Help! Have you ever had the price change while in your reservation?

[Craving A Cruise]

Have you ever had the quoted price change while in the process of selecting your cabin? :confused: I am getting so frustrated using the RCCL website!! I was online last night, checking prices for an upcoming cruise. I was quoted a price of $909 p.p, so I considered booking a 'courtesy hold' until morning (as my dh was sleeping).

 

So, before placing the hold, I clicked on the link to see which other cabins in the same catergory (E2) were available, as I preferred the deck below. Anyway, as soon as I did that it showed all the available cabins, but now the price had increased to $1279 p.p.!!!:eek: Yikes!!!!! That's an increase of $370 p.p!!! We needed 2 cabins. So, that meant that the price increased by a total of $1480+ in a matter of seconds....Talk about bait and switch!!!

 

Ugh, I was so disgusted that I didn't bother to place the courtesy hold! Has anyone had a similar incident happen to you? What did you do?

 

I realize that the price is not locked in until I make the actual reservation BUT come on RCCL this is absurd! :mad: ....If I am still in the proccess you would think the price would remain valid until I finish up.

[foxesden1]

same thing with the airlines, happens all the time. :cool:

 

t

[Craving A Cruise]

same thing with the airlines, happens all the time. :cool:

 

t

 

I'm sure that may happen, but I personally have never had that happen to me on any airline website or any other website for that matter. Once something is in my "shopping cart", I typically have been able to complete my purchase without any price change!

 

I can understand putting something in my cart and leaving the website and then coming back to a price change, but this was not the case last night.....I was still in the process of selecting a different cabin location when the price changed. As soon as I clicked on a different cabin number, all the prices changed. I did not leave the RCCL website. This would be akin to selecting an airfare and while you select your seat on that flight, the price is changed.....:(..... not nice.

 

Sorry to vent, but the RCCL website has not been very user-friendly lately and this is just an example of some of the frustration I have felt.

 

Just wondering, has anyone else had this happen to you, specifically while at the RCCL website?

 

Thanks,

Karen

[Sue L]

I'm sure that may happen, but I personally have never had that happen to me on any airline website or any other website for that matter. Once something is in my "shopping cart", I typically have been able to complete my purchase without any price change!

 

I can understand putting something in my cart and leaving the website and then coming back to a price change, but this was not the case last night.....I was still in the process of selecting a different cabin location when the price changed. As soon as I clicked on a different cabin number, all the prices changed. I did not leave the RCCL website. This would be akin to selecting an airfare and while you select your seat on that flight, the price is changed.....:(..... not nice.

 

Sorry to vent, but the RCCL website has not been very user-friendly lately and this is just an example of some of the frustration I have felt.

 

Just wondering, has anyone else had this happen to you, specifically while at the RCCL website?

 

Thanks,

Karen

 

Are you sure that in the process of looking for a different cabin you didn't inadvertently change categories? It is easy to do.

[beachnative]

......or changed dates. That happens to me sometimes. It's not that I inputed the date change but in changing screens the website or my computer took it upon itself to do so. Recently, while changing cabin assignments, I was on the phone and insisted that a particular hump cabin was open for my sailing. The C&A agent asked me to check my date and it had changed to something I had not researched. She said "looking at the wrong date" happens on a lot of calls.

[molly361]

......or changed dates. That happens to me sometimes. It's not that I inputed the date change but in changing screens the website or my computer took it upon itself to do so. Recently, while changing cabin assignments, I was on the phone and insisted that a particular hump cabin was open for my sailing. The C&A agent asked me to check my date and it had changed to something I had not researched. She said "looking at the wrong date" happens on a lot of calls.

 

The same thing has been happening to me as well. I keep pricing a cruise in December and then for some reason I find out that the computer has changed the date on me to January 15, 2012 therefore changing the pricing. When you get the higher price check the sail ldate on thetop of the screen.

[mamacat3]

The website has not been all that reliable lately IMHO. I would check again or call RCCL and check with them.

[Starry Eyes]

I have had that happen with airlines, but so far not with a cruise line. check again in a while and see if the price you wanted comes back. I tend to call in to book rather than booking on line. I would rather book online, but after reading so many reports of trouble, I hesitate to to it on Royal's web site.

[travelgrl1278]

I've had it happen with airlines & car rental places all the time (I do all the travel arrangementsfor my whole company). It happens to me at least once a week. Try calling them.

[Craving A Cruise]

The same thing has been happening to me as well. I keep pricing a cruise in December and then for some reason I find out that the computer has changed the date on me to January 15, 2012 therefore changing the pricing. When you get the higher price check the sail ldate on thetop of the screen.

 

No such luck! It was still the same E2 catergory and the same cruise date. The only thing that changed before my eyes was the price....I probably would have called RCCL right then except it was 2:30am and I didn't want to wake up dh by talking on the phone at that hour (my computer is just outside bedroom door) and by the time I got home the next evening I just didn't feel like calling the cruiseline anymore...:(

 

Interestingly, when I got home there was a message on my answering machine from the cruiseline! The RCCL employee had phoned around lunch time to offer his assistance in booking my cruise.....hmmm?? :confused: Weird...do they always know when a C&A member searches for cruises? Using tracking cookies or what? This has happened a few times during the last couple of weeks. Twice I had placed a courtesy hold but just let it expire, as we had changed our minds and then I got follow-up calls both times. Last night I never got to the point of placing the "courtesy hold" because the price had changed. Yet the same employee phoned me again about "my recent inquiry"? What????

 

Anyway, thank you to everyone else for your help and suggestions. I guess when we are ready to book I will just phone RCCL instead. I am surprised that more of you have never experienced this problem on the website. I am one of the few lucky ones. LOL ;) Although, I have read recently on the boards about a lot of people having their prepaid gratuties dropped off their reservations. I guess stranger things have happened! LOL.

 

Thanks again!

Karen

[starlake]

When checking for my cruise in Aug., I really had to watch the website. I would put all my information in and thought it was showing the correct date, etc. I looked again and saw that it was giving me a Sept. price, which at the time, was much cheaper. I had even put a 24 hour hold on it, was getting ready to book, and realized it was for Sept. again.

Now when I am looking at a cruise, I always look up on the right hand side when I am in the reservation, to make sure it is the correct date.

I really have not been thrilled with the website since they changed it around.

[iloverags2]

Did you change the number of people in the stateroom? I know if you go from having 2 to having 3 or 4 the price will sometimes change.

[silentbob007]

I have had that happen about 6 times for me on an airline website ... have a great price, go to checkout out, then POOF ... $100 more per ticket.

 

That stinks about the cruise price. Generally I've had no luck getting a price that no longer exists simply because the agents on the phone cannot bring it up on their computer. Revenue Dept is another story, but that's a coin toss too. Hopefully the cruise you wanted will drop back down soon ....

[midwife1021]

Hmm, I know when I was pricing cruises for my family there were some cabins in the same category that seemed to cost more than others depending on deck. It wasn't a case of here is the price before taxes...and then the final price was the tax-included price? Airlines are famous for pulling that one. The last time we went to England, I kept seeing tickets for $500 "plus taxes and fees" which miraculously were in the range of $400 per ticket, which was a crappy deal for off-peak travel.

[reverie4401]

1. Take a screen shot of the price page--this can be saved in your documents folder in Windows. Go to "File" in your toolbar, and click on "Save As" and name the page with ship,date, and current time "Liberty 7-31-2011 2:15AM"

 

We have experienced price changes while in the process of booking over the phone! After a 5+minute mind-numbling hold listening the the Royal theme song, the agent came on, and quoted me a different price than I was staring at on my screen!! At my request, I was transferred to a supervisor. I explained the long time on hold [could prove it by cell phone record] and I volunteered to send her a screen shot. They eventually honored my screen shot price.

 

 

2. If you want to do a courtesy hold: go to "File" in your toolbar, and click on "Duplicate Tab" to open a new window duplicating the original with the same price. Use either window to proceed to the courtesy hold. This should freeze the price. Don't exit this window!!

 

Go to the other duplicate and check for cabin availability, and type your cabin choice in the "courtesy hold" window, and proceed the rest of the way.

 

A simpler way would be to complete the courtesy hold info without choosing a specific cabin. Simply call the agent in the morning, give the booking #, and choose your cabin/cabins then. They generally have many more to select from than you will find on the website.

 

If you aren't happy with the cabin selections, simply cancel the courtesy hold.

 

Since we have several "future cruise certificates" purchased onboard, we have used a courtesy hold several times to lock in a great price, then transfer the booking # to one of our certificates the next day.

 

 

 

Price changes are computer-generated, and reflect availability [cancellations, expirations of courtesy holds, releases from travel agencies, etc.] In my experience, these price drops appear between 11:00pm-3AM Eastern Time, and are frequently gone before dawn.

 

 

.

[gadaboutgal]

Pricing on cabins go up and down all the time. Consider that computer program probably initiated the price increases based on sales number of cabins at that price; in your case, someone just might have beat you to that last lower priced cabin. Difficult to decide to do, but once you see an acceptable price it is always best to quickly place a hold. So sorry you missed that deal--but keep checking the price could change again in your favor.

[Soloist]

Have you ever had the quoted price change while in the process of selecting your cabin? :confused: I am getting so frustrated using the RCCL website!! I was online last night, checking prices for an upcoming cruise. I was quoted a price of $909 p.p, so I considered booking a 'courtesy hold' until morning (as my dh was sleeping).

 

So, before placing the hold, I clicked on the link to see which other cabins in the same catergory (E2) were available, as I preferred the deck below. Anyway, as soon as I did that it showed all the available cabins, but now the price had increased to $1279 p.p.!!!:eek: Yikes!!!!! That's an increase of $370 p.p!!! We needed 2 cabins. So, that meant that the price increased by a total of $1480+ in a matter of seconds....Talk about bait and switch!!!

 

Ugh, I was so disgusted that I didn't bother to place the courtesy hold! Has anyone had a similar incident happen to you? What did you do?

 

I realize that the price is not locked in until I make the actual reservation BUT come on RCCL this is absurd! :mad: ....If I am still in the proccess you would think the price would remain valid until I finish up.

 

Yes this has happened to me

 

And it does happen a lot on many variable pricing sites especially the closer to departure. There is 1 airline in particular which I choose not to mention. But there are 2 ways that it will happen.

 

When price changes are manually input in the computer. If you do your searches in the night after 9pm it is unlikely to happen.

 

The second is what I like to call a scarcity trigger. When the system sees a certain percentage of cabins remaining it can trigger a automatic price increase. There is a point, about where the choice of room option is, where x room is set aside for you in order to allow you to select the room. It is set aside for a pre determined amount of time 15 mins or so.

 

The best way to not be caught up in this, is to back completely out of the reservation. Reload the home page and wait for 15 minutes or so. If those cabins are booked then the price will stay the same. if not you will see the price you had before.

 

The second way is to use a online TA site to do your searches for pricing and room searches and once you have the one you want then go into the RC website. The prices for the most part are going to be the same, unless you are travelling solo.

 

I think you can place 2 or 3 courtesy holds and they will expire the next day.

 

The RC website is not a good site to look for prices. Use an Online TA for searching. Even if you decide to still book online w/RC