Price down %55 but no compansation from RCCL

[Diamond659]

Dear Friends,

 

Its long time i was member here but its my first thread. And the reason is to inform how bad Royal Caribbean handle customer relations.

I have a fully paid booking for the 29th May cruise of Harmony. A category D5 for 2.048 USD. The free cancellation date is already passed. When i searched for same cruise today on RCCL web site, i saw D4 category cabins are down to 930USD. Less than half what i paid.

I called Royal caribbean by knowing that i am not able to get my money back, but i was atleast expecting to get some OBC, etc. But the answer i get is NOTHING.

I have beed royal ro RCCL for several years, already have 7 bookings, will reach D+ after 2 cruises, but this situation let me think again about making a change.

[Clarea]

Have you checked if any better staterooms have also come down in price? You may be able to move up to a suite for little or no cost.

[A&L_Ont]

Bob does has the best advice, see if you can upgrade at little or no cost.

[MommaBear55]

Have you checked if any better staterooms have also come down in price? You may be able to move up to a suite for little or no cost.

 

It is worth calling again. I am not sure what rules are in force for your country. Thank may have an influence in what they can or will do for you.

 

If the price had gone up 55% since you paid your bill would Royal Caribbean expect you to pay more?

[Ourusualbeach]

Dear Friends,

 

Its long time i was member here but its my first thread. And the reason is to inform how bad Royal Caribbean handle customer relations.

I have a fully paid booking for the 29th May cruise of Harmony. A category D5 for 2.048 USD. The free cancellation date is already passed. When i searched for same cruise today on RCCL web site, i saw D4 category cabins are down to 930USD. Less than half what i paid.

I called Royal caribbean by knowing that i am not able to get my money back, but i was atleast expecting to get some OBC, etc. But the answer i get is NOTHING.

I have beed royal ro RCCL for several years, already have 7 bookings, will reach D+ after 2 cruises, but this situation let me think again about making a change.

 

 

You must have booked a long time ago. I'm seeing prices from June of last year of around the $1200pp for this cruise. Had you watched the prices regularly you would have had lots of chances to get a reduced rate.

 

Right now a JS is showing at $2499 so it would cost you to upgrade to a higher cabin.

[Topo Gigio]

I'm not trying to be rude, but I don't see why you should get anything. You bought a cruise and you were comfortable with the price, so now that the price has gone down-in order for them to fill the ship- why would you expect to get anything? It's the same thing if you buy an airline ticket!

[mirp]

Are you sure the price went down to $930?

 

I've been tracking prices on that cruise and with taxes and fees I haven't seen a cabin for less than $1200 and I believe that was for an inside.

 

Others mentioned there was a travel website that posted some fares in error yesterday.

[ARCruisinNana]

Dear Friends,

 

 

 

Its long time i was member here but its my first thread. And the reason is to inform how bad Royal Caribbean handle customer relations.

 

I have a fully paid booking for the 29th May cruise of Harmony. A category D5 for 2.048 USD. The free cancellation date is already passed. When i searched for same cruise today on RCCL web site, i saw D4 category cabins are down to 930USD. Less than half what i paid.

 

I called Royal caribbean by knowing that i am not able to get my money back, but i was atleast expecting to get some OBC, etc. But the answer i get is NOTHING.

 

I have beed royal ro RCCL for several years, already have 7 bookings, will reach D+ after 2 cruises, but this situation let me think again about making a change.

 

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic. The policy of no compensation after final payment has been in effect for several years. It is frustrating, but that's the way it is for everyone. I hope you will enjoy your cruise. I have to wait until October to sail on Harmony.

[Biker19]

I have beed royal ro RCCL for several years, already have 7 bookings, will reach D+ after 2 cruises, but this situation let me think again about making a change.

FYI - most of the other mainline cruise companies have very similar rules - no refund/OBC after final payment deadline.

[Biker19]

Are you sure the price went down to $930?

 

Others mentioned there was a travel website that posted some fares in error yesterday.

 

+1, I checked both the UK and another European site and I don't see any price that low.

[George C]

FYI - most of the other mainline cruise companies have very similar rules - no refund/OBC after final payment deadline.

 

I agree, we cruise many lines and they all do the same prices will go down at the end to fill up the ship

[papaflamingo]

Welcome to Cruise Critic. The policy of no compensation after final payment has been in effect for several years. It is frustrating, but that's the way it is for everyone. I hope you will enjoy your cruise. I have to wait until October to sail on Harmony.

 

Not being argumentative, but I don't find it at all frustrating. When I book a cruise a year out, I have until final payment to take advantage of any price reduction. Yet when the price rises, I am not required to pay more. In the meantime, I have been able to pay a price I want, and keep a desirable cabin out of inventory for a year. What other business, and cruise lines are in business to make money, allows you to purchase their product, then when it goes on sale six months or a year later, get a refund? There was a time when you could take advantage of reductions up to the sail date. But then again, the prices were generally much higher then.

Additionally, you can always wait until the last few weeks to book. Maybe you will get on the ship, maybe you won't. But I have to say, the cruise lines, ALL the cruise lines, are quite generous (to U.S. customers) in that they allow you to keep your cabin, and take advantage of price drops up until final payment. They also allow you to book a cruise a year out, and cancel it 70-90 days out with no penalty. I think that not allowing cancellation or price drops after final payment is more than fair considering the refund and price drop policy prior.

Just my opinion.

[bogofman]

I think he means its $930 less than he paid , not that it is currently $930.

 

 

We were interested in doing a Harmony cruise this year, but realized quite early that the prices were way to high for a 7 night cruise ( going to ports we had done many times)

 

We are not particularly interested in Caribbean 7 night cruises so thought it would be a good way to try an oasis class ship,

 

but when you do the math,

 

The price was similar to our 2015 14 night cruise on Celebrity Equinox, and a lot more than our current 11 night Reflection booking also,

 

 

so we declined.

 

I guessed the prices would start dropping,

 

but we are not really in a position to wait til the end to book.

 

Maybe when we retire ;)

[oneputt18]

D4/D5 listed as :Vacation Total x1 Rooms 3,256.56 (for two)

Edited April 11, 2016 by oneputt18

[cruiseguy1016]

It is worth calling again. I am not sure what rules are in force for your country. Thank may have an influence in what they can or will do for you.

 

If the price had gone up 55% since you paid your bill would Royal Caribbean expect you to pay more?

 

I laugh when people don't think of it this way. They expect RCI to refund money for a lower price but don't feel they should have to pay more if the price goes up. I think it's great that RCI will honor a price reduction up until final payment date. They certainly don't have to do that.

 

OP - you booked the cruise at a price that you thought was acceptable. If you wanted to get the lowest price, you should have taken a chance and waited until a couple of weeks before sailing.

[bogofman]

I think that not allowing cancellation or price drops after final payment is more than fair considering the refund and price drop policy prior.

Just my opinion.

 

Non of these perks outside US bookings

[Piggeldy]

+1, I checked both the UK and another European site and I don't see any price that low.

 

My German TA offers D8/D7 for 749 Euros (US$ 850) for that cruise and inside or oceanview staterooms for cheap (599 Euros / US$ 680) but D4 and D5s are still what looks to be regular price (around 1200 Euros / US$ 1350).

[Biker19]

My German TA offers D8/D7 for 749 Euros (US$ 850) for that cruise and inside or oceanview staterooms for cheap (599 Euros / US$ 680) but D4 and D5s are still what looks to be regular price (around 1200 Euros / US$ 1350).

 

A bit weird - that site shows an OS costing less than a JS or GS.

[ARCruisinNana]

Not being argumentative, but I don't find it at all frustrating. When I book a cruise a year out, I have until final payment to take advantage of any price reduction. Yet when the price rises, I am not required to pay more. In the meantime, I have been able to pay a price I want, and keep a desirable cabin out of inventory for a year. What other business, and cruise lines are in business to make money, allows you to purchase their product, then when it goes on sale six months or a year later, get a refund? There was a time when you could take advantage of reductions up to the sail date. But then again, the prices were generally much higher then.

 

Additionally, you can always wait until the last few weeks to book. Maybe you will get on the ship, maybe you won't. But I have to say, the cruise lines, ALL the cruise lines, are quite generous (to U.S. customers) in that they allow you to keep your cabin, and take advantage of price drops up until final payment. They also allow you to book a cruise a year out, and cancel it 70-90 days out with no penalty. I think that not allowing cancellation or price drops after final payment is more than fair considering the refund and price drop policy prior.

 

Just my opinion.

 

 

I think it is frustrating to those who don't know the policy. I was trying to be kind to the OP.

[A&L_Ont]

I think it is frustrating to those who don't know the policy. I was trying to be kind to the OP.

 

 

Espically when the OP says that they are almost D+, with another 7 cruises booked. The established policy should not have come as a surprise.

 

Hopefully, this bump in the road will help them to remember to occasionally do a price comparison on their upcoming cruises. I know that I don't always follow as closely as I should and have occasionally missed a price drop, thankfully not a big one. As we all know, RC is not known for their big price drops.;)

[blackshirt]

I just have to laugh at these "bad customer service" threads. I frequent a few other discussion boards and it does not seem to matter whether it is one's celluar provider, tv provider, cruise provider, etc, anytime someone complains about "bad customer service" it is almost always because they did not get what they wanted. It does not matter whether the request was reasonable or not, if customer service couldn't provide it, then it was bad customer service. To me, to expect some sort of compensation after final payment is unreasonable. I have no problem with folks calling and hoping for the best but to expect it I just don't agree with.

[wendychloecruiser]

My GS has at least doubled in price. I hope they don't ask me to pay more....

[Bound4Bermuda]

I would like to give a shout out to the awesome service reps at Crown & Anchor! In the past 4 months since I booked, I already called up twice for price adjustments watching the different sales. Both times the reps told me to keep on watching those prices and to call back if a better deal comes up before final payment due date. Seriously, what other companies not only honor price adjustments but allow their reps to encourage it?! Surely you understand that no cruiseline wants to sail with empty cabins, so they'd rather take half fare to unload those last handful of rooms than to get no money for them. But you certainly can't expect them to suddenly let everyone have the room at that last-minute unloading incentive price.

 

 

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[3happyferrets]

I can understand being frustrated. They used to do the OBC but that's been a while ago. Now it is what it is, or maybe you can get a better room for not much more, which can be nice, I've done that. I know some people use an app that helps keep track of price drops before final payment. I personally just check every few days or so. I know it doesn't help with this particular cruise, but may help for future cruises. Hope you can just shake this off and not let it ruin your mindset for your cruise. Have you have a great trip[emoji4]

 

 

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[Diamond659]

Thanks anyone who tried to help about my sad situation. Actually the prices of suites are too high to get an upgrade.

 

This also let me see again how rude some people can be. For those who do not believe about the price i am talking about, you can see the picture here. Its from a courtesy hold reservation i made to test if the price i see is real or not. I hope you can understand that that i do not owe lie to anybody. I was just trying to explain my sad situation.

 

And yes, i purchased this cruise on 8/9 months ago. I was happy with the price level and i am still happy with the price level. I monitored the price every week and saw this promotional offer today. I just feel sad because the price drop %55 from what i paid. I am not talking about few hundred dollars, new price is less than half. And i believe that i should not be punished by making an early reservation and early payment. As a non US/Canada citizen, we are also not allowed for most of the promotions. If Royal Caribben continue to punish non US/Canadian customers, how can they enlarge their market.

 

About the guest services quality, i spent more than 15 minutes on phone to get my NO answer (waiting the guy to check reservation from system) and it was an international call which cost me high. In past i also tried e-mailing and get first answer after 2 weeks. I am sorry but i can not rate this service as good.

 

Again, thanks for anyone trying to help. Can not wait to get onboard.