Should I be frustrated/Is it worth pursuing a resolution?

[Grantl14]

Long and confusing situation, but ill do my best to explain, as I believe the fault is on Royal, but please, I do want honest input on the situation and if I should pursue a resolution harder. So we had two rooms booked on Oasis, a loft suite for 4, and a regular room for 2 for a birthday. Yesterday evening, I called to enquire about adding two guests to the regular room. The agent put me on a brief hold, came back and said "I have a room available on the 10th deck, and it looks like there was a significant price drop, and you would actually get 21 dollars back to card ending **** if you added these guests and changed categories." I thought it sounded odd, but I would be stupid not to agree right? Added the guests, received my booking confirmation, went to sleep. This morning, went in to look around at some excursions, and saw the "pay remaining balance" had went from greyed out (since we previously paid in full) back to blue. I clicked it and now have a balance of $1200. Call customer service, and they have no idea what i'm talking about, or where that -$21 number came from, I send over my booking receipt showing this and they still have no idea how that came about. After being on hold with resolutions for a while, apparently when you book an excursion and cancel it, the credit goes onto your account somehow before it actually goes back to your card, and thats where the money was coming from making it -$21. The resolutions team said this should have been identified by the agent, especially since we were adding guests and it wasn't quite adding up price wise. Our final payment deadline is Sunday, and were college kids (parents are catching the bill for the birthday), so we cant really come up with 1200 after just booking our flights, yet cant throw another $1200 on my parents either after everything they've already done. Royal is offering no options, other than cancel our booking, loose $1000. I know they're in the business for making money, but I feel this is the fault of the agent, as I was never told a price, simply its -$21 to do this since the price had dropped, it seemed like a no brainer for me?

[cb at sea]

Did they send an e-mail confirmation? Or something to show what you paid for?

[Grantl14]

Did they send an e-mail confirmation? Or something to show what you paid for?

 

We did get our receipt and confirmation last night immediately, like I said, my parents paid for it so I really didn't know what the original price was, this was the first confirmation I had emailed to myself. The original receipt does show -$21, but since the resolutions identified the problem, they send me a reconstructed receipt earlier, which shows the $1200 due.

[gerif]

The call should have been recorded. Insist that someone review the recording. In the future, ALWAYS demand an email with all particulars before getting off the phone. Hope it works out. Let us know.

[Grantl14]

The call should have been recorded. Insist that someone review the recording. In the future, ALWAYS demand an email with all particulars before getting off the phone. Hope it works out. Let us know.

I did get the email immediately. I was planning on calling, getting a quote to add the two, and talk with my family about it and call back the next day if it was a go. When I was told, it is -$21 I assumed why not do it now? I didn't know the original price, so the receipt didn't look odd to me, and it did show me getting $21 back.

[irishgal432]

You should have 24 hours to cancel the changes.

 

 

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[Grantl14]

You should have 24 hours to cancel the changes.

 

 

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We were booked under a nonrefundable deposit rate, I asked about just changing it back to the original two and they said no can do.

[CruiseGal999]

Well, this is where youth and inexperience are at play. I can only guess that you have not cruised often.

 

But the mantra and rule of thumb is .... ASK ASK ASK (ask for the exact price/dollar breakdown, ask how could booking another cabin cost less money?, ask for a supervisor and get it corroborated, ask for it in writing with an invoice showing the -$21, etc.)... MAKE them send it in writing via email .... and get a FREE call recording app on your cell! Since the cruise line records all calls anyway, and you're NOT taking them to court and using the recorded call for court ... don't worry about laws re: recording calls. It is your proof to show cruise line what the rep. promised.

 

None of this guarantees that cruise line would cave and give you what the rep. said. But it's your proof. Lately, the corporate mantra is .... "oh, our rep. should never have told you that, she/he was mistaken. And it's pay up or lose it, we won't honor what our corp.. rep. promised you".

 

There was a time when corp. would honor what the erroneous employee promised ... but that was a long time ago. Customer is NEVER right these days.

 

I am really sorry this happened. There is no easy answer to this. Did you escalate to a supervisor to see if it can be resolved?

[Grantl14]

Well, this is where youth and inexperience are at play. I can only guess that you have not cruised often.

 

But the mantra and rule of thumb is .... ASK ASK ASK (ask for the exact price/dollar breakdown, ask how could booking another cabin cost less money?, ask for a supervisor and get it corroborated, ask for it in writing with an invoice showing the -$21, etc.)... MAKE them send it in writing via email .... and get a FREE call recording app on your cell! Since the cruise line records all calls anyway, and you're NOT taking them to court and using the recorded call for court ... don't worry about laws re: recording calls. It is your proof to show cruise line what the rep. promised.

 

None of this guarantees that cruise line would cave and give you what the rep. said. But it's your proof. Lately, the corporate mantra is .... "oh, our rep. should never have told you that, she/he was mistaken. And it's pay up or lose it, we won't honor what our corp.. rep. promised you".

 

There was a time when corp. would honor what the erroneous employee promised ... but that was a long time ago. Customer is NEVER right these days.

 

I am really sorry this happened. There is no easy answer to this. Did you escalate to a supervisor to see if it can be resolved?

 

Have been on 8, all with Royal on Oasis and Allure, only 20 and turning 21 on this trip, Emerald and will be Diamond this trip, not a ton but we've used Royal. Booked a few, but never had an issue like this. The original cruise receipt does show the $-21, but apparently this was only because the funds from our cancelled excursion were still in our account, and the rep should have been able to see that and get us the correct rate, not sure what happened. I never thought about our cancelled excursion credit going onto our Royal account, or that that even happens, I would have never even thought to ask anything about our excursion credit going on there? I figured when you cancel the refund goes to your card, and thats that.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Grantl14
New Info

[dswallow]

If you want to see how quickly they find a recording of the call, insist that you never gave permission to make such a change and demand they restore the original transaction. :)

 

Sorry you're having to deal with this, but you are certainly not at fault. And you deserve to get this resolved properly, either back to what things were or to the state you were told they would be when the changes were made. You'll need to be persistent, firm, but polite, and just keep escalating and if anyone refuses, ask for their supervisor, et. al.

 

One thing for certain, pursue a couple approaches, too... Oddly, if there's an official twitter account, many companies become strangely responsive when you call them out on such things publicly via their twitter presence.

[cruisinfanatic]

We were booked under a nonrefundable deposit rate, I asked about just changing it back to the original two and they said no can do.

that has nothing to do with this

[Grantl14]

that has nothing to do with this

What do you mean cancel the charges then? They havent been charged to our card yet, just the cruise remaining balance thats due Sunday. I asked to take the two guests off and cancel adding them and go back to the original room, but got a no. What other options are there?

[Merion_Mom]

Have been on 8, all with Royal on Oasis and Allure, only 20 and turning 21 on this trip, Emerald and will be Diamond this trip, not a ton but we've used Royal. Booked a few, but never had an issue like this. The original cruise receipt does show the $-21, but apparently this was only because the funds from our cancelled excursion were still in our account, and the rep should have been able to see that and get us the correct rate, not sure what happened. I never thought about our cancelled excursion credit going onto our Royal account, or that that even happens, I would have never even thought to ask anything about our excursion credit going on there? I figured when you cancel the refund goes to your card, and thats that.

Was your cancelled excursion really in the neighborhood of $2100???

[Grantl14]

Was your cancelled excursion really in the neighborhood of $2100???

No, the original room was $1400, new room around $2600.

[Merion_Mom]

No, the original room was $1400, new room around $2600.

But if they are claiming that the reason for the agent's mistake was that the shore excursion credit was confusing the bottom line, they are wrong. A refund of a few hundred dollars would not have wiped out the price difference between $1400 and $2600.

[Merion_Mom]

I would not be excited about sharing a balcony cabin with three other adults - but if you are all college students, that's completely different :) - but $600 per person for a week's cruise on the Oasis isn't bad. It's not NOTHING, which is what you thought it was going to be, but it's a great price.

[Valchie]

Escalate

Escalate

Tweet tweet tweet (that's a great piece of advice you got before)

And then escalate some more.

 

Don't call late in the day, call during regular hours to speak with the C&A representatives. After either 6 or 8 it goes to the "after hours" crew. I made the mistake and booked a cruise after hours and was sold a non-refundable deposit rate without that little tidbit being told. As soon as I realized what could be my mistake I called right back and successfully cancelled it. There is a 24hr window to cancel.

 

I wonder if you got that same crew.

ESCALATE! Squeaky wheel! Good luck.

 

The more I read about RCI the less I'm liking them.

 

But geez are their ships beautiful.

 

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[Grantl14]

But if they are claiming that the reason for the agent's mistake was that the shore excursion credit was confusing the bottom line, they are wrong. A refund of a few hundred dollars would not have wiped out the price difference between $1400 and $2600.

Oh, I see what your saying now! No, it was correct once I did the math. We had booked a the Flight line/jetski package, and dragons tail coaster, but saw a cabana had opened so opted to do a chill beach day and cancel Labadee excursions and keep our other excursions.

[Grantl14]

I would not be excited about sharing a balcony cabin with three other adults - but if you are all college students, that's completely different :) - but $600 per person for a week's cruise on the Oasis isn't bad. It's not NOTHING, which is what you thought it was going to be, but it's a great price.

Oh completely agree on the price, especially compared to the loft. Yes, all college students for my 21st. Not trying to seem cheap at all, we've done Allure and Oasis in the summer months and for sure know the prices then, but the guest count was just originally supposed to be 6. I really called for fun to see what the price was and if I could get the family to add two, so when I heard what he said I was shocked, but didnt question much.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Grantl14
New Info

[jagsfan]

It’s very easy to get lost when you’re on the phone and have numbers thrown at you. I didn’t know, either, that a cancelled excursion didn’t result in a credit back to your card. Especially done before the cruise.

Have you talked to your parents about this?

 

 

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[Grantl14]

It’s very easy to get lost when you’re on the phone and have numbers thrown at you. I didn’t know, either, that a cancelled excursion didn’t result in a credit back to your card. Especially done before the cruise.

Have you talked to your parents about this?

 

 

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It was going back to the card, thats why im also confused. Apparently the way it was explained to me by the resolutions department, when its in limbo, it sits in your royal account for about a day before going to your card. Parents are most likely going to end up picking it up, still frustrating, but not cancelling.

[lazydayz]

It was going back to the card, thats why im also confused. Apparently the way it was explained to me by the resolutions department, when its in limbo, it sits in your royal account for about a day before going to your card. Parents are most likely going to end up picking it up, still frustrating, but not cancelling.

 

Good luck. You should be able to have the extra two guests reversed, but you will lose all of your excursion reservations. That sucks too. Very sorry this happened.

[Merion_Mom]

It was going back to the card, thats why im also confused. Apparently the way it was explained to me by the resolutions department, when its in limbo, it sits in your royal account for about a day before going to your card. Parents are most likely going to end up picking it up, still frustrating, but not cancelling.

Can the four of you kick in anything? (just to make you feel better about your parents paying for everything)

[cruisingn09]

Contact mbayley@rccl.com. Explain the situation and ask him (his department) to pull the audio recording. Be specific that this is "time sensitive." He, and his department, are very punctual in their responses and very helpful. They will resolve the situation fairly.

[John&LaLa]

How are a bunch of unrelated 20 and 21 year olds sharing a cabin?

 

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