Flip and Sail Rip Off?

[freedom750]

Our 2021Alaska cruise out of Vancouver, BC in May hasn't been cancelled by RC but with little hope of it going to happen, I took my travel agent's advice to take the Flip and Sail offer.  They booked us for the same cruise exactly one year later and said that it will be the same price with the same perks.  They said there could be a small increase in Taxes if that changes but other than that it's just a flip of dates.

Today my travel agent and I had a discussion and then a long wait as she called RC to find out what was going on.  My cruise rate was the same but the tax/fees went up $758 (for the two of us).  I did a check on a new booking and the tax from 2021 and 2022 were almost the same.  Is it really a flip and sail if they charge you $758 as a fee to change the date?   Is this the normal practice or ??  I called RC but they said they can't talk to me because I used a travel agent.  Thanks for any help out there.

Bob

[tallgirl97]

Check with your travel agent to see that the taxes and fees were not double counted. That seems to be a common error. It happened to me too, and is easily fixed.

Edited February 23, 2021 by tallgirl97

[Arizona Wildcat]

11 minutes ago, freedom750 said:

Our 2021Alaska cruise out of Vancouver, BC in May hasn't been cancelled by RC but with little hope of it going to happen, I took my travel agent's advice to take the Flip and Sail offer.  They booked us for the same cruise exactly one year later and said that it will be the same price with the same perks.  They said there could be a small increase in Taxes if that changes but other than that it's just a flip of dates.

Today my travel agent and I had a discussion and then a long wait as she called RC to find out what was going on.  My cruise rate was the same but the tax/fees went up $758 (for the two of us).  I did a check on a new booking and the tax from 2021 and 2022 were almost the same.  Is it really a flip and sail if they charge you $758 as a fee to change the date?   Is this the normal practice or ??  I called RC but they said they can't talk to me because I used a travel agent.  Thanks for any help out there.

Bob

The taxes and fees from your first booking will be refunded to you in the next 90 days or so.  You were charged the taxes and fees for your 2022 cruise.  Taxes fees and anything extra booked on board cannot be shifted.

If taxes and fees for Alaska are now over $700pp on a 7 day cruise, bookings will slow

[freedom750]

On my document it says that the tax and fees for the 2021 was $278 each and for 2022 is $657 each.  But if you do a mock booking the tax per person is $303, not $657 for a 2022 booking.  These are in Canadian dollars.  

[freedom750]

13 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The taxes and fees from your first booking will be refunded to you in the next 90 days or so.  You were charged the taxes and fees for your 2022 cruise.  Taxes fees and anything extra booked on board cannot be shifted.

If taxes and fees for Alaska are now over $700pp on a 7 day cruise, bookings will slow

I only have the deposit paid so there won't be any tax refunded.  

[Ourusualbeach]

34 minutes ago, freedom750 said:

Our 2021Alaska cruise out of Vancouver, BC in May hasn't been cancelled by RC but with little hope of it going to happen, I took my travel agent's advice to take the Flip and Sail offer.  They booked us for the same cruise exactly one year later and said that it will be the same price with the same perks.  They said there could be a small increase in Taxes if that changes but other than that it's just a flip of dates.

Today my travel agent and I had a discussion and then a long wait as she called RC to find out what was going on.  My cruise rate was the same but the tax/fees went up $758 (for the two of us).  I did a check on a new booking and the tax from 2021 and 2022 were almost the same.  Is it really a flip and sail if they charge you $758 as a fee to change the date?   Is this the normal practice or ??  I called RC but they said they can't talk to me because I used a travel agent.  Thanks for any help out there.

Bob

This is a known error.  You need to have your TA call back and get them adjusted.  All 7 of the cruises that I have moved from 21 to 22 went up an average of $10 to $15 per person.

 

Your TA should have caught that before sending you the invoice. 

[tallgirl97]

I also shifted Alaska 2021 to Alaska 2022. My taxes and fees actually dropped - they are just over $200pp.

[freedom750]

31 minutes ago, tallgirl97 said:

Check with your travel agent to see that the taxes and fees were not double counted. That seems to be a common error. It happened to me too, and is easily fixed.

It sounds like this may be the case for me.  Hopefully it's as simple as that.  That would make it $25 per person more which makes sense.

[CSHS1979]

21 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

This is a known error.  You need to have your TA call back and get them adjusted.  All 7 of the cruises that I have moved from 21 to 22 went up an average of $10 to $15 per person.

 

Your TA should have caught that before sending you the invoice. 

 

Not all TA's are created equal.😉

 

 

[freedom750]

23 minutes ago, CSHS1979 said:

 

Not all TA's are created equal.😉

 

 

For sure.  Got it all sorted out and the tax went up $25 per person but that's better than what they sent me.  

I guess the name is Lift and Sift.  

[freedom750]

This post can now be closed as All's well that Ends well!   

Thanks for your comments and now I have 3 cruises ready to go in 2022.  

[cruzvaca]

I also lifted and shifted for Alaska to 2022 and when I called to get my new invoice because it wasn’t automatically sent the rep at RCI said she wanted to check all the figures first.  She said that my taxes and port fees were about doubled and that they needed to be adjusted. I ended up paying $1.07 more for each of us due to the change in taxes and port fees.  I am sure yours just need to be adjusted. 

[Bucket29]

Same thing happened to me- first rep couldn't fix it but the second rep could.  

[Ashland]

3 minutes ago, Bucket29 said:

Same thing happened to me- first rep couldn't fix it but the second rep could.  

Not all reps. are created equal either.