RC Website Booked Different Date

[RockHoundTX]

Just spent a frustrating 2 hours on the phone trying to correct a website booking issue. Curious if others have seen this:

 

There was a price-drop on the Liberty of the Seas for Dec 16th. Every-one is off work and out of school that week so we booked it as a family Christmas present. Put in all our information, double-checked the date (even took a picture of it to send it to a friend), and hit submit. Immediately got the "Congratulations. You sale in 26 days" confirmation. Wait. WHAT? 26 days? The system had booked us for Dec 2nd instead. How did that happen? We checked the cell-phone picture. Yep, clearly says 16th. We hit the back button on the computer. Also still said 16th.

 

We called up RC and the lady pretty much had the attitude of "yeah, SURE you booked for the 16th. We hear this all the time". I then sent her the picture directly from the website. She basically said "you are within the 7 days so will be happy to cancel for you". It took 20 minutes to get her to understand that we did not want to cancel, we just wanted the cruise we actually booked. We then spent an hour trying to book a room for the 16th. We could see an available room on our side (but at a higher price) but she could not see it on hers. After a good 90 minutes she said the boat was at capacity so the 16th was not an option (even though the website said we could still book a 4 person room).

 

She was very insistent as to "Why don't you just keep the Dec 2nd date?". I asked about OBC, upgrades, etc if we kept the Dec 2nd date (especially since we could get a cheaper price for that date off the RC website), and was directly told "No. No discounts are available.". Finally just told her to cancel. VERY frustrating. 

 

Anyone else seen this situation?

 

[Ourusualbeach]

One thing that is wrong with her response was that there is no 7 day cancellation window.  It’s 24 hours.

[voyager70]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

One thing that is wrong with her response was that there is no 7 day cancellation window.  It’s 24 hours.

 

Yep.  Sounds fishy.  I always book online and have never encountered something like this in 40 some cruises.

 

[3monkeys4me]

Something very similar actually happened to me yesterday, only it wasn't with RCL for a cruise but an airline. I doubled checked the dates and times and sent a screen shot to my husband, got the approval from him, him submit payment, saw a confirmation with the correct date and time, screenshot it again to keep the booking number in case I didn't receive an email confirmation and went about my day. About an hour later I checked my email and the confirmation was there for the date I booked BUT for a flight several hours earlier that would not work at all for our travel plans. Called the airline, they tried to charge me a $275 change fee. I went back and forth with their customer service and had to send the screenshot I had with the confirmation and the correct time. It was finally straightened out.

 

 

[RockHoundTX]

19 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

 

Yep.  Sounds fishy.  I always book online and have never encountered something like this in 40 some cruises.

 

 

This was our 9th booking on RC but the first one to totally go side-ways. During the conversation, the lady indicated "you have 7 days to cancel so could just wait to see if a room opens up" at least 3 times. Since I was also under the impression it was 24 hours, it was not a risk I was willing to take. Not to mention I had no idea how she could waitlist me for a room on the 16th with it tied to the incorrect Dec 2nd booking.    

 

She also put me on hold at least a half-dozen times to "talk to my Manager" and thus why this ended up going 2 hours. Just a really strange, frustrating situation. Even as of an hour ago, the website still said there was at least one 4-person room still available. Something in the booking database is really screwed up.    

[Dunfer]

This is why I never book on line. I book on the phone, either with C&A, or Casino. Stay on the phone until my confirmation email is received.

[sandy toes]

I am like Dunfer, old school. I have everything up on the computer and call C&A to book. It has worked every time for us. I do 2 cruises with Royal each year with my family and another with the girls. Never has there been an issue. Sometimes technology is our best friend and sometimes it seems like it is just a nightmare. I like the friendly C&A staff. 

[Sobro]

I also book using the C&A phone number. Last time I got a price drop my mock booking was cheaper than what the agent showed. Agent asked me if I wanted to go to Resolutions and so I did. I got the price shown on my mock booking. 

[Cigar King]

I'm assuming there's some sort of website screw up here.  I did take a look at Liberty.  They did not list any sailings for the 2nd or the 16th, however, they do have two sailings on the 23rd.  😉

 

 

[SciFiGuy1960]

 

Did a quick search for the sailing on the 16th and it was showing no 4 person cabins at this time.

[not-enough-cruising]

Yet another reason I use my travel agent!

[ReneeFLL]

15 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Yet another reason I use my travel agent!

There have been travel agent horror stories also. 

[not-enough-cruising]

3 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

There have been travel agent horror stories also. 

Not if you use a good one, and a reputable Travel Agent will get resolution from any travel provider. 

[schmeed]

On 11/6/2018 at 8:20 PM, RockHoundTX said:

 

This was our 9th booking on RC but the first one to totally go side-ways. During the conversation, the lady indicated "you have 7 days to cancel so could just wait to see if a room opens up" at least 3 times. Since I was also under the impression it was 24 hours, it was not a risk I was willing to take. Not to mention I had no idea how she could waitlist me for a room on the 16th with it tied to the incorrect Dec 2nd booking.    

 

She also put me on hold at least a half-dozen times to "talk to my Manager" and thus why this ended up going 2 hours. Just a really strange, frustrating situation. Even as of an hour ago, the website still said there was at least one 4-person room still available. Something in the booking database is really screwed up.    

There is no 7 day cancellation policy.  If you book refundable, the normal policies apply.  If you book non-refundable, you have 30 days to make changes to the reservation (room type, room #, etc.) but not change the itinerary without a charge.

 

What am I missing?

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/booking-cancellation-refund-policy

[RockHoundTX]

3 minutes ago, schmeed said:

There is no 7 day cancellation policy.  If you book refundable, the normal policies apply.  If you book non-refundable, you have 30 days to make changes to the reservation (room type, room #, etc.) but not change the itinerary without a charge.

 

What am I missing?

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/booking-cancellation-refund-policy

 

What you are missing is that RC booking agents evidently do not know their own polices. This was not a case of the agent just saying it once by mistake. She mentioned it several times. Luckily I have done enough cruises that I expected what she said was incorrect. Had I relied on her word, I would likely have been screwed since this had already been paid-in-full 10 minutes prior since the cruise is within 60 days. Even now, this is still showing up on my on-line Visa as a "pending" transaction (but I have the cancellation # so if this payment goes active then someone at RC will get an earful). 

 

Just proving this out as a word of warning to others.    

 

 

 

[schmeed]

14 minutes ago, RockHoundTX said:

 

What you are missing is that RC booking agents evidently do not know their own polices. This was not a case of the agent just saying it once by mistake. She mentioned it several times. Luckily I have done enough cruises that I expected what she said was incorrect. Had I relied on her word, I would likely have been screwed since this had already been paid-in-full 10 minutes prior since the cruise is within 60 days. Even now, this is still showing up on my on-line Visa as a "pending" transaction (but I have the cancellation # so if this payment goes active then someone at RC will get an earful). 

 

Just proving this out as a word of warning to others.    

 

 

 

There is just no excuse for them not knowing and understanding RCIs policies front to back.  I know they are contractors and outsourced to Costa Rica (IIRC) but that is no excuse.

 

If the charge doesn't drop off, I would dispute it with your CC company.

[SRF]

8 hours ago, schmeed said:

 If you book non-refundable, you have 30 days to make changes to the reservation (room type, room #, etc.) but not change the itinerary without a charge.

 

No, with non-refundable, you may make any changed EXCEPT date or ship without charge up to final payment.  No 30 days.

 

After final payment, there is no difference between refundable and non-refundable deposits.

[Clarea]

2 hours ago, SRF said:

 

No, with non-refundable, you may make any changed EXCEPT date or ship without charge up to final payment.  No 30 days.

 

After final payment, there is no difference between refundable and non-refundable deposits.

 

I believe the 30-day change limit applies to bookings made on board.

[molly361]

4 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I believe the 30-day change limit applies to bookings made on board.

That's my understanding as well

[schmeed]

4 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I believe the 30-day change limit applies to bookings made on board.

That's what I was told by the Next Cruise Agent.  I wonder why they make the limitation for the on-board bookings.  Maybe because of the additional incentives?

[roadburner]

Buyers remorse.

 

[RockHoundTX]

11 hours ago, roadburner said:

Buyers remorse.

 

???? What are you talking about??? I booked for the 16th and the confirmation came back for the 2nd. If I had wanted to cruise on the 2nd I could have done it for way cheaper by booking that date. Did you even read my post?

 

My wife was experimenting and found a significant bug in the RC booking system. If you check one date and then do a "Change Date" from the pricing page the system goes out of sync. The booking page says one date but the pricing seems to be from another. Someone screwed up the code or pointers to the database.

[RockHoundTX]

At this point I am REALLY pissed. Checked my VISA bill and it was $1k more than I expected (yesterday was the last day of my billing cycle). Looks like the "Full refund" ended up being short by $1k!! They processed my payment and the gave me a "refund" that was $1k short. Luckily I have the letter directly from RC stating that I am responsible for $0 so this will ultimately be cleared up. Now just trying to figure out how to make my way up the chain at RC since this is a level of incompetence that is completely uncomprehendable. 

[Clarea]

19 hours ago, schmeed said:

 ...

Maybe because of the additional incentives?

 

That would be my guess.

[roadburner]

On board bookings are allowed 30 days to change or cancell due to a law regarding “buyers remorse” on impulse buying.