Frustrated with the deception

Hi all,

I am very frustrated.

Earlier in the week, Royal Caribbean advised to hold off on purchasing a beverage package as on black Friday it would either go down from $48 to $42 or $44 per day or would remain at $48 and include internet.

I held off on purchase, and while Royal Caribbean is advertising the current price as 30% off, it has gone up $6 a day.

1) RCL misinformed me and I should not have held off as the price went up not down.

2) Why is RCL advertising this as 30% off when it is the highest I've ever seen it for my December sailing. This is misleading or an outright lie.

3) Why would RCL increase the price on black Friday? I would have purchased it earlier had they not suggested I wait.

Very frustrated by the misinformation and the misleading advertising.

Welcome to RCI's definition of a sale - for your convenience. As has been mentioned in several threads, buy the package when you see a good price and cancel/rebook if it gets even better.

When you want to buy something, buy it at a price that's ok with you...if the price goes DOWN, you can cancel it and rebook....but you'd be locked into the price you paid if it rises....

Should have bought it then when the price was low. If the price went down (on black friday), you could have canceled your original package and purchased it at its new price........ I never trust royal for their prices "sale prices". If it looks good to me at the time I buy, and if the price gets better i cancel and then buy at the sale price......

Seems to us that it does lead to distrust in the products sold by RCCL .If RCCL wants to run their business this way ,it is their choice ;however ,we all have other options to buy in this industry :cool:

Seems to us that it does lead to distrust in the products sold by RCCL .If RCCL wants to run their business this way ,it is their choice ;however ,we all have other options to buy in this industry :cool:

And all of the mass market lines do the same things, as a perusing of this whole site demonstrates.

Never read the words, always do the math.

You are all correct in your responses. However, the OP did put the effort into calling RCI and went with the advice he was given. I do have empathy for his complaint.

And all of the mass market lines do the same things, as a perusing of this whole site demonstrates.

 

Never read the words, always do the math.

Not so ,when we sail Holland America these sales pitches are rare ( art gallery ) & only in shops on board & they are more refined :D

If you feel that you were mislead, call Royal Caribbean and tell them so. Remember, Royal Caribbean records ALL THEIR CALLS. If the agent, specifically told you to hold off until Black Friday because the price would go down, and I mean specifically said it, then you have a case. If she said, well, it might go down, then that is a different story, she would have just been speculating based on past experience. It is buyer beware!!!

Seems RCCI is annoying a lot of people lately with lots of their tactics. Their non-sale sales are one of them, among so many other issues. I also waited, and signing on to their site tonight, it says everything on sale save 30%. Then click into your cruise and the price is more than it was two days ago. It is getting really old. People are getting tired of their tactics. Will be interesting to see how all plays out. Loyal Royal fans are dropping like flies. Very sad to see.

Myself and at least one other person here tried to book a cruise that is currently on their website that states sky class perks with a balcony room. Both myself and they spoke with people at Royal and they will not honor it.

I even booked 2 rooms last night with the agent telling me it was a new promotion. I asked this person several times if they were sure the room would get these perks, was told yes. Called today to inquire about something on my booking and guess what? No perks. I spoke to several people at Royal who all said they could see it as well but nope, not going to honor it. Spoke with the resolutions center and they told me the same thing. They can see it, but won’t honor it. I told the agent I spoke with someone last night and they assured me I would getting it, even stated it was a new promotion. Told her to pull the call. Her response? “We don’t record all of our calls”. That was it. She was not going to even try and pull it.

This is still on their website 24 hours after I booked my rooms last night. I feel sorry for the people who booked online and will show up not knowing they will not get what they thought they paid for.

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Here Here Yup, I totally agree with Cruz4natic. I have 11 more days before I get to Diamond, and then I will be continuing with Princess as I am Elite over there. What has really bothered me with RCCL are the endless "supposed sales" on the RCCL website. It looks like a good deal and then you find out that it is a true loss leader with the cheap price coming with that nasty non refundable deposit; that is the most annoying!! Second most annoying is that there is no longer any incentive to book on board as it appears that you have to now decide which ship you plan on sailing while you are enjoying your cruise. I thought it used to be called NEXT CRUISE meaning buy your refundable deposit cruise credit and then decide in the future which cruise you want to take and when you take that future cruise, you get some OBC depending on the length and category. That is very annoying and I will not be buying those any more. Thirdly, after final payment, the cruise falls a fair amount and one has to fight tooth and nail to get anything back (which we did in the form of an OBC but only because my husband is a great litigator). As I said, once I get that Diamond Status, I will take a little break from RCCL.

What is you sail date? The sale is only for cruises 12/7 and later.

Thanks for the heads up on the discounts. Here in Oz we don't do the Black Friday thing, but it is something we keep an eye on. The Beverage packages were reduced a few weeks ago here, and I missed out. But the Black Friday (or whatever the reason) sale has reduced the drinks packages for our next cruise here in Oz by about 1/3 they were a few days ago. I guess it depends what they are applied to.

Thanks.

Hi all,

 

I am very frustrated.

 

Earlier in the week, Royal Caribbean advised to hold off on purchasing a beverage package as on black Friday it would either go down from $48 to $42 or $44 per day or would remain at $48 and include internet.

 

I held off on purchase, and while Royal Caribbean is advertising the current price as 30% off, it has gone up $6 a day.

 

1) RCL misinformed me and I should not have held off as the price went up not down.

2) Why is RCL advertising this as 30% off when it is the highest I've ever seen it for my December sailing. This is misleading or an outright lie.

3) Why would RCL increase the price on black Friday? I would have purchased it earlier had they not suggested I wait.

 

Very frustrated by the misinformation and the misleading advertising.

You are on a holiday cruise. They are dealing with those differently this year.

You are responsible for "doing your homework". You are on these boards constantly; you know how RC works. You should have taken everyone's advice: Book when you like the price; cancel & rebook if it goes down.

Seems RCCI is annoying a lot of people lately with lots of their tactics. Their non-sale sales are one of them, among so many other issues. I also waited, and signing on to their site tonight, it says everything on sale save 30%. Then click into your cruise and the price is more than it was two days ago. It is getting really old. People are getting tired of their tactics. Will be interesting to see how all plays out. Loyal Royal fans are dropping like flies. Very sad to see.

No, it doesn't.

It say UP TO 30% off.

Read.

Here Here Yup, I totally agree with Cruz4natic. I have 11 more days before I get to Diamond, and then I will be continuing with Princess as I am Elite over there. What has really bothered me with RCCL are the endless "supposed sales" on the RCCL website. It looks like a good deal and then you find out that it is a true loss leader with the cheap price coming with that nasty non refundable deposit; that is the most annoying!! Second most annoying is that there is no longer any incentive to book on board as it appears that you have to now decide which ship you plan on sailing while you are enjoying your cruise. I thought it used to be called NEXT CRUISE meaning buy your refundable deposit cruise credit and then decide in the future which cruise you want to take and when you take that future cruise, you get some OBC depending on the length and category. That is very annoying and I will not be buying those any more. Thirdly, after final payment, the cruise falls a fair amount and one has to fight tooth and nail to get anything back (which we did in the form of an OBC but only because my husband is a great litigator). As I said, once I get that Diamond Status, I will take a little break from RCCL.

Celebrity is moving to most of those policies also.

It also depends on your specific cruise and ship.

I just checked, and the beverage package (Black Friday sale) on our Aug 18 Grandeur cruise IS $43 per person per day.

You are on a holiday cruise. They are dealing with those differently this year.

 

You are responsible for "doing your homework". You are on these boards constantly; you know how RC works. You should have taken everyone's advice: Book when you like the price; cancel & rebook if it goes down.

The OP took the time to call and talk to an RCI representative. You don't call that doing your homework? He put in a good effort. Unfortunately, sometimes RCI's reps. are just plain wrong and it doesn't always appear that the company is putting in much effort to correct that.

Celebrity is moving to most of those policies also.

That must be why that poster is going with Princess.

No, it doesn't.

 

It say UP TO 30% off.

 

Read.

No kidding. Added to the individual price discounts shown for each individual item offered...all one has to do is read it to understand.

You are all correct in your responses. However, the OP did put the effort into calling RCI and went with the advice he was given. I do have empathy for his complaint.

If you take his recounting at face value. We do not know how the RC rep phrased the "advice". And that's something else that habitual users of this forum learn: far better advice is given by posters than by RC reps.

😊

That must be why that poster is going with Princess.

That's what I get for posting in the middle of the night. 😉 I was distracted by the word "Elite".

But Princess adopting many of these policies would not surprise me. 😉

That's what I get for posting in the middle of the night. 😉 I was distracted by the word "Elite".

 

But Princess adopting many of these policies would not surprise me. 😉

I guess we all have insomnia from time to time.:D

Folks, you are complaining to the wrong people. CC people already know about the 'shady' advertising practices. It's the real media who need to write some stories on these practices to warn the general public.

'Shady Cruise Advertising Practices - Things You Should Look Out For' sounds like something a lot of folks would click on. If it got enough clicks, it might just motivate the cruise industry to make some changes.