New RCCL Price Drop Policy

[Happy ks]

I was on the phone with Royal Caribbean checking something and I asked about a price drop. She informed me that it's not official but come tomorrow they are supposed to roll out something where there is no more refunds if you catch a price drop. You will receive OBC so you have to spend it on the ship. Well that just burns my bisquits completely. They are trying to encourage upgrading she told me. Said if you see a price drop they want you to upgrade rather than get any money back. And it will not be as simple as calling in and requesting your new price. She said that was all she could say to me until it's official.

 

How many times do we need reminding that customer service at RCI is hardly ever accurate? ;)

 

Wait until final word comes from them on the website or in their written material. We probably would use the majority of OBC, we average about $100 per day since we order a nice bottle of wine with dinner. The longest they would have our "extra cash" would be 60-90 days, we would not earn a whole lot of interest in that time fram, so it's not as huge an issue to us. Annoying, yes, but hardly anything to get all twisted up over.

[Gonzo70]

Ok, fine, let's go with flights. Pay in advance for service on a specific date. no way an airline will refund a difference if the price drops.

 

Southwest does (in the form of a credit toward a future flight).

 

Also with flights, price usually tends to go up as the date approcahes, so people have an incentive to book early. With cruises, price drops are fairly common occurences. Hence such a policy would hurt advance bookings. I honestly do not think Royal is doing a big favor by allowing price drops, but it is in their best interest. They want people's money far in advance (to pay down their debt) and also this creates a "foot in the door" - once a person makes a deposit they are far more likely to take the cruise. Now I could see them restricting price drops after final payment is due, but certainly not before. Carnival Corp. would be laughing all the way to the bank.

[akcruz]

I agree that I am happy if this does become a new policy, but look at it this way at least you can still get the $$ back at some point. Try asking for a price drop on some other lines (NCL for instance) and you will get a flat out NO!

[jmraggs]

I can believe this if it is implemented after final payment. Just this past weekend (after my final payment was paid last month) I saw a price reduction lower than what I paid for the cruise, so I called to obtain the price drop. That rep. did everything in her power to try and talk me into an upgrade instead of the refund which I thought was a little odd. When she found out that it wasn't going to work, she then tried to get me to book some excursions instead of giving me the credit.

 

To me, even if they applied it as an OBC I wouldn't care since I always pay the tips out of my on board account anyway in addition to other spending, I would just have less to pay at the end of the cruise.:D

 

Most airlines won't give refunds if they go below what I paid, so I can understand their point of view once it's after final payment.

[BobbyD]

Sorry, but that is a bad comparison. A flat screen TV you obtain and use shortly after purchasing. What we are talking about here is money that has been used as a deposit for a cruise at a future date (i.e. the product has not yet been used or delivered). Not quite the same thing.

 

True. I tried to slide it by but you were too quick!

[cruisinfanatic]

Because it is my money and I don't like people playing games with my money??

When you call RCL and request a price drop, you're playing with their money.

[KuffMUp]

Ok, fine, let's go with flights. Pay in advance for service on a specific date. no way an airline will refund a difference if the price drops.

 

I already had my plane tickets when I got a wild hair to do a B2B. I knew I would have to "eat" $300 ($150 pp) to "change" the tickets. To my surprise, the flight had dropped in price so I only had to fork over $20 to change my tickets. That was well worth it.

[Elizanessie]

I was on the phone with Royal Caribbean checking something and I asked about a price drop. She informed me that it's not official but come tomorrow they are supposed to roll out something where there is no more refunds if you catch a price drop. You will receive OBC so you have to spend it on the ship. Well that just burns my bisquits completely. They are trying to encourage upgrading she told me. Said if you see a price drop they want you to upgrade rather than get any money back. And it will not be as simple as calling in and requesting your new price. She said that was all she could say to me until it's official.

 

 

At least you wont be charged an admin fee of approx $50 per person for a price drop...unlike those of us here over the pond :mad:

[cruisinfanatic]

I would not be happy with that. We've have $800 in price drops for our 3 cabins for our upcoming cruise, and we would not need that much OBC ever.

Sure you could. Use OBC for tips. That would eat up a big chunk and if you really did have OBC left over, you can get it at the end of the cruise.

 

I would have no problem if this became policy. You are getting your money back, just a different way.

 

Someone said

Hard to stay loyal to RCL because of this? Give me A BREAK!!!!

Rcl very generous with their price refund policy. Even if this new rumor is true.

Much more than anyone else

[G'ma]

Fain announced this program in March in an inteview. Said he'd trade empty cabins for higher revenue and much less discounting.

 

No news here.....maybe implementation?

[Puffinater]

Because it is my money and I don't like people playing games with my money??

 

Once you have paid RCI the money is no longer yours.. so they are not playing games with your money...they are playing games with their money.

[critterchick]

Of course, I don't like this change in policy. But, would it really discourage people from booking early? I book 12 -18 months in advance so that I can get a low price.

 

I book 12-18 months in advance so I can get my favorite cabin. Although I will not pay more than what I consider to be a good price at the time, I do monitor prices and take advantage of every price drop that I can. I think the past year has been unusual simply because of the econony - RCI (and competitors) just cannot fill their ships.

 

Both Azamara and Celebrity have rolled out a "low price guarantee" program where, even after final payment, they guarantee you price drops. I would be mildly surprised to see RCI going the other way from their sister companies. Although neither sister company has to finance the Blunders of the Seas...

 

Can you still cash out your unused OBC? I thought they had changed the rules so that you actually had to spend it onboard and no refunds were allowed. Of course, you could take it out at the casino, but they add a 3% fee for the privilege.

[Gonzo70]

Fain announced this program in March in an inteview. Said he'd trade empty cabins for higher revenue and much less discounting.

 

No news here.....maybe implementation?

 

IMHO Fain was bluffing when he made that comment; reservations were down (because of the economy) and a lot of people were speculating about how low cruise fares would go. I think he made this comment to try and induce people who were waiting on the sidelines for prices to drop even further to start booking out of fear prices would soon go up. I doubt Mr. Fain ever intended to truly have ships sail with significant levels of empty cabins - too much lost revenue from onboard spending. He was using a little reverse psychology. I could be wrong, but that was my take on his comments.

[bajathree]

Ok, fine, let's go with flights. Pay in advance for service on a specific date. no way an airline will refund a difference if the price drops.

 

 

Both JetBlue and Southwest will give you a credit into your account for a future flight within a year if the price goes down....I just got over $500 back this past summer from JetBlue on my Bahamas flights....it was as easy as just calling, no questions asked and the money went into your airline account.

[ISABELLA]

Just cancel and rebook. They cannot stop that.

[bajathree]

I just can't see this happening....I would probably cancel all my reservations and just hold out if this were the case. Last April on Indy a D1 priced at $1739/pp 6 months before sailing...well in the end 3 weeks after final they dropped all balconies across the board (yes even D1's) to $899:eek:...that would of been an onboard credit of $1680...aint no way I would stick around to risk that happening:mad:

 

Lets just say that if that happened last year AND DURING EASTER SPRING BREAK WEEK that it will probably go even lower next year with Oasis now thrown into the picture, and the asking prices as of now are even higher than last year....the only thing you would be safe with is booking a suite since they almost never go down anyway:(at least not in peak sailings. If they did this I think that RCCL would have so much money pulled out from deposits their heads would spin.

This also brings up a very good point my wife and I just discussed...how could you be forced to upgrade if you have connecting cabins...what if you have connecting JS's and say all GS are sold out and there is nothing hight to move up into...this would create many many issues...just see it as disastrous for RCCL in a time when things are in real bad shape and they have so much ship out there they don't know how to fill it.....stupid policy.

[sandancer]

Just cancel and rebook. They cannot stop that.

Yes they can if you live in the UK. Cancel and you lose your deposit even if you cancel the next day. As Elizanessie also pointed out we have to PAY to get a price drop.

[bajathree]

Yes they can if you live in the UK. Cancel and you lose your deposit even if you cancel the next day. As Elizanessie also pointed out we have to PAY to get a price drop.

 

Paying $50 would be much better than possibly being forced to upgrade or have some stupid amount of money in an OBC...a $50 change fee i can see them implementing..but even with that it will just create more work for their accounting dept. Atlantis has this stupid $50 change fee...but yet if you just plain out cancel in their 60 day cancellation time frame you get a full refund....so all you do is cancel and rebook...it's real stupid and even reservations agrees...but that's what they do....some companies just don't get it:rolleyes:

 

Go ahead and try to implement this new policy and watch how many bookings vanish:eek:

[temple1]

IMHO Fain was bluffing when he made that comment; reservations were down (because of the economy) and a lot of people were speculating about how low cruise fares would go. I think he made this comment to try and induce people who were waiting on the sidelines for prices to drop even further to start booking out of fear prices would soon go up. I doubt Mr. Fain ever intended to truly have ships sail with significant levels of empty cabins - too much lost revenue from onboard spending. He was using a little reverse psychology. I could be wrong, but that was my take on his comments.

 

I agree, look at the rates for the next few weeks. True, the prices are not as low as last year, but significant reductions.

[Bookish Angel]

I was booked in an oceanview and I checked and noticed that the price for my category had gone done. I e-mailed my TA to inquire about a refund and she called me to say that RCL is no longer going to give refunds but emphasize upgrades, OBC. etc.

 

I took the upgrade to a guarantee balcony and an additional $50 OBC; I got a balcony cabin for about $1000 for a 9-day trip AND another $50 credit so I am completely pleased.

 

I might feel differently when I find out where my balcony cabin is located,but, what the heck, it might be great!

 

While it worked out great for me this time, I would feel differently if the refund would have been more than $400 or so.

 

RCL's new policy makes it even more important to shop for the best price you can get.

[pepsicruiser]

Ok, fine, let's go with flights. Pay in advance for service on a specific date. no way an airline will refund a difference if the price drops.

 

 

Southwest gives credit towards future flight for 1 year.

[livylotte]

:eek: Surely if you book a cruise with a 'price guarantee' it must be honoured?

 

I know when RCI brought in the new UK admin charges they were for new bookings (the old t&c's still apply until you change your booking) so perhaps 'if' RCI were to bring in new price drop rules then they would apply them to new bookings only?

[Elizanessie]

Paying $50 would be much better than possibly being forced to upgrade or have some stupid amount of money in an OBC...a $50 change fee i can see them implementing..but even with that it will just create more work for their accounting dept. Atlantis has this stupid $50 change fee...but yet if you just plain out cancel in their 60 day time frame you get a full refund....so all you do is cancel and rebook...it's real stupid and even reservations agrees...but that what they do....some companies just don't get it:rolleyes:

 

Go ahead and try to implement this new policy and watch how many booking vanish:eek:

 

 

If they do implement this new policy for you over the pond...watch out for other changes...oh yea $50 per person if you change cabin thats another of our new rules/charges. :mad: Now Steve just imagine how much that one would cost you :eek: ;)

[djneph]

Hey It could be worse. Carnival started doing this about a year ago. I did not no this and booked a cruise with them and later on found out their policy. After final payment date there are no price adjustments and no OBC. You can get a "free upgrade" but you will not get any OBC or refund on price drops once in penalty period.

 

However you can book ES (Early Saver Rates) and if there is a price drop after final payment you will get OBC for it. However, there is a $50pp cancel fee (even outside of penalty period) if you change or cancel sailing and the remainder of your deposit is given to as an FCC.

 

So it makes sense if RCI goes this route, sucks, but makes sense. One guy does it, then we should too. Kind of like the airlines, one guy started charging $15 for firts bag, now everyone does. One guy made it $20 for first bag (or $15 if you pay online before you flight date) and now everyone is doing it.

 

I would be ok with OBC after final payment date if the OBC is refundable (meaing if you don't use it you get cash back at the end of the sailing).

[critterchick]

Just cancel and rebook. They cannot stop that.

 

:eek: Surely if you book a cruise with a 'price guarantee' it must be honoured?

 

I know when RCI brought in the new UK admin charges they were for new bookings (the old t&c's still apply until you change your booking) so perhaps 'if' RCI were to bring in new price drop rules then they would apply them to new bookings only?

 

RCI doesn't offer a price guarantee. Their custom (in the US and Canada) has been to honor any price drops from the time of the original booking until the day the ship sails, even though virtually every booking on the Internet comes with the advisory that the price is applicable to new sailings only.