Price Drop on every booking site but ours; out of luck?

[tortoisegirl]

Hi everyone! We ended up booking online for our RCI 09/19/2010 Eastern Caribbean cruise. Balcony cabin. Looked at RCI's website as well as a couple others today to see a $150pp price drop (me and my husband are going for our honeymoon/anniversary). No price drop on our booking agency's website. I plan to wait a few days for it to show up. If not, will I have any pull to get the price drop? We booked online because of the free travel insurance and $75 OBC. We do unfortunately have a $35/person cancellation fee. At this point it would be about break even to change booking agencies because of the fee, plus losing the OBC and travel insurance.

 

Any advice? Anyone have luck saying that another website is offering a better deal and having their agency match it? I never thought this would be an issue and have always seen the same prices for a cruise on every website, which is why I picked the website that had decent reviews and had some extra bonuses over booking with RCI. I know that because I posted it, now online will show the price drop tomorrow...lol

 

Thanks!

[tortoisegirl]

Oops! If I could edit I would. I did a search and came up with this agency's name being used so did not realize that. If a moderator could edit that would be greatly appreciated, or else I will re-port when deleted.

[Alexis]

It is fine to post that Travel Agency after all. It is one this site advertises. That is why it is still here and did not go poof. I checked after I posted that and should have looked first. Sorry to have posted that to you by mistake. :o

My apologies for not looking first.

[cherylandtk]

Actually, it's still not fine, advertiser or not. The policy is no named agencies or agents, period. The only reason this thread has not gone poof is that the thread has not yet been reported to the moderators. If OP will EMAIL one of the moderators it can be edited.

 

hostsheila@cruisecritic.com

 

To OP: You have nothing to lose by calling your TA and asking for the reduction since all the other sites including the cruiseline show a lower price. They may charge you a change fee, they may not. But they should honor the lower price the cruiseline now shows. Don't bother with waiting around to see if their website changes, just call now.

[Alexis]

Actually, it's still not fine, advertiser or not. The policy is no named agencies or agents, period. The only reason this thread has not gone poof is that the thread has not yet been reported to the moderators. If OP will EMAIL one of the moderators it can be edited.

 

hostsheila@cruisecritic.com

 

To OP: You have nothing to lose by calling your TA and asking for the reduction since all the other sites including the cruiseline show a lower price. They may charge you a change fee, they may not. But they should honor the lower price the cruiseline now shows. Don't bother with waiting around to see if their website changes, just call now.

 

Usually the names go POOF in a second. When I saw they advertise on here I thought that was the reason it was still in here.

A second OOPS for me in one thread. :o

EDIT: I did not know that someone had to report that name to moderators? I thought the boards picked up on them as they are always blocked out so fast.

[Admin]

Actually, it's still not fine, advertiser or not. The policy is no named agencies or agents, period. The only reason this thread has not gone poof is that the thread has not yet been reported to the moderators. If OP will EMAIL one of the moderators it can be edited.

This member is correct. Advertiser or not, members can't discuss their travel agents/agencies on the message board. I edited out the agency name so the original poster can continue to get replies.

 

Cecilia

[eandj]

Hi everyone! We ended up booking online for our RCI 09/19/2010 Eastern Caribbean cruise. Balcony cabin. Looked at RCI's website as well as a couple others today to see a $150pp price drop (me and my husband are going for our honeymoon/anniversary). No price drop on our booking agency's website. I plan to wait a few days for it to show up. If not, will I have any pull to get the price drop? We booked online because of the free travel insurance and $75 OBC. We do unfortunately have a $35/person cancellation fee. At this point it would be about break even to change booking agencies because of the fee, plus losing the OBC and travel insurance.

 

Any advice? Anyone have luck saying that another website is offering a better deal and having their agency match it? I never thought this would be an issue and have always seen the same prices for a cruise on every website, which is why I picked the website that had decent reviews and had some extra bonuses over booking with RCI. I know that because I posted it, now online will show the price drop tomorrow...lol

 

Thanks!

 

Call the TA and tell them you want the lower rate. I don't know any agency that wouldn't honor that. Some agencies however will cut back on the OBC as the cruise rate drops. Figure out the percentage of OBC you are getting for what you are paying. Then.. as the price drops thruout the year and the TA adjusts your final payment, see that the same percentage of OBC is still there when you board. That's what we do with our TA. Know too, that the agency you have might charge you for each time they need to change the price due to drops. It can and probably WILL happen more times since you are booked so far out.

[tortoisegirl]

Thank you for the advice. I had no idea they would do a price match. Although we have a cancellation fee, I am not aware of any fare reduction fees, change fees, nor reduction in onboard credit (it is based on our cabin, not the price), and I read our contracts carefully as this is our first cruise, and if they tried to charge me money I would have to ask them what I signed which said that. I will see if I can send them an e-mail or else will call tomorrow during business hours as $300 is a lot of money to us. It's quite nice to budget for the high price and then have extra money to play with! Best wishes.

 

Sorry about all the difficulties I caused; I will read the rules more carefully.

[Alexis]

Thank you for the advice. I had no idea they would do a price match. Although we have a cancellation fee, I am not aware of any fare reduction fees, change fees, nor reduction in onboard credit (it is based on our cabin, not the price), and I read our contracts carefully as this is our first cruise, and if they tried to charge me money I would have to ask them what I signed which said that. I will see if I can send them an e-mail or else will call tomorrow during business hours as $300 is a lot of money to us. It's quite nice to budget for the high price and then have extra money to play with! Best wishes.

 

Sorry about all the difficulties I caused; I will read the rules more carefully.

 

Don't feel bad. I have been on here 7 years and got that one mixed up too.

It is now etched in my mind for good though. :D

[eandj]

Thank you for the advice. I had no idea they would do a price match. Although we have a cancellation fee, I am not aware of any fare reduction fees, change fees, nor reduction in onboard credit (it is based on our cabin, not the price), and I read our contracts carefully as this is our first cruise, and if they tried to charge me money I would have to ask them what I signed which said that. I will see if I can send them an e-mail or else will call tomorrow during business hours as $300 is a lot of money to us. It's quite nice to budget for the high price and then have extra money to play with! Best wishes.

 

Sorry about all the difficulties I caused; I will read the rules more carefully.

 

 

Make your move now. Often price drops stay for a few days and then disappear. And keep watching. Many people get more than one price drop precruise. We got 4 or 5.