You got to love them Courtesy Holds :)

[djneph]

I love the fact the RCI let's you do a courtesy hold for a day. Last night I was messing around on the website and came across a 7nt Mex. on the Radiance in Mar 2010 for $608pp for a d1 balcony. Wife was already asleep so couldn't discuss it with her. So I just pushed the courtesy hold button.

 

Today I log in to check pricing and the cheapest balcony is $899pp. That sold me, I put down a deposit while we decide if we want to go and make sure we can get time off. Sweet! I doubt I will get a better price than what I got.

[just4kixx]

I love the fact the RCI let's you do a courtesy hold for a day. Last night I was messing around on the website and came across a 7nt Mex. on the Radiance in Mar 2010 for $608pp for a d1 balcony. Wife was already asleep so couldn't discuss it with her. So I just pushed the courtesy hold button.

 

Today I log in to check pricing and the cheapest balcony is $899pp. That sold me, I put down a deposit while we decide if we want to go and make sure we can get time off. Sweet! I doubt I will get a better price than what I got.

 

Honestly, I didn;t realize that the courtesy hold actually held the price too. I thought it just held the cabin, and once you made the actual reservation, you paid the going price...

 

hmmm learn something new every day!

:D

A~

PS... your DW is lucky!

[mommabean]

I love the fact the RCI let's you do a courtesy hold for a day. Last night I was messing around on the website and came across a 7nt Mex. on the Radiance in Mar 2010 for $608pp for a d1 balcony. Wife was already asleep so couldn't discuss it with her. So I just pushed the courtesy hold button.

 

Today I log in to check pricing and the cheapest balcony is $899pp. That sold me, I put down a deposit while we decide if we want to go and make sure we can get time off. Sweet! I doubt I will get a better price than what I got.

 

I have to agree....I put a balcony guarantee on hold last night on Radiance - 5 nights for $365. I called RCI to put the $100 C&A discount on it and they actually did that while it was on hold. Final payment is already due so I wanted to be sure I really wanted to do it...sleep on it. I woke up to a price drop of $349 for the same guarantee. Since it wasn't paid yet, I called and paid at the new lower price which meant $299 each including our discount for the balcony guarantee. Within hours we were assigned a D1 aft cabin - those are the ones with the BIG balconies.

 

So, I think my price beats your price. But YOUR time of year is usually a whole lot higher in price due to Spring break. We are BOTH lucky and grateful for the courtesy hold. It is a generous feature of booking on line.

 

Oh, the reason the hold is nice, too, even for price drops as far as a guarantee is concerned. If you book a guarantee, get your cabin assignment right away, and then the price goes down, you can only get the new price if you throw your cabin back in the mix and go back to guarantee status meaning if you like the cabin you were assigned, you might not get it back. Did that run on sentence make sense? :confused: :)

 

Gina

[djneph]

I have to agree....I put a balcony guarantee on hold last night on Radiance - 5 nights for $365. I called RCI to put the $100 C&A discount on it and they actually did that while it was on hold. Final payment is already due so I wanted to be sure I really wanted to do it...sleep on it. I woke up to a price drop of $349 for the same guarantee. Since it wasn't paid yet, I called and paid at the new lower price which meant $299 each including our discount for the balcony guarantee. Within hours we were assigned a D1 aft cabin - those are the ones with the BIG balconies.

 

So, I think my price beats your price. But YOUR time of year is usually a whole lot higher in price due to Spring break. We are BOTH lucky and grateful for the courtesy hold. It is a generous feature of booking on line.

 

Oh, the reason the hold is nice, too, even for price drops as far as a guarantee is concerned. If you book a guarantee, get your cabin assignment right away, and then the price goes down, you can only get the new price if you throw your cabin back in the mix and go back to guarantee status meaning if you like the cabin you were assigned, you might not get it back. Did that run on sentence make sense? :confused: :)

 

Gina

 

That's the reason I did the hold. I saw the price and for the time of year I said might as well do it. After seeing the price insrease today, I really like the hold feature, I doubt the price will go back down below that for my sailing. Carnival doesn't do that and wish they did. I know especially outside of penalty you can always put down a deposit and the cancel the next day, but sometimes I just don't want to go through that hassel and wait for a refund and all that (plus I always pay my deposit using debit card instead of credit card - don't want to pay interest especially if I am not 100% sure I am going).

 

In your case it works even better, because you are inside penalty and they still let you do the courtesy hold for 24 hrs.

 

I know American Airlines has a similar feature (I think you have to be a registered frequent flyer, but still nice option).

[mommabean]

That's the reason I did the hold. I saw the price and for the time of year I said might as well do it. After seeing the price insrease today, I really like the hold feature, I doubt the price will go back down below that for my sailing. Carnival doesn't do that and wish they did. I know especially outside of penalty you can always put down a deposit and the cancel the next day, but sometimes I just don't want to go through that hassel and wait for a refund and all that (plus I always pay my deposit using debit card instead of credit card - don't want to pay interest especially if I am not 100% sure I am going).

 

In your case it works even better, because you are inside penalty and they still let you do the courtesy hold for 24 hrs.

 

I know American Airlines has a similar feature (I think you have to be a registered frequent flyer, but still nice option).

 

AA does have this feature but they tried to get out of it with me once. I once booked a flight and although the email said the price was good for 24 hours, since the day after I booked was within the 2 week window of price change, they raised the price on my hold. NOT good. It wasn't close to 24 hours since I placed the hold. I did call and complain and with some effort I got my price back but they were NOT nice about it.

 

I've used the hold plenty of times with RCI and never had it taken away. In fact the 24 hour hold lasts longer. The hold, I've noticed, is dumped from the system the following day at around 11pm Eastern time which can give you close to 48 hours hold time depending on the time of day the hold is placed.

 

Gina

[kenevenpar]

What is interesting is that, at least the last time I tried, you can not put a hold on a reservation that you do by phone?:confused: Anyone know if this has changed?

 

Ken

[mommabean]

What is interesting is that, at least the last time I tried, you can not put a hold on a reservation that you do by phone?:confused: Anyone know if this has changed?

 

Ken

 

It wasn't long ago that I asked them about that. They said it was an on line feature only. I guess they don't want to tie up their agents by having them place holds and discussing a cruise someone might not take.

 

Gina

[camofwilliamsburg]

My TA puts a cabin on hold for me for close to a week!

[Rala]

My TA puts a cabin on hold for me for close to a week!

 

My TA does the same. I think this option is only available througha travel agent.

[mommabean]

My TA does the same. I think this option is only available througha travel agent.

 

This is in reference to putting a cabin on hold for a week.

 

I can do that, too. I won't say how but it's pretty easy to do.

 

Gina

[land lover]

So are these week holds during the final payment period and on guarantees?

 

Is the cabin from their group stash that they have not turned back in yet?