firefly333

OP called amex. The amex rep can see specific information relating to the merchant. Maybe the amex rep didnt want to get into it but they see a merchant # and address. It would be obvious if this were a fake similar name ..though I guess you are right, but I'd hope the amex rep looked and would say if it werent really royalcaribbean. More than just a name is on the charge the amex rep is seeing. But I get it possibly they had their fill of customers that day and didnt want to say. But if they looked at the charge to see it hadnt been billed yet, they could see the merchant info. Charges do get billed in error people. Or double billed. Lots of billing in error that is not fraud. It's a mistake.

Just to add to your information. If you put your card in a gas pump and there was a skimmer... the card was out of your possession, you put it in the machine. So this probably is fraud. Or in a restaurant the waiter takes your card around the corner and later there were extra charges it was out if your possession. But the chances of the billing merchant being royalcaribbean is slim and none. Billed in error. The op said he changed from a connecting cabin. Who knows, but the merchant name says it was billed from royalcaribbean ... this is important. This is the merchant the dispute will contact. Let's say the merchant doesnt answer within the 3 weeks allowed, late or never answered. We charge back. .. whatever the charge was no one ever knows. Let's hope it doesnt affect his booking. Unless you can explain how this gas pump skimmer billed thru royal .. ..facts matter in a actual billing dispute. I'm explaining how a dispute works. We write the merchant who billed the charge. OP said first post was a royal charge .. then later says fraud. I'd bet you its not fraud. And I speak from experience.

And I'd bet whomever they talked to wasnt working in accounting. I've had customer service agents tells me obviously wrong things... call back and escalate it to accounting. Finally a post that makes sense. Common sense.

I didnt say it wasnt possible. I was stating what amex considers fraud. And saying stick to facts. The OP doesnt recognize the charge...is a fact. Jumping to a conclusion without knowing where the charge came from is what is so tiring, people who think they know it all and insist they know when they dont. If the charge shows as being billed from royal it could be somehow they think op is making payments, any number of things. I cant tell you how many idiots there are out there who have no listening skills. They know it all. So we removed the charge. Then they call me back screaming the merchant still wants his money and we said they were right. No we very carefully worded it saying the credit will remain on your card. I did this for like 3 years and only college grads were hired. The rules are different than you assume. If I had a nickle for every card member who threatened me daily with cancelling their card if I didnt remove a charge, I'd be rich. Daily loses its impact...just another person with no listening skills. Yawn. Some people only think that know stuff. .. I'm very cognizant of the laws governing disputes. Fact the OP says the charge reads it came from royal. If people like you want to assume some gas station embezzled their card in a scam and marked it royalcaribbean... lolol. Alert. ..look at the merchant name before making assumptions. And assuming this is fraud is a assumption not known at this time. I still agree with ken .. there is probably a reason or the merchant name wouldnt read royalcaribbean. Ken so far is the smart post here... honestly what are the odds a gas station skimmer is billing as royalcaribbean... think about it. All the OP knows is "he doesnt recognize the charge" is a dispute reason. Facts matter, not assumptions. OP asked a customer service agent, probably not accounting. Amex will not open a dispute based on assumptions. Only facts. I'm trying to tell you how a dispute works .. not how you are thinking.

I would make sure the charge wasnt from royal before disputing the charge. Amex has a different definition of fraud than most card members. How was the card out of your possession for someone to hack it? They have a dept for fraud but I doubt this is the def of fraud on a credit card if the card was never out of your possession. I would be careful throwing out the word fraud if you had possession of the card. It's a unknown charge. Period. Claiming to be hacked or lost card can be more bother for you. Just say you "dont recognize the charge". It will just waste time going to fraud, being rejected, kicked back etc. Take Ken's advice and get someone to ask accounting, escalate it yourself. Disputing should be a last resort, and can have consequences you didnt anticipate.

Yes posted 1 hour ago. I would have called by now..or as I said before posting it here. Why post such a snarky response. ..turns out OP did call within the last hour.

Yes of course its true you cant dispute until after your cut off date for charges for the billing cycle. I worked for amex disputes for a few years back when it was a fun place to work. Those days are long gone with outsourcing to india. And they have to "write" to the merchant and allow them time to respond what the charge is. This looks too high to write off so they have to write to the merchant. Just be careful if it actually is from royal and its charged back your cruise could get cancelled.

So have you called yet. That's the first thing I would do before asking here. What did they say when you called?

Ken thanks. I'm often confused but understood exactly what you meant. Let no good deed go unpunished. Prices are getting softer. Good news for pax, not so much for the stock jmo.

If it says 3 will fit, they will fit. I personally wouldn't want to be below it if you spend time in your cabin during the day. I once was under the tread mills in the spa and heard every step though was on princess. Not my choice for a cabin but unless another cabin open same exact category cant move without being refared.

I wouldnt share out in the open. Clearly you know it's all YOU can eat (and yes I realize unlimited is limited, more and more and not meant to be all you can eat at every venue)...not you and a friend. The extra credit for ala carte places isnt meant to be shared. Maybe order and take it elsewhere. I just wouldnt flout sharing my dining credit meant for me only. Do it privately, not right under their noses.

I posted a month ago insides on adventure 8 days to Bermuda leaving tomorrow went down to around $850 total all in. Plus obc. Twice they raised the prices up a tad and offered obc to grt you to book. I was already booked and nothing I could do except wish I'd waited to book. Yesterday I was pricing oasis feb 1, 2026, way out and solo for a 6 day JS was $2,499 total for oasis. Bellas 3.5 is why I was looking, im already booked. Saw a nice suite out of pc on wonder dec 1 but it's now gone. Cheaper than I've seen in a long time. It's the same date as the presidents cruise which imo is why wonder was cheaper that one date for wonder. Same port. Just barely past final payment. There are deals on lower and higher end cabins.

Yes if you booked a cabin that is double occupancy, not if you booked a solo cabin which isnt what ken is posting about. To me this is more evidence that the crazy price hikes we were seeing ran into a wall and now there are last minute deals. Before the only way to get good deals was to book ahead, those days seem to be mostly gone. There are last minute deals again. I've seen some good deals, even on suites, those prices are coming down.

My october opened early august. Most were thinking they wouldn't open until sept and would have been late. All 4 weeks in oct opened early august. Much earlier than most anticipated.

Stocks briefly touched unexpected lows the day of the yen japanese carry trade. I'm 100% sure that morning briefly it was below 156. I bought nvda 92 and avgo 129. Neither of those touched those levels since either and both bounced about 30 points. Sold the nvda at 130 I bought at 92 that morning and already bought it back. And avgo at 129 went to 161 almost immediately. Still holding avgo, I bought fewer shares, just the nvda had a lot more shares. That was one crazy morning. Many were saying wait it will go lower. I bought but wish I'd bought more. None have been that low since that morning and it was briefly and they bounced. Never saw anything like it. Idk how I could prove rcl went that low for a brief dip. It was like everything went on sale. I think it was just yesterday? Rcl went as low as 154.08... so lower than what you are saying. I filled at 155.55 and 156.55 but it went lower. I had 60 day good till cancel for rcl because I'm cruising Friday, never guessed it would drop to 154.08 yesterday in the first hour and fill. I'm not sure what day you are talking about but obviously I couldn't have filled at 155.55 if it stayed above 156...so I'm confused what date you mean.. or maybe you mean what did it bounce to that day? Everything bounced...it was some crazy dip right at open. Japan did a surprise rate hike and had been lower and people were borrowing in japanese yen at very very low rates and buying american stocks, double dipping and idk how the surprise rate hike triggered the sell off. It was very very brief right at open. Tree skier is absolutely right which day I mean. Traders going to be talking about those deals for years to come.

Oil is a 2 edged sword. If it's high it's bad for rcl and if its low like now its worrisome that demand from the consumer is dropping and a sign we could be going into a recession. Oil demand from china was one of the first warning signs that China was in trouble. People kept expecting demand to pick back up and it didnt. Saudi has been able to keep the price of oil over $80 and then lately its fallen below $70 and people are shocked. Idk if it's still true but CCL doesnt hedge oil but RCL a long time ago said it hedged oil out about 6 months so protected again upside. Fell like a rock on lower consumer demand almost out of nowhere so fast. Saudis were about to kick into higher production and cant without dropping the oil price even lower. So while lower oil good for RCL it means the consumer has weakened. I'm a bull on RCL as always and watching to buy more on any weaknesses. The big drop the morning of the Japanese carry trade you had to have your buy in before the market opened. It dropped so fast and recovered. I bought NVDA and AVGO. Wish I'd also thought of RCL. Opened down, mornings have been weak lately and then by close RCL recovers as if the drop never happened. 1 day and 5 day charts show the drop and how volatile it's been lately. Yesterdays drop to 154.08 was like a knife thru butter so fast.

RCL stock dropped to 130 the morning it opened after the Japanese carry trade fiasco and recovered to 160. Last friday dropped to 155s and recovered to 160 161 range. Yesterday dropped to 154.08. Closed 158. Lower lows. Every travel stock that reported in august forecast fewer bookings. Bank Of America yesterday said same number of travel $$$ being spent but more transactions on credit cards. Prices are normalizing. I dont see the big price jumps lately from royal like a year ago. Prices finally seem to have run into a brick wall. Of course some go up and down but not thr pricing power of before except for Icon and Star. I've seen some prices dropping a lot after final payment. I bought a last minute cruise to Bermuda which you would think would be sky high. 3 days later insides dropped over $300 and $50 obc offered. I booked a kv and it too dropped and obc offered to fill the ship. Balconys and suites showed filled but they lowered prices rock bottom, especially for insides. Next time I'll wait I guess but who knows. I've also seen a peice drop I dec. Others have posted keep checking for price drops, so others also seeing lower prices. So RCL isnt immune to what other travel stocks are seeing. Its going to be hard to grow earnings in multiples like this year, but a new ship each year adds berths. It's like a company buying another company and adding those earnings to their own and saying see how fast we are growing. I have no idea where it is going. Consolidating isnt a bad thing. I do have two lower buys in at 150 and 152 gtc..good for 60 days while I cancel. More and more talk of a recession. I'll be cruising a lot and cant watch. So just put in guesses. I have no idea where the market is going. Last year was oct lows and people who bought were rewarded but who knows next year. I'm still bullish. A new ship each year with more berths still adds to the bottom line and who looks at debt? Few look at debt imo. Anyone else with thoughts on rcl? I'm doubling down if it goes lower or holding. But I dont think its immune to what's going on in travel. Zachs is always pushing rcl as a good buy. Just a note of interest about cyber security I saw ZS ZScaler say royalcaribbean was a client.

The ovation calif to japan sept 2025 just announced fairly recently, sure wish I could do it. Panama on radiance came out very late, 3 or 4 months ago it seems like. Oct 2025. I jumped on that. Cant do both they overlap. These seem to be announced really late after everything else. Voyager seems to come out the earliest and go bsck and forth to europe. Allure is going too. They dont necessarily come out with the other stuff. Hard to be patient.

No more than 3 weeks out.

I had a b2b on breeze shortly after cruising resumed. One leg in a port hole 1A, loved it, 2nd leg I thought I'd try a 1A on a higher deck, deck 9, upper and lower. I dont know if I still have pictures. TV was all the way across the cabin could hardly see it in a recessed cove. Next to bathroom. The bathroom had a extra large step up to get into the bathroom. Long skinny room and closet was wierd. I had a twin bed and the upper was up in the ceiling and could come down. I hated it so much. Huge mistake. Worse than I thought it would be. Didnt like the bed up against the wall. I'm not little. I couldn't turn over in the twin bed without hitting the wall was the worst part. No space to pull the bed away from the eall. The other 1A was way more sf and the headboard against the wall with the bed coming out perpendicular to the wall. So space on both sides of the bed, not up against a wall. I'm a string no to a 1A upper and lower unless you are skinny.

A upper/lower is not covered by most singles I know, maybe you love them. Not me. Carnival will now show if its port holes which is the 1A I want. ... not a upper and lower which can be small and only a twin. Yes the portholes can be a twin and a sofa bed, but I can see out and those cabins are large, almost OV size. I avoid ones marked upper lower like the plague. I'm picky and carnival now does show you what it is. Be careful generalizing about 1As. They are so different even on the same ship.

I agree prices close in are soft. Seeing some huge deals. Cant so much inside final payment though I saved a little for dec. Right before xmas.

I got the coastal catamaran booked. Going up the coast. Hope it's safe. I'll be there xmas week. Grrr spell check, fixed it twice and went back to coat. Sailing up the coast, not coat. I'll have to check but right around xmas day.

It's worth a try. Some of the wines, the toiletry and beach bag they are discussing arent available until 340 pts. But maybe if you ask you can get a bottle of wine or chocolate strawberries to your cabin. Doesnt hurt to ask. Look at the list ahead and know what you want. Once you pick it's very hard to get it changed. I've tried to change 4 times, onboard and calling it in. Each time its confirmed. Onboard I might get what I asked for, but they dont get it changed in the system. It's like wading thru mud. Keep expectations low. Let's see what I get as I called in months ago and again asked for toiletry bag. I got 6 beach bags I've been giving away. I agree wish it was online. If I could call or ask loyalty ambassador to do it and it got done I wouldnt care how they do it. Only so many beach bags i want.

I never heard of only having one bag to take off. I've heard them say you need to manage your own bags to carry them off. I can understand them wanting you to be able to hang on on the escalator.. it's a bit for me to manage. I plan on bogo when I board harmony so i havent booked it yet a D+ perk so maybe you dont have it yet. They were the fussiest of any ship I've been on in the past so I will see what I can book when I board, for instance not izumi sushi or wonderland neither of which is exempted from bogo. I'm not that picky just a change like you said. A change from Mdr. Plus I'll get a lunch of steak which last time was excellent. My only complaint is both of these are early on in the cruise, I'd prefer later. See what they say in oct.