Brit-Cruiser

Hi. We booked our upcoming cruise through a travel agent about 3 months ago and today the price has dropped by almost £500 per person. Is there anything we can do or is it just 'tough luck'?

I have never had a problem getting RCI to honour price drops when I have booked direct with them.

In the past, when using a Travel Agent, it was more problematic & took some severe persistence to get them to agree to it. Call them, tell them you want the price drop. If they won't honour it, cancel your cruise and rebook direct with RCI. You might lose the £150 pp deposit, but you'll still be better off if it's dropped £500 per person. Good luck! :)

We have always managed to get our price drops honoured too! Sometimes you need to speak to more than one person. If you don't get the answer you want first time, then go higher. :)

You do know that on RCI you cannot get married at sea, by the Captain? All of RCI's wedding packages are done in port, with an officiant of the location where the ceremony takes place, perhaps with the Captain standing by. Hopefully, their Romance department made that clear. Vow renewals, which are not legal proceedings can be done at sea by the Captain.

 

Only ships registered in Bermuda or Malta allow their Captains to conduct weddings at sea. This limits you to Princess, Cunard, Celebrity or Azamara ships. RCI ships are registered in the Bahamas, and to my knowledge, they are not allowed to conduct weddings.

I have 2 friends on the Allure this week who are to be married by the Captain this Friday.

Thank you for all the replies and detail you've provided. It has been a dream of mine to go to Universal for some time but not managed to get there yet. I wouldn't want it to be spoilt by crowds but still unsure whether to risk it. I'm going to check what other excursions are on. If we get the bus to 'universal or Disney' would it be worth it to have a look around Orlando instead? Another thought my husband had which may be wishful thinking but as it's 2 days BEFORE Christmas that we visit will people not be busy getting ready for that instead, therefore making the parks quieter? Thanks again

We are in Florida every year in the run up to Xmas. We never go near the parks after 17/18 December as they are full to bursting. We learned the lesson after taking an hour just to get into the park on Christmas week. IMHO, it is neither a pleasant nor productive experience at that time of year.

Anyone in the UK been able to access the site to see where these savings applicable cruises are listed? If so please share how I can find them because I'm darned if I can!! :confused:

Nope! I just did dummy bookings for my upcoming cruises with & without my C&A number to see if there were discounts. Let's face it, I'm not even sure if anyone in the UK has had an email from RCI notifying them of this new initiative....everything I know, I have learned from here. I have emailed RCI to ask them if they have any plans to let us know what's happening, or will we continue to be like mushrooms?.....kept in the dark and fed cr*p?? :rolleyes:

Yes they did. Curious as to what the rule is now.

I've just called to get a discount applied for our Vision cruise in November (£58 per person). I've been told it is for new bookings only & discounts will not be applied retrospectively. Can someone here clarify this for me, I didn't want to argue the point too vigorously until I know there is a point to argue. On the plus side, the call was answered within seconds.

We always pay in cash & RCI never have our card details. All we do is go to guest services on the first or second day, hand them my seapass card and however much cash we want to deposit. They receipt it against our account & we're good to go. We top up if necessary during the cruise & close out the account & get any leftovers back on the final night. :)

It is the balance that was being asked for.

 

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I would call them and ask why they are expecting you to pay the balance now, when RCI don't require it for several weeks. They would have to come up with a blooming good reason for me to pay this far out.

I don't suppose the fact that all RCI staff are now in Guatemala has anything to do with the decision :rolleyes: It's a bit far to ship them over to take bookings. When we booked at the Excel, all the staff were Celebrity cruise consultants.

They were at the cruise show in January at the Excel in London. Lots of the other big names weren't. Carnival & Princess were 2 I can think of off the top of my head. The RCI stand was incredibly busy, agents were taking bookings one after another (including ours :D).

We got the email today too saying they wouldn't be at Olympia, but it's only 11 weeks since the Excel, maybe that's why they won't be there.

I'll be on the 16th sailing, Eastern Caribbean!

Us Too!! :D

A lot of people have issues with transatlantic cruises. Just seeing water day after day after day can wear on a person.

We did a transatlantic on the Indy the year before & we loved it! It was our best cruise ever. :D The Navigator rates as the worst...the issue was the ship, not the itinerary.

huh???

The T/A is the transatlantic.

We didn't like the cruise, we couldn't wait to get off the ship.

The Ben & Jerry's "sweet" only gets single cruise points.

We were on the T/A in November, which was a few sailings before the refit. Enjoyment is obviously subjective, but I can honestly say that it was the first time we have ever counted the days until we could get off a ship.

We have done a November transatlantic from Southampton. The Solent & the Channel were fine, not much movement at all.....when we got to the Bay of Biscay though, it was very rough. Hope this helps. :)

Just had an email from RCI regarding getting $200 OBS if you book now for the cruise I booked months ago. I inquired if we would be included in this as they had sent me the email, but was told it was only for new bookings. Just like rubbing salt in the wounds. :mad:

We were thinking about booking a May cruise & when I got this email yesterday, we decided to go for it.....only to see they had put the price up £200 in the space of a few hours, to compensate for the $200 OBC. It's never free...you always pay for it somewhere unfortunately.

This x 1000

Us too :D

Very easy to pick up a cab just outside the pier area. You can arrange for them to pick you up for the return journey.

 

 

There is a bulletin board by guest services where you can ask for people to share with you if you want.

 

Linda

Thanks for the info Linda, we are there in November as well and this is really useful. :)

We let some friends use one of our open booking certs last summer. I just called and gave RCI the cert number and my friend's name, then she called with the certificate number and booked. We were not on the cruise with her & her DH. It was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. Hope this helps. :)

From past experience, they do check for items on Royal Caribbean's prohibited list.

 

Lou

I guess we have had different experiences then. :)

Port security do not work for RCI. They check your bags for items prohibited by law, not items prohibited or limited by Royal caribbean. :)

The Allure is already on sale...leaving October 25th. :)

Myself & DH drink a lot of diet tonic. We have never had an issue getting it on any ship we have sailed on.:)

On both November Transatlantics we have done. (2012Indy & 2013Navigator), we have experienced rough seas & poor weather for a period of the cruise. As for the issue of flights, we paid £65 each back from Orlando with Virgin Atlantic in Dec 2013, through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. We converted Tesco Clubcard points to flying club miles & booked direct with Virgin.