ROH Autumn 23 booking

[Bluebird]

I just had an email from the ROH and the booking date does appear to be July 5 for some Friends.  Further dates weren't in the email but I assume they will be the dates posted above by oncnp.

Edited June 29, 2023 by Bluebird

[Guest oncnp]

1 hour ago, JohnS said:

Many thanks @oncnp. I’ve just got home and couldn’t see the new booking dates. And DonQ seems to have disappeared from the calendar.
 

I spoke to the Box Office as I was wondering what was happening about Friends who might have put in their booking requests over the phone which was an option that was offered for a time on Tuesday. I’m assured that it’s a completely new start on 5 August and Friends have not been able to reserve tickets in advance of the new timetable. Here’s hoping all goes smoothly on 5 August.

 

Not according to today's e-mail 

If you have already contacted the Box Office with your booking request for this production, we will allocate tickets ahead of Wednesday's on sale and you will receive an email confirming your booking has been made.

[Blossom]

If you had the Don Q seating plans open these still seem to be live, if hidden from the site. It looks like there are quite a few seats (and standing places) which have been blocked out already so no doubt those reservations have been made.  Incidentally the prices look exactly the same!

[JohnS]

30 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

Not according to today's e-mail 

If you have already contacted the Box Office with your booking request for this production, we will allocate tickets ahead of Wednesday's on sale and you will receive an email confirming your booking has been made.

Well that’s not the message I was given and I’m afraid I haven’t received any email.

[Guest oncnp]

Just now, JohnS said:

Well that’s not the message I was given and I’m afraid I haven’t received any email.

Nothing about you! I just wish the people at the ROH would talk to each other.

[Guest oncnp]

7 minutes ago, Blossom said:

If you had the Don Q seating plans open these still seem to be live, if hidden from the site. It looks like there are quite a few seats (and standing places) which have been blocked out already so no doubt those reservations have been made.  Incidentally the prices look exactly the same!

They are back up on the site (at the moment). Not all seats have prices and there is no drop box for the date. 

 

Rather belies the claim in the email that

We are pleased to announce that this issue has been resolved.

[Bluebird]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

They are back up on the site (at the moment). Not all seats have prices and there is no drop box for the date. 

The prices that are there are exactly the same as they were before.  The price tiers are again the same as the opera price tiers and SCS are still £26 (as opposed to £12 for Nutcracker)and front side amphitheatre are still £52 (as opposed to £32 for Nutcracker) Let's hope they just haven't got around to modifying them.

[Blossom]

https://www.roh.org.uk/seatmap?performanceId=54536

[MJW]

The technical issues ROH is having at the present makes me wonder what will happen in September when my firm changes to a brand new system and moves from physical servers to cloud technology!

[JNC]

SCS £26!!

 

Why? I really hope this is a bizarre one off error and not a new trend. 

[JohnS]

I was too late to phone the Box Office this evening so I have asked:

 

Whether priority is being given to those Friends who expressed their preferences by phone (or email?) or if booking begins afresh at 10:00 on 5 July?

 

Whether the on line seat map is final or work in progress (and I hope very much the latter)?

 

Whether general emails have been sent to Friends affected by the DonQ difficulties updating them of progress and how Friends have been selected to be sent emails?

I’ve included brief text explaining why I’m asking these questions.

 

We normally get Friends newsletters on alternate Fridays with one expected tomorrow. I do hope there’s some helpful information setting out what’s gone on and what the new arrangements are.

[San Perregrino]

Q: in all the emails sent to the box office in respect of Don Q in the past 72 hours or so, has anyone actually questioned the accuracy of the proposed ticket prices, particularly of the SCS tickets at £26 ? 

[Guest oncnp]

12 minutes ago, PeterS said:

Q: in all the emails sent to the box office in respect of Don Q in the past 72 hours or so, has anyone actually questioned the accuracy of the proposed ticket prices, particularly of the SCS tickets at £26 ? 

 

At least I have and not gotten an answer yet. But I'm not sure the Box Office has the correct information or it keeps changing. 

[JohnS]

I asked on Tuesday morning specifically about the £26 and was told that was one of the issues under discussion. The member of staff thought it must be an error. I also included it in giving the rationale for asking whether the seat map prices are final or work in progress.

[Guest oncnp]

13 hours ago, PeterS said:

Q: in all the emails sent to the box office in respect of Don Q in the past 72 hours or so, has anyone actually questioned the accuracy of the proposed ticket prices, particularly of the SCS tickets at £26 ? 

 

From the box office. I will be very interested to what they reply to @JohnS

 

I can confirm that this pricing is correct and standing spaces are priced at £26.00 for Don Quixote. We are offering standing in the Stalls Circe at £12 and in the Amphitheatre for £8 for The Nutcracker. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by oncnp

[bridiem]

26 minutes ago, oncnp said:

 

From the box office. I will be very interested to what they reply to @JohnS

 

I can confirm that this pricing is correct and standing spaces are priced at £26.00 for Don Quixote. We are offering standing in the Stalls Circe at £12 and in the Amphitheatre for £8 for The Nutcracker. 

 

I can't believe this. It seems the tickets I normally buy in the Amphi, which I had assumed were in the £52 price band, are in fact £67! Way more than last year for any 3-acter. Do they think the magic words 'Carlos Acosta' mean they can charge unlimited amounts? Or is Nutcracker similarly priced? I can't see those prices.

[Guest oncnp]

5 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I can't believe this. It seems the tickets I normally buy in the Amphi, which I had assumed were in the £52 price band, are in fact £67! Way more than last year for any 3-acter. Do they think the magic words 'Carlos Acosta' mean they can charge unlimited amounts? Or is Nutcracker similarly priced? I can't see those prices.

 

If you tell me where in the amphi you sit, I can look up the Nutcracker price

[Bluebird]

8 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

I can't believe this. It seems the tickets I normally buy in the Amphi, which I had assumed were in the £52 price band, are in fact £67! Way more than last year for any 3-acter. Do they think the magic words 'Carlos Acosta' mean they can charge unlimited amounts? Or is Nutcracker similarly priced? I can't see those prices.

 

I just checked and, assuming you sit in the centre block, for Nutcracker, rows J-L are £68 and rows M-R are £50

Edited June 30, 2023 by Bluebird

[bridiem]

1 minute ago, oncnp said:

 

If you tell me where in the amphi you sit, I can look up the Nutcracker price

 

Thank you. I normally go for the ends of rows F or G, eg F38 or F76 or equivalent. I'm wondering if they've moved these seats into the higher band. Very bad news if so...

[bridiem]

2 minutes ago, Bluebird said:

 

I just checked and, assuming you sit in the centre block, for Nutcracker, rows J-L are £68 and rows M-R are £50

 

Thank you Bluebird - in fact I go for side seats (see up).

[Bluebird]

1 minute ago, bridiem said:

 

Thank you Bluebird - in fact I go for side seats (see up).

F38 is in the £50 price band for Nutcracker

[bridiem]

Just now, Bluebird said:

F38 is in the £50 price band for Nutcracker

 

Thank you! That's a great relief.

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Thank you. I normally go for the ends of rows F or G, eg F38 or F76 or equivalent. I'm wondering if they've moved these seats into the higher band. Very bad news if so...

Nutcracker F38, 76 =  £50.00, 

[bridiem]

Just now, oncnp said:

Nutcracker F38, 76 =  £50.00, 

 

Thank you again! I was about to have a meltdown... So it's just DQ that's the issue. Baffling.

[capybara]

11 minutes ago, bridiem said:

Thank you! That's a great relief.

 

It comes to something when £50 is a relief!

I can't get over these prices.

[Guest oncnp]

11 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Thank you again! I was about to have a meltdown... So it's just DQ that's the issue. Baffling.

 

Baffled here as well. Unless, as someone mentioned up threat, it's a trial balloon. If so I hope it goes down in flames along with the people who suggested and approved it (not literally, obviously). £26 for standing is absurd as are those amphi prices.

[LinMM]

Well it’s certainly absurd in that it’s over double the usual £12 price. 
One can expect some increase over time etc but what other tickets have gone up 200 per cent!! ( excuse if Maths is wrong but think it’s an over 200 per cent increase 🤔) 

[Guest oncnp]

3 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Well it’s certainly absurd in that it’s over double the usual £12 price. 
One can expect some increase over time etc but what other tickets have gone up 200 per cent!! ( excuse if Maths is wrong but think it’s an over 200 per cent increase 🤔) 

The increase is 116% (£14, if my maths are right) but you are correct that the price is over 200%. Either way, it's ridiculous.

Edited June 30, 2023 by oncnp

[LinMM]

It would be like a Balcony place I like already expensive at £89 going to £180!! 

[David]

With the Friends Plus booking date imminent, I have been watching the confusion on the RB booking site in amazement, tempered with awe that so venerable an institution could make such a dog's dinner of the booking process; also that so many respected contributers on these pages accept the administrative incompetence with such patient resignation. The ROH has been my cultural home for over 70 years and I have never known such chaos. Me and mine are still waiting to discover the castings for The Dante Project and the key additional castings for Nutcracker while Don Quixote is still missing from our screens in its entirety though we have kept a record of the dates  and the two primary roles (though that may well no longer be relevant!). Holiday plans, etc are on hold across the family but there is no way that we will be booking blind as apparently the upper echelons amongst the Friends have been asked to do - far too much money is involved and we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis. And how can everyone in the famiy express their preferences so that we can sort out a booking strategy? I see that someone in the system seems to think "the issue has been resolved". Not in our book, it hasn't!

 

We accept that there will always be last minute changes, injuries etc but surely someone knows who is down to be dancing with whom and when?

[JohnS]

I’ve had a reply from the Box Office which I’m afraid confirms the Don Q prices, including the £26 standing price. I cannot understand how it can be correct that standing for DonQ is more expensive than for Das Rheingold and is about double the price of Nutcracker/Dante standing. And this is just one particularly striking example as I know there are many other very significant price hikes which look erroneous. I’ve said I’ll take this up with Alex Beard so I’ll contact him this afternoon.

 

On the other issues, the Box Office will honour the ticket preferences received prior to 5th July tickets going on sale. Having made the offer, I have some sympathy with what the ROH is now doing but the offer was made to those who happened to contact the Box Office and were therefore in the know rather than advertised to all and if the circumstances arose again, I think the fairer route would be to reschedule the booking date, let everyone know, and start afresh.

 

Two emails were sent to Premium 2 Friends in recent days but I’m afraid I didn’t receive either of them so I’m not sure how complete the email address list is.

[zxDaveM]

1 hour ago, oncnp said:

 

Baffled here as well. Unless, as someone mentioned up threat, it's a trial balloon. If so I hope it goes down in flames along with the people who suggested and approved it (not literally, obviously). £26 for standing is absurd as are those amphi prices.

 

I wouldn't pay that if they threw in a free programme and an ice-cream at half time. Or maybe I would as the progs are likely to be £9-£9.50 come the Autumn, and ice creams a fiver, so it might just balance out for one show only 😉

[Sim]

£26 to stand is a total disgrace.  How can they justify more than doubling the price just for DonQ??  It's good but not THAT good.  How can they justify charging more for DonQ than for Rheingold for these standing places?  Someone has got things very, very wrong.  Oh well, I was going to go to a few of these, but now I will only go to one or maximum two.  Thank you ROH for pricing out a loyal customer who has been attending your establishment for 45 years.