Royal caribbean fares

[leesha0882]

Hi, sorry in advance if this has been covered! I have booked a cruise for early next year, I have just found out the current deal is a fair bit cheaper than what we are paying, I thought I read somewhere you are able to call up RC and mention this and they may change our fare to match the current promotion. I also thought I read that Te fares don't change that much but this quote is possibly $500 cheaper. Any info would be great thanks :)

[tomatosauce]

The only thing that you can do is cancel and rebook which you may be able to do over the phone with RCI and you will lose any advanced OBC or similar. There is no repricing on cruises booked in Australia.

[leesha0882]

Ok thanks :)

[cruiselover53]

You would probably be best advised to ring RC and ask them.

[LuckiePuris]

As a TA here in Aus, I know that you do need to be careful of reading the terms and conditions on the new sales.

 

You'll find most sales do have on the terms and conditions a note that the sale is for new bookings only, and if an existing booking is cancelled and rebooked on the new sale promotion, the booking won't be eligible for the new sale rates and you may lose any perks - etc onboard credit.

 

There's no price drop compensation for RCI departures from Australia / sold to Australian residents.

[ozblue_7]

As a TA here in Aus, I know that you do need to be careful of reading the terms and conditions on the new sales.

 

You'll find most sales do have on the terms and conditions a note that the sale is for new bookings only, and if an existing booking is cancelled and rebooked on the new sale promotion, the booking won't be eligible for the new sale rates and you may lose any perks - etc onboard credit.

 

There's no price drop compensation for RCI departures from Australia / sold to Australian residents.

 

We are booked on the Ovation of the Seas b2b Southampton to Dubai in May 2016. During the booking process 23-24 April our TA advised us of a price increase from RC of $700. Not happy but booked and paid deposits.

 

Now barely a week later RC have reduced prices, in our case by over $1000. The TA having spoke to RC advises that they will not allow us the reduction and that their audit system will prevent us cancelling and rebooking at the lower price.

 

Shall we cancel and try rebooking direct at the lower price anyway, cancel and rebook in a couple of months risking sell-out or price rise, or as my better half suggests get over it and do nothing.

 

Would a letter to RC pleading our case be worth a try?

[rkmw]

We are booked on the Ovation of the Seas b2b Southampton to Dubai in May 2016. During the booking process 23-24 April our TA advised us of a price increase from RC of $700. Not happy but booked and paid deposits.

 

Now barely a week later RC have reduced prices, in our case by over $1000. The TA having spoke to RC advises that they will not allow us the reduction and that their audit system will prevent us cancelling and rebooking at the lower price.

 

Shall we cancel and try rebooking direct at the lower price anyway, cancel and rebook in a couple of months risking sell-out or price rise, or as my better half suggests get over it and do nothing.

 

Would a letter to RC pleading our case be worth a try?

 

i think RC have a hide to increase the price whilst going thru the booking process and then not allowing any price drops, if you cancelled out i dont know how long it would take to get your deposit back

[aussielozzie18]

The price of our Voyager cruise last year went down a lot. Very very frustrating and there was nothing my TA could do. T & C prevented us from cancelling and re-booking the same cruise. In the end, just had to put it out of my mind and hope we would have a wonderful cruise which we did.

[The_Big_M]

I wouldn't expect a letter to work in this case; they tend to be pretty firm with rules unless a really significant reason exists (otherwise everyone wants an exception!).

 

You ask about cancelling but say you went through a TA. Almost all TAs charge a cancellation fee of their own. Have you verified that no fee is charged? If not, that potential saving will be less after the TA's cancellation costs are taken into account.

[The_Big_M]

i think RC have a hide to increase the price whilst going thru the booking process

 

I'd imagine it was a regular price change before a booking/hold was made.

 

If a reservation had already been made, that locks the price in, so there wouldn't have been an increase.

[ozblue_7]

I'd imagine it was a regular price change before a booking/hold was made.

 

If a reservation had already been made, that locks the price in, so there wouldn't have been an increase.

 

That's correct. Increase occurred overnight between emailing TA and booking made.

[tomatosauce]

This is where you can put a hold and then transfer the booking with that price to the TA.

[to_dee]

Wow that seems really unreasonable given that you were in the booking process.

 

I don't see how their audit system can not allow you to cancel and rebook. That sounds like a made up thing to me.

 

You cant be prevented from cancelling, that's your choice to cancel. You cannot tell a passenger you cant cancel, that's just nonsense.

 

You are allowed cancel whenever you choose to. However certain fees may apply depending on what you signed up for & when you cancel. Personally I would hop onto the cruise company website and check exactly what is in the T&Cs in regards to cancelling now. If your cruise is May 2016 the fees would be minimal or maybe nil for cancelling so far out from departure.

 

Also on the downside if you do cancel and even if you're outside the time where fees apply you do need to note that you may have to wait a few weeks for the refund of your deposit from the booking.

 

If you choose to rebook then so be it and you would have to pay a new deposit on the new booking even though you may not have received your original deposit back from your 1st booking. You may not get the same cabin of course. But I would not be accepting someone saying you cant cancel and rebook. Of course you can. You just have to see what the penalties are and make a decision if the new cruise booking will be at a lower fare that makes it worthwhile vs any Travel agent or cruise company levies. For a $1000 saving I would be cancelling and rebooking once I knew what fees I was up for but surely they can be $1K this far out..

 

 

ETA the cancel and rebook will obviously only work if there is still availability on the cabin you want for your cruise. And as per PP I would do the courtesy hold online then get your TA to take over the booking & cancel the other booking.

 

Good luck I hope you get it sorted :)

 

FWIW we're on a Celebrity Cruise later this year booked directly on their website not via an agent. I booked and paid a deposit. 1-2 weeks later I noticed a 5 day sale and the cruise fare had gone down by $400 so I rang Celebrity res and they just moved my booking onto the lower fare no issues at all & sent me the new lower invoice before I was even off the call.

Edited May 5, 2015 by to_dee

[ozblue_7]

We can of course cancel, and this far out deposits are fully refundable, but apparently the audit will not allow us to rebook at the lower price.

[ozblue_7]

Refund takes 2 -4 weeks.

Edited May 5, 2015 by ozblue_7

[to_dee]

We can of course cancel, and this far out deposits are fully refundable, but apparently the audit will not allow us to rebook at the lower price.

 

 

hey that's great news on no fees!

 

Gosh I don't think that could be the reality. Don't get me wrong I totally believe that's what you and your travel agent have been told but I cant see how it could be enforced.

 

Res systems are res systems they are black and white rules loaded into a computer system. They only operate in shades of grey when a supervisory or management allow a rule to be bent or when the res agent condenses a complex set of T&Cs into one sentence.

 

The reason I say this is if it was true what you have been told then the cruise company would have to pre-load the parameters into their system to have an error message spring up if a same pax details were repeated for the same cruise. This may be done to pick up dupe bookings and they would be queued to be checked and actioned. But beyond that if they did do that then what? Every person that does a courtesy hold and lets it lapse but then decides to go ahead and book would be banned for making a new booking? I mean there are a 1000 scenarios what if someone books a cruise deposits it gets fired and cancels. Then a week later they get a job and by coincidence the price has dropped over that time & that person rebooks. They cant say umm sorry but you have to book at the price it was yesterday. How would the pc know the difference between your scenario & the job loss one. Computers cant see those shades of grey ie the reasons for the cancel and rebook.

 

It may well be the case that the company does not encourage or want people to cancel and rebook. And if they can they will discourage it and make it seem like its not possible. They don't want their revenue is lowered for your booking but what they want may not be what happens.

 

I do feel for you as its an awkward situation perhaps but for $1000 which is a LOT of money I would be tempted to be firm but polite of course and get the travel agent to call back reservations and insist to speak to a supervisor and then I would want to hear that supervisor confirm to me that if I cancel my booking now and book a completely new booking that new booking will not be accepted. And then also clarify ok if I lose my job next week and have to cancel you will refund me right? ok so if I then get a job the next week and can rebook I wont be allowed to book a cruise? I think polite firmness is ok to clarify what seems a very odd policy. If you were paid in full or inside fees times well that's in the so sad too bad category but you are not so I say for $1000 check check check.

 

That said it could be a fight not worth fighting that I understand too ..sometimes you just want to let sleeping dogs lie and that's all good too.

 

Good luck with it all :)

[ozblue_7]

Crikey to_dee, got me all fired up then brought up the sleeping dog!

[to_dee]

LOL!!! sorry I was getting fired up on your behalf and its a fight I would fight but I hate it when people make you feel like you should do something so I kinda thought that was a balancing out bizzo to close out :o

 

Oh travel its a roller coaster ride :D

[GandM-nq]

but apparently the audit will not allow us to rebook at the lower price.

Says who exactly? Who is it saying you won't be able to cancel then rebook? If it is from the TA, I would be looking for a new TA.

[icat2000]

Says who exactly? Who is it saying you won't be able to cancel then rebook? If it is from the TA, I would be looking for a new TA.

Try booking the cruise directly with the cruiseline and if it takes the booking then cancel the other one with the TA.

[LuckiePuris]

We are booked on the Ovation of the Seas b2b Southampton to Dubai in May 2016. During the booking process 23-24 April our TA advised us of a price increase from RC of $700. Not happy but booked and paid deposits.

 

Now barely a week later RC have reduced prices, in our case by over $1000. The TA having spoke to RC advises that they will not allow us the reduction and that their audit system will prevent us cancelling and rebooking at the lower price.

 

Shall we cancel and try rebooking direct at the lower price anyway, cancel and rebook in a couple of months risking sell-out or price rise, or as my better half suggests get over it and do nothing.

 

Would a letter to RC pleading our case be worth a try?

 

For peace of mind I would leave it as is. Same thing happened to me, price dropped this weekend $700 per person. If we did risk cancelling and rebooking and they picked up on it, we would have to go back to our original price plus a possibility of an extra charge if our original category was no longer available plus lose our free beverage package. It wasn't worth the risk.

 

Also the price drop for us was based on a balcony guarantee status, and I had already spent time picking the perfect cabin location and deck wise for us, so didn't want to risk getting an inferior cabin with obstructions or at a location i didn't want.

 

It doesn't matter if you book through another agent or cruise line direct, passenger names will be the same as the original and membership numbers if you have them.

 

I know it sounds unfair but we book at a price we're happy with, and that's the price. We don't buy fuel or groceries at a price one week and then try to get a cheaper price the following week when a sale starts.

 

I know it can feel annoying, I have felt that the last few days. However like with any product for sale, discounts can come out at any time to drive sales. I think just book when you're happy with the price, get the cabin you want, and try not to re look at prices!

[LuckiePuris]

I'd imagine it was a regular price change before a booking/hold was made.

 

If a reservation had already been made, that locks the price in, so there wouldn't have been an increase.

 

Exactly! When booking we lock in a price. We may miss out on a future sale if you choose not to wait, but then again you may be saving yourself a future price increase. It's always going to be a risk we take. But I believe if you find something you're happy with price wise and inclusion wise, lock it in while you're happy as future prices and availability can go either way.

[LuckiePuris]

Wow that seems really unreasonable given that you were in the booking process.

 

I don't see how their audit system can not allow you to cancel and rebook. That sounds like a made up thing to me.

 

You cant be prevented from cancelling, that's your choice to cancel. You cannot tell a passenger you cant cancel, that's just nonsense.

 

You are allowed cancel whenever you choose to. However certain fees may apply depending on what you signed up for & when you cancel. Personally I would hop onto the cruise company website and check exactly what is in the T&Cs in regards to cancelling now. If your cruise is May 2016 the fees would be minimal or maybe nil for cancelling so far out from departure.

 

Also on the downside if you do cancel and even if you're outside the time where fees apply you do need to note that you may have to wait a few weeks for the refund of your deposit from the booking.

 

If you choose to rebook then so be it and you would have to pay a new deposit on the new booking even though you may not have received your original deposit back from your 1st booking. You may not get the same cabin of course. But I would not be accepting someone saying you cant cancel and rebook. Of course you can. You just have to see what the penalties are and make a decision if the new cruise booking will be at a lower fare that makes it worthwhile vs any Travel agent or cruise company levies. For a $1000 saving I would be cancelling and rebooking once I knew what fees I was up for but surely they can be $1K this far out..

 

 

ETA the cancel and rebook will obviously only work if there is still availability on the cabin you want for your cruise. And as per PP I would do the courtesy hold online then get your TA to take over the booking & cancel the other booking.

 

Good luck I hope you get it sorted :)

 

FWIW we're on a Celebrity Cruise later this year booked directly on their website not via an agent. I booked and paid a deposit. 1-2 weeks later I noticed a 5 day sale and the cruise fare had gone down by $400 so I rang Celebrity res and they just moved my booking onto the lower fare no issues at all & sent me the new lower invoice before I was even off the call.

 

You can ofcourse cancel at any time as per the original booking terms and conditions with the cruise line.

 

However if your intent is to cancel an existing booking and rebook at the new fare, the new fare terms and conditions state that the new sale is for new bookings only, and cancellation to rebook on the same cruise for the cheaper fare is not permitted.

[LuckiePuris]

Says who exactly? Who is it saying you won't be able to cancel then rebook? If it is from the TA, I would be looking for a new TA.

 

Try booking the cruise directly with the cruiseline and if it takes the booking then cancel the other one with the TA.

 

This is the cruise lines terms and conditions, not the TA.

 

As mentioned previously, the new sale fares terms and conditions advise that it is for new bookings only. And original bookings for the same departure cannot be cancelled to be rebooked on the same cruise for the cheaper sale fare.

 

However if you wish to cancel your original booking and not travel on that specific cruise full stop, cancellation is possible as per your original booking terms and conditions.

 

Bottom line - you can't cancel a booking to rebook on the same voyage with the new sale fares. It's all in the new sale fares terms and conditions.

[icat2000]

Those booking conditions are very poor then. I mainly book with Princess, but I haven't encountered any restrictions as strict as those ones. You can cancel a booking, lose your deposit but not restricted about re booking. I use FCC and they generally just go back in to the FCC cruise bank waiting for another cruise to be booked with that line.

 

RCL fares are not that kind to solos. It seems to be always 200% minus port charges.

Edited May 5, 2015 by icat2000