Please help!!!

[explorer092604]

My husband and I are booked on Rhapsody of the Seas for the 10/23 sailing. While looking at my document book, I realized that my travel agent had put stickers on each place on the book with our prices. After removing the stickers, I saw that the total price in the book was much less than the price that I paid. Can someone please tell me if the total price is what I should have paid?

[ruttie]

The total price is what Rccl charged for teh room it is obvious that the travek agent wanted to make a commision on teh sale so tehy bumped it up... I would ask them about it... see what they have to say... but they are allowed to make a commision so .......you may not get very far...

[greenskpr1]

I think that you have been had in your TA add there surcharge to your cost from RCCL i would find a nother TA.:(

[cruisinfanatic]

My husband and I are booked on Rhapsody of the Seas for the 10/23 sailing. While looking at my document book, I realized that my travel agent had put stickers on each place on the book with our prices. After removing the stickers, I saw that the total price in the book was much less than the price that I paid. Can someone please tell me if the total price is what I should have paid?

What cabin do you have?

[explorer092604]

Superior Oceanview, cabin 7574

[cruisinfanatic]

The category is sold out, so there is no way to know now. How much did you pay total for 2?

[bobbie0253]

My husband and I are booked on Rhapsody of the Seas for the 10/23 sailing. While looking at my document book, I realized that my travel agent had put stickers on each place on the book with our prices. After removing the stickers, I saw that the total price in the book was much less than the price that I paid. Can someone please tell me if the total price is what I should have paid?

 

 

I would call the TA and ask why the prices were covered up. Maybe there was a misprint in the docs? If so, it would be RCCL's fault. If the TA says that, I would call RCCL and try to find out what your room was selling for at the time it was reserved. If this TA charged you more than what the room sold for, I would be telling everyone who would listen not to use that TA.

 

Bobbie

[RDeagazio]

I know exactly what happened.. your TA was able to secure group space at a VERY attractive price, and they marked it up to make more of a profit. The price in your booklet IS the exact price RCI sold the cabin for..anything over that amount was the TA's mark up for their own personal gain. This isn't illegal, but I feel it's unethical. I've never marked up the cruise price to my clients.. if I got a good deal, I passed it along. I still earned comission on the cruise, although the lower price did affect my payout, but in the long run, I'm rewarded with tons of repeat business because I pass along such savings. I would call your TA and ask them to explain the difference in the published fare and what you paid. You can also call RCI and have them price a cabin in the same category- even if sold out they will give you the price in the event a waitlist clears.. that way you at least know what the cruiseline is charging-- although this might not be very accurate since the prices rise as the ship fills up... I hope this helps!

[explorer092604]

We actually booked this cruise onboard our last cruise and had it transferred to her. Our mistake obviouisly... we should have left it where it was. In looking at the reciept she sent us in the mail and she may have quoted us the price in the book. My husband is going to call her today and try and get to the bottom of it. It makes other questions come up of whether she may have lied to us on other issues. Does anyone know if RCCL was allowing hurricane victims to cancel cruises? We had damage to our home and were looking at trying to save the money, and cruise later when things were better, but she said that we would lose everything...now wondering if this was true or just her trying to save the booking.

[later]

If you booked on board during your last cruise didn't you get a total rate at that time? I doubt this would be a group booking unless your agent canceled your reservation and placed it under a group booking. Sounds very fishy to me.

 

I think more investigating is needed to get to the bottom of this. Hopefully it is just a correction in a printed document and not an actual change in your original rate.

[spoonful]

Does your cruise insurance cover instances of catastrophic damage to your home? Read the policy or call the company since you can't trust your TA.

[imsulin2]

If you are under a group booking, there will most likely be something like "as agreed" written under the price column...no specific price mentioned. I've never heard of "stickers" being used on any cruise line documents, and have been booking cruises - as a TA - for six years! Are you sure that your TA put them on, or did they come that way from RCI?? I know that we receive documents directly from the cruise line, review them, and then give them to the client. The commission is automatically buile into the price you paid, so there's no reason to "up" the price by using stickers! I've honestly never heard of this before!! Definitely call your TA and ask about it!! Wierd:eek: .

[EggDropErin]

But I went through AAA Travel Agency (a part of the Motor Club), and they had OUTSTANDING rates on Freedom of the Seas. If you can still get out of your reservation, I'd check around for better prices.

[explorer092604]

Thanks for all your input. My husband called the TA today and she tried to cover it up saying that RCL forgot to charge us port fees for one person, he then asked why they put stickers(they were stickers with the travel agency on them) on our docs over the prices and she went silent. She is supposedly sending us a check in the mail for the difference. Needless to say, we will no longer use this travel agent.

[xpcdoojk]

Thanks for all your input. My husband called the TA today and she tried to cover it up saying that RCL forgot to charge us port fees for one person, he then asked why they put stickers(they were stickers with the travel agency on them) on our docs over the prices and she went silent. She is supposedly sending us a check in the mail for the difference. Needless to say, we will no longer use this travel agent.

 

I think that is wise.

 

I think that you are becoming a more informed customer. Your responsibility is to find the best price you can. The TA's responsibility is to make money to pay for the lights and computer connection. So, making money is not a bad thing. If you can't find a better deal then you are ok.

 

jc

[Host Kat]

Dear Explorer092604,

 

I am so glad you are getting the refund from your TA. And you are so right not to use them again!

 

My home had some slight damage from Rita, and I fully understand your quandary over canceling your cruise or not. I wish I could help you with information regarding your inquiry about RCI allowing hurricane victims to cancel and then cruise later, but I can't.

 

However, if you and your husband do decide to go on your cruise anyway, here is the site for Rhapsody's 10/23/05 Meet & Mingle Roll Call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=168826&page=1 We would love to have y'all join us on there! We are a great bunch of folks from all over the world. Some are new to crusing and some are veterans, as well as being in various age groups. Some of us have cruised on the Rhapsody before and we have a lot of information posted there.

 

Also, please join us for our Official Meet & Mingle Party Monday 10/24/05 11:30 a.m. at the Moonlight Bay Lounge on Deck 6. If you haven't already, please register ASAP here: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ccEntry.do After you register, your invitation should be in your stateroom. The last time I checked, we had 77 people signed up.

 

We also have two un-official Meet & Mingle get-togethers too! The first is a dinner party at Tortuga's in Galveston on the Seawall at 61st Street the Saturday night before the cruise at 7:00 p.m. Just post on the Roll Call if y'all can make it or not so the person taking the reservations will know. So far, I think we have about 47 reservations posted. The next un-official Meet & Mingle get-together is on the ship at the pool bar (Champagne Bar if bad weather) right after the 4:15 p.m. Muster Drill and for the 5:00 p.m. Sail-away. look for one of our Roll Call members named Hils. I understand she will be wearing a multi-colored headband with flickering lights! She and her husband Bern are from the United Kingdom. My roomies and I will be blowing bubbles!

 

Hope to "see" you on the Roll Call soon! Again, we would love to have y'all join us if you decide to go ahead and take the cruise.

 

 

Happy trails,

 

Kat

[RDeagazio]

Explorer.. I'm glad you called the TA on that scam!! I had a feeling she transferred your booking into a group with lower rates and pocketed the difference. You would be wise to call RCI and make sure you didn't loose your onboard booking credit.. If your TA did in fact transfer you into a group you loose the onboard booking credit in favor of the TA getting GAP points which she may or may not share with the group.

 

Not only would I find another TA to work with immediately, I would report them to RCI for deceptive selling and unauthorized manipulation of reservations.

[tarps14]

RDeagazio, I must ask, when do you find time to work? I am so freakin' jealous of all the cruising you do. I think I chose the wrong profession!:D

[hershey555]

Hi!

Just wanted to add my two cents. I don't think they moved it into a group, because if they did, she would lose her onboard credit for booking the cruise while onboard. This is stated right on the bottom of the receipt they give you on the ship. They only time we add anything to the price of the cruise is when we are offering a bus to the port. Otherwise you are supposed to quote the price that RCCL gives us.

 

I'm glad you are getting your money back. At least, she knew she wasn't going to get away with it.

 

hershey

[RDeagazio]

Tarps-- I work all the time :-) but I'm a TA and my job is selling and escorting group cruises, combine that will all the special preview cruises and inaugural invites from the cruise lines I spend a lot of time at sea and love every minute of it :-)

 

Hershey- My point was to advise the OP to check with RCI to make sure she wasn't moved into a group, because if the TA did this (Which by the sounds of the covered over price -- she did) then the OP would have lost the shipboard credit unknowlingly.

 

Explorer-- one way to know if you were moved into a group-- check your docs, on the first page where it has your name, C&A number and booking number it will also have a row for Group ID-- if there are numbers there then you are now part of a group. If the line has all "-----"'s then you are not. If you were in fact moved to a group, you better call your TA and have her move you out (she will also have to pay the price difference) and call RCI to get the credit reinstated. After this fast one she tried to pull, I would get everything in writing from her.

[FitzLA]

Once again, this is why I book directly through the cruise line. Or at least I would do some research to see what I should be paying, and not trust the TA at their word. They already make a comission from RCCL, there is no reason for them to charge you.