My NEXTCRUISE experience

[Merion_Mom]

8 hours ago, dionr66 said:

When I received NEXTCRUISE confirmation from Royal Carribbean right at the top is the name of the third party travel agency: AIR CANADA VACATIONS CRUISE DESK, the RCC logo is right at the top. The name of the NEXTCRUISE attendant who served us appears on it also. Lol I am not making this up. Even though we reserved via NEXTCRUISE

 

The Royal Caribbean logo is there because they print the invoice on Royal Caribbean "stationery".  

 

The RC rep's name is there because that rep made your booking for you.

 

Who booked your Anthem cruise for you?

 

If you had this invoice, as you wrote, why didn't you make final payment before the date on the invoice?

 

 

[nelblu]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 2:17 AM, Ashland said:

I hope the OP does...but sounds like they may not. I (and all of us) would never have gotten up from that desk with out that booking reservation hard copy in our hand. 

 

 

Also, the OP waited some 3 months before bothering to look for the booking information.  I'm constantly looking either at my cruise planner or the possibility of any price reductions on already booked cruises. 

[squadron]

On 3/15/2019 at 11:50 PM, Merion_Mom said:

 

Do you have the invoice that the person at Next Cruise gave you?

I had an invoice and was told to transfer it to a travel agent when I got home (the one I used for the cruise I was on).  She said that the next cruise department should have done it   - she had an issue getting the reservation transferred to her.   I assumed that the Next Cruise dept was part of R CI not a sub let.

[Merion_Mom]

12 minutes ago, squadron said:

I had an invoice and was told to transfer it to a travel agent when I got home (the one I used for the cruise I was on).  She said that the next cruise department should have done it   - she had an issue getting the reservation transferred to her.   I assumed that the Next Cruise dept was part of R CI not a sub let.

 

You assumed correctly.  🙂 

 

[AlexisV]

Next Cruise employees work directly for Royal Caribbean - it is not a third party agency.  When you book on board, the reservation is assigned to the agent/agency that you booked your original cruise with.  Doesn't seem very fair to blame Royal Caribbean for the fact that you didn't keep very good track of your reservation 😞 

[SilkySal]

17 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

You assumed correctly.  🙂 

 

Good to hear! I prefer to book my own cruises on-line and was thinking about using Next Cruise while we are on Harmony in October. Thinking about booking a Panama Canal cruise in 2021 but RCI wants a $900 deposit, so wondering if Next Cruise may offer a lower deposit?

[molly361]

5 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

Good to hear! I prefer to book my own cruises on-line and was thinking about using Next Cruise while we are on Harmony in October. Thinking about booking a Panama Canal cruise in 2021 but RCI wants a $900 deposit, so wondering if Next Cruise may offer a lower deposit?

You can only get a reduced deposit if you book a non-refundable fare

[Clarea]

6 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

Good to hear! I prefer to book my own cruises on-line and was thinking about using Next Cruise while we are on Harmony in October. Thinking about booking a Panama Canal cruise in 2021 but RCI wants a $900 deposit, so wondering if Next Cruise may offer a lower deposit?

 

Yes, if you are willing to book a non-refundable deposit, and you are booking a JS or lower category, then you can book that with a $100pp deposit.

[SilkySal]

Just now, molly361 said:

You can only get a reduced deposit if you book a non-refundable fare

Yes, I know but thanks! Just afraid that prices will rise too quickly by then! Waiting on hubby's retirement date to be locked in! Aaaargh!!

[SilkySal]

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

Yes, if you are willing to book a non-refundable deposit, and you are booking a JS or lower category, then you can book that with a $100pp deposit.

That's what I was hoping for just hope prices don't go up too much! Just hate to give them $900 this far out but, if prices sky rocket by October, then maybe we should! Hubby says wait, so I will "try". Thanks Bob! Cheers!

[nelblu]

28 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

Good to hear! I prefer to book my own cruises on-line and was thinking about using Next Cruise while we are on Harmony in October. Thinking about booking a Panama Canal cruise in 2021 but RCI wants a $900 deposit, so wondering if Next Cruise may offer a lower deposit?

 

 

For my 11 niter on Anthem for Jan. '20 only needed $200 as deposit.  Big advantage is that if anything that can occur and need to make changes/cancel only worry about the minimal amount and not have to worry about the rest of the normal deposit amount.  Plus got $200 and an add'l $75 (promo) in OBCs.

[Merion_Mom]

49 minutes ago, SilkySal said:

That's what I was hoping for just hope prices don't go up too much! Just hate to give them $900 this far out but, if prices sky rocket by October, then maybe we should! Hubby says wait, so I will "try". Thanks Bob! Cheers!

 

IME Panama Canal cruises are cheapest when they are first released. They just go up and up and up from there. 

[alphawave1]

I was told NOT. Last cruise we used Next Cruise, and boy what a mess. First, despite my insistence that they had the wrong C&A #, he proceeded. Told us there were no balconies left, and did not give us a discount except $26 onboard credit.

So back home I had to call, they changed the number to my almost Diamond + status and loaded the onboard credits. They further said that they had balconies, up until the morning of the call, They were gone at that point. 

I will never book that way again.

[nelblu]

8 minutes ago, alphawave1 said:

I was told NOT. Last cruise we used Next Cruise, and boy what a mess. First, despite my insistence that they had the wrong C&A #, he proceeded. Told us there were no balconies left, and did not give us a discount except $26 onboard credit.

So back home I had to call, they changed the number to my almost Diamond + status and loaded the onboard credits. They further said that they had balconies, up until the morning of the call, They were gone at that point. 

I will never book that way again.

 

When I visit Next Cruise, I have the basic information from doing my research and tell them the date, ship, itinerary, cabin #, etc..  I do the same when I call either my TA or RCL directly. 

[SilkySal]

18 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

IME Panama Canal cruises are cheapest when they are first released. They just go up and up and up from there. 

😭😭I guess what goes up doesn't always come down!

[dionr66]

Did not make final payment because:

 

1. Did not read the fine print

2 The RC rep told us that they would take care of everything, she had our credit card info.

 

Obviously we know different now.

[icsys]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 4:52 AM, dionr66 said:

Last october we cruised on the Anthem of the Seas. On our second day we decided to check out Next Cruise, after all we cruise twice a year and its been pretty much always RCC. The cruise attendant was curteous, polite and very knowleageable. We were looking for a similar cruise aboard a large ship for an april 2019 cruise. She offered us a Carribbean cruise aboard the Allure, and told us that she can garantee us suite for the same price as a balcony room! Wow you bet we said. So the suite is garanteed, it can be any suite depending if there were cancellations we could wind up with a grand suite for the price of balcony suite! Wow! So the worse case scenario would be a basic suite. Sure enough we gave her all our info, including our credit card and she told us that she would take care of everything. Omg we were thrilled. Wouldn't you?

 

So around January I decided to start planning our april cruise, I went to the RCC website clicked on the Already Booked, used the reservation number that the attendant gave us. Didn't work, checked again, same. I called RCC customer service, she could not help us!!!!!! But we booked using NEXTCRUISE on a Royal Carribbean ship???? What? The customer service person told me that my reservation number was not good! I asked her well can you rectify that and give us another number? She could not!!! She said I had to phone the Travel Agency company that booked our cruise! What? We booked by NEXTCRUISE. We found out that NEXTCRUISE uses a third party cruise travel agency!!!!! What? Not only that but our final payment for our cruise expired!!!!! But the NEXTCRUISE attendant assured us that she would take care of everything plus she had our email AND our credit card number. We went to see our regular travel agent and she lets me know that we were not the only ones that this happened to. So this is what you have to do when you get back from your cruise and you booked your next cruise through RCC'S NEXTCRUISE: as soon as you get home call your travel agent and let them know this, the travel agent will take charge of your reservation. Is this ridiculous or what. We lost the chance of getting a suite. Our travel agent contacted RCC's cruise travel agency and let tem know that we were not pleased at all. What we got was a partial refund of our down payment but the kicker is that the refun

I am really sorry to read about your NextCruise experience.

 

What you have described forms the basis of the complaint I have just raised with Customer Relations. However, in your case it appears your cruise was canceled because you missed final payment.

 

We "booked" a cruise onboard Explorer just last week, left credit card details, received the guest copy with the cruise info and Reservation ID on it.

 

Last night we booked another cruise directly with Royal as a new UK promotion has just started. Whilst in 'My Account' we attempted to retrieve the NextCruise booking and was faced with.... reservation not recognised!

Rang CS this morning to find out what the problem was only to be told the booking had been automatically canceled because the deposit was not paid. The guy had our credit card details and told us to 'go enjoy your cruise and I'll sort it'!

 

Luckily, its only a week for us since the cruise was "booked" so the reservation was able to be reinstated with the same onboard benefits.

The guy onboard had FOUR DAYS to tell us of any issues with taking the deposit... he left no messages on the stateroom answerphone nor were there any messages over the PA system asking us to return!!

The last days were sea days.. no internet. We left the ship thinking the cruise was booked and deposit paid.

 

Depending of the outcome of the complaint, it will have to be an on board mega deal before we use NextCruise again.

Edited June 4, 2019 by icsys

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, icsys said:

 ...

Rang CS this morning to find out what the problem was only to be told the booking had been automatically canceled because the deposit was not paid. The guy had our credit card details and told us to 'go enjoy your cruise and I'll sort it'! ...

 

This is why I insist on them completing the booking before I leave the Next Cruise desk.  We've had other issues, such as balcony discount not being applied, etc., and I want the chance to look over the booking confirmation before I leave the desk.  Some are irritated by this, others realize mistakes are made and this is a good way to catch them.

[Tommmeke]

Only booked the last cruises we did with Next Cruise. Sometimes left the desk without the reservation in hand, because they couldn't print it right away.

They always double checked my name, credit card nr, TA,...

But they always had the papers delivered to our stateroom in the evening or the next day, as they promised.

So I could check if everything was correct, and that the invoice indicated our deposit was deducted (and paid).

 

Maybe we're always been lucky  😎

 

 

[suesnake2002]

I got a question...why are you giving next cruise your credit card?? I used next cruise once, we had the deposit put on our sea pass acct. It was a reduced deposit tho, $200. And I left with reservation in hand. 

I was told that for every level i went up the price would drop $100. I was platinum when i made reservation,completion of that cruise i was on puts me at emerald, and another cruise 6 months later would make me diamond. THAT IS A BIG FAT LIE, you don't recieve extra off each level.  Told to me straight to my face. I knew it didn't sound right, and made my decision on that being false. 

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, suesnake2002 said:

I was told that for every level i went up the price would drop $100. I was platinum when i made reservation,completion of that cruise i was on puts me at emerald, and another cruise 6 months later would make me diamond. THAT IS A BIG FAT LIE, you don't recieve extra off each level.  Told to me straight to my face. I knew it didn't sound right, and made my decision on that being false. 

The balcony discount does increase with C&A level.

[Biker19]

Dup

Edited June 4, 2019 by Biker19