Policy Change to Best Price Guarantee

[Gretchendz]

RCCL announced today: Effective immediately, the Best Price Guarantee onboard credit option value will be 100% of the price difference (previously 110%). Please note this change refers to the original Best Price Guarantee program and not the Cruise With Confidence program.

[Another_Critic]

Link?

[Gretchendz]

No link yet-was announced to TAs today.

 

But it is implied in the FAQ:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

Edited June 1, 2022 by Gretchendz

[Another_Critic]

20 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

No link yet-was announced to TAs today.

 

But it is implied in the FAQ:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

Based on that FAQ, it appears that they are applying the CWC BPG to all sailings, but they link to the "48 hours from booking" form.

 

Spot a better price on your booked cruise? Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price up to 48 hours before your sail date — just give us a call or use our online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment.

 

For more information on the Cruise with Confidence Best Price Guarantee for sailings booked on or before March 31, 2022, that depart on or before September 30, 2022, click here.

 

Edited June 1, 2022 by Another_Critic

[Biker19]

13 hours ago, Gretchendz said:

Effective immediately, the Best Price Guarantee onboard credit option value will be 100% of the price difference (previously 110%).

What they don't tell you is that this probably happens so rarely that very few can take advantage of it (never mind the loss of 10% in OBC).

[sunonfire]

Royal is also changing on non refundable deposits.

 

https://cruisefever.net/royal-caribbean-changing-non-refundable-deposits-tomorrow/

[maysill88]

The FAQ page linked in post #3 now refers to a 48-hour window for price adjustments from the date of booking, not up to 48 hours prior to the sail date.  So we can no longer get adjustments for price drops after 48 hours?  I forget if that is the way it always was prior to the Cruise with Confidence stuff.  

[celoplyr]

2 hours ago, maysill88 said:

The FAQ page linked in post #3 now refers to a 48-hour window for price adjustments from the date of booking, not up to 48 hours prior to the sail date.  So we can no longer get adjustments for price drops after 48 hours?  I forget if that is the way it always was prior to the Cruise with Confidence stuff.  

It used to be that you could reprice until final payment date but not after.  

 

In the words of Princess Bride... if that changes I will be "very put out".

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, maysill88 said:

The FAQ page linked in post #3 now refers to a 48-hour window for price adjustments from the date of booking, not up to 48 hours prior to the sail date.  So we can no longer get adjustments for price drops after 48 hours? 

That FAQ refers to price matches, not price drops - two different things.

[BecciBoo]

On 5/31/2022 at 6:26 PM, Gretchendz said:

RCCL announced today: Effective immediately, the Best Price Guarantee onboard credit option value will be 100% of the price difference (previously 110%). Please note this change refers to the original Best Price Guarantee program and not the Cruise With Confidence program.

I'm sure that covers the circumstances with our pricing adjustment that resulted in $600 reduction.  It guarantees that you get the lowest price offered on your cruise.  It all depends on if you've paid the cruise off yet.  Since we had not the agent just adjusted our balance.  Before we called it was in the $1600 range for final payment, now it shows an adjusted price on our billing page of $900 due at final.  I was getting ready to pay it off when I saw Merion Mom's post!  Pays to wait to the last minute.  I have lots of time to snatch a reduction on our 2023 Wonder so hoping it happens.

[celoplyr]

3 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That FAQ refers to price matches, not price drops - two different things.

phew.

[brillohead]

5 hours ago, BecciBoo said:

It all depends on if you've paid the cruise off yet.

You can actually get a refund if you've paid it off before the Final Payment Date.  So it doesn't matter when you pay it, just when your Final Payment Date is scheduled to be.

[maysill88]

18 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That FAQ refers to price matches, not price drops - two different things.

Thank you.  I was able to call yesterday and save $50 on a March 2023 booked cruise.

[PUSMMA]

Just curious if anyone has confirmed with RCCL if the new policy for Best price guarantee is only applicable up to 48hrs after booking?

 

I’ve emailed them several times but never get a response. I’ve held off booking my next cruise as don’t want to be locked into price 48hrs after booking. 

Edited August 9, 2022 by PUSMMA

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, PUSMMA said:

Just curious if anyone has confirmed with RCCL if the new policy for Best price guarantee is only applicable up to 48hrs after booking?

 

Welcome to CC.

 

The 48hr best price only applies to bookings inside final payment. For a US booking, outside of final payment, you would get price drops all the way till final payment.

[thrifty99]

On 8/10/2022 at 6:40 AM, Biker19 said:

Welcome to CC.

 

The 48hr best price only applies to bookings inside final payment. For a US booking, outside of final payment, you would get price drops all the way till final payment.

Biker,

 

Can you confirm that Royal is still doing price adjustments prior to final payment date for cruises booked now?  You stated it only apples to bookings made inside of final payment date, but they mention outside final payment date in the the 48 hour policy:  

 

"Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price within 48 hours from the time you booked— just give us a call or use our online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment."

 

What confuses me is it specifically mentions "rate adjustment outside final payment date" under the the 48 hour policy.  I've also seen some posts about people being denied rate adjustments prior to final payment date for things like "that rate is for new sailings only".  With all new call center staff, it's hard to know what the correct answer is or if it is an uninformed new employee. 

 

I only have one cruise booked after the Cruise with Confidence ended and it has not dropped in price yet so I haven't been able to call and try it myself.  

 

Has anyone called and received price adjustments on cruises booked in the past few months and before final payment date?  Not cruises booked before March 31, 2022 that fall under the Cruise With Confidence program.  

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, thrifty99 said:

What confuses me is it specifically mentions "rate adjustment outside final payment date" under the the 48 hour policy. 

Ignore where they put the sentence, you can get price drops. 

[thrifty99]

14 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Ignore where they put the sentence, you can get price drops. 

Thank you - glad it is still working.  I just hate the wording as they could start enforcing that anytime they wanted.  

 

Appreciate your fast reply as alway.  

[CruiserLucas]

It's still working to get price drops. I called Wednesday and got a price drop on our cruise we had booked many months ago that's in May.

[myateam]

I tried three separate times and they said no because I am already paid in full. Cruise in dec 🤷🏽‍♀️said in applicable to before final payments. 

[sowhat]

I am a firm beleaver that when you book a cruise for a given price, that is the price you pay and no price adjustments, as you were happy with the  price when booked
Also if you cancel you loose all monies paid.

[blueslily]

4 hours ago, myateam said:

I tried three separate times and they said no because I am already paid in full. Cruise in dec 🤷🏽‍♀️said in applicable to before final payments. 

Currently, after payment, if the price drops, you may have an option to try to upgrade the room if prices drop. Not FCC or money back. I'm booked to sail in December also. So, a possible upgrade is what I was informed is my option if prices drops. 

[hollon]

So, if I book a cruise for this december and the price drops later, can I get a price adjustment or obc?  Sorry, so much to read and understand, thank you.

[hotsauce126]

5 hours ago, sowhat said:

I am a firm beleaver that when you book a cruise for a given price, that is the price you pay and no price adjustments, as you were happy with the  price when booked
Also if you cancel you loose all monies paid.

 

That''s nice for Royal that you're a firm believer in that but for the rest of us the policy gives confidence to book at a good but not great price because there's always the ability to get to price adjusted if it goes down before the final payment

[erinsmom03]

5 hours ago, sowhat said:

I am a firm beleaver that when you book a cruise for a given price, that is the price you pay and no price adjustments, as you were happy with the  price when booked
Also if you cancel you loose all monies paid.

 

I am a firm believer in taking advantage of every price drop I see. We had 4 cabins booked. in July for a group of 9, and I saved each cabin thousands of dollars in price drops. I doubt that will ever happen again, as this was when Covid was affecting the cruise industry, and pricing was down. But I was thrilled to save all that money for myself and friends. Also, when the 5th cabin we had booked cancelled because of Covid protocols, they received their full refund, and rightfully so. A refundable deposit is a refundable deposit.