LAVCruiser

Has anyone had success in getting their FCC extended?  I canceled a July cruise back in March (after Covid became an issue but before the cruise lines starting canceling cruises).  Royal kept $200 of my deposit and gave me FCC of $300, but the FCC expires in February 2021.  Would love to get that extended for a year and then maybe (hopefully, I'll get to use it). 

I took a screen shot of the excursion offer from my cruise planner page on the RCI site. It looks the same excursion that you are all talking about. Am I missing something?

55 minutes ago, Glaciers said:

 

Is this the same excursion you were researching? Says it's $289 here. Maybe there are add ons that aren't mentioned?

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=HG03&DestinationCode=

3 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Wow!  We will be on the Coral Princess and have booked the Hubbard excursion at a price of $259.95 per person.  Are you sure that your $406.99 price isn't for two people?

I just went and double checked and that is the price per person.  So it would be over $800 for both of us.  I'm not even considering it at that price.  I will keep an eye on it and see if it gets lower as we get closer to cruise time.

We will be on the Radiance of the Seas this summer and I have been debating about whether or not to book this excursion.  The current price is $406.99 per person.  Is it worth it?

My husband and I will be cruising to Alaska in July on Radiance of the Seas.  Typically when we cruise, I wait until our final payment is due, pay it, and then book our excursions.  Do I need to change up my normal practice for a summertime Alaska cruise?  Will the good excursions sell out early?  Should I go ahead and book them even before the final cruise payment is due?

We sailed 1/12 - 1/19 on Liberty of the Seas and never saw the drink punch cards offered.   Bummer, because I was keeping an eye out for them.  They are such a good deal when available.

Just got back from a week on Liberty of the Seas.  There was a "Caribbean" dress suggestion one night for dinner, I think it was the same night as our Grand Cayman port day, but I could be mis-remembering.  I don't recall any other shipwide theme nights, although there were a couple disco events in one of the bars. 

This all ended well - my husband and I went on a snorkeling excursion in Cozumel, which we booked through RCI.  One of the guides was taking underwater photos, and charging $25 to email your photos to you.  So we paid him the $25 and the next morning we received six snorkeling photos of some other people.  I emailed back twice, saying that we hadn't received our photos (and told him how to tell which ones were ours as we had used our own masks which were distinctive).  Never heard from the guy and figured it was $25 out the window.  But my husband really liked the photos and wanted them for some reason, so I stopped by Customer Service.  The guy there basically told me I was out of luck.  Next, I stopped by the shore excursion desk.  I think the person I spoke with took it as some kind of personal challenge to find my photos, because she sent off an email to someone and within a few hours I had the correct photos.  So happy ending!

Does this happen often, or do you usually get your correct photos emailed to you when you do something like this?  It's made me a little hesitant to purchase extra photos/videos on excursions. 

Just got back from a 1/12 - 1/19 sailing on Liberty of the Seas and the 10-drink punch cards never made an appearance (at least I never saw them for sale anywhere).  Bummer!  We were keeping an eye out for them.

As others have said, it really depends on what and how much you drink.  One thing we noticed on our first cruise five years ago (and this has been the case on every cruise we've taken since) is that we drink a LOT of bottled water.  You need to stay hydrated and with the wind blowing and the warmer temperatures, you will need more water than you think.  For us, it makes sense to buy the case of water that is delivered to our stateroom and waiting for us when we got on board.  Then we are sure to bring our thermal tumblers, which the buffet staff are more than happy to fill up with ice for us at any time.  We also bring the allotted two bottles of wine.  And we buy the 10-punch drink card if it's offered.  You might try going without the package for a couple cruises, adding it all up at the end to see if the drink package would have been a better deal, and then making future decisions based on that.

Well, I was all set to negotiate if/when they called back.  But I just got an email with our GS cabin number.  So someone else must have taken an offer and/or got upgraded, freeing up a GS.

I started to wonder if I over-reacted to all this, but then I went back and listened to the original voicemail from the Revenue department (interesting that it's Revenue and not Customer Service who calls) and the person made it sound very urgent.  She really emphasized the overbooking situation and when I called Customer Service, another woman told me there was "nothing else" available.  Then when I said I really did not want to accept the offer, she said she would "try" to resolve this for me.  The entire phone call with Customer Service took over 20 minutes, with me being put on hold several times while various people were supposedly consulted.  I'm now thinking that there is a script being followed, and whoever calls makes it sound a bit more dire than it really is.  And simply saying no or not even returning the call would have been the way to handle it. 

Still don't know if I'll ever go with a Guaranty rate again.  But I'll know better if I ever get another call from the Revenue department.  Just say no (unless they offer a pretty sweet deal :)).

We bought a 10-punch card about halfway through our last cruise on Liberty.  Best deal going!  In both Chops and the MDR, the waiter punched the card once and then kept refilling my wine glass and bringing my husband additional drinks.  Yeah, they got good tips from us after that 🙂 - I'll be keeping an eye out for those punch cards on my upcoming Liberty cruise.

16 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

Similar situation happened to us a year ago. We had a JS (can’t remember if it was a guarantee or not) and they called the week of sailing and asked us to downgrade to a balcony cabin. I would have said no except they offered a full refund so we basically sailed for free. Not sure if you could negotiate something similar, but you could try. 

For a full refund, I'd take the JS!  But based on what I paid for a JS a year ago (and some other numbers someone just posted), they are pretty much offering me a 15% discount off the typical price for a JS.  They're going to have to do better than that.

19 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You have no idea why they don't have a GS, it may not be due to overbooking but something wrong with the cabin they were going to give you and they have to take it out of inventory.

The person who called said they had overbooked the Grand Suites.  But you do make a good point - for our next cruise later this year, I have a definite cabin number.  But something could always go wrong with that cabin and so, while it's less likely, I could run into this problem even if I don't do the Guaranty program. 

42 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

I wonder how many others booked a GS guarantee. I'm assuming those that booked the actual GS category get priority 

Yes, anyone who booked an actual GS cabin with a cabin number gets priority.  I only did the GS guaranty because that's all the was available.  I don't think I will do this again.  One thing that irritates me is how last minute all this is.  I mean, way back when final payments were due, RCI should have realized there was an issue.  Unless they were anticipating cancellations after final payments.  But does that really happen all that often?

1 hour ago, molly361 said:

JS  and a full refund but they will probably find someone who will take an offer and you won't hear back from them again

I'm hoping the next thing I hear back is my GS cabin number :).  I don't think I will ever do this guaranty thing again.  Lesson learned.

22 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

That's just not right. Unless you're spending thousands of dollars on those extras I don't see anyway the profit margin on those would not equal the operating costs on the cabin. 

Ok, economics was never my best subject, so feel free to correct me.  But here's how I'm thinking.  Let's assume that the GS cabins are overbooked, but there are one or more empty JS cabins.  If I don't go on the cruise at all, then they don't make any money off of me, nor do they make any money from the empty JS cabin that they tried to put me into.  On the other hand, if they give me a JS for free, they make a profit from all my on-board spending, excursions, etc.  And sailing with that JS empty or with me in it, doesn't really affect the cost of sailing.  All the fixed costs remain the same.  I suppose they will wash slightly fewer towels, make slightly fewer meals, and that kind of thing.  But they won't really save anything by sailing with an empty room.  That's why I say they will make money even if they comp my room.  Because the operating costs of the room are almost the same whether I'm in it or its empty.

2 minutes ago, Funky Fusion FoodsJ said:

I should clarify...ask for a full refund AND a FCC

Wow, you drive a hard bargain - do you want to negotiate this for me 🙂

1 minute ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

FCC is a future cruise credit.  The cruise line issues those as a good will gesture when there is a problem or if you cancel.  You should get money back, not a credit to be used on a future cruise.

Thanks!  I agree, I want a refund back on my credit card if they downgrade me. 

4 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

No way he should accept a FCC.  He should get a cash refund and receive all the benefits of a GS at a minimum.

What is FCC? 

1 minute ago, Funky Fusion FoodsJ said:

First of all, I'm not a RC cheerleader or employee, just a cruise lover.  This isn't bait and switch no more than how airlines overbook planes.  Their history shows that a certain percentage will cancel/change categories etc so of course they overbook, its simple business forecasting...sometimes  it doesn't work...so they start offering concessions to get out of it.  Stick to your guns as far as what you want, they'll keep going down the list until they find someone willing to accept the concessions they're willing to give.  If they end up back to you, look for a good FCC to get out of it.

You are right, of course.  This isn't personal, it was a business decision by RCI to overbook the cruise and now they have a business problem they need to fix.  And . . . it's certainly not the end of the world if I have to travel in a JS rather than a GS (talk about your first world problems).  But I am going to stick to my guns and demand what I can precisely because this is a business decision.  And businesses that make decisions that don't pan out need to take care of their customers, especially their good customers (which I am).  RCI is a huge company that can afford to treat me right, and if they don't, then I am free to take my cruise dollars to another company in the future. They could comp my room 100% and they will still make money off of me on this cruise (drinks, excursions, food, coffee, etc.).  So I'll see how they handle it, and make my future cruise decisions based on how I'm treated.

2 hours ago, blackshirt said:

I did not know a GS guarantee even existed, I've never seen it, only the suite guarantee category which I did book on Liberty a couple years back. If that price for the JS is per person, not good, but if that is total for 2, that is a good price. You know, for the price difference you could easily afford the drink package for both of you and still be paying less. You won't miss the nightly cocktail hour at all if you have the drink package. Maybe tell them you'll except the offer if they'll throw in the drink package.

Yes, the GS guaranty does exist, although it's rare.  My Ticket has a Stateroom # of GTY and a Category of GS.  As far as price, I don't have an exact number from RCI.  We had booked with a Buy One, Get One at Half Off special and so I'm not sure how they would calculate 50% off.  The prices I am using are for two people.  So maybe around $2150 total for two of us in a JS (that's before taxes, fees, etc.).  The problem I have with this is that we sailed on Liberty of the Seas about a year ago in a JS and paid around $2500 total for a JS.  So they are basically offering me only about a $350 discount from what I would normally pay for a JS and I have no idea of the location or anything else.  That is a pathetic offer.  Don't give me a JS for half the price of a GS - give me a JS for half the normal price of a JS and then MAYBE we have a starting point for a negotiations!

1 minute ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

 

Did you book directly with RC or did you use a TA?  If a TA, that person needs to go to bat for you. 

 

If you booked directly, you CAN negotiate. Tell them you understand that they have overbooked, but you are not willing to take their offer. Tell them to try someone else. You can also make a counter offer:  we will take the JS and the 50% off, but you must give us Gold SeaPass cards and give us all of the perks that come with it. 

I booked it myself on the web site.  I have wondered about asking for the Gold SeaPass card.  My hesitation is that the person on the phone can promise anything, but when I get to the port and check in, who knows?  What if the person checking us in doesn't abide by what the person on the phone says?  All the person at the port will know is that I have a JS and so then what do I do?

Just now, HicksRA said:

I was booked in a Grand Suite on Liberty sailing November 17th and got a similar offer via phone message but never replied or accepted the offer. Mine was not a gty category. 
Did you accept the offer?  Did they say you have to downgrade?  Was it GS or better gty or a JS or better gty?  

It is a Grand Suite Guaranty - GS or better.  I did not accept the offer.  In fact, I called back and said that I would NOT accept it.  So now the Revenue person says she is calling others and trying to resolve this for me.  I just have a bad feeling that the "resolution" is going to be "take it or leave it."