RCCL Excursion Rip-Off

[allyfree]

Been trying to book a trip on a Fjords tour since November but the RESERVE option was unavailable - although a Spanish version was. 17 useless bog-standard emails later and no resolution, I decided to book the Spanish version anyway as this excursion was the main reason for me booking this particular cruise. Don't speak a word of Spanish, but there's a magic invention called Google these days 😁

 

Trip has now appeared in English - at £30 more than I paid for the Spanish version - had planned to cancel/re-book if English tour became available but too bad, RCCL - no chance I'll be changing it now. 

[time4u2go]

Ok. 

[Sunshine3601]

Not uncommon to see this.  Some of the tour guides that royal works with offer reduced pricing for Spanish speaking tours.   

[allyfree]

4 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Not uncommon to see this.  Some of the tour guides that royal works with offer reduced pricing for Spanish speaking tours.   

Not sure what the demand will be for Spanish on an English departure to Norway but I'll soon find out 😁

[Sunshine3601]

3 minutes ago, allyfree said:

Not sure what the demand will be for Spanish on an English departure to Norway but I'll soon find out 😁

Usually a smaller group and is probably why it is cheaper.

Enjoy the fjords😃

[taglovestocruise]

31 minutes ago, allyfree said:

Been trying to book a trip on a Fjords tour since November but the RESERVE option was unavailable - although a Spanish version was. 17 useless bog-standard emails later and no resolution, I decided to book the Spanish version anyway as this excursion was the main reason for me booking this particular cruise. Don't speak a word of Spanish, but there's a magic invention called Google these days 😁

 

Trip has now appeared in English - at £30 more than I paid for the Spanish version - had planned to cancel/re-book if English tour became available but too bad, RCCL - no chance I'll be changing it now. 

Every cruise, every excursion, every country, every time... Spanish version always 15% - 20% cheaper. There was a post a month or so ago that said the Spanish version of a tour in Greece was 50% cheaper. 

[LilBlackDress]

I am not seeing the Rip-Off... 
Is the Rip-off that they won't let you change to cancel the Spanish and change to English? 
Or is the Rip-Off because English costs more?

Or did I miss something else?

 

Did you look into booking 3rd party? 

 

[allyfree]

20 minutes ago, LilBlackDress said:

I am not seeing the Rip-Off... 
Is the Rip-off that they won't let you change to cancel the Spanish and change to English? 
Or is the Rip-Off because English costs more?

Or did I miss something else?

 

Did you look into booking 3rd party? 

 

So you think it's ok to charge £30 more for the exact same trip??? Just because they do it often doesn't make it right! Obviously, I looked at 3rd party trips - but the times didn't fit with early departure from Bergen

[not-enough-cruising]

2 minutes ago, allyfree said:

So you think it's ok to charge £30 more for the exact same trip??? Just because they do it often doesn't make it right! Obviously, I looked at 3rd party trips - but the times didn't fit with early departure from Bergen

Of course it’s OK, supply and demand free market economics. 

[allyfree]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Of course it’s OK, supply and demand free market economics. 

Bollocks - it's greed and it's discrimination!

 

[not-enough-cruising]

1 hour ago, allyfree said:

Been trying to book a trip on a Fjords tour since November but the RESERVE option was unavailable - although a Spanish version was. 17 useless bog-standard emails later and no resolution, I decided to book the Spanish version anyway as this excursion was the main reason for me booking this particular cruise. Don't speak a word of Spanish, but there's a magic invention called Google these days 😁

 

Trip has now appeared in English - at £30 more than I paid for the Spanish version - had planned to cancel/re-book if English tour became available but too bad, RCCL - no chance I'll be changing it now. 

So you are going to take a tour (the one that was the main reason for booking the cruise) in a language you don’t speak, to save £30, just out of spite??

[not-enough-cruising]

3 minutes ago, allyfree said:

Bollocks - it's greed and it's discrimination!

 

I don’t think you understand the definition of “discrimination”

[allyfree]

1 minute ago, not-enough-cruising said:

So you are going to take a tour (the one that was the main reason for booking the cruise) in a language you don’t speak, to save £30, just out of spite??

No ... I booked it before the link was fixed so that I didn't miss out - maybe if RCCL had given me any satisfactory explanation of why the link wasn't working, I would have held out but their customer 'service' is as much use as a chocolate teapot!

 

[soremekun]

Plenty of time to download and practice using Duolingo.

[allyfree]

Just now, soremekun said:

Plenty of time to download and practice using Duolingo.

I can do Hola and Cerveza ... I'll manage 😂

[neverbeenhere]

Mas Cerveza Por Favor

 

Ma’s Sir Vay Saw Poor Fav Or. 

 

problem solved. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by neverbeenhere

[neverbeenhere]

Hey! You took my line. 

[Starry Eyes]

Have a great time!  Maybe use some of the money you saved for a Bloody Mary that morning to help set the mood

Edited March 18, 2023 by Starry Eyes

[alfaeric]

Plenty of time to spite RCI and cancel the entire cruise 🙂

[LilBlackDress]

2 hours ago, allyfree said:

So you think it's ok to charge £30 more for the exact same trip??? Just because they do it often doesn't make it right! Obviously, I looked at 3rd party trips - but the times didn't fit with early departure from Bergen

I don't know that I would call it a rip-off if it is the standard operating procedure for most if not all cruise lines, countries, and times...

 

Getting mad at RC or the people trying to help you understand isn't going to get you anywhere. 
Since you said you looked at 3rd parties, how were they priced? I know the times don't work for you but maybe you can compare pricing. 

Enjoy your cruise... Or Cancel and see if there is another cruise line that has better pricing for this must-have excursion 

[ReneeFLL]

7 hours ago, allyfree said:

So you think it's ok to charge £30 more for the exact same trip??? Just because they do it often doesn't make it right! Obviously, I looked at 3rd party trips - but the times didn't fit with early departure from Bergen

Did you think about the price you paid for your cabin? I’m sure you paid more for the same category of cabin than someone else and someone else paid more than you paid for the same cabin category. I don’t hear you complaining about that!

[not-enough-cruising]

49 minutes ago, ChC said:

 The pricing strategy is discriminatory.

 

Search Discriminatory Pricing:

 

What Is Price Discrimination, and How Does It Work? (investopedia.com)

 

Price discrimination is a selling strategy that charges customers different prices for the same product or service based on what the seller thinks they can get the customer to agree to. In pure price discrimination, the seller charges each customer the maximum price they will pay. In more common forms of price discrimination, the seller places customers in groups based on certain attributes and charges each group a different price.

.........

Second-degree discrimination involves discounts for products or services bought in bulk, while third-degree discrimination reflects different prices for different consumer groups

 

[My emphasis: divide passengers into English speaking group and Spanish speaking groups, then charge different price for each group is Third-Degree Discrimination]

 

So yes, it is discrimination against English speakers. I think you did not understand the meaning of discrimination or did not know there was a term of price discrimination and jumped to the gun to accuse other people not understanding it. But the really price discrimination is real. Think the senior discount. It is basically third-degree discrimination against non-seniors. But people accept that in a society. Pricing the same product due to language, however, is debatable on the legality and morality.

 

You say it is a demand issue so RCL is right to charge more on English groups. That is b....cks (self censor but British people can figure out). In any way English groups should be given discount because of massive bulk buying behavior (second-degree price discrimination here we are talking about.), because if Spanish tour is so unpopular that they have to discount 30% up to 50%, that means RCL is moron not to charge the full price for the Spanish tour. After all, people who had to or prefer to go on a Spanish tour will choose Spanish tour regardless. So why do you want to loose 30% revenue if you know you have a captive audience however small it is? 

 

Now, imagine if San Antonio zoo (I don't know if there is one, but let us imagine there is one) decided to charge $20 for American and $10 for anyone who can ask price in Spanish, wouldn't there be an outrage for Texas for discrimination, at least for price discrimination? No need to answer, it is for your own thought. 

Nonsense, did you read the rest of the article??

 

If the article is to given any credence whatsoever, then the entire cruise industry is guilty of price discrimination, because the charge different prices for cabins "dependent on time purchased".

 

The world wide airline industry is also guilty of price discrimination for the same reason.

 

My electric company is guilty of price discrimination because I pay a lower fee per KWH the more power I use.

 

Do you use coupons at the grocery store?? According to your link this is discriminatory.

 

Have you, or anyone you know, ever been given special "senior pricing" or "student pricing"?  If so, according to your article, you are a victim of discrimination.

 

Some other forms of "DISCRIMINATION" from your article:

 

1. income based tuition policies

2. personalized license plates

3. loyalty punch cards

4. buy two get one free offers

 

If you or anyone else views any of the above examples as discrimination (as was inferred by the original poster), then i stand by my post; you have no idea the meaning of the word discrimination.

 

 

[mjkacmom]

I thought excursions in Spanish are always cheaper than those in English, regardless of where they are booked? I don’t think this is new.

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, allyfree said:

Bollocks - it's greed and it's discrimination!

 

I hope you are ready for more "discrimination" for other purchases.

[allyfree]

11 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Have a great time!  Maybe use some of the money you saved for a Bloody Mary that morning to help set the mood

Given how much we paid for DBP, I'll be having more than one 😂