CruisinCanuck63

Captain just confirmed during a Q and A that New Orleans was not an option due to Liberty's size.

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I continue to be very curious about this new policy so I found this online.

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/LTYA_News/17056802_Nonrefundable_Overview_News.pdf

This clearly says that the change fees are only applied to changes in ship and sail date. I'm utterly confused, as it seems most of RCCL is as well.

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That makes sense. What are the typical deposits on BRD? I thought it varied by Stateroom type.

 

 

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Since we consistently select interior cabins I can confirm that our deposits for interior cabins for on board bookings have been $63 Canadian dollars for the room (not per person) Since this always corresponded with a $50 USD OBC, booking on board always presented great value.

So, it would cost me an additional $467 CAD to change this booking right now.

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If you plan to take the cruise, what does it matter what the deposit is?

 

 

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You're right Milwaukee. Ultimately we plan to take the cruise so it doesn't matter what the deposit is. Financially, I don't want to lay out the extra cash right now as the cruise is almost 2 years away.

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I am guessing that the price drop you saw was for one of the new non refundable fares and that is why they told you that you need to pay the remainder of the deposit for your on board booking that you had already booked.

Yes. That part I was expecting. Although I have had a friend successful in moving an onboard booking to a non refundable fare without having to pay the additional deposit. It's just very inconsistent right now.

Ken - I was basing my understanding on your posts in this thread. Unfortunately, I didn't have the same luck.

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Called today to re-price a couple of cruises that showed a price drop. Both cruises were booked under the new Non-Refundable Deposit program. When I asked the agent about the new prices, she informed me that these NR fares were not eligible for price drops. I asked her to check with a supervisor and she came back and said she was mistaken. We proceeded to go through a 45 minute process whereby I did not change any of the prices because we would have lost more promotional OBC than the price drop would have realized.

Fast forward to my last question about another future booking made onboard with a minimal deposit. To take advantage of that price drop, I was told by a supervisor that I would need to pay the full deposit amount. Despite some verbal wrangling I decided not to do that. However, in her description of the Non Refundable Fares policy, she stated and repeated for me several times that: "Any changes made to PRICE, CATEGORY, SHIP or SAIL DATE on a non refundable fare would be subject to a change fee of $100." I asked her to clarify the price component several times, because I had just spent 45 minutes looking at lower prices on these fares after the agent had double checked and the supervisor was adamant that this was the policy.

It seems like the message is still somewhat confused but I now believe this statement to be the intent of the policy. I'd be interested to know if others have been told different, but for now it seems like no price drops on non-refundable fares.

Thank you! That's great to hear, as it is exactly what we want to try to do! I'm glad you enjoyed them all! :)

 

Were they able to give you the times you initially had reserved?

When we booked the package the only time available was 5:30. We were able to move both reservations for 2 to 6:30.

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Just off the Anthem and we did purchase the BOGO for the first two nights. A card detailing our reservations was in our cabin when we arrived. I did not check the app before this. We were assigned Jamie's for night one and Chops for night two. I visited Chops on embarkation day to see if we could alter the times, which we could. While there I inquired about changing our Jamie's reservation to Wonderland. The gentleman at Chops picked up the phone, called over to Wonderland and secured us a reservation for that evening with no problem. He was happy to do it. Our experience at Wonderland was incredible. I highly recommend it. We dined at Chops on night 2 as part of the BOGO and decided to try Jamie's later in the cruise at the regular price. We enjoyed all of these specialty dining venues.

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Drury Inn - can't beat the perks at this chain. Breakfast, quasi-dinner (bar food), 3 drinks at happy hour, free long distance and wifi all included. Plus this particular location is in a stunning building.

No, the cruise was not booked with a next cruise certificate. I booked on the phone May 1st, 2014.

Got ours yesterday and I requested that an e-mail be sent and it was. Purchased two $300 OBC for each week of our B2B. So is it a good idea to pay the daily gratuities when we board using part of the OBC?

It is worth the call to see what price you are quoted to prepay your gratuities before you board. I called today and the price to prepay was cheaper in Canadian dollars ($82.79 CAD pp) than it would be pay in US dollars on the ship ($84 USD pp). That's before you even factor in the exchange on the $84.

Just called and was able to prepay gratuities for our March cruise. Instead of paying $168 USD ($12 x 7 days x 2 guests), I was able to pay $165.58 CAD. That is a pretty decent savings considering the current state of the Loonie. I also purchased the soda package for $64.36 CAD, which is a small savings over the cost onboard when you consider 15% gratuity and a 30% exchange rate.

I called Gifts and Gear as well, asked for confirmation about the OBC purchase and was told that it will appear as USD on the ship, so I purchased $300 USD at a cost of $330 CAD. I can only imagine that RCI will have to adjust their exchange rate sooner rather than later.

I usually wait and pay gratuities on board, however, I will certainly be taking a closer look at this for future cruises.

CruisinCanuck63 and newshipsnob

Great thread!