UK cruisers getting a price swap experience

[minikiss]

OK so this is a question for UK cruisers only as i'm after an idea how you got on.

I have a booking in September on the Indy. I've been tracking the price and promos and worked out i'd save not a huge amount but a bit if I got our booking swapped. 

It was booked back in August last year on a buy one get one half price promo and I picked out room so it was not a Guarantee fare. I know they weren't do it on a Qty fare but I was under the impression I could for the my type of booking.

So I called and girl who did not speak great English told me I could only change a name and nothing else. After a few moments of me telling her she had the incorrect information I put the phone down in disgust.

having read on here if you don't get the right answer the first time ring and try again.

So that's what I did and got another none very good speaking English girl but she was a little better. Again she told me I could only change the name but I could cancel and rebook. Not an option as the saving was less than the £300 PP deposit I have paid. I told her when I booked I was lead to believe I could do a price swap and she replied by saying " we don't do that in the uk , are you looking on the USA site!" no I was not and that is what I told her.

Anyway they refused again.

So i'm looking for others experiences for UK only bookings please. 

IE did you go through a TA, ours is a direct booking with Tesco vouchers.

and how far from making the booking were you able to swap....

 

Pretty pee'd off right now. 

[awestover89]

Those are the UK booking rules, the agents have the right information. In order to get price drops you have to book under the USA booking rules, which usually involves using a US travel agent or a VPN to book the cruise as if you were in the US.

[JM-1972]

Hi Minikiss

In the UK it depends on what the booking offer coniditions were when you booked your cruise, I booked a cruise last April 18 for July 19.  My booking offer included one swap or reprice upto 31 December 2018.  I deliberately took screen shots incase I needed to do this, for me my cabin has gone up in price.  Ask if you can have a copy of the offer terms and conditions that you booked under. 

 

It is one reason why people book through US travel agents and I do too depending on what the difference in price is at the time. For example a cruise I am looking at is £600 cheaper booking in the UK than in US but it can work the other way too.  

 

Edited May 6, 2019 by JM-1972
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[little britain]

It is my understanding if you book a cruise whilst on a cruise, you are now able to have one pricedrop, or one free change of ship/date without penalty.

I asked for this in writing but she said all the agents (Guatemala) knew this!!

 

Here are the U.K. onboard booking t&cs https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/assets/pdf/discover-cruise-holidays/next-cruise/NextCruise-UK-ROI-Terms-Conditions-Website-LA.pdf

[swoopy2110]

If you book a cruise while on a cruise you get one price swap.

 

If you book a cruise just after the itineries are released they tend to offer a one price drop offer up to the end of the year (as has been alluded to above).

 

After that you're pretty scuppered and you need to cancel & rebook paying a new deposit. It's not the operators fault that they're following the UK T&C's which are here: https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/assets/pdf/terms-and-conditions/UK-Nov-2018.pdf

 

Booking in the USA you don't have the protection that we have in the UK.

[beardedladies]

One thing you can do without any penalty is upgrade your cabin category on the same sailing.

 

This can be particularly handy if the price plummets - I've even had it where I've phoned to upgrade and the price went down (was in a JS and the suite prices plummeted - called to upgrade to a GS and the price went down a grand).

[EmilyJay]

We booked Navigator maybe 8-9 months prior to sailing and the price dropped dramatically about 3 months after I booked, I rang Royal and got told I could only cancel and re-book. So I would loose the £300 deposit and the free deluxe drinks package we got when we booked. 

We booked directly through the RCI website and not a TA so I don't know if that would have been a different outcome or not. 

 

[kernow]

People seem to have mixed experiences but I managed to get a price drop (if that is what you mean by price swap) a few months ago for our cruise in a couple of weeks. I booked a balcony guarantee on the website after Christmas and a few weeks later noticed a £100 pp price drop on the same category. I called (Guatemala) and asked, not really expecting anything, they put me on hold and then came back and said I could have the new price. They said it was only allowed as it was exactly the same conditions as when I booked (no free drinks, grats etc).

 

A few weeks ago my parents were able to get a massive price drop (over £1000) on a suite guarantee that they booked onboard last Sept, the rules for onboard bookings do state one price change allowed though.

[sgmn]

2 hours ago, beardedladies said:

One thing you can do without any penalty is upgrade your cabin category on the same sailing.

 

This can be particularly handy if the price plummets - I've even had it where I've phoned to upgrade and the price went down (was in a JS and the suite prices plummeted - called to upgrade to a GS and the price went down a grand).

I tried to do this a couple of years ago(upgrade to higher grade cabin) and was told by my UK agent I would lose my deposit and basically start again. Maybe things have changed now. I now also price with both UK and online US agent and go with the cheapest. 

[beardedladies]

9 minutes ago, sgmn said:

I tried to do this a couple of years ago(upgrade to higher grade cabin) and was told by my UK agent I would lose my deposit and basically start again. Maybe things have changed now. I now also price with both UK and online US agent and go with the cheapest. 

 

I suspect your agent was not telling you the correct information, but it is possible that the upgrade you were interested in was for new bookings only. But in my experience that condition is relatively rare for us in the UK.

 

Upgrading a booking is something I've done many times over the last few years.... the last time was just a few weeks ago for my trip next week.

Edited May 6, 2019 by beardedladies

[gooners1968]

A few years ago I noticed that our Navigator cruise that we had booked through a UK TA had dropped significantly. Balcony cabins were only a few ££ more than what we had paid for an inside.

 

I rang RC and said I might as well cancel and book with P&O!! They said they would see what they could do for me-the next day we had a call from our TA who said that our cabin had been changed from an inside to a balcony with no extra cost. We had  booked with another couple and they had also been upgraded!

 

This was around 6 years ago-I think we were lucky and we haven't had anything like this happen since

 

 

[Trixie21]

I have changed one booking for another , and had a price drop honoured for another. One was a booke on board cruise which allowed one swap , and the other I guess I was just lucky.