Nonrefundable fares - WATCH YOUR RATE

This morning I had a frightening experience where my booking seems to have lost the promotional rate I had booked. As a result my remaining balance increased by thousands of dollars. (I got a really good promotion)

After 20 minutes on the phone with RC the rep says the rate has been fixed and explained they have a glitch in their system which caused my promotions to drop off my booking. They don't know why or have a plan to fix it, but they are investigating.

He said something about nonrefundable fares being new for them and that the problem is somehow related to that.

Long story short - keep a close eye on your remaining balance to make sure you don't have any unpleasant surprises.

Royal Caribbean, if you're reading this, fix this problem and offer some goodwill gesture to affected customers. The man on the phone told me there was nothing he could offer me for the 20 minutes I spent on the phone getting them to correct their glitch. :mad:

Every week someone comes up with another lame excuse for seeking a freebie.

This morning I had a frightening experience where my booking seems to have lost the promotional rate I had booked. As a result my remaining balance increased by thousands of dollars. (I got a really good promotion)

 

After 20 minutes on the phone with RC the rep says the rate has been fixed and explained they have a glitch in their system which caused my promotions to drop off my booking. They don't know why or have a plan to fix it, but they are investigating.

 

He said something about nonrefundable fares being new for them and that the problem is somehow related to that.

 

Long story short - keep a close eye on your remaining balance to make sure you don't have any unpleasant surprises.

 

Royal Caribbean, if you're reading this, fix this problem and offer some goodwill gesture to affected customers. The man on the phone told me there was nothing he could offer me for the 20 minutes I spent on the phone getting them to correct their glitch. :mad:

We've also had this happen.

Explanation is something about "whenever you make online changes to your booking it defaults out of the promotion"

We added our C&A numbers to the booking and our promotional rate went up 1000's.

Depends on who answers the phone over there. The person that helped us took approx 90 seconds to diagnose and fix the problem.............

Every week someone comes up with another lame excuse for seeking a freebie.

kinda rude! the op`s time has value, as does mine and yours!

I had a similar experience about a month ago. I booked a last minute discounted cruise, with nonrefundable fare, and paid in full. I received an email receipt. When later I logged in to My Cruises, the price listed was double and it said I still owed about $700. Full payment was due since I booked late, and I was worried the cruise would automatically be cancelled for nonpayment of the incorrect remainder. I spent at least an hour online with RCI trying to get it resolved. I finally did, after being put on hold multiple times, with the rep having to consult various higher ups.

That's happened to me. Quick 5 min call fixed it. I have to be honest it never occurred to me to ask for anything. Glitches happen.

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Long story short - keep a close eye on your remaining balance to make sure you don't have any unpleasant surprises.

 

:mad:

Mine is still ok, but thanks for posting. I have that remaining balance committed to memory on the only cruise I did with the NRF.

The same thing has happened on my last two bookings, the last occurrence this week. I paid in full and then pull up my reservation online and it says I still owe over $800.

I had to wait on hold for 25 minutes to get it fixed, but it never occurred to me to expect an upgrade to a Royal Suite or any other compensation for my time.

It is NOT just RCCL that has been doing regular & non refundable deposits .Ran into this much higher price situation with a Holland America cruise ,we wanted to book .:(We wound up NOT booking because of the much higher price difference . With Holland we could have taken out their Platinum insurance which gives back 90% if cancelled for ANY Reason . but ,it is just the idea of NOT liking a 2 tier price system :mad:

Fortunately we only book with certain Travel Agents with whom we have a lot of past bookings & they explained the differences .:D

Imo the only protection that a person has against the cruise line computers making mistakes is to book with a reliable travel agent ,who sends you your deposit invoice ;which includes your total price of the cruise ,you booked ,the deposit amount, your cabin number selection , any on board credit amounts in dollars ,, if you have pre paid gratuities & if you bought either the cruise line insurance or outside insurance with your travel agent . Doing this then you have No hassles come final payment & documentation . The Travel Agent is responsible for making sure your booking is accurate .;)

This happens all the time and is reported here. It's happened to me twice.

I just assume that the requested "good will gesture" is included in the rate I'm already paying.

You don't know sticker shock on one of these random price change errors until the fifth passenger in a suite (who has to be on a separate booking number due to system limitations) gets repriced from an additional passenger rate to the prevailing rate for a solo suite booking.

It is NOT just RCCL that has been doing regular & non refundable deposits .Ran into this much higher price situation with a Holland America cruise ,we wanted to book .:(We wound up NOT booking because of the much higher price difference . With Holland we could have taken out their Platinum insurance which gives back 90% if cancelled for ANY Reason . but ,it is just the idea of NOT liking a 2 tier price system :mad:

 

Fortunately we only book with certain Travel Agents with whom we have a lot of past bookings & they explained the differences .:D

 

Imo the only protection that a person has against the cruise line computers making mistakes is to book with a reliable travel agent ,who sends you your deposit invoice ;which includes your total price of the cruise ,you booked ,the deposit amount, your cabin number selection , any on board credit amounts in dollars ,, if you have pre paid gratuities & if you bought either the cruise line insurance or outside insurance with your travel agent . Doing this then you have No hassles come final payment & documentation . The Travel Agent is responsible for making sure your booking is accurate .;)

Could not agree anymore!!! Cruzing is the only thing I use a TA for and I have a great one!

Every week someone comes up with another lame excuse for seeking a freebie.

Troll comment. I feel for the OP as this has happened to me as well. I too had to sit on a call for 30-45 minutes to figure it out. Best part?! IT HAPPENED AGAIN. I'm just letting it sit there because I don't want to WASTE another 30-45 minutes on something that should be a non issue.

Does everyone who encounters an issue deserve a freebie? No. At some point you have to consider the value of your time and while no one deserves anything, a small gesture would go a long way with a disappointed customer.

We've also had this happen.

Explanation is something about "whenever you make online changes to your booking it defaults out of the promotion"

We added our C&A numbers to the booking and our promotional rate went up 1000's.

Depends on who answers the phone over there. The person that helped us took approx 90 seconds to diagnose and fix the problem.............

That's exactly what happened to me. Went to add C & A numbers to the reservation (even though I remember adding them when making the reservation) and the BOGO 50% disappeared. Made a phone call and in a couple minutes, it was resolved. Certainly wasn't expecting any kind of freebie for this, just wanted it fixed...

Every week someone comes up with another lame excuse for seeking a freebie.

Spot on

It seems the op brings their booze in rum runners to skate by on buying drinks, so not surprised by all the drama and then wanting to be comped.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41384851#post41384851

Spot on

It seems the op brings their booze in rum runners to skate by on buying drinks, so not surprised by all the drama and then wanting to be comped.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41384851#post41384851

I call it karma.

what happens if this were to happen, and I did not see it because I have not logged in and they cancel my cruise even though I paid in full and my cabin has been sold?:eek:

Your cruise booking confirmation email from RCCL is your proof.

It seems that every thread there are those who come up with lame excuses to blame the victims of RC's incompetence .They would be the same ones blaming the victims if they didn't catch RC's mistake and were then penalized .

Glad you caught it OP .

Spot on

It seems the op brings their booze in rum runners to skate by on buying drinks, so not surprised by all the drama and then wanting to be comped.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41384851#post41384851

Grifters gotta grift.

The same thing happened to my reservation a couple of months ago. They claimed that I removed my promotional rate myself. #1 Why would anyone do that? #2 I don’t see how it is even possible on their website. It took a number of calls to get it resolved.

Spot on

It seems the op brings their booze in rum runners to skate by on buying drinks, so not surprised by all the drama and then wanting to be comped.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=41384851#post41384851

Grifters gotta grift.

Feeling a little Holier than Thou, are we?

It seems that every thread there are those who come up with lame excuses to blame the victims of RC's incompetence .They would be the same ones blaming the victims if they didn't catch RC's mistake and were then penalized .

 

Glad you caught it OP .

There is a difference in blaming the user, and not thinking they are immediately deserving of freebies because of a computer glitch. Nobody claimed it was the OPs fault, and if RCI gave them something, that would be great, but expecting it just because you had to make a phone call is just asking for disappointment, and shows an attitude of entitlement to mention it here.

I booked one cruise with RCCL. I grabbed some cabins at a great rate with plans to transfer to my TA. In the process I had to actually read their own rules of the fare to prove I could get it. It took a while, but everything finally was worked out. One plus of a computer is I could open the Fare Rules page and did so and read it verbatim. Anyway, lesson learned was I will NEVER book directly again. I have a fantastic Travel Agent. I email or call her with what I want and it gets done. I have NEVER had a glitch because I have the copy of the Booking Invoice. Any issues, she's handles them. So.. what did I "get" for my hassle? Nothing. What did I expect for my "hassle?" Nothing. What did my Travel Agent get? Her commission, and many future commissions from me.

I booked one cruise with RCCL. I grabbed some cabins at a great rate with plans to transfer to my TA. In the process I had to actually read their own rules of the fare to prove I could get it. It took a while, but everything finally was worked out. One plus of a computer is I could open the Fare Rules page and did so and read it verbatim. Anyway, lesson learned was I will NEVER book directly again. I have a fantastic Travel Agent. I email or call her with what I want and it gets done. I have NEVER had a glitch because I have the copy of the Booking Invoice. Any issues, she's handles them. So.. what did I "get" for my hassle? Nothing. What did I expect for my "hassle?" Nothing. What did my Travel Agent get? Her commission, and many future commissions from me.

Great attitude.

I had to wait on hold for 25 minutes to get it fixed, but it never occurred to me to expect an upgrade to a Royal Suite or any other compensation for my time.

What the heck? So it's OK that they just switch the rates and expect customers to find THEIR mistakes and spend any amout of time doing so and a customer is expected to just say *Hey - it's cool?*

Truly boggles the mind that the OP is getting drama for being put out about this?! RCCL has to be accountable for this type of error. Think about if this type of unreasonable mistake was made on other transactions in your life!

You have to make sure airlines, hotels, grocery stores, mortgages, car payments are posted properly???

I am shocked that even the biggest of *cheeleaders* can say it's OK and should not be a responsibility of RCCL to make it right and compensate their customers for time spent making sure their account is correct!!