RCI & 'Rip off Britain'

[iadom]

I have a long time friend who has lived in Fuengirola near Malaga for many years.

 

He and his good lady are also cruisers. He does tend to look after the pennies and always books a guaranteed, inside stateroom. His view is that they have a fabulous view from their apartment balcony in Fuengirola ( very true ) and they only use the room to sleep in.

 

He has just booked two RCI cruises sailing from Malaga later this year and this is an extract from an e-mail he has just sent me.

 

02 Oct. Adventure-o-t-Seas, ex. Malaga, 1week. We booked online with RCI, Spain, and paid £700 for the 2 of us, including taxes and pre-paid tips. I checked on the RCI, UK, site and the same cruise, NOT including flights, but like for like, would have cost £1,259!!! - Crazy, isn't it!!!

 

08 Nov. Adventure-o-t-Seas, ex. Malaga, 5 days. Again booked online with RCI, Spain, total cost incl. taxes and tips, £350 for 2. Checked with RCI, UK, and same cruise, no flights, £635!!! -Unbelievable!!!

 

 

How on earth can this be justified? :mad:

 

Jim.

[COMBOY]

I have a long time friend who has lived in Fuengirola near Malaga for many years.

 

He and his good lady are also cruisers. He does tend to look after the pennies and always books a guaranteed, inside stateroom. His view is that they have a fabulous view from their apartment balcony in Fuengirola ( very true ) and they only use the room to sleep in.

 

He has just booked two RCI cruises sailing from Malaga later this year and this is an extract from an e-mail he has just sent me.

 

02 Oct. Adventure-o-t-Seas, ex. Malaga, 1week. We booked online with RCI, Spain, and paid £700 for the 2 of us, including taxes and pre-paid tips. I checked on the RCI, UK, site and the same cruise, NOT including flights, but like for like, would have cost £1,259!!! - Crazy, isn't it!!!

 

08 Nov. Adventure-o-t-Seas, ex. Malaga, 5 days. Again booked online with RCI, Spain, total cost incl. taxes and tips, £350 for 2. Checked with RCI, UK, and same cruise, no flights, £635!!! -Unbelievable!!!

 

 

How on earth can this be justified? :mad:

 

Jim.

 

RCCL justifies this because pricing is done by country. Here's is an interesting article written several months ago on Cruisecritic. I think this might answer your question.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=759

[iadom]

An interesting article but there is nothing in that that justifies a £559 difference on exactly the same package, I stand by my original statement, its a complete RIP OFF.:(

[critterchick]

Perhaps RCI is offering spectacular resident rates to the locals in order to fill the ship - they did that all the time when she sailed from San Juan. I've seen almost every sailing this summer come up on agent rates, so it appears that she has not met expectations.

 

We often get (I should say "got" because she'll be leaving us soon) resident rates on Mariner that were $500 or more better than the standard price. It's all about getting as many people onboard as possible.

 

I checked the October 2 sailing. For us Yanks, the cheapest inside guarantee is $1712 all in (about 1284 pounds, can't make the symbol). So we're in the same boat as you, I think.

[iadom]

I might be getting him to book my next cruise, I could fly first class and still save money.

 

Jim.

[Mark_K]

I have a long time friend who has lived in Fuengirola near Malaga for many years.

 

He and his good lady are also cruisers. He does tend to look after the pennies and always books a guaranteed, inside stateroom. His view is that they have a fabulous view from their apartment balcony in Fuengirola ( very true ) and they only use the room to sleep in.

 

He has just booked two RCI cruises sailing from Malaga later this year and this is an extract from an e-mail he has just sent me.

 

02 Oct. Adventure-o-t-Seas, ex. Malaga, 1week. We booked online with RCI, Spain, and paid £700 for the 2 of us, including taxes and pre-paid tips. I checked on the RCI, UK, site and the same cruise, NOT including flights, but like for like, would have cost £1,259!!! - Crazy, isn't it!!!

 

08 Nov. Adventure-o-t-Seas, ex. Malaga, 5 days. Again booked online with RCI, Spain, total cost incl. taxes and tips, £350 for 2. Checked with RCI, UK, and same cruise, no flights, £635!!! -Unbelievable!!!

 

 

How on earth can this be justified? :mad:

 

Jim.

When Spaniards cruise out of Spain, they don't have to worry volcanic ash causing people to expect a full refund from them for the cruise they missed, even though it was an act of God and it was the airlines that didn't get them there.

[oceancreek]

I've booked a fly cruise on Adventure for Sept next year. Booked this far ahead as looking at this years prices it came up with next years for less. Not on RCI site though. Took my print out into travel agents, they phoned up RCI for price, which was more, but travel agent matched my on line price.

[pspercy]

I stand by my original statement, its a complete RIP OFF.

 

Yup.

 

Normal for UK consumers.

 

A friend was visiting four or five years ago, UK Expedia was quoting around GBP700 for all flights (multi stop r/t UK), exact same itinerary on Expedia here came out to around $650 so I booked it for him, in his name.

[sandbox]

Mind you..their was a certin British Travel agent selling inside cabins for the 5 dayer out of Malaga for £199 or £329 incl flights and 2 nights in Torremolinos.

It always pays to shop around-I personally would never book with RCI directly as I have always forund them dearer.;)

[Hebejeebe]

It annoys the heck out of me when a cruiseline offers resident discounts for a neighboring state but I have to pay the higher fare. Still, the difference is never as big as the one identified by the OP between Spain and UK customers.

[uksimonusa]

Perhaps RCI is offering spectacular resident rates to the locals in order to fill the ship - they did that all the time when she sailed from San Juan. I've seen almost every sailing this summer come up on agent rates, so it appears that she has not met expectations.

 

We often get (I should say "got" because she'll be leaving us soon) resident rates on Mariner that were $500 or more better than the standard price. It's all about getting as many people onboard as possible.

 

I checked the October 2 sailing. For us Yanks, the cheapest inside guarantee is $1712 all in (about 1284 pounds, can't make the symbol). So we're in the same boat as you, I think.

 

£ = alt 156

[xpcdoojk]

When Spaniards cruise out of Spain, they don't have to worry volcanic ash causing people to expect a full refund from them for the cruise they missed, even though it was an act of God and it was the airlines that didn't get them there.

 

Mark, 99.9% of the readers don't have a clue about what you just posted. Hence, my expression..... We are completely screwed.

 

jc

[MrCruzdoggie]

quit your crying and take a cruise.......................Say you are from someone else damn

[ehfl]

In the US, people in different states pay different prices...so why not different countries?

 

There are lots of factors involved. The cruise lines work with the airlines. If the airlines have empty seats, they might encourage the cruise line to lower prices on routes that would encourage cruise passengers to fill those seats.

 

Pricing is extremely complex. I wouldn't make such a big deal about it.

[Jolimont]

That's a long litany of people trying to justify the unjustifiable. RCI defenders sometimes sound like they're defending their religion and get very defensive, like how dare you find anything whatsoever wrong with my beloved cruise line! Or they say all cruise lines are the same, or Carnival is worse, or they're not braking the law.

 

The truth is RCI is screwing people over with their pricing and they are completely transparent about it. There is a big difference between what a business can do and what it should do. You can get the highest price possible, but you shouldn't be hard-nosed about it when the customers find out.

 

We're not talking $50 here, the OP just pointed out 50% difference in price and I got screwed over $1000.

 

What's worse is when an I called and pointed out the glaring large difference in price the two people I talked to didn't budge an inch. It's for new bookings only, it's for local residents, it's not tues special, 4th of July special, whatever. The truth is they think they can get away with it.

 

And I think they cannot get away with it because they are bad at it. You know how at Nordstrom's they always stand by their products? Well at RCI they never do and it's legal, so get lost! That's how you build a reputation. People do not forget having been taken advantage of and sooner or later it'll happen to you too.

 

How do I make sure it doesn't happen to me again? Never ever book an RCI cruise more than 2 or 3 weeks ahead and now look to buy from Spain if that's where I'm sailing from which is not a problem for me since I spend lots of time in Spain. Or don't sail RCI again.

[John Henry on CC]

That's a long litany of people trying to justify the unjustifiable. RCI defenders sometimes sound like they're defending their religion and get very defensive, like how dare you find anything whatsoever wrong with my beloved cruise line! Or they say all cruise lines are the same, or Carnival is worse, or they're not braking the law.

 

The truth is RCI is screwing people over with their pricing and they are completely transparent about it. There is a big difference between what a business can do and what it should do. You can get the highest price possible, but you shouldn't be hard-nosed about it when the customers find out.

 

We're not talking $50 here, the OP just pointed out 50% difference in price and I got screwed over $1000.

 

What's worse is when an I called and pointed out the glaring large difference in price the two people I talked to didn't budge an inch. It's for new bookings only, it's for local residents, it's not tues special, 4th of July special, whatever. The truth is they think they can get away with it.

 

And I think they cannot get away with it because they are bad at it. You know how at Nordstrom's they always stand by their products? Well at RCI they never do and it's legal, so get lost! That's how you build a reputation. People do not forget having been taken advantage of and sooner or later it'll happen to you too.

 

How do I make sure it doesn't happen to me again? Never ever book an RCI cruise more than 2 or 3 weeks ahead and now look to buy from Spain if that's where I'm sailing from which is not a problem for me since I spend lots of time in Spain. Or don't sail RCI again.

 

 

You need a vacation. :rolleyes:

[Jolimont]

You need a vacation. :rolleyes:

I do indeed and it starts with a drive all through Spain tomorrow!

[HighlandCruzer]

Mark, 99.9% of the readers don't have a clue about what you just posted. Hence, my expression..... We are completely screwed.

 

jc

 

Europeans enjoy travel protections guaranteed by law that are not afforded to those outside of Europe. There was someone on CC a few months ago demanding compensation by RCCL because he was stuck in another country for days after his cruise ended and his flight home was canceled because of the volcano eruption.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the cost of operating their business in Europe is significantly higher than that in the US and such higher rates are necessary.

[spirite]

Economics would suggest it is a function of supply and demand.

 

Demand for cruises from (relatively) local ports is high in the UK, demand maybe lower in Spain itself. This will lower prices in Spain especially if RCI are trying to establish themselves in the market there.

 

Another problem UK cruiser faces is the inability to cancel at no cost. We have heard that many US cruisers reserve several cruises (reducing supply and increasing price) and then nearer the date choose the one they actually want and cancel the rest at no charge. This creates additional late supply which needs to be sold off, reducing the price.

 

We either book very early or very late for this reason.

 

I wonder if this effect is true - how many reservations do US cruisers typically have open at any one time and how many of those get cancelled?

[Bobal]

Yes it is a rip-off - despite what the RCL cheerleaders think. I'm on Voyager out of Barcelona next week - up until less than 2 weeks ago there were loads of empty cabins, it's now sold out, sold off cheaply I suspect. It seems Adventure is selling badly, presumably because it's not sailing from Barcelona which many US travellers like to tick off in their places to visit box (and why wouldn't they). I expect all the cabins will be sold off cheaply to Spanish families for the rest of the season and they may even have to rethink Adventure sailings from Spain.

 

Jolimont has argued about this before, I have pointed out the unfairness of pricing to US customers (as has Peteukmcr). All that happens is that we get a number of others telling us to stop moaning, this is what supply and demand is like, choose another cruise line etc etc.

 

I can accept the business thinking behind this if they are trying to attract a new market of cruisers from Spain and therefore give them extremely tempting rates but if the only way they can tempt them is to make the rates so low I don't believe they'll carry on cruising (cue for a film ;)) once they start to charge the 'normal' rates. This is exactly what happened on the Mariner out of LA which we'd booked and has now been cancelled. Apparently they were only filling the ship time after time by really dropping the rates, so they pulled it out altogether. Also, if their business plan says give low residency rates, how come sailings on the Indy from the UK are the highest of any cruise I've ever priced up.

 

Bottom line is, yes they are ripping off UK customers every way they can :mad:

[livylotte]

Market demand plays a big part in RCI's pricing structure I think. The prices on Indy ex Southampton are shockingly high but people still pay them and as long as they do then the prices will remain high. For UK cruisers sailing from other European ports the pricing has been more mixed, last year I kept a close eye on UK prices and if I remember rightly the prices from Malaga did eventually come down so I would watch out for drops.

 

But all is not lost for us in the UK and there are some good news stories out there - last year I booked a cruise (through RCI in the UK) on Vision sailing from Venice and since then have watched the prices plummet :)

[CruisinGerman]

Dear friends:

 

Greetings from Madrid. Here in Spain, it used to be that the RCCL and other cruises were much more expensive in euros when compared to U.S. prices in dollars.

 

Now, the coin has flipped. Because right now, the prices in Spain in euros on lines such as RCCL, NCL, and Silversea (these are the lines that I compared) are much cheaper in euros booked from Spain than in dollars booked from the United States.

 

However, in Spain you do not get the best deals online with the cruiselines. When booking a cruise, it is recommendable to go to one of the large mega-agencies such as El Corte Inglés, Halcón Viajes, Viajes Iberia, etc. Depending on the promotion at the given time, they will give you an ADDITIONAL 7% - 10% off and even let you pay anywhere from three months to twelve months interest-free.

 

There are special prices from Spain for the Spanish-port cruises such as Voyager and Adventure. The Adventure is proving hard to sell -- RCCL is giving away the AVE high-speed train from Madrid, etc., PLUS the low price, to try to fill the ship.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[madforcruising]

That's a long litany of people trying to justify the unjustifiable. RCI defenders sometimes sound like they're defending their religion and get very defensive, like how dare you find anything whatsoever wrong with my beloved cruise line! Or they say all cruise lines are the same, or Carnival is worse, or they're not braking the law.

 

The truth is RCI is screwing people over with their pricing and they are completely transparent about it. There is a big difference between what a business can do and what it should do. You can get the highest price possible, but you shouldn't be hard-nosed about it when the customers find out.

 

We're not talking $50 here, the OP just pointed out 50% difference in price and I got screwed over $1000.

 

What's worse is when an I called and pointed out the glaring large difference in price the two people I talked to didn't budge an inch. It's for new bookings only, it's for local residents, it's not tues special, 4th of July special, whatever. The truth is they think they can get away with it.

 

And I think they cannot get away with it because they are bad at it. You know how at Nordstrom's they always stand by their products? Well at RCI they never do and it's legal, so get lost! That's how you build a reputation. People do not forget having been taken advantage of and sooner or later it'll happen to you too.

 

How do I make sure it doesn't happen to me again? Never ever book an RCI cruise more than 2 or 3 weeks ahead and now look to buy from Spain if that's where I'm sailing from which is not a problem for me since I spend lots of time in Spain. Or don't sail RCI again.

 

 

If their business practice is justifyable or not is in the eye of the beholder. In your eyes it´s not in the eyes of others and especially those running the company abviously it is.

They will keep doing this as long as they make a profit and only if they feel the profits are going down or need to be pushed further they will re-think and make adjustments.

 

You feel you´ve been screwed. I´ve read your thread about it and I don´t agree that you´ve been screwed but we are not talking about facts but about your feeling and feelings are not rational.

 

You say they think they can get away with it - Yes - they not only think so, they actually do get away with it. Just look at yourself, they did get away with it in not adjusting your fare.

 

Now you´ve made up your mind on how to deal with it in the future and simply adjust your booking habits. That´s what a free market is about. Companies are selling a product and as long as not breaking any local laws they are free to sell at whatever rules and prices they set. I´ve yet to see a law (which doesn´t mean there might be some country where such a law might exist) saying everybody has to be sold a product at the same price (note I´m excluding discriminating laws here). The consumer has the choice, how, when, where and which brand of a product to purchase - again as long as within the rules of the supplier.

When purchasing a cruise I´m signing a contract and both - business and customer - are bound to the contract. I should think if this is acceptable before signing and not moaning after the fact.

 

I´ve discovered the huge price difference between local bookings with RCI and booking in the US many years ago and once I had discovered it I´ve discussed the price difference with my TA and RCI (before making a booking) and while they agreed on the lower US pricing one time, they didn´t the second time and so I didn´t sign the contract and booked the same cruise in the US for a lower rate, but of course also under different contract agreements. That´s the choices we all have.

 

If it´s cheaper to book in Spain, US, India, whatever, go ahead and book there (as long as it´s allowed). If you are unhappy, don´t book. If you want to book late, book late. Just make sure when you book (sign a contract) be happy with the deal you got and don´t look back. There will always be someone that got a better deal than you.

 

Life is not fair !!!

[north29]

Having been on several cruises with RC, and have compared prices with many cruisers and sometimes my price was outrageous and sometimes my price was OK with the others. What I did find out that the cheaper prices were mostly from people booking at the very last minute and evidently, the TAs were booking cruises with virtually no profit, just to fill the ship. I do not completely understand what I just said, maybe RC had given them permission, or the TA was giving extra SBC or something that the people were factoring in. I cannot believe in this day and age, with fourms like this, any company can get by ripping people off in a particlar country.

[Jolimont]

Dear friends:

 

Greetings from Madrid. Here in Spain, it used to be that the RCCL and other cruises were much more expensive in euros when compared to U.S. prices in dollars.

 

Now, the coin has flipped. Because right now, the prices in Spain in euros on lines such as RCCL, NCL, and Silversea (these are the lines that I compared) are much cheaper in euros booked from Spain than in dollars booked from the United States.

 

However, in Spain you do not get the best deals online with the cruiselines. When booking a cruise, it is recommendable to go to one of the large mega-agencies such as El Corte Inglés, Halcón Viajes, Viajes Iberia, etc. Depending on the promotion at the given time, they will give you an ADDITIONAL 7% - 10% off and even let you pay anywhere from three months to twelve months interest-free.

 

There are special prices from Spain for the Spanish-port cruises such as Voyager and Adventure. The Adventure is proving hard to sell -- RCCL is giving away the AVE high-speed train from Madrid, etc., PLUS the low price, to try to fill the ship.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

Very informative as always, thank you Gunther and Uta. If I love my upcoming Adventure cruise and want to sail RCI again, I will definitely try going that route since I'm in Spain quite a lot anyway.