Emerald River Cruises Rip Off

[English Voyager]

Totally agree, it is better to see things as they happen at the time.

 

And can we be a bit nicer to each other ?

 

I agree with your final sentiment.

 

It would appear that one particular message has been removed.

[JVilleGal]

I would agree about being a bunch nicer.... I don't want the OP to change his post. It important to know exactly what happened and how it was resolved. I ONLY had a problem with the title of the thread... Rip off I (IMHO) is inappropriate to the situation described and the change I was requesting of Host Jazz was to put the word - "Resolved" AFTER the existing title.

 

To English Voyager I'm glad you were able to reach a management person with the authority to fix your issues. Clearly the regular CS staff don't have the authority.

 

Hope you have a fabulous cruise! Safe journey....

 

PS the Princess board on CC could use a poster with your experience!

 

And yes that was my statement removed! The OP did have the curtesy to return and report the resolution and with many of these issues you can't get CS to fix something they have no authority to fix, you go to a higher level and get your issues resolved.

[Di Princess]

At least VIKING almost always monitors cruise critic and comes on and answers the complaining posters. ;)

 

So where is Emerald? Have they never heard of CC? :confused:

 

I am always receiving their beautiful brochures and was considering using them; however, I am reading some negative things about this new company. :eek:

[harbourside]

i had a similar experience this year. After going on my first river cruise last year, I was hooked and booked two more this year. The first one I booked in January for Cambodia, departure December with APT. Deal was book by 31st March to receive free airfare. In April they had a new better deal, book by 31st June and receive free airfare and free cabin upgrade. Now, I understand that better deals are always available nearer departure date for unsold cabins, but not this early in the year. The earlybird deal should have been the best deal available at the beginning of the year. The better deals have continued for most of the year. I asked for a upgrade, and was refused. My travel agent went to bat for me, but was also refused. They would not consider it. My French trip for 2016 also had better deals early in the year.

I have spent $37000.00 this year on two tours. $21000.00 last year. The December tour is still not sold out, so would not have hurt them to oblige. Bad decision.

I went to a Scenic promotion and they said that the customer always gets the cheaper or beater deal, or they sail with empty cabins rather than upsetting customers. We will see. Will probably book Scenic for Douro.

Just realized that Scenic is Emerald are owned by the same company???

Edited October 27, 2015 by harbourside

[caviargal]

1)

 

I don't think Emerald did anything wrong in this scenario.

 

I agree. Unless there is a written price adjustment policy, then Emerald has no obligation to offer a lower price that may become available after initial booking and deposit. Generally there is a "applies to new bookings only" statement for promos. And that is for a reason.

[Mark_T]

The OP was indeed fortunate to receive the reduction as he was not entitled to it but got it as a gesture of goodwill.

 

It does help to understand the differences in markets between UK and USA as they are very different.

 

The UK does have considerably better consumer protection laws around package holidays, but they do not include a right to a lowest price guarantee where none was given or the right to pick a better overall deal if one comes along after you book.

 

A 'never to be repeated' offer is not a best offer guarantee, it is just an offer that is not going to be repeated.

 

Unless it claims to be the best price then you should not assume it is the best price...

 

The general trend, as stated earlier, is not to reduce prices early, but to improve total package value with other elements and to reduce prices closer to departure, in this case the OP booked and then later saw a better deal.

 

This is not uncommon, cruise lines will tweak the deals they offer according to the velocity of sales and time to departure, if they have not sold as many cabins as they think they should have then they will sweeten the offers to get more sales.

 

UK consumers have to make a judgement call on when to purchase as there is rarely any guarantee that subsequent offers will be honored for previous bookings. You book early to secure your preferred cabin on your preferred cruise or you roll the dice and wait to see if the offer gets better.

 

If you see a better deal after you book then by all means ask and see if you can get it, sometimes you'll be lucky sometimes not, but you do not have a right to the better deal and in that respect the 'Rip off' comment is entirely unjustified.

[RvrCrzr]

Rip off does not seem to be something that occurred.

Mistake? Maybe. Misinformed staff member? Likely. This is where a good TA is worth its weight in gold.

 

I will tell you this... river cruise lines have different policies than ocean cruise lines... and they stick to their rules pretty tight.