Confused about final payment and why

[Nothin' But Sun]

would you not be able to get a price drop? From reading another post, not all of it but most. I am confused. We made our final payment within weeks of our booking, about 7 months before our cruise. So how is it that by TOTALLY paying and showing RCI that you have paid ALL your $ that you would not get the same deals as others who have NOT paid in FULL until the last 60 days. Does anyone get what I am saying. It's like being punished for being a good customer in advance. For anyone wondering why we chose to pay so early it is because this is one of the ways I budget and it's a good feeling to have it paid. Thanks in advance. Sue

[kenandlaura06]

Once the customer has paid in full, the cruise line has no incentive to give you any money back. Whereas, if you have not paid in full, the cruiseline still wants to get all of your money and not have you cancel the cruise.

[lrovnan]

Now I had no problems. Paid in full in April and had a price reduction in May. I called my TA and the check is on it's way. Rccl sends a check to my TA and my TA will reinburse us. Takes about 6-8 weeks.

[rcicruiser]

Did you book with an agent or through the cruiseline. Royal Caribbean is one of the few cruiselines that will give you the lower rate. Try getting it through Carnival

[KJHorton]

We got a $900 refund for a price drop after we had made final payment. It only took a couple of weeks for us to get the credit on our credit card. We had booked directly with RCL.

[1sttimemariner]

KJHORTON, I'm supposed to get a credit from RCCL. The credit shows in my cruiseline account, but hasn't been applied to my credit card yet. Are you saying that I could be waiting weeks for that credit?

[Nothin' But Sun]

OK, I guess it makes sense that they would want the $ from people to book up the ships. I have never tried to get a refund, just from what I understood they didn't. I keep checking and there has been a price drop through RCI but I went through a on-line agency and it is still lower than the RCI price. If the price drop gets lower of RCI than my on-line agency how does that work? Or is it just the price drop through the on-line agency that I should be conserned with? Sorry to confuse.

[sk8man]

We made our final payment in June and have since received approx $800 in refunds. They were all credited back to my credit card and we booked through Amex.

[kenandlaura06]

Good to know. I am pleasantly surprised to learn that they offer this.

[insidrr]

Nothin' But Sun: if the price drops you are eligible to get that refund, you just have to call it in, advise the agents that you saw the lower rate on rccl.com. The problem lies when you are booked through an agency, you are basically at their mercy. If they choose not to lower your price there is really nothing that you can do about that. Online/agency rates are not valid for price drops, it has to be based on Royal Carribbean's website

[OceanCruise]

Just wondering why you paid in full so far in advance. Why let them earn interest on your money when final payment isn't due until 2 months before the cruise?

[Alexis]

I have paid in full on several of my cruises and still gotten the price reductions as a credit on my charge card.

I am almost paid in full already for my cruise next September of 2006. I was told by the RCCL agents who booked me by phone to continue to look for price discounts.

[kenandlaura06]

Just wondering why you paid in full so far in advance. Why let them earn interest on your money when final payment isn't due until 2 months before the cruise?

 

I had the same question!

[elleluv]

Just wondering why you paid in full so far in advance. Why let them earn interest on your money when final payment isn't due until 2 months before the cruise?

 

 

We haven't made our final payment yet, but lets see..... our final payment for our next cruise is $1600. Our savings account currently earns a whoppin' 1.2% interest. Make the payment 4 months early and that amounts to a whole $6.40 in interest we could have earned. I'm a firm believer in every little bit counts, but I can see where it might be worth $6.40 to have it paid...;) Sometimes it's just nice to know it's done.

[dms_cruisers04]

why payment was so far in advance, Sue stated:

For anyone wondering why we chose to pay so early it is because this is one of the ways I budget and it's a good feeling to have it paid. Thanks in advance. Sue

 

Sue, I'm still a little confused. Maybe not. RCL's dropped price is still more then the price you got from the online agency, right?

If the price does drop below the agency's, then as insidrr posted, it would be up the agency if they wanted to give you an adjustment. Hopefully they would. ;)

[OceanCruise]

I was questioning paying in full so far in advance because if you cancel it may be a few more credit card cycles to get all that money back. Also,if you changed your mind and decided to book a cruise with another cruiseline, it would be a lot of money to have tied up.