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Do your research before visiting Next Cruise desk


thrifty99
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We always research the cruise we want to book before going to the Next Cruise desk onboard. I recommend you do this as the past 2 cruises the Next Cruise rep failed to find the best price. 

 

This week we told her a specific room on the Odyssey for next February. She quoted a price that was a few hundred dollars higher for the same balcony room 4 doors away. She said the room we wanted was not available for double occupancy. I showed her how I had it pulled up on my phone and she was surprised by this. She then pulled it up on her system and saw it was available. 

 

I am beginning to wonder if they really help people find the best deal since the same thing happened to us in September when booking Oasis. 

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1 minute ago, thrifty99 said:

 ...

 

I am beginning to wonder if they really help people find the best deal since the same thing happened to us in September when booking Oasis. 

 

We've had similar experiences at the Next Cruise desk.  We haven't used it in several years because those experiences and reduced perks for refundable deposit bookings.

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Next doesn't always have access to everything.  I can only imagine how complicated their system is and how something that is obvious to us isn't as easy for them to find.  Plus they are working over Voom which we all know isn't always the best internet at sea.

 

Last month I booked a studio guarantee on a ship with just 3 studio cabins.  Next couldn't find the GTY in their system despite the Royal website having it for me to book.   They even showed me their screen.  It just wasn't there.  I called my land TA and booked the GTY for $500 under the non-GTY rate for the same cabin.

 

Same Next visit for a different future cruise they had a refundable rate that was cheaper than what I could book on the website myself as NRD.  I saved $100 and got a token Next OBC since it was refundable. 

 

You can visit the Royal website using the ship wifi without buying Voom.  It may not be superfast but you can research and visit Next informed and knowing exactly what is available.  

 

I've long said you have to research before visiting Next.  After many disappointments I have had a couple of successes lately so never give up, just don't have high expectations with Next.  Sometimes though they come through with a better deal.  You just never know.

 

  

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17 minutes ago, thrifty99 said:

We always research the cruise we want to book before going to the Next Cruise desk onboard. I recommend you do this as the past 2 cruises the Next Cruise rep failed to find the best price. 

 

This week we told her a specific room on the Odyssey for next February. She quoted a price that was a few hundred dollars higher for the same balcony room 4 doors away. She said the room we wanted was not available for double occupancy. I showed her how I had it pulled up on my phone and she was surprised by this. She then pulled it up on her system and saw it was available. 

 

I am beginning to wonder if they really help people find the best deal since the same thing happened to us in September when booking Oasis. 

Absolutely do my research and take "proof of price" with me.

We have also noticed that they do not quote the best available price, pad on the price by adding insurance, gratuities etc.  Many times they are not aware of current promos or resident discounts.
 

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Yes, we do our research first before going to meet with Next Cruise reps.  And yes, the same thing has happened to us on just about every sailing when we book cruises.  Just our opinion, but we think that each person in the office can be widely different from the other. We can ask the same question or same request and each one would have a different answer.  Some more experienced than others...and some friendlier than others.  Even the time or day we visit can make a difference...for example, on sea days there could be a line or for appointments only, and they appear rushed or overwhelmed.  On port days, if Next Cruise is open, the person there is the one that "volunteered" to stay onboard (instead of being out on shore) thus not too happy...just our opinion.

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9 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

Is Next Cruise a contracted agency (ship board TA) like shops, art auctions, etc or RCI staffed?

 

As an aside, when you book thru RCI onshore, are you booking directly with RCI or are you actually booking through a contracted agency?  

 

Both are RC employees.

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Always do the research, and always go in with prices and cabins we researched in hand. Have never had an NC agent quote us a higher price, and we book 8-10 cruises at a sitting. Often they find us a cabin in a better location than what shows up on the website. YMMV😋

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We also did our research prior and were quoted several hundred dollars more by NEXT for the same cabins/category. This was just pulling out the cell phone and going to RCCL website. There was zero incentive (other than the smaller deposit) to book onboard with NEXT. Third time this has occurred when going in for quotes. 

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I have had the same experience multiple times when booking onboard,  I always decide which date and ship and cabin type prior to going in. When they quote me a higher price than the one I recently found I tell them I found such and such on RCCL website and they are always able to find it at that point 🤔 I continue to book onboard to get the extra OBC but only after I know I am getting the same price I was able to find.  Usually then transfer to travel agent when we get home to get additional credit.  It works out fine as long as you do your research before as op suggested.  

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We don’t use it a lot, but I recently booked a 14 day Antarctica/south America cruise that was almost 2 years out when I booked it. Usually I just use my TA but my TA gave me a heads up when it was released and we happened to be cruising at the time so I booked onboard. I had my pricing and room I wanted when I went to NC. Same pricing as what RC website said. And refundable deposit (for a suite) and some OBC. 
 

We booked another cruise a while back and I went in with room numbers and pricing and got the NC perks of OBC and refundable deposit. 
 

But I appreciate the heads up to be aware of pricing.   Maybe me and my iPad scared them. 😂

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They always seem pretty busy so they must sell quite a few cruises. 

 

I always go in with what I want down to the cabin.  But we don’t always book on board either.  I’m guessing about 50% of the time.  I do like the OBC but if something good comes along I don’t wait to book.  

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On 1/22/2020 at 12:56 PM, twangster said:

Next doesn't always have access to everything.  I can only imagine how complicated their system is and how something that is obvious to us isn't as easy for them to find.  Plus they are working over Voom which we all know isn't always the best internet at sea.

 

Last month I booked a studio guarantee on a ship with just 3 studio cabins.  Next couldn't find the GTY in their system despite the Royal website having it for me to book.   They even showed me their screen.  It just wasn't there.  I called my land TA and booked the GTY for $500 under the non-GTY rate for the same cabin.

 

Same Next visit for a different future cruise they had a refundable rate that was cheaper than what I could book on the website myself as NRD.  I saved $100 and got a token Next OBC since it was refundable. 

 

You can visit the Royal website using the ship wifi without buying Voom.  It may not be superfast but you can research and visit Next informed and knowing exactly what is available.  

 

I've long said you have to research before visiting Next.  After many disappointments I have had a couple of successes lately so never give up, just don't have high expectations with Next.  Sometimes though they come through with a better deal.  You just never know.

 

  

Yes, they have access to everything. They just don't dig. I still book Next Cruise for the lower deposit and OBC. But I don't go down without having checked the price online first. Not have access??? They sure have access when I tell them about any DEAL reductions, military deductions (if available), etc. Then they magically find the exact price I have found. Intentional? I can't be sure. Lackadaisical incompetence - for sure. It happens the majority of times I book.

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It really doesn’t matter what price they give you.  Once you are home you can just call Royal and get it repriced to the lower price.  If you transfer it to a TA the TA can take that reservation and move it into a group and get you a lower rate.  Moving it into a group though will require you to pay the rest of the deposit as groups have to have a full deposit regardless of whether it was booked on board. 

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6 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

Do they have access to all the Real ongoing Fake sales promo prices, or just the Fake Fake pricing...?

 

They have access to all pricing, except for travel agent group rates.

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