This tip will save you thousands of dollars

[Midnight Writer]

Hello friends,

I am writing to you today to inform you of what I think are fraudulent business practices being perpetrated by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and many others as well. Some months ago, my friends and I selected, and paid for a cruise. We were told by Royal Caribbean Cruise officials over the phone that purchasing the cruise early was the "wise choice" because we would lock our price in and avoid any potential increases as the cruise sail-date nears and the cruise becomes sold-out. This sounded good, but it never happened. What happened is that the cruise line dropped their prices by more than 35% from the prices we paid. Why didn't the nice Royal Caribbean Cruise specialist mention that this could happen and that we would be suckers that got hammered for higher prices. Our travel agent could do nothing for us. They were victims just like us. Royal Caribbean and her sister cruise line, Celebrity Cruise Lines have one of the most restrictive refund policies in the cruise industry. Read that as: "Haha, we don't do that!" Not only would they not refund us any of the excessive overcharge, they wouldn't even consider an upgrade to another cabin category as partial mitigation of our losses. They claimed they would have to do that for everyone who was overcharged. Wow, that sounds fair to me. Meanwhile, we were sinking without a life boat to be had or a life preserver from Royal Caribbean.

 

So, my suggestion, and HOT TIP for anyone wanting to book a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruise in the next three years (while the recession is in full bloom) is to not book the cruise until after their cancellation period has expired, usually 75 days before the sail date. This way, you will almost guarantee yourself of saving at least $1000 or more off the cruise costs before their cancellation period expires. And, you will still have plenty of time to book flights, hotels, and any other travel need you may have at great savings as well.

its because you booked directly with rccl if you went to an agent like i did you will be able to get a full refund or a refund for the differnece, never ever buy tickets directly from the rccl they are not fair aobut prices they do nto care if you spend 1 million for a ticket its only a cabin they are selling and to me those stupid sea miles on carnival are not worth a bird doodie... they make you pay for everything and you pay higher on those seamiles too, 200.00 higher than the next guest so you are not saving, you have to spend well over 20,000.00 in order to get an upgrade of 100.00 off of your ticket in your upgraded room is it worth it? I do not think so...... you think aobut it.:eek::confused:

[Goes Cruising]

its because you booked directly with rccl if you went to an agent like i did you will be able to get a full refund or a refund for the differnece, never ever buy tickets directly from the rccl they are not fair aobut prices they do nto care if you spend 1 million for a ticket its only a cabin they are selling and to me those stupid sea miles on carnival are not worth a bird doodie... they make you pay for everything and you pay higher on those seamiles too, 200.00 higher than the next guest so you are not saving, you have to spend well over 20,000.00 in order to get an upgrade of 100.00 off of your ticket in your upgraded room is it worth it? I do not think so...... you think aobut it.:eek::confused:

 

I'm not sure why some are successful getting refunds and others are not? I'm sailing June 24th with RCCL, and my trip is paid in full at this time. I've been watching rates daily. Last Friday, I found a price drop and saved myself $1720. The RCCL agent was more than cooperative. I certainly talked like I expected it, but I did not have to jump through any hoops.

 

So, RCCL does honor price drops....

[lady_cruiser]

cruise shark dot com. For a small donation to keep this website up you can download it and it will notify you whenever there is a price drop on your ship in your cabin's cat. THANKS to this program I have saved both my sister and I $130 (for a total of $260) each. And I still have 10 months to go before we cruise so if there are any more price drops all I have to do is call the cruise line and they will adjust my final amount due to the lower price. The only way they will tell me no is that if the lower price is a special sale for "new bookings only."

[sherri14]

cruise shark dot com. For a small donation to keep this website up you can download it and it will notify you whenever there is a price drop on your ship in your cabin's cat. THANKS to this program I have saved both my sister and I $130 (for a total of $260) each. And I still have 10 months to go before we cruise so if there are any more price drops all I have to do is call the cruise line and they will adjust my final amount due to the lower price. The only way they will tell me no is that if the lower price is a special sale for "new bookings only."

 

I believe it's dot net...

[sylteach]

I booked with HAL an Alaskan cruise in January for September. HAL sent me a brochure in March showing a lower cost for my cabin, I called my TA, and she got the price reduced for me. I saw a second price drop online and called my TA. She was on vacation but an associate of hers did the work for her and got us another price reduction. She checked the prices herself on the "monthly anniversary" from when we booked. We were never charged anything for this. I kept looking after I made final payment, but it never dropped after that. My TA is with a national agency, so maybe that made a difference. We are very happy with her efforts.

[jchiefs13]

Yep. All you have to do is call and they'll give you the drop. It takes 10 seconds... less time than it took to write a thread to rip RC up and down.

[martinchem]

You first mention the nice Royal Caribbean people then your travel agent, making me think you booked with both, which is not possible. So I think your story is muddy.

[SFSing]

Thank you for your wisdom. I am sorry that you got "screwed."

 

I had plans for Celebrity's Century trip to the Mediterranean. I think I will move myself over to NCL.

 

S.

[Iluvmypuggle]

We've never had a cruise fall in price either....I mean, when we book, we do it because we feel the price we agreed to pay was fair. I wouldn't have booked it if I felt the price was too high!

It's similar to a cell-phone plan...you sign a contract for a set price----if you didn't like the price, you wouldn't sign the contract!

 

Agreed. I book a cruise when the price is right for me and I feel like I'm getting the most out of my money. The cell phone contract was a good comparison.

 

Others mentioned the price drop similar to store sales. Often I buy clothes for something coming up. If it goes on sale before Ive actually worn it, I bring my receipt back for a price adjustment.

[EGG]

The problem was probably with the TA.

 

RCCL has a new price guarantee program. The only thing they do not guarantee is sales for new bookings only. For a full discussion of this I would go to the Royal Caribbean boards.

 

Here's the info on RCCL's new Price Guarantee Program:

 

 

OVERVIEW:

Our

Price Guarantee is our commitment to you.When guests book with Royal Caribbean through your travel agency and subsequently find a lower fare advertised by Royal Caribbean, we will honor that rate by applying an onboard credit to the reservation equal to the price difference. (Terms and conditions apply. See FAQs for full details.) For reservations outside of the final payment period,

onboard credit may be replaced upon request with a reduction to the outstanding balance or a refund as applicable. For guests booked into qualifying group space outside of the final payment period, we will provide the onboard credit, reduce the outstanding balance or refund the amount due via the same method used to originally make payment.

Requests for price adjustments must be received by the cruise line at least 72 hours prior to the scheduled departure time for the cruise. The lower fare must be available at the time the request for

rate conversion is made and not limited to new bookings only.

 

 

You can recognize the

Price Guarantee program by the following logo:

 

 

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

• No forms

• Book anytime - guests are protected up until 72 hours prior to departure

• Outside of final payment = Upgrade, onboard credit or price reduction (refund if applicable)

• Inside final payment = Upgrade or onboard credit

For our consumer-facing program overview

©2009

[bwerner317]

I booked a Carnival Freedom for 9/20/09 and was told that they only had 4 cabins left fora low price as i was going solo and that i would not get it cheaper anyplace else so i booked it and the next day it dropped $114.00 i call 3 different times about the price change gpt no where not even a onboard credit i am not happy

[X]

I booked directly with RCCL in August. Noticed a $400 price drop this morning before going to work. Called it in and the RCCL agent gave me the new lower price. Total time on the phone was less than 3 minutes. I love booking on my own.

 

IMO, if you book with a TA some of them will give you the price drop, while others will be very resistant b/c they are losing their commission. I dont want to worry about that so I book on my own. And who knows when you will be able to get a hold of your TA. I have talked to other people who say it may take 2 or 3 business days for their TA to get back at them, and by then the price might have gone back up.

[mrpayroll]

Hello friends,

I am writing to you today to inform you of what I think are fraudulent business practices being perpetrated by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and many others as well. Some months ago, my friends and I selected, and paid for a cruise. We were told by Royal Caribbean Cruise officials over the phone that purchasing the cruise early was the "wise choice" because we would lock our price in and avoid any potential increases as the cruise sail-date nears and the cruise becomes sold-out. This sounded good, but it never happened. What happened is that the cruise line dropped their prices by more than 35% from the prices we paid. Why didn't the nice Royal Caribbean Cruise specialist mention that this could happen and that we would be suckers that got hammered for higher prices. Our travel agent could do nothing for us. They were victims just like us. Royal Caribbean and her sister cruise line, Celebrity Cruise Lines have one of the most restrictive refund policies in the cruise industry. Read that as: "Haha, we don't do that!" Not only would they not refund us any of the excessive overcharge, they wouldn't even consider an upgrade to another cabin category as partial mitigation of our losses. They claimed they would have to do that for everyone who was overcharged. Wow, that sounds fair to me. Meanwhile, we were sinking without a life boat to be had or a life preserver from Royal Caribbean.

 

So, my suggestion, and HOT TIP for anyone wanting to book a Royal Caribbean or Celebrity Cruise in the next three years (while the recession is in full bloom) is to not book the cruise until after their cancellation period has expired, usually 75 days before the sail date. This way, you will almost guarantee yourself of saving at least $1000 or more off the cruise costs before their cancellation period expires. And, you will still have plenty of time to book flights, hotels, and any other travel need you may have at great savings as well.

This sounds like total B.S to me.....:rolleyes:

[zuscruiserz]

Troll alert - this was a one post wonder who dropped incorrect information back in April and ran.

 

RCI does honor price drops as long as it's not a Tuesday or WOW sales event. It will be added as onboard credit which will be applied back to your credit card if not used.

[gus49]

I booked with Princess. Found the prices went down, called, got the difference credited to my account, they also gave me an upgrade to balcony aft.

[JA023]

does anyone know when spring break for colleges will be next year? We want to book a Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale and want to have a nice peaceful cruise...

 

thanks.

 

Joyce

[firefly333]

does anyone know when spring break for colleges will be next year? We want to book a Caribbean cruise out of Fort Lauderdale and want to have a nice peaceful cruise...

 

thanks.

 

Joyce

 

Judging from the much higher prices that week, its approx the 3rd week in March.

[zoncom]

Spring breaks last over a MONTH. Beware.

[sailor5552]

We just booked RCI 5 night to Bermuda 35 days out to departure for $549; D1 stateroom with balcony on the 6th floor not far from elevators. I just went to the cruises that were less than 40 days away and shopped for the best deal. A lot of rooms open up after the cancelation date.

The week after I booked, the price went up to $849 for the same room type.

It helps to be flexible with the destinations. There will always be a deal for the week you want to go.

[csunshine44]

Thanks for this info. We will be in Fl Dec. 5-Jan 5,2010. Have sailed many times and always booked month of October. Last year out of TPA had issues with the return of the fuel supplement that some received back after Dec. 6 sailings. We never did get ours back though sailed Dec.13.

 

Maybe you can help me out here as I came across a good deal on a MSC cruise Dec. 10 from Americas Vacation Center but being Canadian have not heard of them. Any word out there about these guys. Thanks again.

[Jana60]

We cruised Royal Carribean in July and and had booked months earlier so we watched the prices. When the price dropped briefly we called and were given a $300.00 credit to my credit card. Since they had to unassign our room and reassign it we ended up being upgraded to same type of room but higher in the ship. Shortly after that the prices for that cruise went even higher than our original booked price, yet we still received the credit to my VISA. If the price was lower BEFORE you booked or if you failed to call until after your cruise, I could see you might have difficulties but they were very willing to credit us and even told me to call back if I saw the price go lower.

[Leo Jay]

The idea of feeling entitled to a price drop has never made sense to me. You book early to guarantee a spot and/or a particular cabin. That's what you pay the premium for. That people feel ENTITLED to have their cake and eat it too is hardly surprising anymore, but it's more than a bit silly.

:D

[dyjack]

And even though that policy says "new" I've always gotten an adjustment. Every cruise I've taken has dropped in price after I've booked. A simple phone call to RCI has resolved the issue - even when I've gone from a standard rate to a newly offered military or residential rate.