When to cancel and rebook after price drop

[1Texansgo]

I have an existing reservation through a TA with final payment several months away. I did purchase travel insurance at time of booking. The price has dropped approximately 10% today. What is anyone's threshold for cancelling and rebooking? Will I lose the travel insurance premium or can it be transferred to new booking? Is this a valid reason to book with line directly and not use a TA? I stumbled on the price drop-my TA did not inform me of the drop. Any advice welcomed.

[bouhunter]

We've never booked a cruise with a TA.  But as far as I know they should be able to get your price drop applied without actually cancelling anything.  I'm sure others will post more complete info.

 

There is no necessary threshold.  I called RCCL this week and got a 50.00 price drop in 5 minutes

Edited November 20, 2019 by bouhunter

[ReneeFLL]

I would call your TA and have them do it asap. Any price drop is more you can spend elsewhere. I have read some TA's will charge a fee or won't do it so hopefully yours will. We prefer to handle our own bookings. If there is a price drop and you can't get in touch with the TA then you might miss out on it. Some people argue the perks they get with the TA is worth it to use one. You will have to decide what works best for you.

[Clarea]

If you have RC insurance, you don't normally pay that until final payment, so no loss there.

[bonsai3s]

Call your TA...no need to cancel...you should get that price drop...Congrats!

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, 1Texansgo said:

What is anyone's threshold for calling to get a price drop?

$30.

[marci22]

33 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

$30.

I called for a $36 price drop recently and the rep was definitely not impressed about having to reprice.

 

Usually the reps are great: 'wow, you saved some money there!" This one was like, 'oh well, I guess you saved a few dollars'. 

 

I remember the time I got to the port and there was some whispering at the checkin counter. I got really nervous. Turns out that I must have booked a wow sale that I underpaid by $26 and TA didn't catch it. They made me pay it at check in. So I go by that.

Edited November 20, 2019 by marci22

[brillohead]

Any time my savings is more than my loss (for example, if the price drops $100 but I would lose my $100 OBC promotion, I wouldn't do that).  

I've repriced for twenty bucks before.  My TA is also a friend, and his agency doesn't charge a fee for his services. I send him a message on FB, an email, or a text, and he takes care of it.

[LuCruise]

I think I've repriced for as little as around $14.  I figure why not?  May as well put the money in our pocket and it can buy us a drink.

[ONECRUISER]

4 minutes ago, brillohead said:

Any time my savings is more than my loss (for example, if the price drops $100 but I would lose my $100 OBC promotion, I wouldn't do that).  

I've repriced for twenty bucks before.  My TA is also a friend, and his agency doesn't charge a fee for his services. I send him a message on FB, an email, or a text, and he takes care of it.

Agree, many not away they COULD loose their OBC. Happened me couple times but reduction was higher then OBC lost. Myself, will call for anything over $20. Had one Booking was on change 11, most for reductions. Then only once canceled Booking loosing Deposit as the Sale price for New Bookings only, a better cabin, and saved more then I lost. Was Luck...

[luisc25]

Call and find out, I always call whenever I see a good sale.
They  sometimes can apply different coupons that you missed or didn’t add. Like for example on my cruise coming up in May the price change $960.00 but online was higher same cabin and category. It doesn’t hurt to call, also some representative are better than others. 

 

[Ocean Boy]

4 hours ago, marci22 said:

I called for a $36 price drop recently and the rep was definitely not impressed about having to reprice.

 

Usually the reps are great: 'wow, you saved some money there!" This one was like, 'oh well, I guess you saved a few dollars'. 

 

I remember the time I got to the port and there was some whispering at the checkin counter. I got really nervous. Turns out that I must have booked a wow sale that I underpaid by $26 and TA didn't catch it. They made me pay it at check in. So I go by that.

Funny how the rep thought your $36 was rather insignificant but RCI didn't feel quite the same way about their $26.

[twins_to_alaska]

I just called for a $10 price drop a few days ago... the RC agent was as nice as could be.

[bilyclub]

9 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree, many not away they COULD loose their OBC. Happened me couple times but reduction was higher then OBC lost. Myself, will call for anything over $20. Had one Booking was on change 11, most for reductions. Then only once canceled Booking loosing Deposit as the Sale price for New Bookings only, a better cabin, and saved more then I lost. Was Luck...

 

I called for a price drop and gained $50 OBC along with the price reduction due to the promotion Royal was running. 

[tinkr2]

No amount is too small if you have the time to spare. Some people check daily. I am too lazy for that.

[papaflamingo]

21 hours ago, 1Texansgo said:

I have an existing reservation through a TA with final payment several months away. I did purchase travel insurance at time of booking. The price has dropped approximately 10% today. What is anyone's threshold for cancelling and rebooking? Will I lose the travel insurance premium or can it be transferred to new booking? Is this a valid reason to book with line directly and not use a TA? I stumbled on the price drop-my TA did not inform me of the drop. Any advice welcomed.

Sooooo...the answer is, you don't "cancel and re-book."  You simply re-price under the new pricing rules.  The booking number shouldn't change.  As others have said, you need to consider any perks that you might have and their value and make sure the lower price is really lower.  But the threshold is up to you. I book through a TA that I've used for over 10 years. I wouldn't personally bother her for $14, but that's just me.  You do need to check your TA's rules on re-pricing, but it's their job to service your cruise so ask for whatever you want and they should gladly do it for you.  If not, get a new TA.

As for Travel Insurance, if you are using Royal Caribbean's travel insurance, then it will be priced accordingly.  No concern there.  If you have third party insurance, you can possibly get a reduction in premium, but not enough (if any) if it's a small price drop.  If you read your policy, you are covered for "Up To" a certain amount.  If you re-price the cruise to a lower price, then you'll definitely be covered for the max amount of the cruise.

Edited November 21, 2019 by papaflamingo

[marci22]

10 hours ago, tinkr2 said:

No amount is too small if you have the time to spare. Some people check daily. I am too lazy for that.

The only reason I wouldn't for <$20 is because there is always the chance the the rep could mess up your booking. It's rare, I agree, but I always request the follow up invoice to be sure. A couple of times insurance has been added and it was later removed but that adds to the time I spend on the whole procedure.

[jennyumaa]

1 hour ago, papaflamingo said:

the answer is, you don't "cancel and re-book." 

 

The cabin category of my current booking is already sold out, so I cannot do a mock booking online to see the price. How do you know what the new price is without a mock booking? I booked mine a few months ago and haven't checked the price since. Thanks!

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, jennyumaa said:

How do you know what the new price is without a mock booking?

You have to call.

[molly361]

1 hour ago, jennyumaa said:

 

The cabin category of my current booking is already sold out, so I cannot do a mock booking online to see the price. How do you know what the new price is without a mock booking? I booked mine a few months ago and haven't checked the price since. Thanks!

 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

You have to call.

And it can happen.  We got one once on a sold out category

[ONECRUISER]

13 hours ago, bilyclub said:

 

I called for a price drop and gained $50 OBC along with the price reduction due to the promotion Royal was running. 

Well done. Check my prices/cabins Daily. As said said before I've saved thousands last few yrs...

[voyager70]

23 hours ago, marci22 said:

I called for a $36 price drop recently and the rep was definitely not impressed about having to reprice.

 

 

I experienced this once as well.  I called for a small price drop - believe it was around $30 - and the rep seemed to be annoyed that I was bothering him for such a small drop.  I wouldn't take $30 out of my wallet and throw it away, so why not?

 

 

[papaflamingo]

2 hours ago, jennyumaa said:

 

The cabin category of my current booking is already sold out, so I cannot do a mock booking online to see the price. How do you know what the new price is without a mock booking? I booked mine a few months ago and haven't checked the price since. Thanks!

As others have said, you can call and see what they'll do.  But it seems if the category is sold out then there would be no pricing on that category.  Can you look at upgrading for little or no more?  But call and ask them.  

[orville99]

Last time we had an opportunity to re-price was a long time ago. Lately all we've seen is a slow steady rise in prices until just after the final payment date. Prices can drop after that, but RCL won't re-price after final payment date.

[jennyumaa]

39 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

As others have said, you can call and see what they'll do.  But it seems if the category is sold out then there would be no pricing on that category.  Can you look at upgrading for little or no more?  But call and ask them.  

 

Just went online to take a look. I thought I was paying too much for our cabin (extra large ocean view) and wish we booked earlier, but now the inside cabin is showing the same price per person! I will not bother now. For the same inside cabin, the price has gone up 50% in 3 months!

Edited November 21, 2019 by jennyumaa