No more Royal Rewards free or companion cruises

[Sunkissed Mommy]

Well said! Deposit reductions are meaningless in the long run!

 

 

Hey! I make a few cents on interest income for that $$ I don't have to hand over to them from the get go ;)

[ldeflavia]

I redeemed 100,000 points on my RCL visa card for $1,000 off my cruise fare online about two weeks ago. I still haven't seen the $1,000 deduction on my credit card. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to process this credit? I paid the balance of the cruise on the card and then immediately redeemed my points in the hopes that it would all go through in the same credit card cycle.

 

I too am getting rid of this card in the next month. Just racking up a few more points to have a nice onboard credit when we sail. The card is just too limited. There are much better cards out there!

[Clarea]

I redeemed 100,000 points on my RCL visa card for $1,000 off my cruise fare online about two weeks ago. I still haven't seen the $1,000 deduction on my credit card. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to process this credit? I paid the balance of the cruise on the card and then immediately redeemed my points in the hopes that it would all go through in the same credit card cycle.

 

I too am getting rid of this card in the next month. Just racking up a few more points to have a nice onboard credit when we sail. The card is just too limited. There are much better cards out there!

Royal usually applies redemptions in the order of your cruise. However, you can call customer support and confirm that they have a record of your redemption.

[jljlinda]

While sailing on the Quantum in Feb 2015, we met with the Loyalty Ambassador on board and explained that we had 125,000 points on our RCL visa card and wanted to book a "free" cruise. Longer story short, she booked us for the 06/28/2015 sailing of the IOTS in the cheapest ocean view stateroom available. We were charged the reduced $200 deposit amount and were given a written "Booking Confirmation-Guest Copy" showing a balance due of $2727.34. The taxes, fees, and port expenses were listed as $259.34 and were included in the balance due of $2727.34.

 

Since the $259.34 is NOT covered as part of the "free" cruise, we were told by the loyalty ambassador (LA) that we would be required to pay the $259.34 amount after the maximum of $2,500 allowance for our 125,000 points was applied to our booking.

 

While booking the IOTS with the LA, we ask that the booking be transferred to our travel agent who had booked our Quantum cruise and the transfer was made without any problem.

 

A few days ago and after our "free" cruise credit was applied to our booking, our travel agent called to say that we have a balance due of $1,317.34 instead of the $259.34 that we were told by the LA would be due!!

 

Another longer story short and after our TA discussed the matter with RCL at our request, RCL now declares that we were misinformed by the Quantum LA and that we must pay the $1,317.34 instead of the $259.34.

 

We were not able to understand our TA's explanation as to what RCL said happened from the time we booked the IOTS on board until receiving the notice that we owed an additional $1,058.00.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience booking a "free" cruise with Visa points? If so, can you please explain in simple terms why the ridiculous difference described above in our case? Thanks in advance to anyone who can explain this to us.

[Clarea]

While sailing on the Quantum in Feb 2015, we met with the Loyalty Ambassador on board and explained that we had 125,000 points on our RCL visa card and wanted to book a "free" cruise. Longer story short, she booked us for the 06/28/2015 sailing of the IOTS in the cheapest ocean view stateroom available. We were charged the reduced $200 deposit amount and were given a written "Booking Confirmation-Guest Copy" showing a balance due of $2727.34. The taxes, fees, and port expenses were listed as $259.34 and were included in the balance due of $2727.34.

 

Since the $259.34 is NOT covered as part of the "free" cruise, we were told by the loyalty ambassador (LA) that we would be required to pay the $259.34 amount after the maximum of $2,500 allowance for our 125,000 points was applied to our booking.

 

While booking the IOTS with the LA, we ask that the booking be transferred to our travel agent who had booked our Quantum cruise and the transfer was made without any problem.

 

A few days ago and after our "free" cruise credit was applied to our booking, our travel agent called to say that we have a balance due of $1,317.34 instead of the $259.34 that we were told by the LA would be due!!

 

Another longer story short and after our TA discussed the matter with RCL at our request, RCL now declares that we were misinformed by the Quantum LA and that we must pay the $1,317.34 instead of the $259.34.

 

We were not able to understand our TA's explanation as to what RCL said happened from the time we booked the IOTS on board until receiving the notice that we owed an additional $1,058.00.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience booking a "free" cruise with Visa points? If so, can you please explain in simple terms why the ridiculous difference described above in our case? Thanks in advance to anyone who can explain this to us.

Most likely is that the LA did not know that the "free: cruise redemption could not be applied to BOGOHO fares. So once the remdemtion was received, Royal re-priced the cruise to non-BOGOHO rates (which they pull out of you know where), which caused the price to balloon.

[SherriZ366]

Most likely is that the LA did not know that the "free: cruise redemption could not be applied to BOGOHO fares. So once the remdemtion was received, Royal re-priced the cruise to non-BOGOHO rates (which they pull out of you know where), which caused the price to balloon.

I thought that this problem was fixed so that people earning free cruise (or the $2,500 allowance) were not charged more than booking it as a new cruise with BOGOHO. The cruisers should get their TA to talk to resolutions. There is a thread about this on the main RCI board.

[Clarea]

I thought that this problem was fixed so that people earning free cruise (or the $2,500 allowance) were not charged more than booking it as a new cruise with BOGOHO. The cruisers should get their TA to talk to resolutions. There is a thread about this on the main RCI board.

Maybe I'm getting my threads confused, but I thought the BOGOHO fix was allowing Pinnacles to use their free cruise with BOGOHO priced cruises. I did not think that applied to Visa point redemptions for free cruises.

[molly361]

Maybe I'm getting my threads confused, but I thought the BOGOHO fix was allowing Pinnacles to use their free cruise with BOGOHO priced cruises. I did not think that applied to Visa point redemptions for free cruises.

 

That is my understanding as well. I believe in order to get a free cruise using B of A points they have to take the BOGOHO off the booking and price it at the inflated non BOGOHO rate.

[jljlinda]

Most likely is that the LA did not know that the "free: cruise redemption could not be applied to BOGOHO fares. So once the remdemtion was received, Royal re-priced the cruise to non-BOGOHO rates (which they pull out of you know where), which caused the price to balloon.

 

Bob,

 

After more research, I have concluded that you are exactly correct with your interpretation as to what happened to us with our "free" cruise booking. Had I not been misinformed by the Loyalty Ambassador on the Quantum when she booked for us, we would have waited to "cash in" our 125,000 Visa points and would have chosen a sail date when the fares are far less that those in late June/early July. We are both retired and could have easily chosen an alternate date.

 

BTW, we still have enough additional points to book another "free" cruise and next time, thanks to you, I will be knowledgeable enough to calculate the benefit without having to rely upon another person's calculation. Thanks for your help!!

[molly361]

Bob,

 

After more research, I have concluded that you are exactly correct with your interpretation as to what happened to us with our "free" cruise booking. Had I not been misinformed by the Loyalty Ambassador on the Quantum when she booked for us, we would have waited to "cash in" our 125,000 Visa points and would have chosen a sail date when the fares are far less that those in late June/early July. We are both retired and could have easily chosen an alternate date.

 

BTW, we still have enough additional points to book another "free" cruise and next time, thanks to you, I will be knowledgeable enough to calculate the benefit without having to rely upon another person's calculation. Thanks for your help!!

 

You used to be able to transfer the points to a different cruise if that might be an option for you to explore.