montecarlo0407

I assume RCI doesn't have "retention specialists" like internet/cable companies, but do they even attempt to coax folks to not cancel?:confused:

No it's just a phone call. I just call and say I want to cancel this cruise. They cancel and refund my money.

Not intended to sound snarky but maybe ask what company be it cruise line, store, whatever would want to provide goods or services and loose money doing it ?

 

If they can't make money off our custom why would you think they want our business ?

 

And before the argument of "Well I booked 2 High Priced Cruises so I deserve a break" keep in mind each transaction has to stand on it's on profitability matrix.

 

If you want to cancel 2 other cruises, I suspect RCL will sell the cabins to someone else. Their ships are sailing full.

For the record I called reservations for a different cruise and reservations personally told me about the Majesty cruise. They gave me the price of the cruise took my money for the cruise and when resolutions opened at 9 am on the 10th they even lowered my price when they single supplemented the price. So Royal sold me the cruise and supervisors even re priced it lower. So on the 10th everyone at Royal was in agreement with the price of the cruise. It wasn't until the 11th they decided to change the price.

Yes when I cancel my many many more expensive cruises someone else will buy them. But I will have my money to use elsewhere. When enough people spend their money elsewhere that is when companies actually lose money.

The cruise lines are presently in an up for sales and in Florida we have many choices. But just like everything else what goes up must come down.

Royal Caribbean has been getting pretty slimy lately Jackie. You are fortunate that you live in Florida. But we are getting rather disenchanted with RC overall and their policies. Increased pricing, fraudulent charges for those darn water bottles, seriously negative changes in deposits and discounts, and the never ending not really a sale. Those are just some of the issues. Do they really want our business?

 

If you paid for the cruise or even placed a deposit...you have entered in to a contract and the price should be honored. Or it would be by reputable companies.

 

In our household we are looking more and more at all inclusive vacations as an alternative to cruising. :D

I have to agree. I didn't know that this was common practice for Royal to reprice paid for cruises. It looks like it is common practice. I was a very loyal to Royal person but after this and the pricing games time to look elsewhere for entertainment

I just received a shirt that I bought on-line from a U.S. web site. The breast pocket was placed incorrectly. I emailed them describing the issue and within an hour I got an email back, fully refunding the price and telling me not to send the shirt back, but to donate it to a local charity. I went back on line and ordered another shirt plus two others. The same thing happened with another on-line furniture retailer last year. That was for a $500 cabinet. One piece was defective, so they sent us a replacement cabinet and no need to pack up and return the old unit. We have since bought a lot of stuff from that retailer.

 

The moral of the stories - Good customer service gets rewarded. I just hope RCI's lousy customer service gets punished.

Well in my case this is a very cheap Majesty cruise and if they can't honor that price then my very expensive Harmony and Symphony cruises will be cancelled. It looks like Royal doesn't need my business.

That's interesting. Years ago there was a glitch with Nationals tickets where they were being offered for $1.20 rather than $12.00, and they ended up honoring the cheaper price for those who purchased.

 

Its a tough situation. Unless the low price was insanely low and obviously an error (ie, $.99 per night rather than $99), I'd think they should honor the "deal" you got. Otherwise I'd be concerned that they could just claim "glitch" anytime they felt like raising the fares for those already booked.

That is exactly my concern. If they are able to successfully do this they can do it anytime.

October 6, 2017

Same thing happened for every Majesty cruise booked for any weekends in September and October. They are calling everyone and repricing the cruises to a higher price. My cruise was bought and paid for. They called me the next day and said they were raising the price and I could cancel if I didn't like it.

Yes they would, because they would take extra care to make sure that mistake never happened again since the loss would come out of their own pocket. The difference here(and elsewhere) is that Royal Caribbean is a corporation owned by its shareholders who are not exactly decision makers. They pay a president or CEO to make them money. The only reason to care about the customer is only if it has an effect on profits.

 

If Royal Caribbean had an actual decision making owner, I would bet they would have worked out all their IT problems by now. Instead there is probably some number cruncher reporting to the shareholders and president how it is cheaper to continue with the current IT problems than to fix it appropriately. Or possibly someone sugar coating the IT problem to the powers that be making it seem insignificant.

In the mean time they are repricing everyone's cruise that they booked on Wednesday. They need to honor the prices and get a new IT department. Don't make their customers pay for thier mistakes

Having a similar problem with FOTS , have it on hold and now their telling me it was a pricing mistake and want $220.00 more for the cabin.

The cabin went from a D2 to and E2 suddenly.

I have my TA fighting it out with them.

Good luck they aren't budging. They just are replacing everyone's cruise that booked on Wednesday

I would try what Bob suggested but yes they can do that. I recall awhile ago there was some kind of pricing glitch on their website and they called and cancelled everyone's bookings.

 

I think I saw that glitch as well. I was looking at a 5 day cruise on the BR out of Tampa and it was showing OV cabins at $200 pp. When I followed thru on the bookings the correct much higher price showed.

It is unethical. They sell the cruises as in my case reservations sold me the cruise took full payment next day they called and raised my price. They should honor their prices.

Did you put the cruises on hold using Royal's website? If so, I'd try to put the deposit down now (assuming you are outside of final payment period) and see if you get your original price.

What is happening is everyone who booked on Wednesday is getting calls from Royal telling them the price was wrong and they are raising the price of their cruise. I had Majesty bought and paid for. Next day they call me tell me the price was wrong and raised my price.

Same thing happened today for the 9/7/18 sailing on the Majesty. What date for you?

I booked Majesty on the 10th through reservations called directly booked it paid it off. Got a call last night saying the price was wrong so they raised the price of my cruise after it was paid for.

I have been checking prices on Enchantment of the Seas for a 3 day cruise in the fall with some friends. This is an annual trip that we take and we have always gotten a pretty good deal and always had a blast! So far the prices have been higher than we have paid in the past so we have not put down a deposit yet.

 

However, on Wednesday when I checked the inside cabins were significantly priced lower. We usually get balconies, but thought the difference in price was worth foregoing the balcony experience for a short cruise. I put 6 cabins on hold and sent all of my friends the booking confirmations. Deposits are due on Saturday.

 

BUT...today I got a call from RCCL and they said the pricing was a mistake and we could either cancel or get current pricing with a $100 on board credit. I have confirmations, showing the price we booked...can they do this? (Of course, I know they can, because they just did!) But I am really frustrated since I was so excited to finally find a good fare and now it is taken away. Unfortunately, I have to be the bearer of bad news to my friends!

It is wrong they need to stand behind their price send a letter to mbayley@rccl.com. Tell him stand behind the price. They are doing this to everyone who booked on Wednesday and it is wrong they need to honor the price.

Here's a first...Price on the Majesty of the Seas yesterday for 9/7/18 was $200.53/pp for a 3 nt. cruise.

RCL calls today and canceled the booking because they said RCL had made an error in the price. But as a gesture of "good will" the Pinnacle member can get a $50.00/pp OBC if they accept the corrected price of $380.53/pp.

 

 

 

Has it ever happened to you?

Oh you got cheated I was offered 100.00 OBC as a Pinnacle member. Yes I called reservations on May 10 to book a cruise. They told me about the Majesty cruises and yes every weekend cruise in September and October was 90.00 pp plus tax. I booked one for my husband and paid it in full. 10:30 last night I get a call from Royal saying there was a glitch in the system and they had to reprice my cruise. If I didn't like it I could cancel. They are doing to everyone who booked cruises during that glitch

I wrote to mbayley@rccl.com. To tell him his company needs to honor the price. It is unethical to raise a price after the cruise is booked. I would suggest everyone this is happening to write him.

700 points in 5 years: 140 points per year, or 10 7-night cruises at double points. Very possible, especially if you live in Florida.

Double points only started about 2 years ago. So for 3 years even thought I was paying double I was getting single points and the first 7 cruises I didn't travel solo. Diamonds in December helped too. I did that twice.

My very first Royal Caribbean cruise was January 2011 on the Freedom of the Seas. January 2016 Freedom of the Seas I became Pinnacle. Yes I did a lot of cruising in those 5 years. A lot of suites. I averaged about 18 cruises a year 2 to 3 transatlantics a year. So yes I did make it to Pinnacle in 5 years. Yes I live in Florida but I have also flew to as many cruises as I took from Florida.

I am very happy they changed their minds about taking away the balcony discount for less than 6 months. I am also happy that Pinnacle gets an extra $25.00 balcony discount.

my response from corporate today when I wrote about losing the balcony discount:

Today, I am happy to share with you, we will not be going through with that change to your benefit. However, we will still be appreciating our guests this week, by letting them enjoy the Balcony & Suite Discount amount from the tier above their current status.

This was the last straw for me. We are switching to Princess. I'm pretty tired of the way things are going at Royal. We are only Diamond, so we aren't worth much to them anyway.

I am a new Pinnacle and not worth much to them either

I had stopped buying the next cruise/decide later certificates since the %25 was a joke and not worth bothering with but now they may have value again if we can trust RCCL not to change their policies later on down the road.

 

"4. What if my client makes a “Decide Later” booking through NextCruise outside of the 6

months but decide on the cruise within 6 months of sailing? Will we honor the discount?

Yes, in this case, the discount will be honored within 6 months of the sail date."

 

So my dilemma is do I purchase a bunch of certificates (10-20) on my upcoming Sept 4th cruise to hopefully protect the <6 month out discount? 90% of the cruises we book are within 6 months and many within 1 month of sailing. The concern is that RCCL will change their policy and the certificates will be worthless again Currently I am holding about 15 that were purchased back when they had the $100 and friends and family discount which should last me 2 maybe 3 years.

 

Any thoughts?

With the new rules of booking on board and penalties for changing I won't be booking on board anymore

That's good to hear. Sometimes the 30% off for a JS is close to the C&A balcony discount.

No I get my 30% and my balcony discount as of today who knows how it will go tomorrow

I didn't know that had changed. When we booked onboard Liberty in February, they recommended we book a higher category to get the bigger OBC. I never would have done it otherwise.

Nancy that is why they changed it. Crown and Anchor did tell me a few months ago that they were trying to stop the Next Cruise from suggesting the higher categories for more OBC. But now that they told you to book the higher category, you will be the one that has to pay for the changes you make in your cruise.

It's not so much that there are new rules. They have actually just closed a loophole that was allowing people to take advantage of the NCC.

 

People were able to book a longer cruise and take the high OBC instantly and then change it to a shorter cruise. Same with booking a suit and then changing to an inside. That was never how the instant OBC was supposed to work and people were taking advantage of that loophole.

 

At the end of the day you are still getting exactly what you paid for and are not out any money, you just received less OBC.

I agree with that part but I am trying to change a 6 night balcony to a 7 or 9 night balcony and they are saying I will have to lose part of my deposit and have put down the full deposit required for the cruise I am trying to book to. I think they went from one extreme to the other.

Just called crown and anchor and according to their documentation it is still set to lose the balcony discount for less than 6 months out. But they are tracking who is calling to voice their concerns and it could make a difference. So if you haven't voiced with Royal do so. I nicely told Diamond plus desk that it will make a difference in my cruising.

On top of taking away the balcony discount has anyone checked out the new rules for bookings made on board? Request a new booking invoice for anyone of your cruises booked. The rules for making a change to them result in major penalties. I have no clue what they just did and why. I have a lot of cruises booked. There is one I would like to change to a longer sailing. I just don't feel like spending two weeks not that ship. Well after the hoops I would have had to jump through I just gave up.

But with these changes if I want to cruise less than 6 months out do it on another cruise line and don't bother booking on board. Living in Central Florida we are getting new ships other than Oasis in Port Canaveral. I have never been on a Disney cruise time to check it out along with the Epic.

Sad it only took me 5 years to make Pinnacle and now time to cruise another line.

This is very true we do lose our balcony discount if we book less than 6 months. This was a benefit I used a lot this was a reason for being loyal to Royal. This was a benefit no one else had. Now if they take the benefit away as they are doing time to explore other lines. I haven't finished seeing the world yet. I was hoping to do it with Royal. It won't be long and the balcony discount will be gone all together.

No more mailed luggage tags. No fun. I guess I will place that order with Amazon.

As far as price drops. I have such great prices on the cruises I am keeping I didn't get any price drops. I did however managed to snag an ocean Balcony for 1800.00 single supplement on the Harmony TA from a travel agent that had one left in their group. The new 60% second person sale is the first sale I have found that really gave me great prices on new bookings. I don't know how it affects solo's but it did. I had to move a bunch of bookings yesterday and I probably saved 3 to 4 hundred per booking and I was only doing Oasis from PC.