RC Computer Weirdness Repriced My Cruise!

[foxgoodrich]

We booked a May 25 cruise on Navigator on New Years Day for a very low price. I don't know if those prices were a computer glitch or not, but they were VERY low and only lasted 2 days. I found out about those amazing prices here on CC and jumped on the bandwagon before they changed, though not soon enough to get one of the cheap junior suites:(! After a senior discount and applying our C&A discount, the TOTAL for our D2 balcony was $881! So I paid $500 on it and had a balance of $381 with final payment due March 11. WOO HOO!:D

 

A close friend is a travel agent. I faxed the form in to RC on Jan 9 to give her the reservation, and I emailed her a copy of my original confirmation. Other than that, the only thing I had done (online) with this reservation was browse the shore excursions a bit and check to see if specialty dining was open. So when I got a call from my TA friend last week, I was shocked! She told me my rez was showing a balance of $2281, nearly $2k more than what I knew we owed! RC was telling her I had made some kind of change to the reservation on Jan 16 that caused it to reprice as of that date. HUH? I had changed nothing! She had already spent a bunch of time on the phone with Royal trying to straighten it out. The last word was that a supervisor (in Resolutions I think) was supposed to call her back, but after 3 days she'd heard nothing. She was getting frustrated and so was I!

 

So I decided to call the D+ desk at C&A yesterday just to see if they could figure out what happened. (I know that once you give your reservation to a TA, you cannot call RC and make changes to it. I was just looking for information and an explanation.) I spoke with Matthew at the D+ Desk and told him what I knew. He saw a bunch of 'service notes' in my file but couldn't see the balance due. He told me that there are indeed some glitches in the system that cause this kind of thing to happen and he was willing to try to find out the problem. He was very nice, very patient, and very apologetic about the computer issues.

 

He got my TA on the phone and verified what she'd been told. (And that was bizarre…she'd been told I had changed my DINING time on Jan 16 and the rez repriced because of that. Huh? Late dining is more expensive? Who knew?:eek: But I never changed the dining time anyway - it had always been late dining.) He then went back through all the service notes. He said he thought he could solve the problem and would call us back.

 

An hour later, Matthew called my TA back with the good news that the records had been corrected and my final balance due March 11 is indeed $381. He said that the records show RC received the faxed form to give the rez to my TA on Jan 9. That change was actually entered on my reservation on Jan 16 and the phone number on the rez changed from mine to the TA's. The change of the phone number apparently caused the computer to reprice the cruise as of Jan 16! (D2 was $1403pp on that date, compared to $525pp on Jan 1.)

 

So…the lesson to be learned here is - the computer does bizarre things.

1. If a TA holds your reservation, ask him/her to check your balance to be sure it's right before final payment date since you can't see your balance online.

2. If you fax in the form to give your reservation to a TA, ask the TA to check your balance after they receive your file to be sure it's the same.

3. If you do ANYTHING to your rez online, like changing your dining preference, booking specialty dining or excursions, ask your TA to check your balance. (that's Matthew's advice)

4. And finally….DON'T change your phone number.:p

Judy

[Clarea]

Thank-you for taking the time to post your experience. It may save some of us from a nasty surprise at final payment time.:eek:

[LetsGetWet!]

Wow! Sure glad you got it fixed! Sure wish I had seen that price and been able to take advantage of it, that's spectacular! Where/what thread were you watching on CC to get that info?

[willing292]

Glad to hear your successful story.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[Lauderdalegal]

I booked and paid my final payment on the same day. A few days later I went into my reservation and changed the bed configuration I also noticed a better cabin location (same category same price)and called into the C&A desk to make the change. The young lady who helped me informed that I had a balance (ok it was not that much at all, but it's the point) due on my final payment. I disagreed as I had a screen shot of my reservation in addition to my email confirmation. I called back in and spoke with the nicest guy who figured out the problem with the resolution team and took me back to $0 balance due.

 

Remember this additional cost was added after I paid final payment...it was the change made to the reservation that effected the price. If you made your reservation online, pay online etc. and go back into your booking to make any changes make sure you have a record of your original price just in case.

[foxgoodrich]

Thank-you for taking the time to post your experience. It may save some of us from a nasty surprise at final payment time.:eek:

Oh yes - I just hate last minute nasty surprises. I hope others won't have to deal with this at the last minute either. :) My understanding from Matthew is that stuff like this started happening after the new programming that applies discounts when you book online was implemented. He said they are working on the bugs, but seems that when they get one thing fixed, something else pops up.

And..this was my first time contacting the C&A D+ desk about a problem. I was very happy with the customer service!

 

Wow! Sure glad you got it fixed! Sure wish I had seen that price and been able to take advantage of it, that's spectacular! Where/what thread were you watching on CC to get that info?

I just got lucky. We were babysitting grandkids on New Years Eve and I was surfing around on CC after they went to sleep. We're close enough to drive to Galveston, so I checked in on the Galveston Cruise Cam Watch Group thread, mostly because I knew Nav would soon be headed to dry dock for a major refurb. Just curious to see what the Galveston group knew about the refurb. Somebody there had posted about the low prices for the 5/25 Nav cruise on the morning of Dec 31. Several others posted that day/night about booking at those prices, so I checked it out. (And if DH and I hadn't taken time to think about it overnight, I might have scored a JS for about $1100 total!) By Jan 2, those low prices were gone…and so were all the suites!:eek:

But it's all good - we're quite happy with a balcony for the price we got!!:D

 

Judy

[sleepless]

Just this week, I was looking at my upcoming reservation on the Allure in June/July 2014. I had noticed that My Cruises on the Royal website had a higher balance due then my booking confirmation emails indicated.

 

I called Royal. The rep did indicate a higher price was owed for final payment. I told her that was not what I owed, and that I had a resident rate price drop in December. She did some further checking. She noticed that I did indeed have that price drop. She contacted the Resolution Department, who made the correcting, and sent me an e-mail correcting the mistake. The rep said that the computer had kicked out my price drop for some reason.

 

Everything is fixed now. The rep was very kind, and very helpful. It pays to double check everything.

[jonbgd]

Im on the same cruise and I had a similar situation

Customer service didn't want to help finally called Crown and Anchor to get it all worked out

It took about 2 weeks to get resolved.

With my Military discount and D Balcony discount the price is incredible

[foxgoodrich]

Im on the same cruise and I had a similar situation

Customer service didn't want to help finally called Crown and Anchor to get it all worked out

It took about 2 weeks to get resolved.

With my Military discount and D Balcony discount the price is incredible

 

Hi there - I've been lurking on the Nav 5/25 roll call and have seen you there. I'm glad you got your issue solved too. The experience makes me wonder if those incredible prices we got on this sailing were a computer error to start with, and now the computer is trying to correct itself by rebooking the fare, at any opportunity when something is added or changed….:eek:

It'll be interesting to see if others on our roll call report having price issues before final payment.

Judy

[JYD Hawkeye]

I have had some issues with them also. I would book a cruise, then later they offered a military or EMT discount, and when I asked for it, they would give it to me if I rebooked at the now higher listed price. Pay $500 more to save $75. didn't make sense.

[irishgal432]

On the phone right now with my TA. HAd a great price on hold and then transfrred it to my TA and they repriced it before it got sent. I did have screen shots of the payment summary and cruise detail. Royal can see the price I had on hold but can't figure out how to give it back to me. The TA said the Royal rep is taking it to her supervisor and also had another call from Georgia with the same problem earlier.

 

Any suggestions, I can give my TA when talking with Royal?

[ahecht]

This problem is specific to that cruise. My travel agent got a letter that said that the new years prices on the 5/25 cruise were a mistake, and any changes to the reservation will cause the price to be reset to the "correct" price. Transferring to a travel agent is supposed to be allowed without a repricing but requires a manual override. Any other changes (cabin number, passenger name, etc) will cause you to lose the "mistake" price. I've had to have my TA call resolutions twice to sort out mistaken price resets.

[cruisingagentone]

The problem is not cruise specific it is a computer problem. I had a booking that was paid in full I went into do something and the rate changed. I had to contact my DSM to get it corrected. He did then it did it again he finally told me to stay out of the booking that was the Freedom for Feb 15. I had one do the same thing on the Oasis for Feb 8 had to have it corrected. So no it is not specific to that sailing it is a computer problem.

[riclop]

Glad it all turned out ok.

[Ladysilver]

I'm also one of the "lucky ones" who saw the unbelievable prices for the May 25th cruise on New Year's Eve. It was about 10:30 PM and there popped up one Owner's Suite for 3 adults for $3,277.30 (including insurance). I immediately put a 24 hour hold on it so I could think about it overnight. We don't usually cruise that time of year but we've never had a suite, not even a JS. And I knew it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. So the next afternoon, I booked it! :D

 

Today there is another Owner's Suite avaliable for that cruise for $6,976.33!! :eek:

 

Happy New Year to me!!! :D Was the glitch that night the only time this has happened? Has anyone ever heard of it happening before??

[foxgoodrich]

I'm also one of the "lucky ones" who saw the unbelievable prices for the May 25th cruise on New Year's Eve. It was about 10:30 PM and there popped up one Owner's Suite for 3 adults for $3,277.30 (including insurance). I immediately put a 24 hour hold on it so I could think about it overnight. We don't usually cruise that time of year but we've never had a suite, not even a JS. And I knew it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. So the next afternoon, I booked it! :D

 

Today there is another Owner's Suite avaliable for that cruise for $6,976.33!! :eek:

 

Happy New Year to me!!! :D Was the glitch that night the only time this has happened? Has anyone ever heard of it happening before??

 

It's probably happened before on other cruises, but I was never in the right thread at the right time to find out about it. This time I was!!;)

 

Congrats on that OS! You're gonna love it! (And you were smarter than I was with the 24 hour hold…I missed a suite by not doing it.:eek:)

Judy

[LetsGetWet!]

I'm also one of the "lucky ones" who saw the unbelievable prices for the May 25th cruise on New Year's Eve. It was about 10:30 PM and there popped up one Owner's Suite for 3 adults for $3,277.30 (including insurance). I immediately put a 24 hour hold on it so I could think about it overnight. We don't usually cruise that time of year but we've never had a suite, not even a JS. And I knew it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. So the next afternoon, I booked it! :D

 

Today there is another Owner's Suite avaliable for that cruise for $6,976.33!! :eek:

 

Happy New Year to me!!! :D Was the glitch that night the only time this has happened? Has anyone ever heard of it happening before??

 

It's probably happened before on other cruises, but I was never in the right thread at the right time to find out about it. This time I was!!;)

 

Congrats on that OS! You're gonna love it! (And you were smarter than I was with the 24 hour hold…I missed a suite by not doing it.:eek:)

Judy

Congrats to you both! I'm definitely going to start watching that Galveston Cruise Cam Watch Group thread just in case, have already subscribed to it!

[ewt715]

Royals piece of **** computer is knocking off discounts (senior, Military, resident, etc.)

Whom should I send the bill to for my time correcting royals problem.

[SherriZ366]

RCI has had lots of IT problems this week and last. hope they get everything working well. I did heed the advice from this thread and double checked my new invoice, where I had linked reservations for dining and also had the D+ Agent make sure that the $100 shipboard credit showed (I used a Book Ahead certificate). It kept trying to up the price but he got the credit applied with no price changes and I checked the invoice with him while I was on the phone and it showed the original price.

[Ladysilver]

I'm also one of the "lucky ones" who saw the unbelievable prices for the May 25th cruise on New Year's Eve. It was about 10:30 PM and there popped up one Owner's Suite for 3 adults for $3,277.30 (including insurance). I immediately put a 24 hour hold on it so I could think about it overnight. We don't usually cruise that time of year but we've never had a suite, not even a JS. And I knew it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. So the next afternoon, I booked it! :D

 

Today there is another Owner's Suite avaliable for that cruise for $6,976.33!! :eek:

 

Happy New Year to me!!! :D Was the glitch that night the only time this has happened? Has anyone ever heard of it happening before??

 

 

 

Just got an email from RC to confirm my savings certificate was applied today! On top of the awesome price I got for this cruise! :D

Edited February 19, 2014 by Ladysilver

[brmoqueen]

Had the same issue only rcl changed the names to two other people on the same cruise and dropped my visa reward coupon. I had to stay out of the res completely as anytime anyone went in ( including rcl) it reverted back wrong and took a minimum of 1.5 hrs on the phone go fix...