Baffled by this RCI policy, seems they punish you for booking early

[Oneluckywoman]

Have you even read any of the posts on this thread???

 

The issue is not about getting refunds during a sale, which I agree would not make financial sense for any company. It's not even about being given free upgrades.

The issue being discussed is paying for upgrades at the same prices being offered to new customers. There is no downside for a company to do this. And it is why RCL does in fact allow this. Apparently, some RCL call center agents just don't want to take the extra step to get this done. Fortunately, I ran into some really competent employees who even took the initiative to save me $200 I didn't even know that I had coming to me.

 

Every company has their good and bad employees. Some do the minimum to get by and others do whatever it takes to get the job done. This is apparently what is happening with this sale this weekend.

 

Try to keep up.

 

THANK YOU for making my point, yet again!!!! :):):)

[Oneluckywoman]

I would like to Thank you for the info.

 

Just off the phone with my Travel Agent and he pushed and sure enough I just paid for my upgrade to a D1.

 

Thanks,

 

Phil

 

CONGRATS!!! Glad to be of help. I just wish this wasn't so hit and miss. Some people get it, some don't, it shouldn't be that way. But I'm sure glad I am one of the lucky ones! :)

[kcgirl]

This is just another example of corporate greed plain and simple but they come up with numerous excuses to justify it. Its better to keep a customer happy and returning rather than coming up with reasons why why not bla bla bla. THey sound like they are getting about as close as the airlines are with all the rules and regulations that they slap on once they have your money!

[marci22]

3) if you run into an agent that tells you no, call back and speak to someone else.

 

This is basically the main rule when dealing with Royal Caribbean.

[critterchick]

I actually think it's pretty sneaky that they've added in this "new bookings only" to every single price they have. It's making it REALLY hard to upgrade.

 

That's been on the website for years.:)

 

OP, I'm glad you were able to get your paid upgrade and thank you for bringing it to everybody's attention. I think it's ludicrous that some are able to do it and others aren't. The lack of training (including whatever RCI's policies are or aren't) is inexcusable.

 

Have a great cruise - Liberty is a fabulous ship!:D

[setsail]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1576680

 

I would like to add, that its not hard to upgrade at all nor does RCI refuse to do so and never has. They do accept $$'s and would not be in business very long if they did not.

 

If the cabin you want to upgrade to is vacant and you meet the amount of passengers for that cabin they will be more than happy to upgrade you. So you call get the price and it does not suit then its "you"who are refusing the upgrade not RCI.

 

So, post should read, "I refused to upgrade because RCI would not give me the price I wanted."

 

Should people get a sale price, why not, I would want the lowest price I could get, who would not. But, I also would not be telling people RCI refuses to take my money or upgrade me when I don't want to pay the price they quote for the upgrade.

[MadManOfBethesda]

I would like to Thank you for the info.

 

Just off the phone with my Travel Agent and he pushed and sure enough I just paid for my upgrade to a D1.

 

Thanks,

 

Phil

 

I'm glad my relaying of my story helped you out today. Are you on Grandeur, too?

 

BTW, as I stated in an earlier post, I am relatively new to RCL so wasn't aware that I was entitled to a $200 discount on our suite and now I just learned that we will be getting double C&A credit for being in a suite. That means that after this cruise we will have gone from no status to diamond in a period of 16 months. Can't wait to find out what that entitled us to. :)

[Oneluckywoman]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1576680

 

I would like to add, that its not hard to upgrade at all nor does RCI refuse to do so and never has. They do accept $$'s and would not be in business very long if they did not.

 

If the cabin you want to upgrade to is vacant and you meet the amount of passengers for that cabin they will be more than happy to upgrade you. So you call get the price and it does not suit then its "you"who are refusing the upgrade not RCI.

 

So, post should read, "I refused to upgrade because RCI would not give me the price I wanted."

 

Should people get a sale price, why not, I would want the lowest price I could get, who would not. But, I also would not be telling people RCI refuses to take my money or upgrade me when I don't want to pay the price they quote for the upgrade.

Not true. You obviously have not read the posts here, or didn't understand them.

[LittleMissMagic]

I haven't had time to read all the way through the thread, so someone might have suggested this already.

 

I would book a new cruise and then cancel my old one. As long as you haven't paid in full, this should work.

 

TAs can be a pain in the butt to work with when it comes to cruising.

[setsail]

Thanks for the feedback, I understand fully where you are coming from, but I think I will let my post stand as it reads:)

[Hoopster95]

Hey Phil!!! lol. How are you? I'm actually looking at the Enchantment on May 3rd and about 99% ready to book :). Non-stop flights out of Seattle return for under $400. The excursions in bermuda and Rhode Island look fantastic.

 

This thread is still interesting to me..... allow me to use the following analogy:

 

Analogy #1:

You buy a new 2012 car from a new car dealership for $25,000. You drive it home. 4 months later they have a "President's Day Sale" and the car is on sale for $20,000. You go back to the dealership to demand a refund or "upgrade" to a $35,000 car. What does the dealership say? Better yet, if you were the dealership owner, what would you do?

 

Analogy #2:

You have a garage sale. In that garage sale you are selling 2 very old crappy lamps. You sell one of them for $10 to a nice lady. Near the end of the day, after not selling anything else, you decide to reduce the price of everything 75% just to get rid of it and you sell your second lamp for $2.50 to another nice lady. However, the 2nd nice lady is the neighbor of the 1st nce lady, and tells her about her deal. The 1st now upset "nice" lady comes back and demands from you $7.50.... or wants you to replace her old crappy lamo with one of your nice ones inside your home which you wish to keep. What do you do?

 

Analogy #3:

Royal Caribbean sells you a cabin 365 days prior to sailing for $500 per person. This ship fills to capacity. 1 month prior to sailing, they have 100 buyers call them willing to pay double at $1000 per person to buy 100 cabins. They call you immediately and demand you to cancel your vacation plans or to accept a charge to your credit card of the extra $500 differencebecause they want to resell your cabin to the higher paying customer. Do you accept to pay the extra $500, or do you tell them to "you know what"?

 

You just cannot have it both ways.

[Oneluckywoman]

Hey Phil!!! lol. How are you? I'm actually looking at the Enchantment on May 3rd and about 99% ready to book :). Non-stop flights out of Seattle return for under $400. The excursions in bermuda and Rhode Island look fantastic.

 

This thread is still interesting to me..... allow me to use the following analogy:

 

Analogy #1:

You buy a new 2012 car from a new car dealership for $25,000. You drive it home. 4 months later they have a "President's Day Sale" and the car is on sale for $20,000. You go back to the dealership to demand a refund or "upgrade" to a $35,000 car. What does the dealership say? Better yet, if you were the dealership owner, what would you do?

 

Analogy #2:

You have a garage sale. In that garage sale you are selling 2 very old crappy lamps. You sell one of them for $10 to a nice lady. Near the end of the day, after not selling anything else, you decide to reduce the price of everything 75% just to get rid of it and you sell your second lamp for $2.50 to another nice lady. However, the 2nd nice lady is the neighbor of the 1st nce lady, and tells her about her deal. The 1st now upset "nice" lady comes back and demands from you $7.50.... or wants you to replace her old crappy lamo with one of your nice ones inside your home which you wish to keep. What do you do?

 

Analogy #3:

Royal Caribbean sells you a cabin 365 days prior to sailing for $500 per person. This ship fills to capacity. 1 month prior to sailing, they have 100 buyers call them willing to pay double at $1000 per person to buy 100 cabins. They call you immediately and demand you to cancel your vacation plans or to accept a charge to your credit card of the extra $500 differencebecause they want to resell your cabin to the higher paying customer. Do you accept to pay the extra $500, or do you tell them to "you know what"?

 

You just cannot have it both ways.

 

Interesting anaolgies. Unfortunately, none of them apply to my situation, and those others here who are willing to pay RCL more money BEFORE the ship sails. But thanks for your input.

[critterchick]

Hey Phil!!! lol. How are you? I'm actually looking at the Enchantment on May 3rd and about 99% ready to book :). Non-stop flights out of Seattle return for under $400. The excursions in bermuda and Rhode Island look fantastic.

 

This thread is still interesting to me..... allow me to use the following analogy:

 

Analogy #1:

You buy a new 2012 car from a new car dealership for $25,000. You drive it home. 4 months later they have a "President's Day Sale" and the car is on sale for $20,000. You go back to the dealership to demand a refund or "upgrade" to a $35,000 car. What does the dealership say? Better yet, if you were the dealership owner, what would you do?

 

Analogy #2:

You have a garage sale. In that garage sale you are selling 2 very old crappy lamps. You sell one of them for $10 to a nice lady. Near the end of the day, after not selling anything else, you decide to reduce the price of everything 75% just to get rid of it and you sell your second lamp for $2.50 to another nice lady. However, the 2nd nice lady is the neighbor of the 1st nce lady, and tells her about her deal. The 1st now upset "nice" lady comes back and demands from you $7.50.... or wants you to replace her old crappy lamo with one of your nice ones inside your home which you wish to keep. What do you do?

 

Analogy #3:

Royal Caribbean sells you a cabin 365 days prior to sailing for $500 per person. This ship fills to capacity. 1 month prior to sailing, they have 100 buyers call them willing to pay double at $1000 per person to buy 100 cabins. They call you immediately and demand you to cancel your vacation plans or to accept a charge to your credit card of the extra $500 differencebecause they want to resell your cabin to the higher paying customer. Do you accept to pay the extra $500, or do you tell them to "you know what"?

 

You just cannot have it both ways.

 

Analogies (1) and (2) don't work. In both cases, the purchaser took possession of and had use of the item. Think of ordering a new car and then finding out that, before you've taken possession of it, the dealer is offering a tricked out version of your car for $1000 more than you paid. Don't you think the dealer would be happy to cancel your order and sell you the more expensive car?

 

And I don't see how analogy (3) is, well, analogous. OP isn't asking for a refund. She's asking to upgrade to a cabin at today's going rate and is willing to pay more money to do so. And it's RCI's policy to allow that, but they seem to get twisted up in certain promotional sales, and it appears from this thread that some reps will do it and others won't.

 

I don't see how it harms RCI to sell the balcony cabin to her. Yes, then they're stuck with an inside or OV (I forget what she had originally), but they would lose less money sailing with that cabin empty, I should think. To me it seems like a win-win.

[mek]

Hey Phil!!! lol. How are you? I'm actually looking at the Enchantment on May 3rd and about 99% ready to book :). Non-stop flights out of Seattle return for under $400. The excursions in bermuda and Rhode Island look fantastic.

 

This thread is still interesting to me..... allow me to use the following analogy:

 

Analogy #1:

You buy a new 2012 car from a new car dealership for $25,000. You drive it home. 4 months later they have a "President's Day Sale" and the car is on sale for $20,000. You go back to the dealership to demand a refund or "upgrade" to a $35,000 car. What does the dealership say? Better yet, if you were the dealership owner, what would you do?

 

 

You just cannot have it both ways.

 

Well, Analogy #1 is not valid in this case. In your example, the car was used and they later want to trade it in for a more expensive car - not at all the same thing as wanting to upgrade a cabin on a cruise in the future.

[Hoopster95]

Interesting anaolgies. Unfortunately, none of them apply to my situation, and those others here who are willing to pay RCL more money BEFORE the ship sails. But thanks for your input.

 

Gotcha.... so let's try this:

 

Analogy #3 revised:

Royal Caribbean sells you a cabin 365 days prior to sailing for $500 per person. This cabin category is normally not the greatest seller for this specific ship, so they are very happy to sell it to you and you are happy to buy it at that time, and they keep their best selling $1000 cabins at a higher price.

 

Within 3 months of sailing, they realize the more attarctive cabins are not selling as well as they wish. They have almost sold out of their "less attractive" cabins as they have sold them at a great price, but they have a ton of the more expensive and usually "more desirable" cabins. They put them on sale to attract buyers, from original $1000 down to $600. Obviously you wish to pay the extra $100 to upgrade..... no brainer for you, but is it for the company selling the product?

 

They know if they end up having the less desirable cabins to sell after upgrading you and everyone else for the $100 each, they may not be able to resell the less attractive cabins whatsoever! and thus lose a lot of money. However, they know from experience that the vultures out there looking for deals will be attracted to the usually more "desirable" cabins if/when they go on sale, and have to hold on them for the newer bookings. At the very end within a few days of sailing, if they end up getting "screwed" so to speak with extra cabins, out comes the "Upgrade Fairy" to give various people the free upprade when possible... another emerald/diamond/etc perk that we all demand!

 

Bottom line: If they upgrade you for $100 to the normally better selling cabin, and thus now gaining a less attractive lower end cabin for zero dollars, they may not be able to sell it at all and actually lose money.

 

Just a business decision on their part, plain and simple. Of course one could take this many steps further and look at the actual sale prices vs. regular prices between interior/OV/balcony to determine their profit margins and differences in price when on sale, so don't quote the above dollar figures.... just using this as a raw example The above analogy can be used for any kind of product in any kind of business in an open market. And there are surely hundreds of other business factors just like this one at play.

 

By the way, every human tries to get the best deal out of everything, so I don't blame anyone at all for trying with their TA to get the best deal possible. But no one should expect to be given anything for free from any business you walk out from after buying a product... that transaction is considered complete in every way, especially when it's clearly stated in a policy.

[netgear2020]

Look , I love royal caribbean and I know all the cruise industry is here to make money but I dont know , I always see roayl cacaribbean so arrogant. Maybe carnival wont compare at some levels with royal , but lets face it , they have better deals for people that book early , I guess royal dont like veterans cruiser , and they want me to be loyal ? yeah right

[Hoopster95]

 

I don't see how it harms RCI to sell the balcony cabin to her. Yes, then they're stuck with an inside or OV (I forget what she had originally), but they would lose less money sailing with that cabin empty, I should think. To me it seems like a win-win.

 

All of these replies are respectfully taken and bang-on relevant.... good points to all. I tried to be as short and simplistic as possible when I wrote the original analogies so they will defnitely have holes in them.

 

There are likely hundreds of business decisions being made every day, many that we just cannot assume or possibly know about, from the CO to the controller to the accountants. I can't believe that they would intenionally harm their business at this kind of scale with a policy such as this upgrade issue on a sale price unless there's good reason.

 

I again wish to point out RCCL's business decision on the Enchantment yesterday, offering all of their cabins a $200-$300 obc when they were stuck in Baltimore overnight, and then the day after refunding the FULL purchase price of the cruise to everyone on board as posted by an on board cruise critic member currently aboard. Take out the calculator on that one as they obviously cared about those passengers.

 

And now let's remember what Carnival offered the stranded Splendor passangers last year off the west coast of Mexico, and of course the Concordia debacle with Costa.

[Mark_K]

[/color]

 

In response to what I highlighted in green, did you read my posts? I did not want to rebook at a lower fare, I wanted an upgrade at a cost to me of over $450! :) Big difference! Why do they not want my money????

What you're saying would make sense if cabins were a commodity with, for practical purposes, an unlimited supply -- but they aren't.

 

If they are able to sell all the limited supply of available balconies anyway, they don't make any extra money by giving one to you, and if they then have to turn around and sell your inside cabin at the reduced sale rate, or possibly not sell it at all, they've lost money by allowing you to upgrade.

[critterchick]

Gotcha.... so let's try this:

 

Analogy #3 revised:

Royal Caribbean sells you a cabin 365 days prior to sailing for $500 per person. This cabin category is normally not the greatest seller for this specific ship, so they are very happy to sell it to you and you are happy to buy it at that time, and they keep their best selling $1000 cabins at a higher price.

 

Within 3 months of sailing, they realize the more attarctive cabins are not selling as well as they wish. They have almost sold out of their "less attractive" cabins as they have sold them at a great price, but they have a ton of the more expensive and usually "more desirable" cabins. They put them on sale to attract buyers, from original $1000 down to $600. Obviously you wish to pay the extra $100 to upgrade..... no brainer for you, but is it for the company selling the product?

 

They know if they end up having the less desirable cabins to sell after upgrading you and everyone else for the $100 each, they may not be able to resell the less attractive cabins whatsoever! and thus lose a lot of money. However, they know from experience that the vultures out there looking for deals will be attracted to the usually more "desirable" cabins if/when they go on sale, and have to hold on them for the newer bookings. At the very end within a few days of sailing, if they end up getting "screwed" so to speak with extra cabins, out comes the "Upgrade Fairy" to give various people the free upprade when possible... another emerald/diamond/etc perk that we all demand!

 

Bottom line: If they upgrade you for $100 to the normally better selling cabin, and thus now gaining a less attractive lower end cabin for zero dollars, they may not be able to sell it at all and actually lose money.

 

Just a business decision on their part, plain and simple. Of course one could take this many steps further and look at the actual sale prices vs. regular prices between interior/OV/balcony to determine their profit margins and differences in price when on sale, so don't quote the above dollar figures.... just using this as a raw example The above analogy can be used for any kind of product in any kind of business in an open market. And there are surely hundreds of other business factors just like this one at play.

 

By the way, every human tries to get the best deal out of everything, so I don't blame anyone at all for trying with their TA to get the best deal possible. But no one should expect to be given anything for free from any business you walk out from after buying a product... that transaction is considered complete in every way, especially when it's clearly stated in a policy.

 

But that's their policy - you can't get money back if your cabin price drops after final payment, but you can upgrade to a better one. It's just a matter of what price they will charge you. I realize that they have a captive passenger in the lesser cabin, but that's not the way I would view my clients. And the OP was successful in getting the upgrade at the lesser price, BTW.:) for her!

 

All of these replies are respectfully taken and bang-on relevant.... good points to all. I tried to be as short and simplistic as possible when I wrote the original analogies so they will defnitely have holes in them.

 

There are likely hundreds of business decisions being made every day, many that we just cannot assume or possibly know about, from the CO to the controller to the accountants. I can't believe that they would intenionally harm their business at this kind of scale with a policy such as this upgrade issue on a sale price unless there's good reason.

 

I again wish to point out RCCL's business decision on the Enchantment yesterday, offering all of their cabins a $200-$300 obc when they were stuck in Baltimore overnight, and then the day after refunding the FULL purchase price of the cruise to everyone on board as posted by an on board cruise critic member currently aboard. Take out the calculator on that one as they obviously cared about those passengers.

 

And now let's remember what Carnival offered the stranded Splendor passangers last year off the west coast of Mexico, and of course the Concordia debacle with Costa.

 

I don't think they care about the passengers - they care about Facebook, Twitter and Cruise Critic and all the blasting that they'll take for sailing with a busted ship. Refunding the cruise fare is probably less expensive than the fallout. Reverse Pinto thinking (nah, let's not fix the defective gas tank placement, the lawsuits won't cost as much as the repair, which turned out not to be quite right).

[LittleMissMagic]

Interesting anaolgies. Unfortunately, none of them apply to my situation, and those others here who are willing to pay RCL more money BEFORE the ship sails. But thanks for your input.

 

I don't understand why you can't just book another cruise on the same ship for the same sailing in a higher-category stateroom (the one you want to upgrade to), then cancel the reservation you currently have. It's the equivalent of upgrading.

[Oneluckywoman]

I don't understand why you can't just book another cruise on the same ship for the same sailing in a higher-category stateroom (the one you want to upgrade to), then cancel the reservation you currently have. It's the equivalent of upgrading.

 

Because we have made final payment....once final payment is made, there are $ penalties for canceling...wouldn't make financial sense. If we had been before final payment, we could have done that. :)

[Beachbumkms]

whoops....

[Oneluckywoman]

Gotcha.... so let's try this:

 

Analogy #3 revised:

Royal Caribbean sells you a cabin 365 days prior to sailing for $500 per person. This cabin category is normally not the greatest seller for this specific ship, so they are very happy to sell it to you and you are happy to buy it at that time, and they keep their best selling $1000 cabins at a higher price.

 

Within 3 months of sailing, they realize the more attarctive cabins are not selling as well as they wish. They have almost sold out of their "less attractive" cabins as they have sold them at a great price, but they have a ton of the more expensive and usually "more desirable" cabins. They put them on sale to attract buyers, from original $1000 down to $600. Obviously you wish to pay the extra $100 to upgrade..... no brainer for you, but is it for the company selling the product?

 

They know if they end up having the less desirable cabins to sell after upgrading you and everyone else for the $100 each, they may not be able to resell the less attractive cabins whatsoever! and thus lose a lot of money. However, they know from experience that the vultures out there looking for deals will be attracted to the usually more "desirable" cabins if/when they go on sale, and have to hold on them for the newer bookings. At the very end within a few days of sailing, if they end up getting "screwed" so to speak with extra cabins, out comes the "Upgrade Fairy" to give various people the free upprade when possible... another emerald/diamond/etc perk that we all demand!

 

Bottom line: If they upgrade you for $100 to the normally better selling cabin, and thus now gaining a less attractive lower end cabin for zero dollars, they may not be able to sell it at all and actually lose money.

 

Just a business decision on their part, plain and simple. Of course one could take this many steps further and look at the actual sale prices vs. regular prices between interior/OV/balcony to determine their profit margins and differences in price when on sale, so don't quote the above dollar figures.... just using this as a raw example The above analogy can be used for any kind of product in any kind of business in an open market. And there are surely hundreds of other business factors just like this one at play.

 

By the way, every human tries to get the best deal out of everything, so I don't blame anyone at all for trying with their TA to get the best deal possible. But no one should expect to be given anything for free from any business you walk out from after buying a product... that transaction is considered complete in every way, especially when it's clearly stated in a policy.

 

I wish I had the time to respond to all of your analogies, but unfortunately I don't. But as to the "clearly stated in a policy"...that is another questionable theory. It's quite difficult to find the fine print that says "new reservations only." Why do they make it so obscure? It is NOT clearly stated.

Also...I have checked and there are many inside cabins (what I had originally booked) left, just as there are many balcony cabins. I don't buy your theories, and most of the people here agree with me. But, I respect the opportunity to voice your opinion, and you have certainly taken a lot of time to do that. :)

I hope you get to keep paying the highest prices possible and continue to be happy with that!

For me, I believe in fairness to all...not just the luck of the draw. Again, re-emphasizing the $450 I PAID to upgrade...they didn't lose a penny on me. They've booked very few balcony cabins, even at the sale rate, and they make more money making existing loyal cruisers happy than they would if they gave free upgrades to people at the last minute, when it's too late for them to make anything more on their existing inventory.

[LittleMissMagic]

Because we have made final payment....once final payment is made, there are $ penalties for canceling...wouldn't make financial sense. If we had been before final payment, we could have done that. :)

 

Ahh, gotcha. Perhaps you could try calling RCI yourselves to see if they will upgrade you with the discount? But then again, RCI doesn't like to touch reservations that are "owned" by a travel agent.

 

Unfortunately, the only thing you can do after final payment is upgrade. I'm rather suprised they won't give you the discount with the upgrade - like you said, it doesn't make sense. I'd harass the TA to keep trying. It's their job to get you the best possible deal.

[Seacruise]

Hey Phil!!! lol. How are you? I'm actually looking at the Enchantment on May 3rd and about 99% ready to book :). Non-stop flights out of Seattle return for under $400. The excursions in bermuda and Rhode Island look fantastic.

 

You just cannot have it both ways.

Claudio:

 

I see your point but I want it ALL, like most humans.

 

Taking my daughter on AOS. Looking forward to this.

 

Got great air again.

 

Phil