ozblue_7

I'm sure you do, one reason once I've booked I stop looking (unless it is a line I know will honour drops).

Which ones will honour price drops in Australia? My TA tells me that HAL will, but I've not read of it happening.

Sometimes you have to take a stand. This happened to me on our recent Solstice cruise, one week after booking the price for our category went down by $1000 per person, that's a total of $2,000. I rang my TA and asked for a price drop, told exactly the same as the OP.

 

At that point, because I simply stated to my TA, tell them I will cancel completely, no re booking and you can cancel the second trip we had booked as well.

 

Its amazing how suddenly I was able to get my price drop, Celebrity were not polite about it but I got it. The downside though is they may not have agreed but I was really prepared to cancel, already had an alternative cruise lined up with HAL in case.

Just when I'd decided to let sleeping dogs lie, I see the above post, so I decided to have another go at RCI.

My TA assures me that despite his best efforts on my behalf, and threats to cancel that RCI will not offer the lower fare.

We had taken the opportunity to rethink, and found an alternative that we were more than happy with, so cancelled RCI, and are now waiting for return of our deposits before booking HAL. (We won't be monitoring prices!)

So thank you all for your contributions, I've learnt a lot from this thread not least of which is that our American cousins seem to get a much better deal.

These terms and conditions come out pretty much the same with any Celebrity / RCI sale for bookings in Australia.

Would these conditions apply to any future promotions in say 6 months if I cancelled now but ignored the current offer?

Well that's very disappointing that Australians/NZ will be subjected to such strict booking conditions when other regions enjoy much more flexibility.

Well yes, the US forums are continually talking about rebooking to take advantage of price drops. Once again Australia seems to pay through the nose.

For peace of mind I would leave it as is. Same thing happened to me, price dropped this weekend $700 per person. If we did risk cancelling and rebooking and they picked up on it, we would have to go back to our original price plus a possibility of an extra charge if our original category was no longer available plus lose our free beverage package. It wasn't worth the risk.

 

Also the price drop for us was based on a balcony guarantee status, and I had already spent time picking the perfect cabin location and deck wise for us, so didn't want to risk getting an inferior cabin with obstructions or at a location i didn't want.

 

It doesn't matter if you book through another agent or cruise line direct, passenger names will be the same as the original and membership numbers if you have them.

 

I know it sounds unfair but we book at a price we're happy with, and that's the price. We don't buy fuel or groceries at a price one week and then try to get a cheaper price the following week when a sale starts.

 

I know it can feel annoying, I have felt that the last few days. However like with any product for sale, discounts can come out at any time to drive sales. I think just book when you're happy with the price, get the cabin you want, and try not to re look at prices!

Thank you for your responses.

I agree, book with a price you're happy with. I was happy with the price before my own inexperience cost me an extra $700 and made me less happy. But, the $1000 reduction within a week of booking bothers me a lot.

Any point in writing to RCI?

Has anyone manged to rebook RCI at a lower price?

Crikey to_dee, got me all fired up then brought up the sleeping dog!

Refund takes 2 -4 weeks.

We can of course cancel, and this far out deposits are fully refundable, but apparently the audit will not allow us to rebook at the lower price.

I'd imagine it was a regular price change before a booking/hold was made.

 

If a reservation had already been made, that locks the price in, so there wouldn't have been an increase.

That's correct. Increase occurred overnight between emailing TA and booking made.

As a TA here in Aus, I know that you do need to be careful of reading the terms and conditions on the new sales.

 

You'll find most sales do have on the terms and conditions a note that the sale is for new bookings only, and if an existing booking is cancelled and rebooked on the new sale promotion, the booking won't be eligible for the new sale rates and you may lose any perks - etc onboard credit.

 

There's no price drop compensation for RCI departures from Australia / sold to Australian residents.

We are booked on the Ovation of the Seas b2b Southampton to Dubai in May 2016. During the booking process 23-24 April our TA advised us of a price increase from RC of $700. Not happy but booked and paid deposits.

Now barely a week later RC have reduced prices, in our case by over $1000. The TA having spoke to RC advises that they will not allow us the reduction and that their audit system will prevent us cancelling and rebooking at the lower price.

Shall we cancel and try rebooking direct at the lower price anyway, cancel and rebook in a couple of months risking sell-out or price rise, or as my better half suggests get over it and do nothing.

Would a letter to RC pleading our case be worth a try?