MAD as a Wet Hen

Family vacation booked on the Allure for Dec 6th this year. Paid final deposit yesterday. TODAY less than 24hrs RCI offering a GGG sale.....saving per cabin $600! I called and was told Too Bad.....the rules are the rules are the rules. Not very happy. Really put a sale out like that less then 24 hours after final date?

Check if any better category staterooms also came down in price. You may be able to upgrade for little or no extra cost.

Check if any better category staterooms also came down in price. You may be able to upgrade for little or no extra cost.

Sad to say that the upgrade cabin has to "cost"more and in this case even a D3 is pricing lower than the D8 they are booked in :-( So no upgrade NO OBC no nothing. Period end of story.

Family vacation booked on the Allure for Dec 6th this year. Paid final deposit yesterday. TODAY less than 24hrs RCI offering a GGG sale.....saving per cabin $600! I called and was told Too Bad.....the rules are the rules are the rules. Not very happy. Really put a sale out like that less then 24 hours after final date?

You do understand the reasoning for this? In all businesses with perishable products, IE. seats or cabins one price may hold until all pre-booked space has been paid for. Some people bail the day before the final payment is due and now even if the place was sold out there are available spaces. The best way to bring the product back to filled capacity at this point is to offer discounts. However, if they offer the discount to everyone, then in reality they are losing a huge amount of revenue and that is not business.

Next time, do not book the cruise until the day after the final payments are due and look for that deep discount (of course you may not get the cabin you want and maybe no one bails so there is no need for the discount. Life is not fair. Always start with this premise and you will have far fewer disappointments.

Sad to say that the upgrade cabin has to "cost"more and in this case even a D3 is pricing lower than the D8 they are booked in :-( So no upgrade NO OBC no nothing. Period end of story.

Any JS getting a lower price?

You do understand the reasoning for this? In all businesses with perishable products, IE. seats or cabins one price may hold until all pre-booked space has been paid for. Some people bail the day before the final payment is due and now even if the place was sold out there are available spaces. The best way to bring the product back to filled capacity at this point is to offer discounts. However, if they offer the discount to everyone, then in reality they are losing a huge amount of revenue and that is not business.

 

Next time, do not book the cruise until the day after the final payments are due and look for that deep discount (of course you may not get the cabin you want and maybe no one bails so there is no need for the discount. Life is not fair. Always start with this premise and you will have far fewer disappointments.

We felt comfortable booking after the CEO (then Fain)made this statement to the media

The cruise line usually offers discounted fares on trips booked anywhere from a week to a month ahead of the ship setting sail. The program was enacted to help fill ships that are under capacity but reportedly upset customers who booked travel early and were unable to qualify to for the discounted rates. Fain also said the deals “confuse travel agents” and “undermine the company’s brand image.”

"As a result in March we adopted a new policy that we would not do any last minute discounts on bookings in North America. Depending on the type of cruise, that last minute may be 10, 20 or 30 days out, but from that point on we will hold our price at the prior level,” Fain continued.

You paid extra for the peace of mind of knowing that you would get on the ship you want, on the dates you want, in the cabin you want. Some people are willing to risk not getting everything they want in order to save money, and they're being rewarded right now. Meanwhile you have been rewarded for the last X months by not having to worry about whether or not your vacation would happen. It's all a tradeoff.

Family vacation booked on the Allure for Dec 6th this year. Paid final deposit yesterday. TODAY less than 24hrs RCI offering a GGG sale.....saving per cabin $600! I called and was told Too Bad.....the rules are the rules are the rules. Not very happy. Really put a sale out like that less then 24 hours after final date?

Trust me, it's every cruiseline. I'm booked with Princess, booked few days after final payment. 2 days after booking, they began offering a $100 OBC per cabin plus my original cabin was $300 less per person. I called them and the answer was simple; "It's only good for new bookings." :mad:

Any JS getting a lower price?

Sadly no. Currently only 1 JS available and the cost is considerably higher the any of the standard BL categories.

Do you have a link? I just looked at the present ggg sale on c&a and allure is not listed for any date in dec. Nor for any cat.

You do understand the reasoning for this? In all businesses with perishable products, IE. seats or cabins one price may hold until all pre-booked space has been paid for. Some people bail the day before the final payment is due and now even if the place was sold out there are available spaces. The best way to bring the product back to filled capacity at this point is to offer discounts. However, if they offer the discount to everyone, then in reality they are losing a huge amount of revenue and that is not business.

 

Next time, do not book the cruise until the day after the final payments are due and look for that deep discount (of course you may not get the cabin you want and maybe no one bails so there is no need for the discount. Life is not fair. Always start with this premise and you will have far fewer disappointments.

Dead spot on.

Do you have a link? I just looked at the present ggg sale on c&a and allure is not listed for any date in dec. Nor for any cat.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/booking/setDepartureInfo/checkAvailability.do

OP I feel your pain, this has happened to me on several occasions. It's frustrating for sure, but you just have to book at a price you're comfortable with & try not to get too worked up over any big price drops after final payment date.

We felt comfortable booking after the CEO (then Fain)made this statement to the media

 

The cruise line usually offers discounted fares on trips booked anywhere from a week to a month ahead of the ship setting sail. The program was enacted to help fill ships that are under capacity but reportedly upset customers who booked travel early and were unable to qualify to for the discounted rates. Fain also said the deals “confuse travel agents” and “undermine the company’s brand image.”

 

"As a result in March we adopted a new policy that we would not do any last minute discounts on bookings in North America. Depending on the type of cruise, that last minute may be 10, 20 or 30 days out, but from that point on we will hold our price at the prior level,” Fain continued.

I had missed the part i put in red when i first read his statement. When you really read it he never said they will not drop prices at all after final payment. They just were not going to offer the last minute deals that they used to in the days/weeks leading up to a sailing.

While I understand your frustration, at this point I would not even bother looking at the pricing of your cruise unless you are looking to maybe upgrade to a higher class cabin. I do hope that you were comfortable with what you paid originally. I know the extra money off would be great, but I am sure that you will still have an awesome vacation.

I thought you could upgrade if the price of the higher cabin category is the same or less than what you paid as long as it is not for New Bookings Only??

OP did you try calling a second time?

After I book, I closely follow pricing to see if I can get perks or a reduced price. But once I've made final payment, I save myself a lot of potential frustration by avoiding all new pricing information. I can understand why deadlines need to be followed, but I know how you must feel.

Family vacation booked on the Allure for Dec 6th this year. Paid final deposit yesterday. TODAY less than 24hrs RCI offering a GGG sale.....saving per cabin $600! I called and was told Too Bad.....the rules are the rules are the rules. Not very happy. Really put a sale out like that less then 24 hours after final date?

So why did you think the rules wouldn´t apply to you?

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/booking/setDepartureInfo/checkAvailability.do

I still don't see the ggg sale that's on the c&a site, just the regular rci site.

The prices on your link are all still higher than when we booked even though 2 of them say deal. You must have booked at the peak of the pricing for this cruise

So why did you think the rules wouldn´t apply to you?

Did they SAY that? No. They didn't. Why try to stuff words in their mouth. Besides, on this page daily you read how rules don't apply to people whether it be onboard policies, booking policies, insurance policies, etc.

You wouldn't be steamed if the day after final payment was due the cost of your cabin dropped by $600? I would be. have a little empathy.

To the original poster; I would try calling Resolutions at least and perhaps they will offer you to move to a better category cabin at least. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and it's worth trying for if it bothers you this much. You'll be in no "worse" position than you are now in any event.

I still don't see the ggg sale that's on the c&a site, just the regular rci site.

 

The prices on your link are all still higher than when we booked even though 2 of them say deal. You must have booked at the peak of the pricing for this cruise

We booked almost a year ago. Paid $2375 for a D8 - it now pricing @ $2075 for a D6 on GGG

So why did you think the rules wouldn´t apply to you?

I understand what the rules are. BUT when the CEO tells the media that this sort of sale concept is not longer going to be offered I believed him. When a sale occurs LESS then 24hr after a final payment date it seems as though RCI could care less about there loyal cruisers. This sale was posted @ Midnight and I paid our final payment @ 8p. That a little calis don't you think?

You paid extra for the peace of mind of knowing that you would get on the ship you want, on the dates you want, in the cabin you want. Some people are willing to risk not getting everything they want in order to save money, and they're being rewarded right now. Meanwhile you have been rewarded for the last X months by not having to worry about whether or not your vacation would happen. It's all a tradeoff.

Very much agree with you! I want exactly what I want and can't deal with the "waiting" stress. :)

LuLu

I still don't see the ggg sale that's on the c&a site, just the regular rci site.

 

 

LEAVING FROM:

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

CRUISE:

7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise

TRAVEL DATES:

Sun 6 Dec - Sun 13 Dec 2015

TOTAL GUESTS:

2

SHIP:

Allure Of The Seas

STATEROOM:

11304

Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony

TOTAL:

$ 2,081.94 USD

View Summary of Charges

Next you'll tell us about who's traveling

 

 

This is another one I booked - savings $290

We booked almost a year ago. Paid $2375 for a D8 - it now pricing @ $2075 for a D6 on GGG

That's high for a d8, that's a d2 or close to d1 for us. We booked over 18 months ago and of the cabins left they are all higher than those prices. Anyway, if you click on the "deals" word at the top of the rci site it takes you straight to the ggg sale and allure is not listed for anything.

It's all part of the booking game! Some people book early - get the cabins they want, Watch for sales to drop their rate. Others will wait for a last-minute deal, their trade-off is that they may not get the cabin they want. Personally - I am in the second group - have always gotten great rates and great locations. Sometimes rates have dropped even lower than I paid- it's just part of the cruise lines game!