Anyone else duped by RCI-Radiance of the Seas 7-10-20?

[Cruiser_1977]

@Itchy&Scratchy I'm in a junior suite, solo. $1682 was the price before discounts. What I actually paid for fare plus taxes was 1175. 🙂

 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 by JennyB1977
to correct wording

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Just now, JennyB1977 said:

@Itchy&Scratchy I'm in a mini suite, solo. $1682 was the price before discounts. What I actually paid for fare plus taxes was 1175. 🙂

 

 

gotcha. The most premium we've ever done was a balcony, but I prefer to pay as little as possible. We are only in the room to sleep at night.

[xtsea99]

8 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

regardless of whether it was an advertising error or not, it seems a full transaction had taken place, and therefore should be honoured,

 

And its a pretty weak excuse blaming an advertising error. Its not just the advertised price is it? The computer will have shown the price, and all that was included in it, and a payment was accepted.

 

Appalling behaviour from any business.

 

Amazes me that folk on here are defending them.

 

Bullies springs to mind.

 

Luckliy, I printed the page with the published price!

[Ombud]

16 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@xtsea99 Can you provide some additional information? A twelve day cruise for $2900 ($241/might) is amazing. I have a 3 night Bahama cruise booked and the fare was $1600($533/night). Did you book an inside, balcony or higher class cabin? Did your TA question the price when they had the Royal rep on the telephone? As @Itchy&Scratchy mentioned why did they move up the final payment date? What type of insurance did you buy?

OP stated it's a land / cruise, sounds like the land portion is not free. Certainly not for 1,462.43pp (a fair price for just the cruise alone). Sorry you're going thru this but time to discuss a full refund of your deposit

[sparks1093]

35 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

regardless of whether it was an advertising error or not, it seems a full transaction had taken place, and therefore should be honoured,

 

And its a pretty weak excuse blaming an advertising error. Its not just the advertised price is it? The computer will have shown the price, and all that was included in it, and a payment was accepted.

 

Appalling behaviour from any business.

 

Amazes me that folk on here are defending them.

 

Bullies springs to mind.

 

Not defending them, per se, just saying what the law says. The only thing the company owes is a refund if the customer doesn't accept the new terms.

[navybankerteacher]

43 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@xtsea99 Can you provide some additional information? A twelve day cruise for $2900 ($241/might) is amazing. I have a 3 night Bahama cruise booked and the fare was $1600($533/night). Did you book an inside, balcony or higher class cabin? Did your TA question the price when they had the Royal rep on the telephone? As @Itchy&Scratchy mentioned why did they move up the final payment date? What type of insurance did you buy?

You must be on Disney - or in suite on another line at that price.

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, xtsea99 said:

12-day Alaskan Cruise/LandTour, (cruisetour 12A) for uly 10, 2020 as advertised, for 2 people for a total of $2924.86 . ....in order to keep my cruise (+land) I would need to pay $9,672.72.   ....  If I don't pay up by August 2, 2019, they will automatically cancel my (land) reservation.

Sounds like they're now treating the land portion as an excursion,  payment due upon reserving. 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Ombud

[John Bull]

46 minutes ago, xtsea99 said:

Luckliy, I printed the page with the published price!

 

 

That's not a matter of luck.

More a matter of good common-sense 

 

JB 

[capriccio]

2 hours ago, xtsea99 said:

On July 9th I booked a 12-day Alaskan Cruise/LandTour, (cruisetour 12A) for uly 10, 2020 as advertised, for 2 people for a total of $2924.86 ....  I'm now out airfare, excursions, travel insurance, etc. 

 

I'm curious as to which airline is ticketing more than 333 days in advance?   You have already booked excursions more than a year in advance that are non-refundable? 

[sprint180]

Sorry this happened.   I would like to know how it turns out though.  I think they should honor the price though.

[SantaFeFan]

28 minutes ago, capriccio said:

 

I'm curious as to which airline is ticketing more than 333 days in advance?   You have already booked excursions more than a year in advance that are non-refundable? 

 

A lot of it doesn't make sense. Why final payment almost a year in advance? Why is he out airfare so far in advance? I didn't think airlines even sold tickets that far out. Why out the cost of excursions? Aren't they are always refundable? Why out the cost of insurance? Most insurance will allow cancellation up until the departure date or at least a short "cooling off" period. And what is this "etc." cost he is losing?

 

So many holes in this story. 

Edited July 26, 2019 by SantaFeFan

[Shorex]

First, forget the terms "duped", "bait and switch", and "false advertising."  This situation is known as a "mistake fare." Mistake fares happen when a business, not infrequently a cruise line or an airline, posts publicly an erroneous fare, also known as "fat-finger" error. Experienced cruisers, such as the OP, should have recognized this as a pricing mistake.

 

The first consideration: is the cruise line legally obligated to honor what is obviously a mistake fare? No. Sometimes a cruise line will honor a mistake fare for the sake of customer goodwill, other times, not.

 

I suggest everyone posting here have a look at a similar situation where a cruiser thought he was being ripped off when Azamara would not honor a mistake fare and he sought help from consumer advocate Chris Elliott:

 

https://www.elliott.org/cruises/cruise-pricing-mistake-fare-error/

 

Bottom line, cruisers are not entitled to take advantage of advertised pricing errors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[clo]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

 

I'm curious as to which airline is ticketing more than 333 days in advance?   You have already booked excursions more than a year in advance that are non-refundable? 

I had wondered those exact two things.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

2 hours ago, capriccio said:

 

I'm curious as to which airline is ticketing more than 333 days in advance?   You have already booked excursions more than a year in advance that are non-refundable? 

I was wondering the same thing.  We booked a hotel in Seward for next year, payment in full was due when we booked but it is refundable within 7 days of the first night stay. 

[DarrenM]

Lots of wannabe hercule Poirot types on here

[sparks1093]

20 minutes ago, DarrenM said:

Lots of wannabe hercule Poirot types on here

They are valid questions, even if you don't consider them to be. The forums are all about give and take and that includes asking questions when things don't add up.

Edited July 26, 2019 by sparks1093

[SantaFeFan]

48 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

They are valid questions, even if you don't consider them to be. The forums are all about give and take and that includes asking questions when things don't add up.

 

I blocked him. None of his posts offer any substance other than sarcasm, criticism, or contrarianism on this and other threads. 

Edited July 26, 2019 by SantaFeFan

[Shorex]

The questions are very reasonable considering that OP claimed :  "I'm now out airfare, excursions, travel insurance, etc."

If OP can prove non-refundable cruise expenditures incurred during the interim between booking and the call from RCI, and that she used due diligence to attempt to cancel such expenditures immediately after the call, then she has a legitimate claim for reimbursement for those expenses. If not, then not.

[mafig]

The OP asked in their first post if anyone else had been affected by this.  It appears that no one in our community has, which since the price seemed so good, is unusual.

I suggested asking this on the Royal Caribbean main board,  Perhaps better luck there.

 

 

[Underwatr]

7 hours ago, xtsea99 said:

I'm now out airfare

I see I'm not the first person to ask the question I had...

Edited July 26, 2019 by Underwatr

[Essiesmom]

3 hours ago, Shorex said:

First, forget the terms "duped", "bait and switch", and "false advertising."  This situation is known as a "mistake fare." Mistake fares happen when a business, not infrequently a cruise line or an airline, posts publicly an erroneous fare, also known as "fat-finger" error. Experienced cruisers, such as the OP, should have recognized this as a pricing mistake.

 

The first consideration: is the cruise line legally obligated to honor what is obviously a mistake fare? No. Sometimes a cruise line will honor a mistake fare for the sake of customer goodwill, other times, not.

 

I suggest everyone posting here have a look at a similar situation where a cruiser thought he was being ripped off when Azamara would not honor a mistake fare and he sought help from consumer advocate Chris Elliott:

 

https://www.elliott.org/cruises/cruise-pricing-mistake-fare-error/

 

Bottom line, cruisers are not entitled to take advantage of advertised pricing errors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember this endless thread on the Azamara board here, and I think there have been other incidences posted on C in the past.  EM

[zqvol]

12 hours ago, xtsea99 said:

On July 9th I booked a 12-day Alaskan Cruise/LandTour, (cruisetour 12A) for uly 10, 2020 as advertised, for 2 people for a total of $2924.86 .... yesterday I received a call from RCI that they advertised the price incorrectly (their error was also applied to multiple travel agency sites), and that in order to keep my cruise I would need to pay $9,672.72.   Bait and switch, false advertising.  Has anyone else been affected by this?  They (RCI) made an "executive decision" to not honor their pricing.  I'm now out airfare, excursions, travel insurance, etc.  If I don't pay up by August 2, 2019, they will automatically cancel my reservation.  I am appealing to their "upper management" and their Board of Directors, but I'm trying to find anyone else to has experienced this (or similar, and what your outcome was), so we can band together.

 

I've cruised on over 50 cruises, and my husband has been on more than 30; this would have been our first experience with RCI.  

 

Pam Monroe

 

As I read this a couple of things jump out at me. Generally domestic air cannot be booked more than 330 days out, which means OP has likely not booked air. As far as being out excursion costs, I have never heard of an Alaskan excursion that is non refundable a year in advance when you cancel. I will agree that Op is out the cost of insurance, but generally those have a 14 - 21 day examination period where they can be returned for a full refund.

 

OP is out little, booked a cruise that they knew was underpriced, and now wants that deal. RCCL is under no obligation to honor the price.

 

A couple more points, the people from teh UK chiming in don't understand US laws, they are very different than what we have in the US.

 

OP is doing a cruise and a tour, which is why the cost is so high, and may include air.

 

I really doubt that RCCL is saying that final payment is due August 2nd. They are probably saying you have to agree to the new price by then or we are going to cancel.

 

Too much information is missing from this story.

Edited July 27, 2019 by zqvol

[Donray]

13 hours ago, xtsea99 said:

Luckliy, I printed the page with the published price!

Could include the page with the price as a post here?????

[Ourusualbeach]

I remember when these Alaska deals were posted.  There was a thread on the Royal forum about them but when you went to complete the booking it came back as fare unavailable.  Looks like the OP booked it before they caught it.

 

OP, unfortunately you won’t get anywhere with Royal if they choose not to honour the price.  There have bern a few mistakes in the past year or two that many have booked and they have nit honoured.

[motheroftwocats814]

the person who entered that fare into the system is probably the same one who entered the 18 dollar beverage package. How can airfare have been purchased already? Something isn't right here!