Just checked my cruise price and it went down but I am past final payment date - just checking on the process to call them

[GCS2000]

In the last several weeks I have seen a lot of posts about price adjustments and people getting denied or just a runaround in general.

 

I checked my cruise price today and it is $672 cheaper than what I paid.  I am past my final payment date (was 6/19) I am 72 days out from sailing and my cruise completely paid for at this point.

 

What is the exact language I should use to get a price adjustment?  If it was only a small savings I wouldn't bother but it being $672 its worth the time on hold on the phone.

 

 

[wallyj]

If you booked before April 1, this year, you qualify for the best price guarantee, the fare difference will be OBC. RCL and travel agents have a portal to process this and should be able to do while you are talking with them.

 

Bookings after April 1, reprice only before final payment.

[Jimbo]

7 minutes ago, GCS2000 said:

In the last several weeks I have seen a lot of posts about price adjustments and people getting denied or just a runaround in general.

 

I checked my cruise price today and it is $672 cheaper than what I paid.  I am past my final payment date (was 6/19) I am 72 days out from sailing and my cruise completely paid for at this point.

 

What is the exact language I should use to get a price adjustment?  If it was only a small savings I wouldn't bother but it being $672 its worth the time on hold on the phone.

 

 

Should get OBC for that amount.  Good Luck getting thru though.........been onhold myself to cancel a cruise. Ut Oh, they just hung up on me after 30 minutes.....Nice !!

[GCS2000]

3 minutes ago, wallyj said:

If you booked before April 1, this year, you qualify for the best price guarantee, the fare difference will be OBC. RCL and travel agents have a portal to process this and should be able to do while you are talking with them.

 

Bookings after April 1, reprice only before final payment.

 

Well my original booking was Dec of last year.  In May when the NFL schedule was released we had to change cruises (Alaska cruise and we are taking in a Seahawks game for my wife) so we rebooked then.  This cruise sailing on 9/16 is now cheaper.

 

I am guessing because of the rebook in May and since we have gone past final payment date that we cannot get any credit back on this cruise?

[Another_Critic]

3 minutes ago, GCS2000 said:

 

Well my original booking was Dec of last year.  In May when the NFL schedule was released we had to change cruises (Alaska cruise and we are taking in a Seahawks game for my wife) so we rebooked then.  This cruise sailing on 9/16 is now cheaper.

 

I am guessing because of the rebook in May and since we have gone past final payment date that we cannot get any credit back on this cruise?

Did you cancel and rebook or move the sailing (kept same booking#)?  If the former, no adjustment after final payment.  If the latter, you'll get OBC.

[GCS2000]

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

Did you cancel and rebook or move the sailing (kept same booking#)?  If the former, no adjustment after final payment.  If the latter, you'll get OBC.

 

I would say moved the booking to another sailing as I have the same reservation ID as I did for the original booking in December 2021. 

[cruiseguy1016]

8 minutes ago, GCS2000 said:

 

I would say moved the booking to another sailing as I have the same reservation ID as I did for the original booking in December 2021. 

 

Then you should qualify for the OBC.

[GCS2000]

1 hour ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

 

Then you should qualify for the OBC.

Well that went well.  20 mins on hold got an agent and 5 mins later form has been submitted and we will get $654 of onboard credit added to our reservation (price changed between when I posted this topic to when I was able to make the call so we lost out on $18, lol).  Said it will take 14 days to post to our account.

 

Can this be refunded back to my CC after the cruise if we don't use it?  All of our stuff is all paid for and I have no idea what we will use this for on the ship.

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by GCS2000

[Jimbo]

I just got thru too on the Crown and Anchor #.

 

Yay, cancelled our cruise and got back my refundable deposit. Life is good !   🙂

[Jimbo]

10 minutes ago, GCS2000 said:

Well that went well.  20 mins on hold got an agent and 5 mins later form has been submitted and we will get $654 of onboard credit added to our reservation (price changed between when I posted this topic to when I was able to make the call so we lost out on $18, lol).  Said it will take 14 days to post to our account.

 

Can this be refunded back to my CC after the cruise if we don't use it?  All of our stuff is all paid for and I have no idea what we will use this for on the ship.

 

Yes, have to do it through the casino for the cash refund. Others will be along shortly as to how to hack the system. You can not get it at Guest Relations, so don't try that.

Edited July 5, 2022 by Jimbo

[FionaMG]

10 minutes ago, GCS2000 said:

Can this be refunded back to my CC after the cruise if we don't use it?  All of our stuff is all paid for and I have no idea what we will use this for on the ship.

 

 

No. This particular type of OBC is non-refundable so you use it or lose it.

Have you pre-paid your tips? If not, that will use some of it up.

There is also a way to get it back at the casino using the slot machines. It's talked about regularly on here, so hopefully someone can chime in and explain how you do it.

[GCS2000]

15 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

No. This particular type of OBC is non-refundable so you use it or lose it.

Have you pre-paid your tips? If not, that will use some of it up.

There is also a way to get it back at the casino using the slot machines. It's talked about regularly on here, so hopefully someone can chime in and explain how you do it.

Yeah we prepaid tips when we booked so that is done as well.  Everything for our cruise is booked and paid for completely.  I'll look around for the casino deal.  I know we will use some of the OBC for laundry while we are on the ship guess maybe give the wife some spa services too.  I'm sure we will figure it out.

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by GCS2000

[CruiszBug]

I am having a terrible time with Royal on my booking! Twice now I've been told that even though the price went down $470 and technically a higher category room is priced even lower than that, they will only give me $180 OBC because I booked a refundable rate! They say "we must compare apples to apples".  Okay I booked a long time ago and qualify for Double Points, Cruise with Confidence, Best Price Guarantee, etc.... but now they are saying since I am past final payment, I am out of luck. What the heck? This is so frustrating... Do I not qualify for the full published discount for some reason?

 

[RoperDK]

5 hours ago, GCS2000 said:

Yeah we prepaid tips when we booked so that is done as well.  Everything for our cruise is booked and paid for completely.  I'll look around for the casino deal.  I know we will use some of the OBC for laundry while we are on the ship guess maybe give the wife some spa services too.  I'm sure we will figure it out.

 

Couldn't you call and cancel your prepaid tips?  You should get that money back as a refund and then use your OBC to pay tips.  I believe that would work.  

[smokeybandit]

5 hours ago, GCS2000 said:

I'll look around for the casino deal. 

All you do is charge the amount of leftover OBC to your room when you're sitting at a machine in the casino. Then immediately cash it out.

[bobmacliberty]

1 hour ago, CruiszBug said:

I am having a terrible time with Royal on my booking! Twice now I've been told that even though the price went down $470 and technically a higher category room is priced even lower than that, they will only give me $180 OBC because I booked a refundable rate! They say "we must compare apples to apples".  Okay I booked a long time ago and qualify for Double Points, Cruise with Confidence, Best Price Guarantee, etc.... but now they are saying since I am past final payment, I am out of luck. What the heck? This is so frustrating... Do I not qualify for the full published discount for some reason?

 

 

When you say that the price went down by $470, are you looking at the current refundable rate or just the generally posted rate, which is non-refundable?  Refundable rates are typically higher than non-refundable rates.  If you originally purchased a refundable rate, any price drop would need to be in comparison to the current refundable rate.  It sounds like they are saying that the current non-refundable rate is $180 less than what you paid, so that is how much OBC you're entitled to.

[Mum2Mercury]

1 hour ago, RoperDK said:

Couldn't you call and cancel your prepaid tips?  You should get that money back as a refund and then use your OBC to pay tips.  I believe that would work.  

I've always pre-paid tips, thinking it just makes the cruise slightly easier.  Well, no, that's not quite true:  I kinda remember giving out envelopes on the last night, but that's been a long time ago -- and, if memory serves, pre-paid wasn't yet an option.  

 

If you don't pre-pay, WHEN /HOW do you pay on the ship?  

[RoperDK]

Just now, Mum2Mercury said:

If you don't pre-pay, WHEN /HOW do you pay on the ship?  

It is painless.  It is automatically charged to your onboard account.  If you have OBC it comes off of that.  If not, it goes to your credit card charge for the whole trip.  I have my cruise lines mixed up, so not sure if it is charged daily or at the end of the cruise.  The envelopes do show up and it is your choice whether you give extra or not.

[matj2000]

Reason  98 for not booking directly with RCCL..

[fweegy]

BEWARE!!!!! I had this happen to my cruise this past May. I got a OBC for $2217 because of a price drop. I was also told at the time if I did not spend all of that $2217 I would be issued a refund on my credit card. WRONG!!!!! That lower price credit is issued as "Non-refundable OBC" meaning if you don't use it on board, you lose it. I complained bitterly about it but to no avail. So the wife had an excellent time down in the shops one morning. Check your app when you get on board and see that classification your OBC is listed as.

[Jimbo]

1 minute ago, fweegy said:

BEWARE!!!!! I had this happen to my cruise this past May. I got a OBC for $2217 because of a price drop. I was also told at the time if I did not spend all of that $2217 I would be issued a refund on my credit card. WRONG!!!!! That lower price credit is issued as "Non-refundable OBC" meaning if you don't use it on board, you lose it. I complained bitterly about it but to no avail. So the wife had an excellent time down in the shops one morning. Check your app when you get on board and see that classification your OBC is listed as.

You messed up, you should have stopped in the casino to cash it out.

[CruiszBug]

3 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

When you say that the price went down by $470, are you looking at the current refundable rate or just the generally posted rate, which is non-refundable?  Refundable rates are typically higher than non-refundable rates.  If you originally purchased a refundable rate, any price drop would need to be in comparison to the current refundable rate.  It sounds like they are saying that the current non-refundable rate is $180 less than what you paid, so that is how much OBC you're entitled to.

I rarely book refundable rates, but when I booked this cruise the refundable and non-refundable were the same price so I went with the refundable. Since higher category cabins are now significantly less money than what I paid it seems wrong somehow that I couldn't get a higher category room and the discount? After all, I can cancel and rebook. Why would they want to go to all that trouble and tick off their guests?

[ARandomTraveler]

47 minutes ago, CruiszBug said:

I rarely book refundable rates, but when I booked this cruise the refundable and non-refundable were the same price so I went with the refundable. Since higher category cabins are now significantly less money than what I paid it seems wrong somehow that I couldn't get a higher category room and the discount? After all, I can cancel and rebook. Why would they want to go to all that trouble and tick off their guests?

Even with refundable rates, they become non-refundable to some degree after the final payment date. If you're not past final payment, cancel and rebook. 

[Merion_Mom]

11 hours ago, GCS2000 said:

Yeah we prepaid tips when we booked so that is done as well.  Everything for our cruise is booked and paid for completely.  I'll look around for the casino deal.  I know we will use some of the OBC for laundry while we are on the ship guess maybe give the wife some spa services too.  I'm sure we will figure it out.

 

You could buy the 5 night dining package.

[DukeASUGirl]

6 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

If you don't pre-pay, WHEN /HOW do you pay on the ship?  

 

They just add it to your onboard account, so it will be charged to your credit card on that last night, or you use OBC to cover it. Easy-peasy, and is a reason why I never prepay the tips - if I can use OBC, I want to!