RCL screwed up our price, then wouldn't honor it, then cancelled us 2 wks before sail date

[P27159]

I posted here a few weeks ago about how the website quoted a price for 4 passengers, and then even though after we paid with our CC, we got the response that the transaction was done, it only booked two passengers.  We learned this AFTER we bought non-refundable plane tickets (which we had to do immediately, there were only 4 tix left at $500 ea, after that the price doubled, which would price us out of the market for the entire trip).  I went thru the screens again taking screenshots this time to show what we were seeing, and got to the CC page and called customer service, asking them if this one goes thru for 4 passengers like it should, will they cancel the other one, they said yes, but the same thing happened.  So we ended up having two cabins but paying double what we had planned to pay.  I kept trying to negotiate with RCL, going up the chain of command, hoping they'd offer us something reasonable to admit the error was on their part and to keep us reasonably happy, as repeat customers (we've cruised 3x with them before).  They offered NOTHING except to refund everything, which would do us no good because we still had the non refundable plane tickets, and didn't want to do anything else in FL.  After continuing to be stonewalled, I emailed corporate again and said maybe they can give us half the difference as a refund and the other half as credit toward a future cruise.  Crickets.  They ended up getting back to me days later, claiming they "didn't know when I took the screenshots", as if they think I made it up.  I explained to them the idea of metadata and they should contact their IT dept.  Then they changed their tune again, claiming that since nobody else got that price at the time I took the screenshots, I shouldn't get that price.  IRRELEVANT!  The price they offered was within reason, and was not an obvious mistake, so when I booked, it seemed like it should be a price that would be honored.

 

Fast forward to TWO WEEKS before the cruise date. I get a call from the low-level customer service agent that I first spoke with before I escalated the matter.  HE had to tell me that corporate decided to CANCEL OUR CRUISE and give us a refund.  So now we're stuck with the plane tickets and no cruise so close to the date we have to fly to Miami.  Their corporate is such cowards that they couldn't contact me THEMSELVES to tell me this, they stuck a lower-level employee to do their dirty work.  Is that disgusting or what?  I am pretty sure they did this because they were worried they'd lose in a lawsuit since I had plenty of evidence that they should honor the price they offered and I accepted on their site (that means a CONTRACT, that they tried to breach).  But by cancelling, I can't sue for the delta anymore.  That's how they do business.  No reasonable attempt to make a repeat customer happy, but instead, do the worst thing possible to ruin a family vacation at almost the last minute. I, nor my kids, will ever sail with them again.  And my wife and I are nearing retirement age and plan to take lots more cruises, too bad for them, such a bad business decision on their part!

 

I am trying to get booked on MSC right now and have a 24 hr hold on two cabins, and the price will be a little more than what I was originally planning to pay for one cabin for 4 people, but less than what we ended up paying for the two cabins together AND we'd get balconies on this one, not just a window with partial obstructed view that we got on RCL.  This is more evidence that the original 4-person price we were quoted was reasonable and they should have honored the contract.

[Coralc]

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out. 

[A&L_Ont]

Ever since Covid we have only booked fully refundable air. Too late in this case but maybe consider it next time. With the full refund from RC and refundable air you would have been made whole. 
 

At least with the full refund you don’t have to take them to small claims court, like you originally proposed/mused about. 

 

Hopefully you get something booked with MSC and they might become your new line of choice. I have read good things about them. . 
 

 

Edited March 15 by A&L_Ont

[mpdog42]

3 hours ago, P27159 said:

I posted here a few weeks ago about how the website quoted a price for 4 passengers, and then even though after we paid with our CC, we got the response that the transaction was done, it only booked two passengers.  We learned this AFTER we bought non-refundable plane tickets (which we had to do immediately, there were only 4 tix left at $500 ea, after that the price doubled, which would price us out of the market for the entire trip).  I went thru the screens again taking screenshots this time to show what we were seeing, and got to the CC page and called customer service, asking them if this one goes thru for 4 passengers like it should, will they cancel the other one, they said yes, but the same thing happened.  So we ended up having two cabins but paying double what we had planned to pay.  I kept trying to negotiate with RCL, going up the chain of command, hoping they'd offer us something reasonable to admit the error was on their part and to keep us reasonably happy, as repeat customers (we've cruised 3x with them before).  They offered NOTHING except to refund everything, which would do us no good because we still had the non refundable plane tickets, and didn't want to do anything else in FL.  After continuing to be stonewalled, I emailed corporate again and said maybe they can give us half the difference as a refund and the other half as credit toward a future cruise.  Crickets.  They ended up getting back to me days later, claiming they "didn't know when I took the screenshots", as if they think I made it up.  I explained to them the idea of metadata and they should contact their IT dept.  Then they changed their tune again, claiming that since nobody else got that price at the time I took the screenshots, I shouldn't get that price.  IRRELEVANT!  The price they offered was within reason, and was not an obvious mistake, so when I booked, it seemed like it should be a price that would be honored.

 

Fast forward to TWO WEEKS before the cruise date. I get a call from the low-level customer service agent that I first spoke with before I escalated the matter.  HE had to tell me that corporate decided to CANCEL OUR CRUISE and give us a refund.  So now we're stuck with the plane tickets and no cruise so close to the date we have to fly to Miami.  Their corporate is such cowards that they couldn't contact me THEMSELVES to tell me this, they stuck a lower-level employee to do their dirty work.  Is that disgusting or what?  I am pretty sure they did this because they were worried they'd lose in a lawsuit since I had plenty of evidence that they should honor the price they offered and I accepted on their site (that means a CONTRACT, that they tried to breach).  But by cancelling, I can't sue for the delta anymore.  That's how they do business.  No reasonable attempt to make a repeat customer happy, but instead, do the worst thing possible to ruin a family vacation at almost the last minute. I, nor my kids, will ever sail with them again.  And my wife and I are nearing retirement age and plan to take lots more cruises, too bad for them, such a bad business decision on their part!

 

I am trying to get booked on MSC right now and have a 24 hr hold on two cabins, and the price will be a little more than what I was originally planning to pay for one cabin for 4 people, but less than what we ended up paying for the two cabins together AND we'd get balconies on this one, not just a window with partial obstructed view that we got on RCL.  This is more evidence that the original 4-person price we were quoted was reasonable and they should have honored the contract.

Dear Sir/Madam

if your story is true and you have the documents to prove your case,Contact you State Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Department and file a report with them..Feel free to also contact the Federal Trade Commission and do the same with them...Hop it works out for you on MSC😀

[firefly333]

In summary in case people didnt read the first 2 threads. OP booked online and thought he put in 4 pax and completed it and the booking was only for 2 so he booked a 2nd cabin and airfare and wrote to royal claiming they are at fault for bait and switch and they should honor the original price for 4. Hes threatened to sue, go to the media and taking his story public as he is doing here. They offered a full refund which wasnt enough for the OP because he also purchased airfare nonrefundable. He wants them to honor the price he saw.

 

OP hasnt shown screen shots showing the price he said he saw for 4 people so I dont know how he has a case. Even above he says going by msc price it wasnt out of line the price he saw for 2 which he says should have been for 4. Without screen shots we dont know. Clearly OP is a unhappy customer. I dont have a answer. Doing the booking process online yourself I can see how things might not have come up to verify before putting in his credit card, idk. Glad I have a TA.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I seriously don't understand HOW OP thought that a $3K price for 4 passengers during a spring break in an OV cabin was real. Two months in advance????   OP, have you seen the prices for RCI cruises lately? We have stopped cruising with them because an inside room for 3 on Oasis class was in excess of $4K for a 7n cruise during school breaks.

 

And the gratuities of $252 for 4 people for 7 days? That was a dead giveaway that something was glitching big time.

 

9 hours ago, P27159 said:

This is more evidence that the original 4-person price we were quoted was reasonable and they should have honored the contract.

 The website showed a price of approximately $3000 for an ocean view room for four passengers for 7 days (a good deal, but a perfectly reasonable price where I wouldn’t automatically suspect it was a mistake)

 well, you should have suspected it.

[P27159]

6 hours ago, firefly333 said:

In summary in case people didnt read the first 2 threads. OP booked online and thought he put in 4 pax and completed it and the booking was only for 2 so he booked a 2nd cabin and airfare and wrote to royal claiming they are at fault for bait and switch and they should honor the original price for 4. Hes threatened to sue, go to the media and taking his story public as he is doing here. They offered a full refund which wasnt enough for the OP because he also purchased airfare nonrefundable. He wants them to honor the price he saw.

 

OP hasnt shown screen shots showing the price he said he saw for 4 people so I dont know how he has a case. Even above he says going by msc price it wasnt out of line the price he saw for 2 which he says should have been for 4. Without screen shots we dont know. Clearly OP is a unhappy customer. I dont have a answer. Doing the booking process online yourself I can see how things might not have come up to verify before putting in his credit card, idk. Glad I have a TA.

Since you were on the other thread, you should’ve seen the screenshots because I did post them there, but here they are again.  Notice that some of the numbers in the lower left corner of the screen and add up properly on one of the screens, but was corrected later.  It looks like these screenshots post out of order.

 

as you can see, it is quoting me a price for four passengers, all the way through the process and start to finish.  I had no reason to believe that when the transaction completed, that it would only be for two passengers.  Of course, after this happened, I wish I had to consulted a travel agent, which I am doing now for that MSC cruise.

[P27159]

9 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

Ever since Covid we have only booked fully refundable air. Too late in this case but maybe consider it next time. With the full refund from RC and refundable air you would have been made whole. 
 

At least with the full refund you don’t have to take them to small claims court, like you originally proposed/mused about. 

 

Hopefully you get something booked with MSC and they might become your new line of choice. I have read good things about them. . 
 

 

Yeah, I don’t know if I have a case against them anymore or not, and that’s probably why they canceled us.  I think they probably realized that I am correct and if I had taken them to court, I probably would’ve won my case.  That’s the only reason I could think of for them canceling our entire reservation.  They figure they can fill our cabins with some last-minute bookings, and at least break even.  And now I have no way to hold them legally accountable for their actions,

[P27159]

6 hours ago, mpdog42 said:

Dear Sir/Madam

if your story is true and you have the documents to prove your case,Contact you State Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Department and file a report with them..Feel free to also contact the Federal Trade Commission and do the same with them...Hop it works out for you on MSC😀

Thanks for your suggestions, I will most likely follow through with some, if not all, of these.

[P27159]

38 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I seriously don't understand HOW OP thought that a $3K price for 4 passengers during a spring break in an OV cabin was real. Two months in advance????   OP, have you seen the prices for RCI cruises lately? We have stopped cruising with them because an inside room for 3 on Oasis class was in excess of $4K for a 7n cruise during school breaks.

 

And the gratuities of $252 for 4 people for 7 days? That was a dead giveaway that something was glitching big time.

 

 well, you should have suspected it.

I already explained this.  The cruise I’m looking at now on MSC is $2k for 2 pass with balcony.  So having a room for four passengers for $3.5K with no balcony, looks pretty similar from a cost/benefit perspective, doesn’t it?  When I was doing a transaction, I didn’t stop to look at how much they were charging for a gratuities and do that math.  I had no reason to suspect the math was wrong.  I was just assuming the website was doing what it was supposed to do, since it was saying four passengers all the way through, you can see the screenshots I posted this morning.  Now that there was obviously a problem, it’s easy to go back and scrutinize the numbers and realize that they were wrong, but that’s just hindsight.  Again, in the moment, I just figured they were giving me the right numbers and I booked it.

[NateUpNorth]

39 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I seriously don't understand HOW OP thought that a $3K price for 4 passengers during a spring break in an OV cabin was real. Two months in advance????   OP, have you seen the prices for RCI cruises lately? We have stopped cruising with them because an inside room for 3 on Oasis class was in excess of $4K for a 7n cruise during school breaks.

 

And the gratuities of $252 for 4 people for 7 days? That was a dead giveaway that something was glitching big time.

 

 well, you should have suspected it.

And yet every single seasoned cruiser (seemed like every single one anyone) jumped ALL OVER booking the $15(?) drinks package a while back....... should they also have not booked that?... cause they ended up getting it.......  🤔

[P27159]

5 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

And yet every single seasoned cruiser (seemed like every single one anyone) jumped ALL OVER booking the $15(?) drinks package a while back....... should they also have not booked that?... cause they ended up getting it.......  🤔

Thanks for this, and as I explained in another comment, the price comparison with what I thought I was getting, to what I am about to get with MSC, is fairly comparable on a cost/benefit basis, so that price was most definitely not out of line with reasonable expectations.

[JeffT237]

18 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

nd yet every single seasoned cruiser (seemed like every single one anyone) jumped ALL OVER booking the $15(?) drinks package a while back....... should they also have not booked that?... cause they ended up getting it.......  🤔

 

Totally remember that, it was $18.99 pp/pd and everyone including the seasoned cruisers tried to grab it knowing it was a mistake.  Once it was discovered and rescinded the feeling was oh well, Royal made a mistake and they should honor it, and they did.  I don't recall many customers who got it at that price taking a forgiving position towards Royal. 

Edited March 15 by JeffT237

[A&L_Ont]

21 minutes ago, P27159 said:

maybe you meant well by saying that I shouldn’t let this negative experience continue to bother me, but that’s really my choice, and I had valid reasons to post here, and your comment can be interpreted in a negative light.

Keep us posted after your lawsuit is settled. I’ll be curious to know the outcome. 

Edited March 15 by A&L_Ont

[mjkacmom]

IT glitch, offered a full refund after final payment. You also could’ve paid what the cruise actually costs. I really don’t think you have a legal case, they gave 2 options (or 3 if you just sailed with 2).

[P27159]

28 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

Keep us posted after your lawsuit is settled. I’ll be curious to know the outcome. 

Thanks, but I don’t think I can sue them now.  I am not sure what I can claim are damages.  Unless I sue them for a token item I bought specifically for that cruise, and then ask for punitive damages based on my situation, but that’s probably a major stretch.  I think this is why they canceled me.  I thought I would get their attention and they would reasonably negotiate with me, but they didn’t bother.

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, P27159 said:

Really? I posted my story to let other people know about my experience.  It isn’t that confusing, because others were able to follow it.  So, let me ask you: if you are on a website, booking a flight or a cruise, and it’s quoting one fair for a certain number of passengers, all the way to the process, and after the transaction completes, you assumed it was completed for the terms on your screen, and based on that, you locked yourself into something else associated with that transaction, you wouldn’t have felt screwed if you found out later at the terms of the transaction had been changed without your knowledge?  SMH

I just saw the screenshots you posted, but unless I missed it, I didn’t see the confirmation screen confirming your purchase. 

[P27159]

53 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I just saw the screenshots you posted, but unless I missed it, I didn’t see the confirmation screen confirming your purchase. 

I don’t have a screenshot for the confirmation, because it didn’t really have any information. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but it was something along the lines of “transaction successful” and didn’t give a summary or breakdown of the cost.

[Engineroom Snipe]

12 hours ago, P27159 said:

I am trying to get booked on MSC right now and have a 24 hr hold on two cabins, and the price will be a little more than what I was originally planning to pay for one cabin for 4 people, but less than what we ended up paying for the two cabins together AND we'd get balconies on this one, not just a window with partial obstructed view that we got on RCL.  This is more evidence that the original 4-person price we were quoted was reasonable and they should have honored the contract.

 

First, thank you for coming back and posting the outcome of your situation.

 

I meticulously followed and replied in your first thread. Due to some of the context of that thread, certain posts were removed but I read them all before they were removed.

 

Good, bad, or indifferent, my original advice was given in good faith.

 

Royal has completely ticked you off with their treatment of the situation.

 

You always have the right to pursue litigation and that is your prerogative.

 

Not many minds will be converted here. Almost all of the posters "for or against" your actions will continue to cruise Royal despite Royal's treating you the way they did. I cannot add anything more to the conversation.

 

I wish the best for you.

 

Regards.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, P27159 said:

And I also wanted to let people know that my experience with RCL’s customer service was horrible.

CC veterans already now this and newbies will miss this thread after a couple of days. While your cancellation process may have been somewhat rare, pricing error bookings being canceled by RCI is nothing new.

[P27159]

46 minutes ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

 

First, thank you for coming back and posting the outcome of your situation.

 

I meticulously followed and replied in your first thread. Due to some of the context of that thread, certain posts were removed but I read them all before they were removed.

 

Good, bad, or indifferent, my original advice was given in good faith.

 

Royal has completely ticked you off with their treatment of the situation.

 

You always have the right to pursue litigation and that is your prerogative.

 

Not many minds will be converted here. Almost all of the posters "for or against" your actions will continue to cruise Royal despite Royal's treating you the way they did. I cannot add anything more to the conversation.

 

I wish the best for you.

 

Regards.

Thank you very much for your reasonable comments.

[P27159]

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

How many times have folk come here to complain that their cruise 7 month out cruise has been chartered, and they now have airfare they can’t use. Legally they made it right by offering a full refund after final payment. 

Honestly, I didn’t even realize something like that could happen.  I am not a frequent visitor on these boards, so I have not seen the issue you mentioned, but thanks for bringing this up.  I assume that if you book a cruise and flights together as a package through a travel agent, you would get a full refund for the cruise plus the flights if that charter situation occurs, is that correct?
 

I have learned a lot based on this experience, plus some of the comments I have seen on this board.

[Engineroom Snipe]

9 minutes ago, P27159 said:

Honestly, I didn’t even realize something like that could happen.  I am not a frequent visitor on these boards, so I have not seen the issue you mentioned, but thanks for bringing this up.  I assume that if you book a cruise and flights together as a package through a travel agent, you would get a full refund for the cruise plus the flights if that charter situation occurs, is that correct?
 

I have learned a lot based on this experience, plus some of the comments I have seen on this board.

Only if you book the cruise and air travel through Royal's program will you get refunded for a canceled cruise automatically.

 

I go through a travel agent and get my cruise with insurance. If I am flying, I add additional insurance for the flight. I will have to file for the insurance.

Edited March 15 by Engineroom Snipe
clarity

[Engineroom Snipe]

Just now, Engineroom Snipe said:

Only if you book the cruise and air travel through Royal's program will you get refunded for a canceled cruise automatically.

 

I go through a travel agent and get my cruise with insurance. If I am flying, I add additional insurance for the flight. I will have to file for the insurance.

Add on that I forgot that Royal's insurance program provided a "Future Cruise and Air fare Credit, in many cases, you do not get cash back. That is why I use my Travel Agent insurance carrier.

 

There is a whole topic dedicated to insurance and it explains all of the ins and outs of flying, hotel, and cruise fare insurance as they often happen during one cruise.

[P27159]

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

How many times have folk come here to complain that their cruise 7 month out cruise has been chartered, and they now have airfare they can’t use. Legally they made it right by offering a full refund after final payment. 

I did want to mention one other thing regarding this: at least, in the charter case, they gave the passengers an actual REASON why they were being canceled.  I don’t think I would’ve liked that reason either if I was in that position, but at least a reason was given.  In my case, they did NOT give a reason, and they were such cowards, that they made a low level employee do their dirty work.

 

Either their reason was just vindictiveness, or more likely, they probably knew they were in trouble if I sued them for the price difference so they cancelled me so I can’t sue for the difference anymore