Courtesy Holds are being phased out

That is what people are going to end up doing - paying the deposit on anything they are interested in, then cancelling when needed. Maybe RC will find this creates more problems/work issuing refunds all the time and they will bring the courtesy hold back:rolleyes:

 

As long as you are still well before the credit card statement/cut off date - it really wouldn't make that much of a difference if you held one for a few days then moved the reservation or cancelled.

This is what is going to happen. People will just book and cancel before payment is due on their cc. Seems like a lot more work to cancel bookings and refund vs just letting a hold expire.

Next thing they will do is make deposits non-refundable so people can't do that either.

I noticed that the last booking I made online, they gave me a $13pp obc. Not really a useful amount but now I can't cancel online; I have to call in. I think they like you having to call in because then they ask you why you are cancelling and can possibly save the booking from being cancelled.

Another possible reason for the elimination of the courtesy holds could be the number of people that put holds on cabins when they already have one booked in order to seep cure a price drop when their TA is closed either at night or on the weekend.

I have no doubt that you're right. Using the feature to secure price drops doesn't benefit RCI in any way.

could you do that in 24 hours?! it is a minimum 72 hours before DH finds out whether his leave is approved. airfare more than x months out you cannot even look at.

Yes, no problem at all. See again the word "cursory".

I think it is a bad idea to eliminate courtesy holds. They allow people to get some preliminary planning done; look at airfare, find out of they can take the time off of work, etc., and still get the cabin they want. This forces people to have all of those ducks in order before even shopping and I don't think that is necessarily practical.

I have to say it isn't very 'customer friendly' to do away with the courtesy hold. The reality is that probably too many people have put too many cabins on hold for any one particular cruise all at the same time, and booked very few the following day. I don't see the true harm in this, from a corporate standpoint -- to be honest.

Twice in all of our cruises have we done it. The first time we did it, the following day a customer service rep (aka -- sales person) called us to arrange to get the booking done. The second time we did it, we purposely did it the night before our Indy cruise because we wanted to book the cruise and that cabin when we were onboard the next day to get a reduced deposit and the onboard credit that came with the booking. While sitting with the Ambassador on Indy, she took our booking off courtesy hold and gave us the cabin we had put on hold the night before.

For us, we have determined what our vacation needs are and have had them approved and the rest will take care of itself. I know, everyone is different.

With the elimination of the courtesy hold could this just be the beginning of non refundable depsits?

This is going to suck for folks who use a TA that's closed on Sundays. A lot of sales happen on weekends and if you can't get a hold of your TA and there's no hold anymore, you are forced prior to final payment to book with RCI or miss out. Hmm.... now that I think of it, I wonder how many holds happen after final payment.

 

 

 

If that was their logic, they would only be eliminating holds on cruise cabins that are past final payment.

This is going to suck for folks who use a TA that's closed on Sundays. A lot of sales happen on weekends and if you can't get a hold of your TA and there's no hold anymore, you are forced prior to final payment to book with RCI or miss out. Hmm.... now that I think of it, I wonder how many holds happen after final payment.

 

 

 

If that was their logic, they would only be eliminating holds on cruise cabins that are past final payment.

 

I can how it would negatively affect travel agents who are unavailable on Sunday for their clients, and that turns into a positive for RCI. Traditionally we hear that cruise lines don't want to irritate people like TA's that bring them business.....so this almost sounds foolish on RCI's part. On the flip side, RCI gives TA's credit for a booking that is done via the Loyalty Ambassador on board, if the cruiser had booked the cruise they are on with a TA. So it is a confusing relationship at best.....they giveth and they taketh....we will see as these changes unfold.

Have we confirmed that there will be no more courtesy holds?

The reason I ask is because I was able to place a 24-hour hold on a cruise that I booked via phone (one of the big online agencies) just recently. It doesn't make sense that RCCL would allow their travel agents to place holds, when they are not allowing it themselves.

I am wondering if the OP ran into difficulties because they wanted to hold several cabins. It doesn't seem like it would cause RCCL too many problems if folks placed 24-hour holds on one cabin per itinerary.

I agree with many posters upthread--there are many ducks that have to lined up in a row before a cruise is booked and paid for.

... It doesn't make sense that RCCL would allow their travel agents to place holds, when they are not allowing it themselves...

I disagree. Travel agents run by different rules, and have been able to hold staterooms for longer than 24 hours. I would be surprised if travel agents lost the ability to hold staterooms.

I disagree. Travel agents run by different rules, and have been able to hold staterooms for longer than 24 hours. I would be surprised if travel agents lost the ability to hold staterooms.

Agreed -- I think they'd have a TA revolt on their hands (which they really don't want or need) if they did that.

No, I was told specifically that it has nothing to do with my loyalty tier or number of cabins; RC is beginning to implementing this on a number of their ships, the one I was interested in being one of them. It will continue to be implemented until it is fleet wide.

I asked a lot of questions regarding this "new" policy.

Please correct me if I am wrong. Doesn't RCCL save money when people book directly with them? Why would they want to drive people to the travel agents?

I am not saying that they are not allowing holds; I am saying that it doesn't make sense for them to do so.

Thinking your TA will be able to still do a courtesy hold, at least the TA's in the 500 status.

Thinking your TA will be able to still do a courtesy hold, at least the TA's in the 500 status.

I've never used a TA, so I didn't ask specifically about them. I only asked if the number of cabins or loyalty level mattered and was told that there were to be no exceptions regarding holds on the specific ships earmarked for the beginning of the phase-in.

I have used them for the very reason of checking to see if I could get off of work.....oh well times they do change.....

Deposit are non-refundable here in Norway, so I will hate to see the courtesy hold option gone:mad:

All of that in a 24hour period.....:rolleyes:

... uhh, yes?

Its not THAT hard to check out airfare or call up your 3-6 friends who you 'normally' cruise, talk with DH, etc. I've never had (or heard of) any work approve or deny time off within 24 hrs, but at most places its a formality outside of the holidays... Most people probably put in for leave after they've booked the trip.

Personally, I don't think you NEED the courtesy hold to do those things, but if you were considering taking a GS or something, then maybe it'd be practical. I always thought the courtesy holds were more about locking down a price (because they change constantly) while you did those things, as generally the whole ship doesn't fill up overnight, but as I said, for some people who want a hump cabin or a suite, it could be good.

I've had multiple occasions where I needed the courtesy hold to be in place before I went about the process of trying to get time off from work and researching airfare (which can generally be done in a 24-hr period).

Put me down as another one who would sorely miss this option if it was taken away.

Bummer! I book far in advance usually so as long as I can still cancel before final I will be OK I guess. I use the 24 hour hold to get those cabins that don't last long, like the single cabins which can go within hours. I will admit that I also have used it in order to "sleep on it" to decide if I wanna commit.

I will also admit that being a cruise addict I usually keep them.:D

Edit: Does anyone know of any other cruise lines that offer 24 hour holds? Don't recall having that option with other lines. Just curious.

Denise

Absolutely, and perhaps you should be less judgmental. For me, LMaxwell's list of tasks is at most a few hours of work, max. It's evident these tasks take some people longer, but that's no reason why NOBODY should have the benefit of a courtesy hold...

 

I think bouhunter hit the nail on the head through as to why the courtesy holds are going away. Probably ran some numbers and saw that too few cabins were being booked from the courtesy holds to justify continuing the policy and tying up inventory. As far as I'm concerned as a customer, removing them is a consumer unfriendly policy that I strongly oppose.

 

I think bouhunter hit the nail on the head through as to why the courtesy holds are going away. Probably ran some numbers and saw that too few cabins were being booked from the courtesy holds to justify continuing the policy and tying up inventory. As far as I'm concerned as a customer, removing them is a consumer unfriendly policy that I strongly oppose.

IF, that is indeed the problem, I think there is a quick and easy solution that doesn't involve axing the program. Just make courtesy holds a C&A perk. Gold members get 1 per year, Plat members get 2 per year, emeralds get 3. I also liked the other suggestion that involved a $25 refundable fee on holds (beyond the free allotment given in the above program ^_)^ I also think that the hold system would be more valuable if they were to do 7 day holds vs 24 hrs...

those 2 policies together would prevent people from abusing the system or wasting RCCL's time, would reward C&A members (because, lets be honest, if you are giving RCCL 10k+ per year, or you are on your 10th cruise with them, you do deserve a few perks, right?), and probably pay for themselves.

I think it is a bad idea to eliminate courtesy holds. They allow people to get some preliminary planning done; look at airfare, find out of they can take the time off of work, etc., and still get the cabin they want. This forces people to have all of those ducks in order before even shopping and I don't think that is necessarily practical.

I find it easy to put a deposit on 2 or 3 different dates whenever I see special prices then once I've checked which dates will work best I cancel those that don't receiving a refund within a few days. Easy to do this all online.

Gae

There was NO judgment in my post. So again there are many reasons why folks could not accomplish that list in 24 hours.

While it's true that tone is hard to discern from text, generally you want to not "rolls eyes" at someone, if you don't want to come off as a judgy type of person. :rolleyes:

I find it easy to put a deposit on 2 or 3 different dates whenever I see special prices then once I've checked which dates will work best I cancel those that don't receiving a refund within a few days. Easy to do this all online.

 

Gae

It is easy to put a deposit on a cruise or two, but I don't like exposing my credit card information on line (secure website, not withstanding) at $250 per person on a reservation. People do that enough and cancel long before their would face a cancellation penalty, now as it is -- which explains why some cabin options open up 'at a later date'.

I book what I expect to cruise on as soon as I know when I want to cruise and from where. When we booked our Jewel cruise from San Juan, we booked the cruise long before we were actually going to be booking the airfare.

We are looking at a New England/Canada cruise from Baltimore and I can assure you, we will have the cruise booked long before we have any idea what flight we want to book.

I believe that doing away with the Courtesy Hold is wrong, even though we have not used it much over our cruising life. But I wonder if it is part of a larger problem for Royal, and if so, they may be attacking the problem from the wrong end.

I really believe that large TA's probably are more of a problem, making some sort of commitment to Royal about bookings and then being unable to fulfill them....but that is not the 'cruisers who is booking for themselves' fault.

All of that in a 24hour period.....:rolleyes:

Yes, most definitely. If I book after final payment I want to confirm my airfare, etc... before I pay a nonrefundable fare.

I hope travel agents will still be able to hold a courtesy reservation. It may change the way I book which will not benefit RCCL.