What can you do if your cruise price drops?

[Mkrug17]

Booked two cabins for four people and in less than one week the price has dropped almost $100 per person. I paid in full, added insurance and prepaid gratuities. What options do I have?

[clo]

After I had paid in full and was only about three week from sailing ours went down $400pp. I contacted my cruise person who offered me either OBC or future cruise credit. As I'd already booked a second cruise I took the latter.

[KnowTheScore]

7 minutes ago, Mkrug17 said:

Booked two cabins for four people and in less than one week the price has dropped almost $100 per person. I paid in full, added insurance and prepaid gratuities. What options do I have?

 

 

Happened to us recently on P&O Cruises UK.  

 

We had also heard that people often complain and get equiv OBC for the amount lost.   When we contacted P&O we were refused.   So just another nail in the coffin for us with P&O.  Will be cancelling cruises we have forward booked with them.

 

Since every cruise line is different Mkrug your only option is to phone or email your cruise line and complain as bitterly and aggressively as you can and ask for a refund of the balance or equiv OBC if that's acceptable to you.

 

If they refuse then just vote with your feet and go to another cruise line and let your cruise line know that this is what you are doing and that they are losing a customer.  With lots of people doing likewise they will have to take note.

 

It is for me a most ridiculous strategy/business model for cruise lines to take.   Especially at this time, they need to take care to look after their long standing core customer base, most of whom book early when catalogues come out.  If cruise lines are going to start undercutting those people later on and not redress the balance for them then they are imho being extremely foolish and have little regard for their customers.

 

If you still get nowhere with the cruise line and still go on the cruise then remove that money from their coffers by curbing your on-board expenditure.

 

 

 

[clo]

1 minute ago, KnowTheScore said:

When we contacted P&O we were refused. 

Wow. I guess I should have mentioned this was Oceania. That would be a deal breaker for me also.

[klfrodo]

UK rules are different than bookings made in US

[1025cruise]

If you are before final payment day, always worth calling and asking.

If after, odds are nothing is going to happen.

[shipgeeks]

Once we book at a satisfactory price, we never look at the prices again.  If it was a fair price last month, it still is now. By booking when we do, we are probably getting a better choice of cabins than the people who book later.  Why agonize over it?  If you buy a $100 coat today, are you going to keep looking at the ads to see if it went down?  Then what?

 

I know, we might be in the minority, but once we book a cruise, we then move on to other aspects of the anticipation.

[KnowTheScore]

I can't agree Shipgeeks

 

Cruise lines do their best to entice people to book early esp when a new brochure comes out.   It is to their benefit if they can get cabins booked as early as possible.  Surely helps forward planning.

 

But if they are going to brutally penalise people who book early and who are loyal then what is the point booking early at all?

 

Yes, if we were in some incredibly exclusive market where you absolutely had to get in first and book that cabin then booking early would be necessary but really that's not the case is it?!  We're not booking trips into space are we?

 

And let's also be clear on the point about cabin choice.  The cabins are all split into various different grades and the ticket price is attached to that grade.   So it should make the slightest difference when you book, the price is whatever your chosen grade of cabin is.   Yet cruise lines persist in dropping the prices as you get nearer to the cruise date in order to get bums in cabins and it just creates such immense bad feeling between passengers themselves and between passengers and cruise lines.

 

Personally I firmly believe that those people who book the earliest, the loyal bread and butter customer base, should be the ones offered discounts and those leaving things to the last minute should be the ones paying the premium.  If they did this cruises wold get booked up well in advance.

[clo]

1 hour ago, klfrodo said:

UK rules are different than bookings made in US

Oh, is OP from UK?

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, KnowTheScore said:

 

 

Especially at this time, they need to take care to look after their long standing core customer base, most of whom book early when catalogues come out. 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, this caught my eye.  Do you really get a catalog?     

[clo]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

Once we book at a satisfactory price, we never look at the prices again.  If it was a fair price last month, it still is now. By booking when we do, we are probably getting a better choice of cabins than the people who book later.  Why agonize over it?  If you buy a $100 coat today, are you going to keep looking at the ads to see if it went down?  Then what?

 

I know, we might be in the minority, but once we book a cruise, we then move on to other aspects of the anticipation.

Oh, I didn't wait to book. We'd been booked for probably four or five months. But our O agent had pointed out that if I saw price reductions to contact him.

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

Once we book at a satisfactory price, we never look at the prices again.  If it was a fair price last month, it still is now. By booking when we do, we are probably getting a better choice of cabins than the people who book later.  Why agonize over it?  If you buy a $100 coat today, are you going to keep looking at the ads to see if it went down?  Then what?

 

I know, we might be in the minority, but once we book a cruise, we then move on to other aspects of the anticipation.

 

Really, even if the cruise line would refund you the difference.  Yep, I think you might be in the minority.  

[navybankerteacher]

2 hours ago, Mkrug17 said:

Booked two cabins for four people and in less than one week the price has dropped almost $100 per person. I paid in full, added insurance and prepaid gratuities. What options do I have?

It depends upon the terms of your booking.  If it turns out that your booking is non-refundable you probably lack options.  Of course, if the price had gone up by $100 per person, how would you have reacted to an invoice from the line for the increase?

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, Mkrug17 said:

Booked two cabins for four people and in less than one week the price has dropped almost $100 per person. I paid in full, added insurance and prepaid gratuities. What options do I have?

 

If it hasn't already been said, the option is to contact your cruise line and ask if you can get the new lower price.  Depending on the timing, the answer could very well be yes.  Good luck and happy sailing.   

[leaveitallbehind]

My response is for US booked cruises as other countries (the UK as example) have different policies regarding this. First of all it depends on when your cruise is and when final payment is due.  Different cruise lines have different booking policies, but using RCI/Celebrity as two examples, they don't consider payment in full as final until the actual final payment date, which on 7-night and longer cruises not in a holiday season, typically is 90 days prior to sailing.

 

With these two cruise line examples, as long as any amount of payment made is prior to the final payment date, you can have your reservation adjusted to reflect the lower price.  This will not happen automatically - you will have to contact the cruise line directly, or if you used a travel agent contact them (some TA's will adjust the rates automatically) and have them do it for you. We have done this many times with many cruises. 

 

If it is past your final payment date, typically the only option you would have would be to cancel, pay whatever cancellation penalties that would be incurred, and rebook at the lower rate.  You would have to do the math to determine if any savings realized would be worth it as an offset to any cancellation charges applied.

 

But to answer the OP's question accurately, it would be necessary to know what cruise line they booked with and whether or not their full payment and subsequent price drop is before the actual final payment due date, or if the price drop was after final payment.

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by leaveitallbehind

[2wheelin]

Complaining bitterly and aggressively is a sure way to NOT get what you ask for. Civility and courtesy will get you much further.

If I buy a washer and a month (or a year) later it goes on sale, should I get the sale price? It is ridiculous to think the cruise purchase should be any different. But in fact it is for many people who purchase with the option to get a lower price, or who find the lower price before final payment. If the rules are different for cruise pricing in your country, I still doubt you would get a different consideration for any consumer purchase. Do you also complain and pay the difference when the price increases?

[clo]

7 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Complaining bitterly and aggressively is a sure way to NOT get what you ask for. Civility and courtesy will get you much further.

If I buy a washer and a month (or a year) later it goes on sale, should I get the sale price? It is ridiculous to think the cruise purchase should be any different. But in fact it is for many people who purchase with the option to get a lower price, or who find the lower price before final payment. If the rules are different for cruise pricing in your country, I still doubt you would get a different consideration for any consumer purchase. Do you also complain and pay the difference when the price increases?

Well, I'd say if you never took possession of your appliance, it would be a difference situation.

 

I'm glad to find out that Oceania seems to have a different policy than a lot of cruise lines. That $800 credit is a very nice thing.

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, 2wheelin said:

But in fact it is for many people who purchase with the option to get a lower price, or who find the lower price before final payment. 

 

To be clear, there is no separate "purchase option" to get a lower price with RCI / Celebrity. If a price decreases on any reservation booked prior to final payment, you can ask for and will receive that lower price as a matter of practice with them.  And whatever price you book at is also protected against any future price increase on that given stateroom category.  

 

In other words your booked price cannot be increased, but you can benefit from a decrease in pricing as long as that decrease occurs prior to final payment.

 

In fact most mass market cruise lines have similar policies for US based bookings.  Other countries policies may not permit that, or may have deposit penalties associated with changing to a lower price once booked.

 

And BTW regarding your appliance analogy, the significant difference is that with that type of purchase, you buy the item, take it home, and have immediate benefit for it's use - so a subsequent lower price would not likely have any validity for to be honored.

 

With a cruise booking, it is only a reservation with which you have no product "ownership" until final payment (and its ultimate use by way of the sailing). As it is just a reservation, there is pricing flexibility allowed until it is a final purchase. 

 

So it really is not a good analogy as it is not apples to apples.

Edited February 17, 2020 by leaveitallbehind

[navybankerteacher]

5 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

...

In other words your booked price cannot be increased, but you can benefit from a decrease in pricing as long as that decrease occurs prior to final payment.

 

In fact most mass market cruise lines have similar policies for US based bookings.  Other countries policies may not permit that, or may have deposit penalties associated with changing to a lower price once booked.

This ignores the “non-refundable” booking which is priced lower - with the condition that you will live with the agreed price.

[leaveitallbehind]

8 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

This ignores the “non-refundable” booking which is priced lower - with the condition that you will live with the agreed price.

 

Yes - that would be an exception.  And thanks for pointing that out.  (I believe Carnival has that as a booking option?)  I perhaps should have said "in most cases" or "typically". 

 

But not to be confused with non-refundable deposit bookings which can issue a lower price as long as the price decrease is in the same stateroom category and non-refundable deposit based fare.  Have done this as well - in fact as recently as our Celebrity NYE cruise.

Edited February 17, 2020 by leaveitallbehind

[2wheelin]

2 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

Yes - that would be an exception.  And thanks for pointing that out.  (I believe Carnival has that as a booking option?)  I perhaps should have said "in most cases" or "typically". 

 

But not to be confused with non-refundable deposit bookings which can issue a lower price as long as the price decrease is in the same stateroom category and non-refundable deposit based fare.  Have done this as well - in fact as recently as our Celebrity NYE cruise.

Carnival is what I was referring to with “purchase option to get a better price”. While I have not used it, so could be incorrect, I understand there is a separate fare for early saver which entitles the buyer to any price drops in exchange for partially non refundable deposit.

[That sinking feeling]

If this happened to me I would just say well done to the people that got a cheaper price.

 

It works both ways surely?

 

Sometimes you win sometimes you lose.

[gerryuk]

10 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

If I buy a washer and a month (or a year) later it goes on sale, should I get the sale price? It is ridiculous to think the cruise purchase should be any different. 

 

There is a big difference between buying a washer and a cruise ticket though. When you buy your washer you are buying it today and it can be used from the moment it is installed in your house. The same thing goes for clothes or any other purchase you buy on the high street.

If you bought a washer from a local store, but it will not be available for months, and the price then dropped, are you really telling me that you would pay the original price whilst others who purchased the same product a month later, in the same store, are getting it for $100 cheaper, as its now on sale?

Buying washers or any other merchandise in stores are immediate, you get the goods and can use the goods, purchased straight away, you dont when you buy a cruise ticket.

 

[BlueRiband]

2 hours ago, gerryuk said:

 

There is a big difference between buying a washer and a cruise ticket though. When you buy your washer you are buying it today and it can be used from the moment it is installed in your house. The same thing goes for clothes or any other purchase you buy on the high street.

If you bought a washer from a local store, but it will not be available for months, and the price then dropped, are you really telling me that you would pay the original price whilst others who purchased the same product a month later, in the same store, are getting it for $100 cheaper, as its now on sale?

Buying washers or any other merchandise in stores are immediate, you get the goods and can use the goods, purchased straight away, you dont when you buy a cruise ticket.

 

Yes, I've seen that argument - merchandise can be used immediately but a cruise ticket not for weeks or months to come.  However the purchase of a cruise ticket now locks in that price should the fare go up.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, BlueRiband said:

Yes, I've seen that argument - merchandise can be used immediately but a cruise ticket not for weeks or months to come.  However the purchase of a cruise ticket now locks in that price should the fare go up.

And after final payment, when sometimes cruise lines need to have a fire sale to fill remaining cabins, you are not entitled to a refund of the difference.  If you were, all of the thousands of passengers who already booked would be entitled to a refund, and pay the lowest price.