RCCL Web Site can be Maddening.....

[bajadahl]

Let me start by saying I typically don’t price shop once I book a cruise. Maybe it’s because I am usually satisfied with the price before I book and don’t typically feel the need to continue to watch the pricing fluctuate. It can be maddening…… And of course I know there is really no use to recheck pricing after the final payment date. That’s just setting yourself up for heartache. lol

 

However, today I was making final arrangement for my Oasis cruise next month and I decided to go ahead and double check my pricing for a cruise I have booked for next March. Imagine my surprise when I was able to mock up a booking for the exact same cabin types that I currently have (a pair of connecting Deluxe Ocean View with Balcony) for $4427.16 WOW - My current price was $5813.80 a difference of $1386.64

 

I think that’s worth a phone call right????

 

To make a very long story short (or try to anyway) I call RCCL and talked to a very friendly young lady to try to get her to adjust my booking. To be clear I have nothing special on my booking (No On Board Credits or anything else that would make this a difficult change. I am a lowly Gold member) After a lot of talking she was finally able to mock up and SEE for herself the price I was seeing but she couldn’t figure out how to modify my booking to get that price for me. She double checked everything (Same Cruise and Date, Same Cabin Types… but could not figure it out.

 

She finally just asked me to book it again online myself and then she could “clean it up” and remove the old booking. Of course as soon as I started to add the guest information the price jumped up over $1000 and I could never get back to the original sale price that I saw when I first started the mockup.

Of course starting over did no use either… that price was gone. Of course I was smart enough to get a screen shot of the sale price but I know it’s pretty much useless at this point.

 

The silver lining is that she was able to get me some other current discounts including $76 in onboard credit for each stateroom. All told I saved $696.00 off my original booking. So not quite the $1386.64 I saw but worth the phone call all the same.

 

Basically I missed out on $690.64

The RCCL agent advised that the next time I see a major discount like that then I should just go ahead and book it immediately and call them to clean it up after the fact. Especially since I am over 6 months away from final payment. Lesson Learned! Attached is the mockup price that I almost got….

OneTwoFree.pdf

Edited June 10, 2016 by bajadahl

[mrb1963]

This is when a good travel agent would have come in handy.

[bajadahl]

This is when a good travel agent would have come in handy.

 

I hadn't given that any thought before! I've used travel agents on a couple of previous cruises including my upcoming Oasis cruise but I have never gotten the level of service that made me think they were indispensable. So the key word in your statement is "good". I don't disagree - I just haven't found one.

[SargassoPirate]

I use the travel department of a big box warehouse that starts with the third letter of the alphabet. Not only do I get some generous on-board credits from them, since they pass their commissions back to their members, but when I notice a price drop they are tenacious about getting the lower price for me. Easy Beezy.

 

To keep an eye on possible price drops, I always save the itinerary in my 'saved cruises" section and it only takes a click or two to see what the current pricing is.

[Lessa123]

I have had problems with the website too. First, I went to remove transfers and it repriced my cruise to the tune of charging me $2,000 more. I called and was told it was my fault. Alrighty then! Resolutions got me my rate back and I was told to be more careful in the future. :cool:

 

Hubby got his C&A number and last night I went to add it to the booking. That is all I did and suddenly the cruise cost more...again. Called in and this time the website randomly added prepaid gratuities. That's fine, I was going to do it eventually but I was freaked out a bit since I was told if it happened again, we wouldn't be able to get this rate back!

 

The guy I was talking to this time said that it probably wasn't my fault, that the system does this stuff randomly and does it even to them!!!

 

Now I am afraid to log into my account for any reason.

[Pratique]

I have had problems with the website too. First, I went to remove transfers and it repriced my cruise to the tune of charging me $2,000 more. I called and was told it was my fault. Alrighty then! Resolutions got me my rate back and I was told to be more careful in the future. :cool:

 

Hubby got his C&A number and last night I went to add it to the booking. That is all I did and suddenly the cruise cost more...again. Called in and this time the website randomly added prepaid gratuities. That's fine, I was going to do it eventually but I was freaked out a bit since I was told if it happened again, we wouldn't be able to get this rate back!

 

The guy I was talking to this time said that it probably wasn't my fault, that the system does this stuff randomly and does it even to them!!!

 

Now I am afraid to log into my account for any reason.

 

I keep reading about the repricing problem on the web site.

 

Not good at all. They really need to fix this. Before the airlines figure out how they can do the same thing. :rolleyes:

[island lady]

Nooooo...really??!! :eek:

 

I swear each time they mess with the website it gets worse. I think it is designed

by demons who relish each time they make it hard for us to check pricing. :( :(

[CVU]

This is when a good travel agent would have come in handy.

 

If they are available.

[selty]

I use the travel department of a big box warehouse that starts with the third letter of the alphabet. Not only do I get some generous on-board credits from them, since they pass their commissions back to their members, but when I notice a price drop they are tenacious about getting the lower price for me. Easy Beezy.

 

To keep an eye on possible price drops, I always save the itinerary in my 'saved cruises" section and it only takes a click or two to see what the current pricing is.

 

I use this travel agent too. Even they had problems trying to re-price my cruise, but after 25 minutes on hold and many apologies from them for the length of time it took I saved $750. Quite happy!