Help required! Problems transferring booking and having promotion upgrade honoured

[Cassalou]

On the 8 December I booked a cruise on Legend of the Seas out of Brisbane (I reside in NSW) for 24 March 2016. I booked during the Royal Wow sale which included a BOGHO deal and an upgrade from outside to Balcony as well as some onboard credit.

When I was booking there were no balcony cabins available for 3 pax so I ended up booking a Large Oceanview stateroom on Deck 2.

 

I made a payment of $2400 (min deposit due was $600) with the balance of payment due on 13 January 2016.

 

Yesterday while reading some posts in a roll call for this sailing, to my horror (!) I realised that this cruise was in fact during the QLD school holiday period! .. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't actively dislike children... Just, having none of my own, I would prefer not to holiday with other people's ;)

 

As I was originally looking at sailing out of Sydney, I had checked the school holiday period for NSW but neglected to check that this was the same for QLD

 

I did some research on cruise critic and it appeared that as long as they hadn't cancelled, people had been able to transfer their payment to another sailing date without being penalised.

 

I contacted RCI hoping to change my booking to another sailing on Legend departing 11 April 2016. After placing me on hold several times, I was advised by the customer service officer that he "really didn't recommend" altering my booking as I would lose between 25-45%!!

 

I thought this didn't sound right so after getting off the phone I double checked my cruise countdown documents which confirmed that if you "cancel" 150 days+ there is no penalty, while between 150 and 90 days the deposit ($200 per person) is lost

 

I phoned RCI again, to explain that I didn't wish to "cancel" my booking, but rather to transfer my booking to another sail date. I understood that I might lose my on board credit etc, but didn't think that transferring would be a real problem judging by other posts on cruise critic.

 

The second customer service officer I spoke to at least seemed to have the correct information in that I would lose the $600 deposit if I cancelled (not the 25-45% I was previously advised!) but insisted that they weren't able to transfer my booking to another sail date as they would still have to "cancel" the original booking

 

It seems that the cancellation penalties are far more strict in Australia than those applied in the USA :(

I'd love to hear any tips from anyone who has successfully transferred a booking (particularly fellow Aussie cruisers)

 

Also now, when doing a mock booking, there are multiple (at least six) balcony staterooms for 3 pax available .. Does this mean that they will automatically upgrade me? Or should I call and request that they honour the promotion that applied at the time of my booking??

 

I've sailed with RCI a number of times and have always been happy with their service (except with their call centre .. I had difficulty booking airport transfers with them last year and had to make several calls to finally make my booking... It seems to be a recurring theme that it really depends who you speak to, as to what answer you get!!) but I'm feeling a little disappointed with this outcome

 

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions you can offer ... Worst case scenario I guess I will just have to hang out in the Solarium Pool and the Casino! ;) :D

[Ourusualbeach]

Unfortunately many of the posts that you see about being able to change or cancel reservations with no charge apply only to booking made in North America. Most other countries have more restrictive policies with penalties involved.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Ourusualbeach

[Cassalou]

You won't automatically get any upgrades -- you booked an ocean view, and that's what you paid for.

 

 

Thanks Dada2199

Not sure if I explained correctly in my initial post

The Wow promotion I booked under stated the following

 

Book by Wednesday 9 December and enjoy four massive offers on over 500 cruises, including:

 

• Buy One, Get One up to 50% off*

• Free Oceanview to Balcony upgrade*

• Half price deposits*

• Up to US$400* onboard credit per stateroom

 

I checked the terms and conditions and couldn't see any exclusions for the balcony upgrade that applied so ??? :)

[Cassalou]

I understand that, I mean shouldn't it be applied to my current booking?

[Clarea]

I understand that, I mean shouldn't it be applied to my current booking?

When you make a major change to a booking, such as changing ship or sailing date, it is typical to lose most if not all the perks you had on that booking. You would then be subject to whatever promos are in effect when you make the change.

[Cassalou]

When you make a major change to a booking, such as changing ship or sailing date, it is typical to lose most if not all the perks you had on that booking. You would then be subject to whatever promos are in effect when you make the change.

 

 

Thanks Clarea, again apologies if I'm not being clear (I tend to be a bit wordy!) ;)

The promotion terms I quoted were in effect when I made my initial booking .. Even though I purchased an ocean view room I wasn't upgraded to a balcony (as there didn't appear to be any available)

Now there are loads of balcony rooms suddenly available! Does the upgrade get applied later or am I missing something?

[Clarea]

Thanks Clarea, again apologies if I'm not being clear (I tend to be a bit wordy!) ;)

The promotion terms I quoted were in effect when I made my initial booking .. Even though I purchased an ocean view room I wasn't upgraded to a balcony (as there didn't appear to be any available)

Now there are loads of balcony rooms suddenly available! Does the upgrade get applied later or am I missing something?

I would contact whoever booked your cruise and ask them for the free balcony upgrade you were promised when you booked.

[Cassalou]

I booked the cruise myself online ... I'm thinking I may just have to cross my fingers and brave the waters of their call centre again! :(

Edited December 17, 2015 by Cassalou

[goodycruising]

The balcony upgrade refers to when you are booking that they will sell you a balcony guarantee at Oceanview price. Balcony guarantees are normally only for 2 passengers when I have been looking. You will not get an upgrade now. You must read the tiny small print.

 

This bull about having to cancel after the deposit penalty time for the cruise is the crap I was told too. They say the computer will not allow them to make changes after the penalty date.

 

You can keep trying to ring and see if you get a different answer but they are actually starting from a point where they are correct as per their small print. Whether that makes sense to us is of no interest to them. Sorry. Please let us know if you do have any success.

Edited December 17, 2015 by goodycruising

[Cassalou]

Unfortunately many of the posts that you see about being able to change or cancel reservations with no charge apply only to booking made in North America. Most other countries have more restrictive policies with penalties involved.

 

 

I know! And meanwhile US cruisers continue to be able to make multiple bookings and/or multiple changes to their bookings in order to take advantage of sales and promotions without penalty... while we can't even make one change! Doesn't seem fair .. I really didn't think it would be so much of a problem as no documentation has yet been issued :(

[Cassalou]

Thanks Goodycruising for the info re the balcony guarantees .. There were "conveniently" none available when I was making my booking but now suddenly there are loads! Why offer these promotion terms if they are not "actually" willing to provide them! So infuriating!

[Clarea]

Thanks Goodycruising for the info re the balcony guarantees .. There were "conveniently" none available when I was making my booking but now suddenly there are loads! Why offer these promotion terms if they are not "actually" willing to provide them! So infuriating!

You're kidding right? That's the best time for the company to offer a promotion.

[Cassalou]

Or it's possible that OP waited a day or ten before booking -- and everyone before him snagged the full value

?

It's possible!

 

The fact that cabins are now available is interesting, but it's possible people booked because of the promo and then realized they can't go on the trip and cancelled.?

 

Again possible, but the cynic in me thinks otherwise! :D

Or if they did I doubt they were from Australia as it would cost them too much in cancellation fees! ;)

Edited December 17, 2015 by Cassalou

[Cassalou]

Ignore that question, guess Australians have it rough -- http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1119

 

 

Interesting reading

[Cassalou]

Cruising has only really started to take off in the last 4-5 years in Australia

Hopefully the increasing number of cruise lines and ships basing themselves in Oz will mean more competitive pricing and policies :)

[goodycruising]

Reading those articles makes me think that Carnival may be the preferred cruise line of Australians! I'm surprised competition hasn't put pressure on the rest yet, but it's a small population so the market must still be growing.

 

Many first timers feel more comfortable with the T&Cs and on board spending in AU$ on Carnival. We check out the prices though, and RCI is now quite competitive for the actual original booking price, for comparable sized rooms, but the US$ spending on board is a big issue with many Aussies.

 

I even found when trying to book on board for a future cruise that the prices they were quoting were consistently higher, and while they didn't want to talk about why, it seemed likely to me that they were accessing the US prices and with the conversion at current exchange it was coming up dearer. So we are not getting as much of a rough time lately, and as a Diamond my on board spending for drinks is helped, so the US$ situation on the seapass is not something that I worry about. Lots of people I talk to do though.

 

It was asked at the Captain's Corner why they couldn't charge AU$ onboard, and they said they tried it over in the UK on one ship and it was a disaster. Their systems just take too much effort to change. The RCI fleet is here for 4-5 months only roughly, so that is too short a time to make that change.

 

The restrictive terms and conditions are probably only complained about by people that do a bit of research on these types of forums, but I can say that I am pushing the issue at any chance I can, but realistically my voice is likely not getting past the front line.

 

Thank you for your sympathy, that is appreciated more than you might realise. One thing that did change recently was the final payment lead in date. That used to be a longer time, and we have had our deposit requirement halved from AU$400 per person to AU$200 per person for standard bookings. Slowly slowly .... we might see more change along the way. :)

[Cassalou]

I'm still annoyed but "sucked it up" and have now paid the balance of my cruise ;)

I'm planning on keeping a close eye on the prices over the next three weeks (until such time as my cancellation penalty hits the 25% mark!) [emoji52]

Fingers crossed that there is a Post Christmas sale

I'm thinking that if there is, I might forfeit the deposit and change my cruise (depending on how much $$) I stand to lose

At the moment while my "preferred" cruise is cheaper, I would also lose $300 obc ... Will just have to wait and see!