RCI changed my excursion time--and is charging me to change it back!

[Laurin612]

We booked an excursion for our upcoming cruise back in August. We booked the morning excursion. When my husband checked our reservation today, it says 12:30pm, with availability at both 8:30am (which we originally booked) and 12:30pm (which we did not book and would not want).

 

RCI is trying to charge us $1.75 per person to change the time back to the time we initially booked, as the price has changed since we booked. Not a lot of money, but it's the principle of the thing.

 

Has anyone else experienced this? My husband asked to speak to a supervisor and they quoted a bunch of legalese about reserving the right to change times, etc. If the morning excursion was canceled that's one thing, but arbitrarily changing our time and making us pay to change it back? Not cool.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Laurin612

[WhenIsLobsterNight]

I hate reading stories like this which are coming way too frequently these days. I love RCCL. Their stock has made me a lot of money in recent years. However, their nickle and dime approach to making me money is making me lose a lot of respect toward this company. Literally anything they can do to make a buck on they will try to do so these days. My family is booked on a cruise with RCCL in 80 days. I have no doubt it will be last with RCCL for many years to come. End of rant. As for your actual situation, I am sorry to hear about it. I would contact the resolution department and demand it be fixed without agreeing to pay a single cent more. Until people start pushing back against the nickle and diming it will only get worse for us all. Good luck.

[Clarea]

You've got to hand it to Royal. They keep finding new ways to make a few bucks!:rolleyes:

[Laurin612]

Yes, my husband sent our confirmation e-mail with the 8:30 time to someone at RCI about 45 minutes ago. Since I haven't heard from him, that probably means he is still on hold. :rolleyes: He will hold for hours--he's a "push back" kinda guy and will refuse to pay the $1.75 per person.

 

Also, we never received any kind of communication saying that our excursion time had changed--he just happened to notice when he was looking at our reservation.

 

We haven't cruised RCI in about 17 years--I hope we won't regret the decision to give them another try. We didn't have much choice, though. Carnival canceled our 3/22 cruise due to repositioning the Valor and we already had airfare to San Juan booked. Luckily, AOS was leaving out of San Juan the same day and doing almost the same ports.

 

I'll update to let you know if this was resolved. It just seems so silly and "nickel & dime" to me!

[royal girl]

They did the same thing to me with my dinner reservations. They canceled all my dinner reservations and I had to have my TA re-book them but the price for Chops went up to $39 instead of the $35 I had originally booked it for. They wouldn't give me the $35 price even though for some unknown reason, THEY cancelled all my reservations!!! :rolleyes:

[Paulette3028]

Yes, my husband sent our confirmation e-mail with the 8:30 time to someone at RCI about 45 minutes ago. Since I haven't heard from him, that probably means he is still on hold. :rolleyes: He will hold for hours--he's a "push back" kinda guy and will refuse to pay the $1.75 per person.

 

Also, we never received any kind of communication saying that our excursion time had changed--he just happened to notice when he was looking at our reservation.

 

We haven't cruised RCI in about 17 years--I hope we won't regret the decision to give them another try. We didn't have much choice, though. Carnival canceled our 3/22 cruise due to repositioning the Valor and we already had airfare to San Juan booked. Luckily, AOS was leaving out of San Juan the same day and doing almost the same ports.

 

I'll update to let you know if this was resolved. It just seems so silly and "nickel & dime" to me!

 

It is sad to read this, and hopefully the department that your husband is speaking with along with the confirmation that he emailed to them, will get this all sorted out.

 

Some people think that Royal however is the only cruise line that changes things for cruisers....so when I read that Carnival cancelled your Valor cruise because they were repositioning the ship, shows people that other cruise lines do it as well.

 

Hopefully we will hear back from you that all was taken care of...as it should be!

[Ocean Boy]

You've got to hand it to Royal. They keep finding new ways to make a few bucks!:rolleyes:

 

I really hope that they are not changing and cancelling reservations when prices go up just so those people will need to re-book at the higher pricing.

[cb at sea]

I would cancel, and rebook!

[Clarea]

I really hope that they are not changing and cancelling reservations when prices go up just so those people will need to re-book at the higher pricing.

Me too. However, I'm not surprised by anything they do anymore.

[Laurin612]

I would cancel, and rebook!

 

Sure, we can do that, but it would be at the higher price. As I said, the $1.75 per person is not a big deal, but it's the principle of the matter now. Are they going to cancel or change everyone's reservations who booked at a lower price so that they can now charge them a higher price?

[bouhunter]

I would cancel, and rebook!

 

Worthless posts like this that got you to 65,000+..........:rolleyes:

[theminnow]

I would cancel, and rebook!

 

Better yet just outright cancel and go with an excursion company.

If this is another (insert adjective) way how RCI wants to make more money then there are many more cruise lines available. Not to mention just plain old (dare I say it):) LAND vacations.

 

Craig

[Laurin612]

A new wrinkle! My husband was going to just cancel--only to find that there is suddenly no longer child pricing, so our 12 year old's excursion price would change from $55 to $77.

 

Now we feel like they changed in on purpose to get the extra money. What should I do? Do I have any recourse? This is no way to treat former customers who are willing to give your cruise line another try!!! :mad:

Edited March 13, 2015 by Laurin612

[yolanda1]

I hope they take notice of the fact that customers really are fed up with this kind of thing. It's almost like they are just trying to see how far they can go with their extra charges for everything.

 

In my opinion they have already gone too far, and the OP is right. It's not just the amount they charge. It's the principle. And it is costing them business. A very small percentage of cruisers are members of Cruise Critic. Judging by the number of people who disapprove of their ploys and tactics to rip people off, I imagine they have many more unhappy customers who aren't expressing their frustration online.

[Paulette3028]

A new wrinkle! My husband was going to just cancel--only to find that there is suddenly no longer child pricing, so our 12 year old's excursion price would change from $55 to $77.

 

Now we feel like they changed in on purpose to get the extra money. What should I do? Do I have any recourse? This is no way to treat former customers who are willing to give your cruise line another try!!! :mad:

 

Although time is short until your cruise....which is on 3/22 -- people have said in other threads that when they contact the president Michael Bayley with an issue, it was resolved -- you don't have anything to lose: mbayley@rccl.com.

 

You have a confirmation that confirms both the early excursion time and the price for the child at $55. Reach out to Mr. Bayley.....people have said, they hear back quickly.

[Laurin612]

Although time is short until your cruise....which is on 3/22 -- people have said in other threads that when they contact the president Michael Bayley with an issue, it was resolved -- you don't have anything to lose: mbayley@rccl.com.

 

You have a confirmation that confirms both the early excursion time and the price for the child at $55. Reach out to Mr. Bayley.....people have said, they hear back quickly.

 

Thank you! I will try that.

[Homosassa]

One explanation for the price increase could be that the excursion company doing the originally booked excursion no longer has the contract for the excursion for some reason. As a result, before the new contract was signed, the reservations already booked had to be cancelled and reinstated until the new offering was available as to times and prices.

 

Remember, the shore excursion operators are outside contractors and not RCI employees.

[Laurin612]

One explanation for the price increase could be that the excursion company doing the originally booked excursion no longer has the contract for the excursion for some reason. As a result, before the new contract was signed, the reservations already booked had to be cancelled and reinstated until the new offering was available as to times and prices.

 

Remember, the shore excursion operators are outside contractors and not RCI employees.

 

No, it's the same operator. They just raised their prices since August when we booked the excursion.

[bighairtexan]

Honestly I'd be royally ticked off. What I'd do would be to go on tripadvisor.com and on the various port boards on Cruise Critic. Then I'd book a far superior product for a far superior price with a lot fewer people crammed into the excursion. And I'd send a letter stating that to all the "powers that be" at RCI. That's a very shoddy business practice and TERRIBLE customer service.

[Starry Eyes]

Worthless posts like this that got you to 65,000+..........:rolleyes:

 

And they got you to 4000+:D

[erniesband]

To the OP, have you looked for a "local" alternative for the excursion you want? We find that on almost every island there is at least one local operator that isn't contracted to Royal and can give you the same or similar excursion. Check out the ports of call board for whatever island you're looking at and see what you can find. We do this all the time and have never had a problem with getting back on time.

[emdia43]

Have you tried posting on their Facebook page? If you booked an excursion online and have confirmation at that price,it seems to me that you and RCCL had a contract. Can they really just change it at will?

[Laurin612]

Have you tried posting on their Facebook page? If you booked an excursion online and have confirmation at that price,it seems to me that you and RCCL had a contract. Can they really just change it at will?

 

They quoted a bunch of legalese to my husband and basically said "times and prices subject to change." Except that the time didn't change--the 8:30 time slot is still available.

[Laurin612]

To the OP, have you looked for a "local" alternative for the excursion you want? We find that on almost every island there is at least one local operator that isn't contracted to Royal and can give you the same or similar excursion. Check out the ports of call board for whatever island you're looking at and see what you can find. We do this all the time and have never had a problem with getting back on time.

 

We have not. Maybe we are in the minority, but are a bit afraid to book outside the cruiseline. On our Alaska cruise on Carnival in August a honeymoon couple got left in Skagway because they booked an excursion outside the cruiseline and the transportation vehicle broke down.

Edited March 13, 2015 by Laurin612

[caribbean sailor]

We booked an excursion for our upcoming cruise back in August. We booked the morning excursion. When my husband checked our reservation today, it says 12:30pm, with availability at both 8:30am (which we originally booked) and 12:30pm (which we did not book and would not want).

 

RCI is trying to charge us $1.75 per person to change the time back to the time we initially booked, as the price has changed since we booked. Not a lot of money, but it's the principle of the thing.

 

Has anyone else experienced this? My husband asked to speak to a supervisor and they quoted a bunch of legalese about reserving the right to change times, etc. If the morning excursion was canceled that's one thing, but arbitrarily changing our time and making us pay to change it back? Not cool.

 

 

Why not have royal cancel it and rebook it your self on line.You said there is availability for 830 am.Good luck and have a great cruise.