two for one???
 

what is the 2/1 deal. i see it as empty BS. what am i missing? while on the subject of bs, what is the 2 or 3 grade upgrade. i presume it is all nonsense, but does anyone really knowaaaaaaa? i have sailed on royal carribbevn 4 times in the past 2 years. i never got any offers of upgrade. wife and i paid "full price" for the offered price on each trip. the reason we ride on RC is they pick us up within 45 min of our house.

SOP in the cruise business. Everyone over the age of 3 can see the shame that it is. No one pays double with the exception on of single travelers booking in a normal double cabin. It is so stupid to play this 2 for 1 game with the brochure price. Even the luxury cruise companies insist on this pricing game. There is no why.

In my opinion, the only way to know if a price is "good" is to know what the standard offering price for a certain itinerary on a certain line is. Track the lines/itineraries you're interested in (at least to have a general idea). [what I mean is the standard price in a TA or cruiseline email, not the brochure price - as noted, no one pays the brochure rate ;-)]

On the other hand, sometimes those 3/4 passenger cruise free rates can be very good deals for families. Or so I'm told -we don't have kids. But in certain cases I've seen (I've tracked HAL in the past) those are actually good deals.

Interesting....and if you're stuck in traffic?

There are several ways to qualify for category upgrades. There are valid offers out there. For example Azamara is currently offering to house you in a balcony cabin by paying an oceanview (and sometimes inside cabin) rate. If you were to sail on Celebrity and gain status and join the Captain's Club you are also entitled to move up a category, within limits. Both are owned by RCI and offers do come and go. The Captain's Club offer is, for now, standard.
As for two for one pricing...that's another kettle of fish. We get offers from Viking Ocean, HAL, Oceania, Regent, Silverseas and Crystal etc. constantly offering 2fers but rarely see a standard rate. I don't consider this more than advertising. There is almost no way to compare standard rates.
The most advantageous offers seem to be on top of the individual cruise lines with sweeteners from cruise travel agents.
I wish someone would pick me up for a cruise. You've got great travel agent.

2 for 1 and 2 to 3 class upgrade varies from cruise lines to cruise lines... from experience I've taken advantage of "class upgrade" the most on Carnival.. it's where several category of staterooms are priced the same... so the more expensive ocean view is the same price as the cheapest ocean view... although the room are identical in terms of layout, the location on the more expensive ocean view can be significantly better. On Royal Caribbean, my experience with "class upgrade" at the time of booking is mostly when the balcony stateroom is priced the same as ocean view. So instead of getting an ocean view, it'll assign you a balcony stateroom for the same price.

As for 2 for 1... I never really took advantage but it's when they charge you what the advertise price is for that cruise once... normally the fare you see advertise for a particular cruise is for the per person cost... so if the cruise is $499/person... you will normally pay $998 but with the promo, you're paying $499... HOWEVER.. if you track the cruise prices, they normally raise the fare just before the promo and drop the fare after the promo so in the end you're basically paying similar to what you would of paid if you didn't use a promo. Some time you do save money and some time you don't. On Royal Caribbean, the most common promo is buy 1 get 1 for 1/2 off or 1/3 off.

As for free upgrade.. i've scored some decent upgrades based on my status with the cruise line's loyalty program. I've got upgraded 4 times on Princess as an Elite and it's always Ocean View to Balcony. On Royal Caribbean, I never got upgraded until I reach Diamond Plus.. as Diamond Plus I only got upgraded 5 times. two times from a studio to a full interior and 3 times from an ocean view to balcony.

In the end I just ignore the promo and look at the total cost of the cruise and see if it's reasonable or a good value. Some time it make sense to book the promo and some time it doesn't. The key is to be flexible.