How Quick Royal Cancels for Non-payment....

[shellunderwater]

I think your daughter is fortunate that this happened to you and not another client. My first thought was why would anyone (agent or agency) put the wrong due date and the info about a grace period in the email? To my way of thinking, it should be the other way around.

 

The due date should have been in the email (the date the agency wanted the payment) and the actual date the cruise line had to have the payment in the attachment. I use an agency and the due date to them is always 8 days before the actual date that Royal Caribbean has to have the money.

 

My agency also sends out a reminder about a week before they want the money, thus ensuring there is no question as to when it's due to them. I also look at my booking info carefully to be sure I know when things are due etc.

 

To me, it is far easier to send a reminder etc by the agency than it is to have the agency try to re-instate a reservation etc. I do hope your daughter learned something from this as it sounds, to me, that she is relatively new on booking cruises. If not, I'm surprised this hasn't happened previously.

 

In any event, enjoy the cruise.

 

I'm not sure this was clear. She made a mistake. As in did something wrong. She typed the wrong date in the email. It was sent in plenty of time and all the things you said.

 

Lets put it this way... if your agency sent out the due date, but typed the wrong date in the email and you missed your date, does that mean your agency is pretty new and is relatively new to booking cruises, or does it mean they made a mistake?

 

Mistakes happen. You know....$&IT happens.

 

Actually, she was so bad at booking travel and such that she was top performer in her office, eventually being promoted to supervisor (hence why she no longer gets commission on sales).

[Desert Cruizers]

Regardless of the email, if you have the Invoice from your booking then the final payment date will be on that. I have two cruises booked and final is Nov 25th on one and Dec 2nd on the other cruise. I will make final on both cruises probably by the end of Oct or 1st of Nov. I have it written down also on my Spreadsheet. I am really happy for you that you got your cruise reinstated and nearly the same cabin as before. I think my TA never sends reminders to me because I pay off well before the due date. :)

[Merion_Mom]

I'm not sure this was clear. She made a mistake. As in did something wrong. She typed the wrong date in the email. It was sent in plenty of time and all the things you said.

 

Lets put it this way... if your agency sent out the due date, but typed the wrong date in the email and you missed your date, does that mean your agency is pretty new and is relatively new to booking cruises, or does it mean they made a mistake?

 

Mistakes happen. You know....$&IT happens.

 

Actually, she was so bad at booking travel and such that she was top performer in her office, eventually being promoted to supervisor (hence why she no longer gets commission on sales).

 

No need to explain or further defend your daughter. (IMNSHO). I get it. :)

 

You wanted to warn/explain to members of Cruise Critic what happens when you miss final payment date, since it has been asked a couple of times recently.

 

You did that. Thank you. :)

[shellunderwater]

Regardless of the email, if you have the Invoice from your booking then the final payment date will be on that. I have two cruises booked and final is Nov 25th on one and Dec 2nd on the other cruise. I will make final on both cruises probably by the end of Oct or 1st of Nov. I have it written down also on my Spreadsheet. I am really happy for you that you got your cruise reinstated and nearly the same cabin as before. I think my TA never sends reminders to me because I pay off well before the due date. :)

 

Oh there is no doubt our documentation had the right date. Not saying otherwise. The email with the the wrong date actually had an attachment with the right date, we just didn't open it. I even messaged DW that we were at Day 90 (Yeah!). Didn't click. We were just looking at the message in the email. So, maybe that's all part of why we're not upset... we should have known, the signs were there, but we missed them as well. If the email had said 8/20.... we would have paid. But, we thought it was 8/28 with a 7 day grace.

 

Part of my shock was we were notified of our Cruise Planner cancel on 8/27 at 11:15pm eastern, which was day 90. Not day 89. No real buffer there. Not sure when the actual cancel happened on Day 90. It doesn't change the outcome in our case, but that was interesting.

 

Like I've said, we aren't trying to assign any blame, not asking for any special accommodations beyond what their policy is. Just putting this all out there for others, so they can avoid our stress.

 

Lesson learned: PAY EARLY. ;););)

[CruisingfromDE]

Thank you for sharing in an effort to help other members. Hope you have a great time on the cruise and congrats to your daughter on her promotion.

[Desert Cruizers]

I thank you for letting all of us know. and so happy for you that you do have your cruise back. :)Friends of mine nearly lost their cruise when their payment never made it to RCCL, but did get it reinstated with a call from their TA and themselves in a 3 way to correct the error. It was called in but for some reason never got recorded.

[DebJ14]

Glad you got your cruise back!

[theSHAH]

So when would your final payment be? If my math is correct you are at somewhere around 49 days, 7 weeks at 7days. IF payment is due at 90 days, wouldn't you be past the final and cancelled? When we sail Princess payment is due at 75 days.

 

Oh no, I'm 7 weeks or so away from my final payment due date. My actual sailing is 4 months or so from now.

[NotThePest_Too]

I set up a reminder in my phone calendar to remind me monthly to make my payment. Last cruise I used a TA and she had my cc on file and I would call her or email her on how much to pay. I would get a receipt emailed to me the same day. I always pay mine off 3 weeks before the due date. I keep an excel spread sheet with running totals on how much has been paid and what is still due.

 

(y) This. I also put everything in my Outlook calendar with notices alerting me up to three weeks to one day before. Heck all my excursions are in my calendar and even my sea days all set to alert me at least one day before.

 

Ramona

[dswallow]

I'm very happy it worked out for you OK in the end.

 

You know, a lot of people also do mischaracterize what final payment means (not that you did, just thought it worth mentioning considering the discussion); people often speak of being able to do price adjustments if there's a better price offered in the same category you've booked only until "final payment is made." But that's not true. It can be done up until the final payment due date, not when final payment is actually made. So, yeah, while I personally just don't like giving my money to other people to hold earlier than I have to, it's probably reasonable to not wait till so close to the drop-dead date to make final payment! :)

 

(Of course, in all those countries where you cannot re-price an existing booking, this doesn't apply.)

[cruiselvr04]

I book through Royal. I have never gotten an reminder email form them. Never. I have always thought it was weird.

 

I do get emails telling me when sails are for excursions etc.

 

I almost forgot I had a final due Saturday the 1st. Thanks for the reminder. I just took care of it.

 

Glad you were able to fix your trip.

[dswallow]

I book through Royal. I have never gotten an reminder email form them. Never. I have always thought it was weird.

 

I do get emails telling me when sails are for excursions etc.

 

I almost forgot I had a final due Saturday the 1st. Thanks for the reminder. I just took care of it.

 

Glad you were able to fix your trip.

I get them regularly; just got one today for a cruise departing on 12/10/2018 that I have final payment due on 9/11/2018. I'll get at one more for that cruise, I think a week before. So I guess that's 2 weeks before and one week before. I have the same email pattern for a 10/14 sailing that had final payment due in 7/16/2018.

 

Actually it doesn't say anything about it being a payment reminder. It's just an email of my invoice as a PDF and the email itself is just a basic "Adventure Confirmation" with ship and sailing date, but no price or mention of payment being due. If you open the PDF and read it carefully you can find the final payment date. :)

 

It always feels like 1991 with RCL's computer systems.

[ma23peas]

Awww!! Your poor daughter! Did you end up losing money on the deal? Give her a big hug...what a tough way to learn a lesson. Even if you use a TA- it would be a courtesy in today’s age to just send you a reminder!

[Debinnova]

Never heard of a Grace period after the final payment date? And I always pay at least a few days early if not more. Never want to risk it!

 

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[fungirl28]

I am glad that things are working out and you were able to re-book. Have a fantastic cruise.

 

 

I have received a "final payment day" alert once but for my upcoming cruise I haven't received anything and final payment is due next week but I have the date saved in my phone, work calendar and wall calendar...will not miss that date. I have never heard of a grace period but I know you can ask for a small extension before final payment date if you run into problems. There is no guarantee they'll grant it but you can always ask.

[smplybcause]

Never heard of a Grace period after the final payment date? And I always pay at least a few days early if not more. Never want to risk it!

 

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Sounds like they were saying it was due a week before royals actual due date. So the actual date due to royal was the last day of the grace period.

 

Sort of how you tell your friend that's perpetually late to things that it starts earlier than it does so they show up on time.

 

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[Dennis#1]

Never heard of a Grace period after the final payment date? And I always pay at least a few days early if not more. Never want to risk it!

 

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

Agree with your post. I also have not heard of a grace period.

[NotThePest_Too]

"Grace Period" is probably the difference between the carrier's actual Final Payment date and the date the Travel Agency has set up as their Final Payment date.

 

Case in point - I have a sail date of Feb 2, 2019; the final payment date is October 5th, 2018; however, my TA is requesting September 25th as the Payment Date. The difference, 10 days, may be considered as a Grace Period, a false one, but a Grace Period. The Travel Agent has to transfer the payment to the cruise company and the ten days gives them time for such things as power outages, staff absences and/or vacations, etc. as well as a 24 hour confirmation that payment is in their account. When you pay electronically, the payment is actually confirmed between 8pm-12am the day of payment and is listed as "pending" until the time specified. The agency then transfers that payment to the cruise line. In total that is a 48 hour process.

 

Ramona

[shellunderwater]

Sounds like they were saying it was due a week before royals actual due date. So the actual date due to royal was the last day of the grace period.

 

Sort of how you tell your friend that's perpetually late to things that it starts earlier than it does so they show up on time.

 

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

Yes, the grace period is a TA set up thing to add a buffer.

[island lady]

I always put the final payment date in my daily planner (my phone and my wall calendar) on the day I book a cruise, and will set it up to pay 5 days or more in advance. That final payment date I get is from looking at my confirmation page, which I highlight also. Too paranoid to let it get to the final day.

[shellunderwater]

So, as an update (cuz I think it stinks when an OP doesn't come back and update)....

 

New version of our cruise is booked and 100% PAID :o. Royal took our $$$$ from the drink package and deposit on the original cruise an applied it to the new/replacement/reinstated cruise. So, didn't "lose" any paid in money. All we had to pay was the difference. Note: our original booking was a refundable booking from over a year ago. The new cruise fare was higher, by a bit. Same cabin category, 1L, but a different cabin, all on Deck 12.

 

Our cruise planner did cost us some money too, as they have increased prices. We were at $41 on the Deluxe package. It was $42 when we "lost" our cabin, and actually saw a price increase yesterday to $45. We'll continue to watch prices and the next "sale". This happened to an excursion and VOOM as well. Both went up in price after last weekend's "sale". I'm pretty sure when we booked the deluxe originally, it was at $45.

 

Lost our dining choice, they can't get it back for us. And we don't want early seating on a port intensive trip. So, we're making lemonade out of the lemons.... not rebooking our BOGO and Chops reservations and just booking the dining package.

 

But to top off a pretty stressful day for our DD (our TA).... her phone chose yesterday to die. Yep, you know what its like to replace the phone, on top of trying to fix the mess with our booking.

 

But, today is another day, she got an upgraded phone, our booking is good.

 

Don't sweat the small stuff, and its all small stuff.

[drsel]

I'm so happy for you! All's well that ends well

[Dennis#1]

So, as an update (cuz I think it stinks when an OP doesn't come back and update)....

 

 

 

New version of our cruise is booked and 100% PAID :o. Royal took our $$$$ from the drink package and deposit on the original cruise an applied it to the new/replacement/reinstated cruise. So, didn't "lose" any paid in money. All we had to pay was the difference. Note: our original booking was a refundable booking from over a year ago. The new cruise fare was higher, by a bit. Same cabin category, 1L, but a different cabin, all on Deck 12.

 

 

 

Our cruise planner did cost us some money too, as they have increased prices. We were at $41 on the Deluxe package. It was $42 when we "lost" our cabin, and actually saw a price increase yesterday to $45. We'll continue to watch prices and the next "sale". This happened to an excursion and VOOM as well. Both went up in price after last weekend's "sale". I'm pretty sure when we booked the deluxe originally, it was at $45.

 

 

 

Lost our dining choice, they can't get it back for us. And we don't want early seating on a port intensive trip. So, we're making lemonade out of the lemons.... not rebooking our BOGO and Chops reservations and just booking the dining package.

 

 

 

But to top off a pretty stressful day for our DD (our TA).... her phone chose yesterday to die. Yep, you know what its like to replace the phone, on top of trying to fix the mess with our booking.

 

 

 

But, today is another day, she got an upgraded phone, our booking is good.

 

 

 

Don't sweat the small stuff, and its all small stuff.

 

 

Thanks for sharing. Glad all is almost ok. Have a great cruise. Recommend that you keep checking the sale prices. They often change. Also, are you on the wait list for the later dining time in the MDR?

[SRF]

My TA contacts me about final payment 10 days before it actually due.

 

Just to make sure something like this does not happen.

 

Sorry, but DD dropped the ball. Not RCIs problem.

[myfuzzy]

Been following seems like DD really messed up the OP’s reservation. Luckily it wasn’t mine she messed up... I would have a huge problem with it