Error in Deluxe Beverage package pricing?

[Bocker3]

1 minute ago, Milwaukee Eight said:

This..... 

 

Best post today. 

If you find this thread so "pathetic", why have you spent so much time following and posted more times than most??  Makes you feel superior, does it??

[Milwaukee Eight]

14 minutes ago, bradpole said:

Not in my opinion... RCL screwed up... they need to own it and do what's right.  Honor their mistake, not penalize their guests for their incompetence.  

 

Here's a great example of a company making a mistake but standing by their mistake

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/1/4/18168743/cathay-pacific-vietnam-error-fare-glitch

 

 

 

Except for those that cancelled an existing package for new price, how does cancellation and refund “penalize” anyone?

[Petcetera]

12 minutes ago, bradpole said:

Honor their mistake, not penalize their guests for their incompetence.  

WHAT????

I did take advantage of this but in no way will I feel penalized if they refund. I will be no worse off than I was before I bought this package.  WIll I be disappointed sure, but am I going to cancel my cruise,  be bitter towards Royal, call my lawyer, call the news media. No! I took a chance and it is what it is, bottom line, People WE ARE GOING ON A CRUISE!!!!!!!

12 minutes ago, bradpole said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Clarea]

7 minutes ago, PCWalton1 said:

Sorry I have been out rehabbing a knee replacement. Did I miss a sale? 😲 😋

 

Hope you are doing OK Bill.

[Beachammo]

FYI....

 

My friends in England, who received a paid ship invoice with the $18 drink package included after they purchased it, have now just gotten a new invoice, a few minutes ago, without the drink package.

 

 

[Retired LEO]

50 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

785 posts, the vast majority hoping and praying they get to take advantage of a mistake to save a few bucks.  Justifying it by ranting about "PR nightmares", etc.  This entire thread is truly pathetic.

Count me in the majority. I have 8 cruises invested. Sorry you missed out. 

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, Beachammo said:

FYI....

 

My friends in England, who received a paid ship invoice with the $18 drink package included after they purchased it, have now just gotten a new invoice, a few minutes ago, without the drink package.

 

 

 

Sorry to hear this.  Though it could be that  RC UK is not working from the same script as RC US.

[awestover89]

2 minutes ago, Beachammo said:

FYI....

 

My friends in England, who received a paid ship invoice with the $18 drink package included after they purchased it, have now just gotten a new invoice, a few minutes ago, without the drink package.

 

 

Can they confirm if the package no longer shows up in their cruise planner order history?

[coops]

If some bought the drinks at 16.00 pp and some at 18.00 a day how is that a keyboard screw up. Some sailings had the sale and some ships had the sale. 

 

[bouhunter]

3 minutes ago, Retired LEO said:

Count me in the majority. I have 8 cruises invested. Sorry you missed out. 

We get free drinks in the Diamond lounge and don't buy the packages - didn't miss out on anything.  But it's amusing to read the posts from all the people begging and praying and hoping they get something for nothing.

[Clarea]

Just now, coops said:

If some bought the drinks at 16.00 pp and some at 18.00 a day how is that a keyboard screw up. Some sailings had the sale and some ships had the sale. 

 

 

I agree.  With no real regular price, how can they say one price is valid and the other is a mistake. 

 

Part of me thinks this was some experiment.

[grandgeezer]

They made an honest mistake. The people saying they should live with it and honor the pricing, probably never make mistakes so they don't know how to accept it.

[awestover89]

2 minutes ago, coops said:

If some bought the drinks at 16.00 pp and some at 18.00 a day how is that a keyboard screw up. Some sailings had the sale and some ships had the sale. 

 

 

We are on a back to back and got $16 for the first leg and $18 for the second leg. Even funnier, when they fixed it the first leg jumped to $55 and the second leg only went to $50.

[awestover89]

1 minute ago, grandgeezer said:

They made an honest mistake. The people saying they should live with it and honor the pricing, probably never make mistakes so they don't know how to accept it.

 

I've made plenty of mistakes, and I've almost always had to live with (and often pay out of pocket) for them. Including on Royal I once accidentally cancelled the wrong excursion, called immediately and was told I would just have to rebook at the current price, there was no way to undo the cancellation and get the old price back. I've put the wrong date in a flight reservation and had to pay a couple hundred dollars in change fees for it.

[Casino Comp Chick]

7 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

We get free drinks in the Diamond lounge and don't buy the packages - didn't miss out on anything.  But it's amusing to read the posts from all the people begging and praying and hoping they get something for nothing.

What nothing? NCL charges $138.60. RCL charged $148.68.

Pay attention!

[BeachChik]

1 hour ago, suesnake2002 said:

I say move call centers back to the usa. Had that been the case I'm sure this would have been shut down sooner. 

Instead you have people reading from a script. 

This is were royal is in deep poop. Their employees told numerous people and TA that the price was correct. 

Had call centers been in usa, anyone with half a brain would have sent up a red flag. 

 

I swear you act like this is going to have a long term impact on royal. The “PR nightmare” that everyone is throwing around doesn’t exist. I’ll say it again, if carnival can survive the poop cruise and still make billions in profits I’m sure royal will survive this. All the people huffing and puffing about never sailing royal again are just blowing hot air. Sure a small percentage may really stop but the majority will continue to give royal their money. 

 

But it please alert the press. This clearly is more important than real news and should be a top story. 

 

What I find amusing is the amount of people that are now saying well we are only mad because of the poor communication. Yeah sure. You and everyone else would still be here complaining even if they had said right away that it was a mistake and wouldn’t be honored. But people will do and say anything to get something for free. 

[dpostman]

14 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Part of me thinks this was some experiment.

 

I have to agree, Just reading all the posts in this tread is like a great big social experiment that was designed to observe human behavior.

 

Some will fight tooth and nail to get what they thought they were getting for a good deal, and defend consumer rights whether their intentions were pure or even some might have been intent on squeezing out some sort of bonus prize , others will take the knee and bow their heads to the will of big corporations that rule over the people and give all benefit of the doubt of an innocent mistake to RCI.  And a great number of people spread out in between.

 

It has certainly been very entertaining and worth the price of admission.

 

dp

Edited July 3, 2019 by dpostman

[kennc]

14 minutes ago, bouhunter said:

785 posts, the vast majority hoping and praying they get to take advantage of a mistake to save a few bucks.  Justifying it by ranting about "PR nightmares", etc.  This entire thread is truly pathetic.

100%

 

RANT COMING, you have been warned.

 

I am humored by the general sense of self importance, power, knowledge and entitlement of the posters complaining the loudest.

 

For the record, I saw the rate and knew that if you see it, book it.  I might not be there in a few seconds.  You can always cancel later.  I did.  I knew and know it can be cancelled pursuant to the agreement I entered into voluntarily with RCCL.  The same type of agreement we ALL enter into with ALL commercial cruise lines.  I am waiting to see if we save a few dollars.  

 

If we do, great, if not, so be it. 

 

41 minutes ago, suesnake2002 said:

I say move call centers back to the usa. Had that been the case I'm sure this would have been shut down sooner. 

Instead you have people reading from a script. 

This is were royal is in deep poop. Their employees told numerous people and TA that the price was correct. 

Had call centers been in usa, anyone with half a brain would have sent up a red flag. 

 

 

39 minutes ago, awestover89 said:

 

They are definitely in damage control. The initial problem was mostly minor; the only caveat was how to handle people who cancelled a previously purchased beverage package to book the new one. Having the phone agents saying it was a legit sale also wasn't great, but not insurmountable.

 

Where the excrement really hit the rapidly spinning cooling device was the lack of an official statement combined with the back and forth in unofficial social media statements. Yes it's a legit sale. No it's not but we'll honor it. We aren't honoring it and we aren't compensating anybody beyond refunds. We aren't honoring it but we'll give you a discount to make up for it. We aren't honoring it and the discount will be based off of on board prices, not the already discounted online prices. We'll let you know what's been decided at 2. At 4. At 6. Tonight. Tomorrow. 

"This is where (sic) royal is in deep poop."  

"Where the excrement really hit the rapidly spinning cooling device"

The legal department is in crisis control (paraphrasing an earlier opinion).

 

Those complaining about a decision that hasn't even been made yet, please do yourself a service and do a google search on this "PR nightmare."  There are exactly two reports, one on Royal Caribbean Blog and one on Cruise Radio (whatever that is).  Both of these reports make this whole affair seem pretty mundane, innocuous and irrelevant, pretty much, "move along, nothing to see here." 

 

This despite that a poster "alerted" CBS News of this "developing story."  Apparently CBS News, nor any other news or internet  entity find this to be particularly newsworthy.

 

Not seeing "deep poop" or stuff hitting the fan in the real world.  

 

As to the "legal department", since Royal is clearly and unambiguously within their right to NOT honor purchases made at this rate, I am sure the "legal department" is business as usual.  Zero legal consequences for RCCL if they cancel every last one of the packages purchased at $18.  You may disagree and you can opt to seek arbitration against them (another term of your contract), but I would put your chance of success below 0%.

 

My guess as to what is really happening;

 

PR department probably monitoring internet and social media to see how wide spread the "outrage" is and any press coverage of it (or more accurately, lack thereof) and reporting back to the money people.

 

Another real word fact on this issue,  tomorrow is the 4th of July.  Likely to see some bad news dumps today as "PR 101" mandates it is best to dump bad news before a Holiday when no one is paying attention.  By next Monday, no one will care what a cruise line did last week.

 

Ultimately, I believe, it is the money people who will guide the final decision. It is the accountants deciding the relative costs of their various options so they can determine the best BUSINESS decision. 

 

Read "BUSINESS decision" to mean dollars (present and future) lost or potentially lost.  It may be honoring the purchases is the best option, and all the loud criers in here will feel that their voice was heard (it will not have been, despite what RCCL's PR department puts out in a statement).  It may be cancelling them all and making a good will gesture is the best option (even if it really isn't much of a gesture  - 30% off).  It may be something different, but it will be a pure business decision.

 

RCCL is filling their ships and ordering more, their stock is up tremendously, their profits are outstanding.  That is what a business is supposed to do, even if it sometimes seems like they are neglecting, hurting, offending, minimizing customers.  Whatever the outcome of "Beverage PackageGATE," it will not have a significant effect on RCCL's business.

 

I have had plenty of disputes with RCCL over the experiences of me and my family.  I do not post about it, I take it up directly with them and am satisfied with the outcomes.  For now, we will continue to sail with them.

 

As a customer, I put on my big boy pants and make decisions that work for me and my family, understanding how the real world works, like it or not.

 

But, you do you. 

 

I hope all of us that purchased it, get the package at $18. 

 

Happy sailing.

 

 

[awestover89]

Just now, BeachChik said:

 

I swear you act like this is going to have a long term impact on royal. The “PR nightmare” that everyone is throwing around doesn’t exist. I’ll say it again, if carnival can survive the poop cruise and still make billions in profits I’m sure royal will survive this. All the people huffing and puffing about never sailing royal again are just blowing hot air. Sure a small percentage may really stop but the majority will continue to give royal their money. 

 

But it please alert the press. This clearly is more important than real news and should be a top story. 

 

What I find amusing is the amount of people that are now saying well we are only mad because of the poor communication. Yeah sure. You and everyone else would still be here complaining even if they had said right away that it was a mistake and wouldn’t be honored. But people will do and say anything to get something for free. 

 

I can't speak for everyone else, but I am 100% that had they said it was a mistake and wouldn't be honored right away I would not be upset right now. I booked it fully expecting it to be cancelled and refunded. Then they put out the notices on Facebook and Twitter saying that while it was a mistake, they would honor it. Alright, nice. I went from indifferent to happy. Being upset didn't come until the deletion of those posts, backtracking, and trying to reply to people posting screenshots by saying that they're sorry if people were confused. The "apology" sale was just a massive slap in the face since it was an already planned (and somewhat frequent) sale.

 

Honestly, had they been straight forward right away I wouldn't be upset. Had they just backtracked the original comments but not tried to hide them I'd be a touch upset, but not much. It was the combination of all the back and forth and extremely poor communication that escalated this.

[Biker19]

4 minutes ago, BeachChik said:

 I’ll say it again, if carnival can survive the poop cruise and still make billions in profits I’m sure royal will survive this.

Folks need to stop using the Carnival example - just go to the most newsworthy one - Costa Concordia. Not sure you can get any worse "PR".

[bouhunter]

5 minutes ago, BeachChik said:

 

I swear you act like this is going to have a long term impact on royal. The “PR nightmare” that everyone is throwing around doesn’t exist. I’ll say it again, if carnival can survive the poop cruise and still make billions in profits I’m sure royal will survive this. All the people huffing and puffing about never sailing royal again are just blowing hot air. Sure a small percentage may really stop but the majority will continue to give royal their money. 

 

But it please alert the press. This clearly is more important than real news and should be a top story. 

 

What I find amusing is the amount of people that are now saying well we are only mad because of the poor communication. Yeah sure. You and everyone else would still be here complaining even if they had said right away that it was a mistake and wouldn’t be honored. But people will do and say anything to get something for free. 

Very well said.  The desperado's here hoping for a bargain won't listen though.  They're too busy praying for a deal and yacking about "PR Nightmares".  Too funny.

[reallyitsmema]

7 minutes ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

What nothing? NCL charges $138.60. RCL charged $148.68.

Pay attention!

 

No matter how many times you say that, it is not a true statement.  NCL charges you the service charge of $138.60 when you get their drink package for "free".  If you purchase a drink package, it is $99/day.

[dodgestang]

3 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

salient part 

 

What does contact lens cleaner have to do with this?  Are we mixing that into drinks now?  

 

lollolololol....I crack myself up

[BeachChik]

6 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Folks need to stop using the Carnival example - just go to the most newsworthy one - Costa Concordia. Not sure you can get any worse "PR".

 

True. I forgot about that. 

[Anton]

Email was just sent.  They are owning it.  Packages will be honored.