Caribbean Running Cruise - a scam?

It's been a while since I last added to my blog.  This one will be a rant but it needs to be put out there, imo.

It started back at the beginning of the month when I was tagged in a post on Facebook by a fellow Enid Running Club member asking about this fun-looking cruise in 2016 with Caribbean Running Cruise (CRC):  http://cimcruise.com/

How fun, indeed!  At the time, I knew I wouldn't be able to go because that's the time of year we normally take a weekend vacation with some friends of ours.  As it turns out, we're looking at a different vacation in April of 2016 so I went back to the Facebook post and took a closer look at it.  So many people had responded to that post expressing an interest in going (there were nearly a dozen) that I knew if we all went, it would be an absolute blast.  

OK, so I'm admittedly a cruise snob - I've been on a lot of cruises mostly on Celebrity.  I completely bypassed the cabins and went straight to the suite that was being offered - the junior suite.  I was stunned by the price for a "junior" suite, so I went and looked it up on the Royal Caribbean website.  

This running cruise is a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas leaving from Tampa and visiting Key West, Belize City, Costa Maya, and Cozumel from January 30th - February 6th, 2016 and must be booked through CRC's agent:  "The Cruise & Vacation Authority".  The CRC participation fee is $295 per person - I thought that was reasonable.  Here's what I didn't think was reasonable....a comparison of CRC's cabin offerings and what Royal Caribbean actually charges.

Caribbean Running Cruise prices:

 Royal Caribbean prices as of 15 February 2015:

So here's how it breaks down:

                      CRC                                     RC                         Difference

inside            $743 pp                                $574 pp                     $169

outside          $1117 pp                              $640 pp                     $477

balcony         $1651 pp                              $1121 pp                   $530

jr suite           $2453 pp                              $1530 pp                   $923

Here's my reply back to my ERC friends on Facebook:

Looks like my plans at the end of January may be changing so I went back and looked into this a bit more because it sounds like SO much fun....but.... I'm disappointed to see that you have to book only through their specified agency AND pay a race participation fee of $295 per person. I don't have a problem with the participation fee, but if you were to book the same cabins directly through Royal Caribbean (rather than their booking agency), the junior suite would be almost $1000 less per person and even the deluxe inside cabin would be $200 less per person. For what they're charging for the junior suite - you can get into a grand suite (and still save about $500 per person) and get all the suite benefits too. There are no suite benefits for a junior suite. Boy, I think that might be a deal breaker for me knowing how much extra they're charging that goes to the agency....bummer.

7 hrs · Like · 1

I took it a step further and went also to CRC's Facebook page which mentioned a "discount" for groups.  Here's what I commented:

I also received an inbox message on Facebook from someone named Jenny Hadfield from CRC:

So there were a few other comments on their Facebook page (someone named John Bingham commented and I replied to him)  but those have been deleted as well and I have been banned from their page (can no longer comment or reply).  Ms Hadfield has also blocked me on Facebook.

Interesting, huh?  All for pointing out a little discrepancy in their cabin pricing.  Their excuse was pretty lame:  "added value" and that I had found Royal Caribbean's "sale" prices (even though it doesn't say that anywhere on RC's website).  I really do wish that this cruise was legit - it would have really been a fun thing for our running club to do.