recovering deposits????

[ukcrazycruisers]

dont suppose there is anybody out there who could give me any advice??,

to cut a long story short ,my family and i have booked a cruise in jan ,but the flights are over a thousand pounds more expensive than our cruise last year,with so sight of them coming down ,i have no choice but to cancel our beloved holiday,i contacted Rci and explained my situation and they told me that i would loose my 500 pound deposit money.i asked why, and all they could say was they had different rules in america,as they had different laws....i had to wait a whole week for that response???

what seems very wrong to me ,is that when booking our cruise on line from the uk ,we atomatically get transfered to the us site in order to proceed,surely that means we should follow the rules on that site???

im not sure where to go next...can anybody help??? :confused:

[Sheffie]

Ouch! I didn't know that. I just looked on RCIs website and found this:

This cancellation policy applies when booking with our US Office only. Guests should contact their local Royal Caribbean International Office or Travel Agent for full details of applicable cancellation policies.

 

Sure doesn't seem fair.

 

I hope someone can give you some help with this.

[ukcrazycruisers]

thanks for that,i must admit i didnt see that bit....suppose that puts me up the creak without a paddle..if you pardon the punn!!!

[lindanick]

Can you see if you are able to change dates?

[ukcrazycruisers]

yes looked into changing dates but the flight prices dont seem to change ,even thought about changing our cruise from a different port( ours is san juan) but must admit i really wanted to go to anguilla and antigua,as we fell in love with them last year...

[Sheffie]

Have you tried kayak or sidestep dot com to check air prices? They search the fares of all the airlines, not just the major ones.

[rvrgirl]

The airfares are just getting out of hand. We purchaed round trip air from Calif. to Fort Lauderdale for our cruise last March for 370.00 per person. We are going to the same place this Dec. and had to pay 460.00. And after we purchased them they went up again:(

[zqvol]

While people don't want to realize this air fares, at least within the US have been artificially low for a number of years. In fact they are lower now (based on the adjust value of the dollar) than they were 20 years ago. This is evidenced by the fact that so many of our major carriers are in bankruptcy.

 

We should expect at least a 25% fare increase over the next six months that probably will not go down unless fuel prices fall dramatically.

 

To the OP I wish for you that there is some way you can get to PR for your cruise, but inexpensive air fares are likely a thing of the past.

[wakelover]

If the flights are £1000 and you will spend £500 on a deposit loss - would it not make sense to take the cruise? I know its a lot of money, but in the long run, at least you will get your dream cruise.

 

I think its disgusting that we can lose a deposit within minutes of booking the cruise here in the UK and yet in the States they have up to 70 before departure and they get a FULL refund, including their deposit. NOT GOOD!

 

I noticed this when I received the US brochure from the States today.

 

If we cancelled our cruise we would lose £200 each (£800 in total) just one day after booking it - although I believe UK law gives you a 'cooling off' period after purchase (I am not sure how many days)

 

Hope you get it sorted. Would the flights be any cheaper booking thro' RCI!

 

Alternatively - you pay only £20 to ammend a booking (names etc) why not get a TA to sell your holiday and the buyers give you the deposit! Just a suggestion - you may get some cash back then!

[heatherb1958]

Due to a change of circumstance, a couple of friends of ours fell for this one when they had to cancel their Legend cruise, they lost £500.This was before I had chance to advise them to transfer their booking 'til next year.

If it were me, I would transfer my booking to a completely different cruise with more reasonable airfare and treat it as a new adventure.Have you made enquiries with a UK TA to see if they can offer the same cruise with flights at a better rate and possibly get them to take over the booking? It is just an idea.

[wakelover]

If you have not gone thro' a Travel Agent may I strongly suggest you do as the previous poster has suggested. Sound advice - you should be able to get at least 10% off the brochure price. Just ring around the cruise TA's online and they will beat your last price. Take an afternoon to do it and I am sure you will get at least 10% off the brochure price. We got 11% off our cruise next year - we got a GS for less than the price of a balcony because we used a TA!!!!!

 

All you'll need to do then is transfer the booking.

[Elaine0138]

It is so unfair that we lose our deposit.

 

RCI will let you rebook for a later date, or a different cruise altogether.

 

Are you booking your flights with RCI or doing it on your own

[ukcrazycruisers]

hi elaine

no we only booked our cruise through rci and making our own flight arangements,we like to stay in san juan for a couple of days to recharge our batteries and get over the long flights,as we have 3 kids...its olso a good idea in case any bags go missing in transit....heres hoping that they will go down just a little to make it a more comfortable purchase...

looks like it will be our last cruise for a while,so we will have to make the most of it....

[AFT_LOVER]

so you do not lost the money. Next year's cruise to the same place. Air travel should level out by then.

[Iamthesea]

hi elaine

no we only booked our cruise through rci and making our own flight arangements,we like to stay in san juan for a couple of days to recharge our batteries and get over the long flights,as we have 3 kids...its olso a good idea in case any bags go missing in transit....heres hoping that they will go down just a little to make it a more comfortable purchase...

looks like it will be our last cruise for a while,so we will have to make the most of it....

You could still book through RCCL if a fare rate came up and pay a deviation fee to fly in early and fly out late.

 

Keep checking rates both with RCCL and on your own and perhaps something better will come up.

[katiel53]

I would pick another date, even if I had no plans on cruising that date, and then look for a cruise that would suit me. I wouldn't lose the money that is the deposit. It's quite a bit of money! I don't know if you are able to take a charter flight from your area to Florida or some island in the Caribbean. Many times the flights are considerably cheaper. If you could do so, perhaps you could then get cheap(er) airfare to San Juan from Florida or another island. For example, we live in the Orlando area and there are charters from Manchester to Sanford Orlando airport. If you could get one of those, it might be cheaper and then get airfare to San Juan from Orlando. I would check with a TA to see if there are any charters that you could use. I know there are also charters from the UK to Grand Cayman. I don't have a clue as to what they cost or what the airfare to SJU is from Grand Cayman, but it might be worth a shot. A good TA should know about charters and if there are any that would work for you.

 

If all else fails, I would certainly change to a "phantom booking" so I wouldn't lose all that money. Even if your cruise is delayed a year, perhaps in that time you would be able to save the money for a regular flight. I wish you good luck.

 

PS Where in the UK are you? My niece lives in Swindon.

[Elizanessie]

ukcrazycruizers

 

I recently emailed Adam Goldstein at RCCI Miami, about this...and few days later got very nice response form Managing Director here in the UK.

 

To cut a long story short.......This cancellation policy is now under review:D :D I had explained that with so many more RCCI ships coming over here now this policy needs to be reviewed.

 

Now how long it will take them to review it I dont know...but I will be checking on this later this week and I promise I will let you know as soon as I hear anymore news.

 

So if you can, hold off on cancelling a bittie longer ;)

I know the flights prices can be frightening sometimes but if possible keep checking as many sites as possible as often as you can.

I was looking for our flight sot Miami for Nov for 5 months..and one day...whoosh found decent price and grabbed them...they have now gone nearly double in price !!

 

 

Good luck

Liz

WYWH Cruiser

[cruisinfanatic]

dont suppose there is anybody out there who could give me any advice??,

to cut a long story short ,my family and i have booked a cruise in jan ,but the flights are over a thousand pounds more expensive than our cruise last year,with so sight of them coming down ,i have no choice but to cancel our beloved holiday,i contacted Rci and explained my situation and they told me that i would loose my 500 pound deposit money.i asked why, and all they could say was they had different rules in america,as they had different laws....i had to wait a whole week for that response???

what seems very wrong to me ,is that when booking our cruise on line from the uk ,we atomatically get transfered to the us site in order to proceed,surely that means we should follow the rules on that site???

im not sure where to go next...can anybody help??? :confused:

You may be looking for air a little too early. Check rates a couple months out from now . Then 3 and 4 and see if they change.

[dougp26364]

If worst comes to worst, rather than lose the deposit, I'd just keep changing my cruise date to the furthest cruise out until airfare's got to a point of affordability.

 

I'd wait until just before final payment, checking airfare's and hoping for the best. If the airfare's didn't budge, just before final payment I'd change the cruise to something as far out as I could. At that point I'd start checking cruises I was interested in, look at the airfare and when I found something that matched up, I'd call RCI back and change the cruise to what you want and book the airfare.

 

It's not ideal but I would be in no mood to lose that deposit. Rather than lose the deposit I'd try to keep stringing it out until I found a way to go on a cruise that would make my family happy. I'd just consider the money in a non-interest bearing vacation savings account with RCI until I found something that worked or, until they change that policy and will allow you to have your deposit back.

[Elaine0138]

Hi UKCCs

 

Hang on a bit and see what the fares do. You never know they might come down a bit.

If not you can change your cruise to a different itinerary, better that than losing £500.00.

Also lets see what happens once they review the cancellation policy.

[ukcrazycruisers]

many thanks for all your helpfull info.....especially Elizanessie.....looks like you have come to my rescue again...;)

we have decided to keep trying the flights each day,unless there is indeed a welcome change in their policy as the money is just too much to lose

[frankreeves]

Have you thought about doing a Repositioning cruise? Europe to US Or Visa versa. There is a chance that you might get a better rate if you are only going one way

[OnlyMe]

Sorry to OP, don't mean to hijack the thread BUT.... I have the same problem with a 'slightly' different angle!

 

I haven't posted on CC in a while but I need help please!

 

Last September, in order to avail of on board credit, we booked a cruise while we were on Radiance. The cruise we wanted at the time (New England) was not running and there was no schedule for it so the Loyalty Ambassador said it would be OK to book 'any' cruise and then transfer the booking.

Long story short, the New England cruise was 'recomissioned' and I booked for September 30th this year. When I phoned to change the booking I was told that they would refund me the original deposit and then I needed to pay a new deposit and they would transfer the on board credit. The reason it was done this way I was told is because the US price was working out about $200 more expensive that the £price (website prices were different!!). Anyways, back to the present, we decided we don't want to do this cruise and are not sure when we will be able to cruise again or indeed which cruise we alctally would go on so.... today, I phoned RCCL (92 days out) to cancel my booking and have my deposit refunded... guess what - they say it's non-refundable!! I told the Supervisro that on board Radiance we were told it was fully refundable up to 90 days out and that when I changed the booking I was under the impression that the same booking conditions applied (as no-one told me otherwise!). She actually tried to tell me that the 90day policy does NOT exist!!!!!!! (The guy before her tried to tell me that I couldn't transfer my booking as I had already done it once before!!!!)

I asked her to get back to me on this matter. Just after I put the phone down from her I found the 'American' brochure which the Loyalty Ambassador gave me when I booked on board and it clearly states what I already knew - '...fully refundable up to 90 days out'. I phoned back and asked to speak to her but they couldn't locate her so I asked that she call me back asap... I haven't received a phone call.... 4 hours later. Now what I'm wondering is... is she trying to stall in order to get inside the 90 days... what should I do?

Any update on change of cancellation policy?

 

ANY advice is MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,

[Elizanessie]

Sorry but it states in the UK brochure ...cancel-lose deposit....gawd this makes me so mad....but it is written in the Booking Conditions.:(

 

It does state though that ...depending on the reason for cancelling the cruise you might perhaps be able to claim deposit back through your insurance policy.

 

I havent heard anymore on thereview on the Cancellation Policy...but I will do a follow up email right now...and let you all know as soon as I hear anything new.

 

By the way.....do all UK pax know that you do not have to pay your deposit on the ship to get your onboard credit ?....you can, in effect, have a cabin/cabins on hold....and you have usually approx 3 weeks to pay your deposit when you get home.The cabin on hold is done with RCCI UK but you can transfer it to your own TA when you get home....just remember to keep same booking number :D

 

Liz

WYWH Cruiser

[OnlyMe]

Thanks Elizanessie, it makes me mad too!

Because we originally booked through US RCCL and specifically NOT UK (we paid our deposit in $US) we were originally covered by the 90 day rule. They never told us otherwise when we changed our booking - that's what REALLY gets me. As I told the supervisor this morning, if I had known they wewe going to do this (ie change our conditions of booking) I would NEVER have booked the cruise... I can't believe it's one law for one and another for another (US v's UK)!