Receipt not honored

[MommaBear55]

I just had a miserable thing happen. I had booked 2 cruises for November in January 2024. I repriced them in April, with receipts generated by Royal at that time. I got an email yesterday for final payment saying I owed $600 more than my receipt, when I called in today, I got quoted $700 and then $1100 more than my receipt. They said they had a computer glitch and they wouldn't honor the rates they quoted me back in April for that cruise or the other cruise I repriced the same day. They also acknowledged that they never communicated anything about the glitches to me. I've contacted resolutions with zero resolution. I have emailed this to Michael Bayley, it would be nice if it actually got me somewhere 

[leaveitallbehind]

Every time a change is made to a reservation, a new booking confirmation is issued by RCCL updating the booking and confirming the changes and resulting fare. (These are numbered in order of issue and all are logged into their system). JMO but I would think that if you have an RCCL booking confirmation indicating the repriced fares issued in April, that should suffice in supporting your position on the fare you should be paying.  Their system would be able to confirm the one(s) prior as well to show the tracking of the repriced fares.  

 

If they are going to not honor the April reprice based on a pricing system error (they do happen and the cruise line may not be bound by that) then at the very least they should honor the previous fare if lower than the current fares they are attempting to issue.  

 

Hope it works out for you. 

Edited August 1 by leaveitallbehind

[twangster]

If you paid with a credit card and you have the invoices from the original booking I'd begin an inquiry with your credit card company to see what they say.

[ONECRUISER]

3 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Every time a change is made to a reservation, a new booking confirmation is issued by RCCL updating the booking and confirming the changes and resulting fare. (These are numbered in order of issue and all are logged into their system). JMO but I would think that if you have an RCCL booking confirmation indicating the repriced fares issued in April, that should suffice in supporting your position on the fare you should be paying.  Their system would be able to confirm the one(s) prior as well to show the tracking of the repriced fares.  

 

If they are going to not honor the April reprice based on a pricing system error (they do happen and the cruise line may not be bound by that) then at the very least they should honor the previous fare if lower than the current fares they are attempting to issue.  

 

Hope it works out for you. 

Agree, with reductions and changes at times I have had up to 10 amended Bookings. And yes rare but errors that wont be Honored do happen. OP as you did email M Bayley I concur that is your best option at this time. Good Luck!... I remember one pricing error was made and dozens on here Booked Suites for lot less then they were supposed to be. Word on Cruise Critic of the deal generated more Bookings. Later Royal figured it out and gave everyone choice, everyone pay higher rates or cancel. Some had even paid off their Cruise and canceled rather then pay the higher rates... All I'll say is they didn't catch them all. One lucky Cruiser received a 2bd/2ba Suite doing a 13n Boston to Florida Repo for cheaper then a Base Balcony or a little more then an OV Cabin. To OP, keep us updated and again Good Luck!

[PhillyFan33579]

3 hours ago, twangster said:

If you paid with a credit card and you have the invoices from the original booking I'd begin an inquiry with your credit card company to see what they say.

The OP is trying to get RCI to honor a lower cruise fare(s). A credit card company can’t help in this situation. 

[twangster]

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

The OP is trying to get RCI to honor a lower cruise fare(s). A credit card company can’t help in this situation. 

 

It helped me when MSC increased the price of a deposited cruise and refused to honor the original rate.  I refused to pay the new rate and did a charge back to get my deposit back.  

[nelblu]

If I book and then transfer to a TA, will Royal still refuse to honor the original fare price.

[leaveitallbehind]

14 minutes ago, nelblu said:

If I book and then transfer to a TA, will Royal still refuse to honor the original fare price.

As the fares are issued by the cruise line, I would think their position would be the same regardless of who the booking was issued through. Whatever confirmed fare was issued at the time of booking would be the fare transferred to the TA. If the repricing occurred while in the control of the TA, the advantage of the TA is that as your advocate with the booking, they would fight that battle on your behalf.  However, that does not assure a different outcome. 

 

Also, bookings transferred to a TA typically have to be made within 30 days of the initial booking and while still outside of final payment.  Transferring it after the repricing would only assure their position to argue on your behalf as indicated.

 

If the reservation was originally booked with a refundable deposit, the TA may able to offer group based rates not published by the cruise line that may be more attractive and could then cancel and rebook the reservation at that lower fare without penalty. If it was booked with a NRD, then typically the $100 pp penalty would be incurred with the rebooking.

Edited August 1 by leaveitallbehind

[nelblu]

7 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

the advantage of the TA is that as your advocate with the booking, they would fight that battle on your behalf.  

That was the gist of my question, as the TA in addition to fighting for you would confirm the original booking fare.

[leaveitallbehind]

26 minutes ago, nelblu said:

That was the gist of my question, as the TA in addition to fighting for you would confirm the original booking fare.

Correct.  They would do all they can to assure the best fare as confirmed by the cruise line's updated booking confirmation.  But as I mentioned, that does not assure a different outcome - just the voice of an advocate, who as the sales extension of the cruise line, may have contacts at the cruise line not typically available to the direct passenger.

 

Each situation varies.  We had one in 2015 with a booking where certain categories on a ship were published in error at a very low rate.  A number of people were able to capture that rate before the cruise line caught it, but it was honored as the bookings were received with a deposit and confirmed as such.

 

Similarly in 2019 (just prior to the pandemic) another fare was issued in error but the cruise line refused the deposit and readjusted the fare even though a number of people had initiated bookings.  The key difference was no money was accepted, therefore no confirmation provided.

 

But my understanding is even with a deposit, a pricing error may not need to be honored. Perhaps the position is that deposits can be returned as they are only to secure a future booking not yet paid for.  An answer for minds smarter than mine!

Edited August 1 by leaveitallbehind

[Ken at the beach]

3 hours ago, nelblu said:

If I book and then transfer to a TA, will Royal still refuse to honor the original fare price.

I have never had a price not honoured for bookings transferred.