Don't expect the same price change consideration with RCI as with Disney or Carnival

RCI first timers planning to go on Grandeur out of Baltimore in May.

The prices for a room can fluctuate wildly, we understand that. But we have never gotten such staunch refusal of consideration of this from any other cruise line. Disney and Carnival bend over backwards to offer upgrades and credits to ensure you enjoy your stay without thinking of what you might have lost or saved. We had several hundreds of dollars in credits on our Disney honeymoon cruise because of price fluctuations and being sharp enough to catch them. We had excursions thrown in on Carnival. Nothing from RCI after a few calls. Can't do anything, sorry.

Definitely a bad first impression, at least to us. So the lesson to all of you other cost conscious cruisers out there, book late nothing outside of a month before or only when there are last minute sales with RCI or you might be sorry missing out on $500+ and still having to pay for the soft drink machine (and possibly getting Noro out of the whole mess. ok, low blow but I'm still a bit tweaked). OR book when you think the deal is good and never check again.

I've never tried a cruise agent but I've heard you need one for the good deals. What's your opinion value cruisers?

Hmmm, never had this problem...... have had two price drops and both times got my cruise fee adjusted. First time, got upgraded to a JS over a balcony for $200 bucks for 14 days, second time had the price adjusted, down by $175.00. I figure I have a JS for $25 more than I was willing to pay for a balcony.

Now if you had a cheap cruise, made your final payment, it's a week out, and they are blowing out the cabins at the last minute, then I would not expect them to meet the last minute sale prices.

With the Price that Disney charges, they should bend over backwards to do something for you!!!!

Before final payment = price adjusted. After final payment = no joy, including on Carnival, Princess, and HAL. Some people have reported luck in getting an upgrade, but my category is usually sold out and I have nowhere to go!:rolleyes:

Perhaps the OP is unaware of RCI's price drop policy, which is stated on the web site.

If it is before final payment, any price drop will be honored. If it is after final payment, you can upgrade if a higher category of cabin is available for a lower price. There is no longer an on board credit for price drops after final payment.

It has been several years since this policy was instituted.

I have a cruise booked for 2015 and just the other day there was an "early booking discount" offered. I called and my balance due was readjusted to reflect the discount.

I do miss the OBC for price drops after final payment, but I accept that RCI has the right to do business as they see fit. It would take a lot more to get me to leave a company that I trust and has always been wonderful to me.

Disney has no appeal to me and my DH refuses to even think about Carnival but if you find their policies more to your liking, perhaps you should return to them.

Hi Saroyen,

Welcome to Cruise Critic and your first post ever.

Of course, RCCL is neither Disney (unique) nor Carnival (thank goodness!)

After Grandeur, you will have no desire to return to Carnival!

Enjoy!

I just saved well over $400 on an August cruise... and always check my prices up to final payment. After final payment I've been able to secure cabin upgrades if regular prices drop drastically (not the last minute deals). I often sail on last minute deals... and other times, when I have a reason to book early, I just keep an eye out for price drops. But... if you want a specific cabin or need to insure you can get on a sailing... then it may cost you.

And your reference to Noro is out of line, inappropriate and has nothing to do with the price you pay for a cabin.

Before final payment = price adjusted. After final payment = no joy, including on Carnival, Princess, and HAL. Some people have reported luck in getting an upgrade, but my category is usually sold out and I have nowhere to go!:rolleyes:

And same on NCL... Before final payment you can deal but after final payment date: expect nothing.

It also depends on the TA, the first time I tried to get an upgrade that I needed to pay extra and had to 'feed' all the talking points to my TA. The 2nd time my TA was pretty savvy and had no problem getting it for us. Although these were after final payment, and we were paying more, my TAs had to haggle quite a bit.

Before final payment date upgrades in category or reductions in amount due were no problem.

I've never had a problem getting price drops before final payment, or upgrades after final payment. The exception being, of course deals that were for new bookings only. I'm not sure why this was an issue, but if you're getting better deals with Disney and it's before final payment, maybe you can switch to a Disney cruise.

And same on NCL... Before final payment you can deal but after final payment date: expect nothing.

 

NCL will give you OBC for 25% of the difference. Just called and got it yesterday.

Saroyen80,

Sorry for you first impression. IF you are after your final payment date there usually isn't an adjustment BUT sometimes they will give you an OBC. ;)

We had over $600.00 price drop on our last cruise over several months. Every time I called they were more than helpful and lowered our price. Have already gotten a price reduction on our next cruise! :D

Yes, you can get better deals at the last minute BUT most people aren't close enough to ports to do that! :o

There was no need for the "Noro" comment. Do you realize that the cruise industry is MANDATED by law to report "Noro" outbreaks. Hospitals, nursing homes, and any other public facility are NOT MANDATED by law to report outbreaks!

Yes, there have been outbreaks on the cruise lines lately . . . there is every winter! Wonder how many there have been at the hospital close to you? :confused:

I just hope that you will truly give RC a chance and not let this ruin your cruise with them. Attitude is everything! :)

NCL will give you OBC for 25% of the difference. Just called and got it yesterday.

Interesting, after final payment date? I'll keep that in mind.

OP - welcome to Cruise Critic. I hope you have a wonderful cruise despite not getting the price adjustment. Since you were not able to get a price adjustment I assume your cruise is getting pretty close? Since you must have been ok with the price when you booked just try to forget about the drop and enjoy your cruise. Kind of like when you book air fare. Since most airlines won't honor price drops I just book when I see a price I can live with and don't look back. Since I book early and usually book a specific cabin making most upgrades undesirable for me, I treat a cruise the same way as an airline after final payment. I stop looking for price drops at that point.

Since last minute cruises are out for us we get our best prices by booking as soon as the itineraries are out. That requires far ahead planning usually, but works. We check for price drops religiously, but very seldom get one below our original price. We have a cruise booked for October 2015 that has already gone up by over $300 for our E2 cabin and over $1,000 over the original price for a JS!:eek: Chances are that there will be some price drops in the future, but not likely below what we originally paid. We also get the best cabin selection by booking early.

Welcome to CC. We frequently sail out of Baltimore, and my experience is to book early, because prices tend to go up only. Even the great prices they offer close to final payment are higher than what I paid by booking early.

Booking late works for many ports, but I just don't see it working that way for Baltimore. At least not very often.

Saroyen80,

 

Sorry for you first impression. IF you are after your final payment date there usually isn't an adjustment BUT sometimes they will give you an OBC. ;)

They do not

Disney doesn't make price adjustments after the final payment date. If you see a lower IGT/OGT/VGT rate (inside/oceanview/verandah gty) - you have to cancel your current reservation and pay the penalty (loss of deposit at a minimum) to rebook at the lower price. Florida resident rates and possibly military rates are the only ones I'm aware of where you can get the lower price without paying a penalty.

I booked this cruise on Jan 10th 2014 and not sailing till Feb 5, 2015. I check the rates about every week. Well my cabin was an E 1 aft for 14 days. I seen that the E 1 cost went down. I call my TA on Monday and told him if I could get the lower price. This is what he sent me about 2 hours later.

The rate on your cruise went down and I have now applied the savings of $291.50 per person for a total of $583. I’ll send a revised invoice soon to confirm. How about that? You have more than paid for those upgraded airline seats with your savings!

We booked a D1 for $1109 on FOS 5/4 the day the itineraries were released last year. The price has done nothing but go up ever since. Today it is priced at $1179. Last Sunday the JS on that cruise dropped to $1249, so we upgraded. On Monday the JS price jumped to $1699, and the D1 jumped to $1279. Today the JS price dropped to $1199. I guess I could have kept watching, since I would have saved $50, but if I had waited until today to book the D1 I started with, it would have cost me $70 more than I originally paid.

so I'm either down $50, or up $20, but in the end, as long as I'm on a cruise, does it really matter?

Welcome to CC. We frequently sail out of Baltimore, and my experience is to book early, because prices tend to go up only. Even the great prices they offer close to final payment are higher than what I paid by booking early.

 

Booking late works for many ports, but I just don't see it working that way for Baltimore. At least not very often.

Thanks for that insight!

I priced our May cruise on the Grandeur back in January, but procrastinated and then wound up paying more for 2 balcony cabins than I was going to pay for the Royal Family Suite (which was, natch, no longer available). I kicked myself. But I thought the prices would go down! I booked after final payment so had to pay it all on the spot. Which also meant I missed out on switching my reservation to a TA that was offering a very nice OBC.

Live and learn!:rolleyes:

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll try not to let the lack of price change consideration make me a grump ;) However, we are close enough to Baltimore to book last minute so next time I think we'll wait until a month out to even look. If we'd done that we would have saved over five hundred bucks. If there isn't a last minute sale like this time maybe we can just putter around the Inner Harbor, heh.

This is talked about many times. Yep, after final payment all you can get is an upgrade. So, as the OP says, wait until about a month out.... or is it 3 weeks...or 2 weeks? We booked an 11 night on Legend a year before the cruise. 3 weeks later it went up $300 per person. By a "month out" it was over $1000 per person more. Glad we booked a year out. So by the same theory of economics, if I should get a refund having held the cabin of my choice out of inventory for a period of months, should I thus be able to demand that the price a year ago, if lower, is the price I should get if I wait until a month out?

This is how they run their business. If the price is good and you want to go on the cruise, book it. If it's too much, wait. If you go, you go, if you don't, you don't. But it's their business model. I bought a car, and a few months later, at the end of the model year, the remaining inventory went on sale. Should I get a refund on the model I wanted, in the color I wanted, just because the least sellable (not the color or amenities) are now on sale? Of course not. Same with cruises. The discounted cabins are the ones people don't, for whatever reason, book. They could make you give up that coveted stern balcony for one over the casino to get a refund, but they don't. Let's not totally screw this up.

I just wanted to add a little non-USA flavour into the mix. If you live in Australia and book with RCI then the T&C says that they WILL NOT do anything or give you any credit if the price drops unless you cancel and rebook. As you lose your deposit well before the final payment date (151 days out and you lose your deposit if you cancel) options for getting making a saving once booked are minimal. I understand that RCI works in the same or similar way for a lot of countries.

On a personal note with all of this I periodically read posts here from people who were willing to pay a particular price for a cruise, booked it and then get further reductions and it all seems so surreal.

I usually need to book in advance due to the fact that I work and need to schedule time off. As that is the case, I book what I am comfortable with. If I happen to find a reduction then that is gravy. I never count on this or expect it.

To the OP,

If you don't like it then don't book it.

If you live close to port and have flexibility in your travel time then by all means, wait until last minute.

Also, I think the pricing for near to travel date cruises are true of many cruise lines. They want to sell out and will offer upgrades on new reservations to help fill the ship.

I wish the price drop offers were available in the UK. Within a few days of booking a balcony the room next door price dropped to £500 cheaper. The travel agent I used said that R.C.I. would not adjust the price. I do not intend to book early next time but to wait for the better offers.

It's a roll of the dice:

2012 Allure: Booked 9 months out and watched the prices for an upgrade. The prices climbed and never declined even a week before the cruise.

2012 Freedom: Booked 9 months out. Upgraded twice after final payment because of price drops.

2014 Allure: Booked 9 months out. Took advantage of a $900 price drop 30 days from final payment.

2014 Celebrity Reflection: canceled 2 days before final payment because of family member was going through cancer treatment and possible surgery. Rebooked 2 weeks before sailing. Cabin was one door down from original booking, $50 more per person, lost my 123Go beverage package, and flights were up 50 percent.