final payment date, it's somewhat different.
Do cruise prices go down?
I know it seems like prices are only getting more expensive for a cruise, but they do fluctuate.
Depending on what the demand is for a particular sailing, Royal Caribbean will use its pricing to help boost or dampen sales to keep it steady.
Most commonly, you'll see cruise fare fluctuations with longer sailings, or cruises from less traditional homeports. Examples include transatlantic cruises, or cruises that depart from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The "catch" with price drops is the cruise line won't alert you to it. The only want to truly know if there is a price drop is to check yourself.
To check the price of the cruise after you booked, you'll need to go to Royal Caribbean's website and do a mock booking where you pretend to be trying to book the exact room category on the sailing you're already booked on.
Remember, it has to be the same exact room category code as yours to qualify.
Price drops are why being early is the best time to book cruise
Taking advantage of price drops is why I love to book a cruise as early as possible.
If you're curious when is the best time to book a cruise, I recommend booking it as soon as you can because prices tend to go up.
While price drops do occur, they're not the norm by any means. But if you book immediately, you can keep track of the price and take advantage of a price drop later.
Even without the ability to re-price a cruise, Royal Caribbean executives have said repeatedly they expect prices to only go up.
Booking early lets you also pay for a cruise over time
Another advantage to reserving a cruise earlier is you have more time to pay for it.
Travel agents can do this for you quite easily, where you can instruct them to take installments up until your final payment date. You could pay it monthly or in random lump sums.
In addition, Royal Caribbean also offers a monthly payment option for those that book a cruise directly with the cruise line through a service called UpLift.
This allows you to spread out monthly payments, even after your cruise sails. It's essentially financing, and there's an interest rate you'll pay with it.
