When to cancel and rebook after price drop

[papaflamingo]

21 minutes ago, jennyumaa said:

 

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!

Yeah...they do that.  The prices are very dynamic.  You have to watch them very closely and be ready to "pull the trigger" when a good deal shows up.  Also don't disregard the possibility of upgrading for little to no additional.  I have often seen higher category cabins for a better deal than lower cabins.  Sometimes you can find some fantastic deals but they may only last hours.  I always operate under the theory that if I find a price I'm happy with, I book the cruise.  If the price drops great, if not, great.  Otherwise we'd all go completely crazy. 😎

[orville99]

2 hours ago, papaflamingo said:

Yeah...they do that.  The prices are very dynamic.  You have to watch them very closely and be ready to "pull the trigger" when a good deal shows up.  Also don't disregard the possibility of upgrading for little to no additional.  I have often seen higher category cabins for a better deal than lower cabins.  Sometimes you can find some fantastic deals but they may only last hours.  I always operate under the theory that if I find a price I'm happy with, I book the cruise.  If the price drops great, if not, great.  Otherwise we'd all go completely crazy. 😎

Had that happen to us once. Saw a small price drop on the balcony cabin we had booked, and was going to jump on it when I noticed that I could upgrade to a JS for about $300 more than I originally paid for the balcony

[bobmacliberty]

In addition to potentially losing OBC or other benefits, you also should be aware that Royal occasionally offers sale prices that are only good for new bookings.  Check the fine print.  I don't check prices often but if I do find a price drop, I'll call for it almost no matter the amount.

[The Fun Researcher]

 Just tell them you want to reprice your cruise. I do it all the time when the price drops

 

Dan

[cruisinfanatic]

Why do so many think you need to cancel and rebook to get a price drop?

[NightWoman]

We had a price drop for our cruise in December. Having booked through a TA we had to go through them as RCI won't do anything with the booking so it had to be cancelation and then rebook but we still saved money.

 

Our TA managed to keep all the perks from the original booking which isn't always the case.

[jamespb78]

6 hours ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Why do so many think you need to cancel and rebook to get a price drop?

Maybe it comes from not all of us living in the USA, and some countries have different terms and conditions?

 

Im in Australia, and booked direct with RC with the non refundable deposit option.  My cruise has now dropped $1000 in price from when I booked, and RC won’t drop my price even 1 cent.

 

The cheaper price is for the exact same sailing, same cabin category, and I haven’t even made final payment.  The only option RC gives me is to cancel, and forfeit my entire deposit, which will then also cancel all my tours I’ve booked (tours will be refunded, but they can’t guarantee I can re book them).

 

Ive had several phone calls with supervisors, sent several emails, and they all insist that for Australian bookings with a non refundable deposit you cannot re-price.

 

Considering i booked over 18 months before sailing, I’m peeved off about it.  Certainly didn’t pay to book so early.  Very jealous of US residents who can simply ring up and get the cheaper price.

[bobmacliberty]

Even in the US, most people are not experts in cruising. That's one of the reasons that Cruise Critic is great...people with questions can get help.

[Rogueperson]

I always compare the net gain.  Some repricing means you lose the OBC, so if the savings is less than the lost OBC, I will not reprice.

 

For my upcoming Allure cruise, not only did i get a price reduction.  I got a price reduction/upgrade.  I went from Interior to Central Park Balcony and saved a net 70 bucks!.  I lost $25.00 OBC, but the price was $95.00 less!!!  It should have been more, but for some odd reason that even my TA could not explain, I was locked into the original port fees and taxes even though though that was reduced.  After final payment, I was able to circumvent the bid and upgrade from that balcony to an Ocean view balcony for free with no loss to OBC.  I had an opportunity to upgrade to a large balcony with no cost, but this time, it would have costed me $50.00 OBC, so i passed on that "opportunity".  If i had went with the bid, I would have had to bid a minimum of $75.00/person to get the room I have now with no guarantee of success.  

[The Fun Researcher]

16 hours ago, jamespb78 said:

Maybe it comes from not all of us living in the USA, and some countries have different terms and conditions?

 

Im in Australia, and booked direct with RC with the non refundable deposit option.  My cruise has now dropped $1000 in price from when I booked, and RC won’t drop my price even 1 cent.

 

The cheaper price is for the exact same sailing, same cabin category, and I haven’t even made final payment.  The only option RC gives me is to cancel, and forfeit my entire deposit, which will then also cancel all my tours I’ve booked (tours will be refunded, but they can’t guarantee I can re book them).

 

Ive had several phone calls with supervisors, sent several emails, and they all insist that for Australian bookings with a non refundable deposit you cannot re-price.

 

Considering i booked over 18 months before sailing, I’m peeved off about it.  Certainly didn’t pay to book so early.  Very jealous of US residents who can simply ring up and get the cheaper price.

 

 Wow, that’s rough. I tend to book refundable until I am absolutely sure I’m going. ( flights are booked )

 

Dan

[Clarea]

16 hours ago, jamespb78 said:

 ...  The only option RC gives me is to cancel, and forfeit my entire deposit, which will then also cancel all my tours I’ve booked (tours will be refunded, but they can’t guarantee I can re book them). ...

 

I suspect this will eventually be the case for US/Canadian bookings that have non-refundable deposits.  Only a matter of time before someone like NCL does it and RC will follow.

[Sunseeker11]

I booked my cruise (3 cabins) with RCI in mid June (for Dec) with non refundable deposits, the price dropped 4x in 6 weeks, I called RCI each time and had it adjusted and even upgraded 2 OV to balcony’s.  Only once the rep wouldn’t give me the price so I called right back and the next rep did.  I ended up saving $500 a cabin.  I didn’t have any perks