Question about making changes to a reservation after final payment

[DonnaK]

We have a D1 quad booked for Mariner 8/26. Final payment has already been made.

 

For this special 4th of July sale, the price of a Promenade or Inside room is $599 pp. We paid $399pp for the 3rd and 4th person in our quad room. Can I move them out of my room and into a PR or interior and just pay the difference?

 

The cost of a D1 had gone up about $500 pp since I booked, so would the price for our original cabin change?

 

There are hardly any quad cabins left for this saling (just GS), so it would be desirable for RCI to move us to another D1 cabin and open up the quad.

 

Unfortunately, I booked this through a TA, so I can't call RCI directly, and I wanted to do some research on my own about what is allowed before I asked my TA to call and make the change.

[uksimonusa]

We have a D1 quad booked for Mariner 8/26. Final payment has already been made.

 

For this special 4th of July sale, the price of a Promenade or Inside room is $599 pp. We paid $399pp for the 3rd and 4th person in our quad room. Can I move them out of my room and into a PR or interior and just pay the difference?

 

The cost of a D1 had gone up about $500 pp since I booked, so would the price for our original cabin change?

 

Unfortunately, I booked this through a TA, so I can't call RCI directly, and I wanted to do some research on my own before I asked my TA to call and make the change.

 

As you are in the penalty phase, I would imagine that the 3rd and 4th personhave to pay the penalty, I know RCI cannot talk to you, but it may be worth calling them with a what if hyperthetical question.

[marci22]

I agree, you probably can move the 3rd and 4th, after paying your penalty, and then re-book at the new rate.

Since you are just past final, you are in the lowest penalty phase, so figure that out, and how much you would save by re-booking. Even if you just break even, you still have another cabin.

[DonnaK]

I just called my TA and she confirmed with RCI that it can be done WITHOUT penalty! I can keep the price I paid pp for the first two passengers and move to any D category double-cabin, and I can book the PR or Inside for just the difference in price between the 3rd and 4th person fee of $399 and the new PR/IN rate of $599. So with tax, it's $413 to move the two kids out of our cabin and into their own.

 

Problem is that there are no D balconies and PR/IN close to each other at the moment, so we stuck with what we have, but I will monitor availability and see if anything opens up before the sale ends.

 

We are really crazy because we originally had connecting D1s booked b/c no quads were available at the time we booked, but switched to a D1 quad to save $850 when a quad became available. Now we decided that we'd rather have two rooms, esp for only $400 more.

[DonnaK]

Grrrr - I caleed hypothetically and found a few acceptable combinations with D2/3 and PR/IN, but now I'm being told that I can only go D1 to D1 without penalty. Originally they had said I can "downgrade" from D1 to D2-3. And there are no PR's or IN's near available D1s.

[marci22]

I would think that the original two D1 passengers must remain in D1 category to avoid a penalty.

 

I also thought that your 3rd and 4th would have to pay a penalty for moving out of D1, but as I said, your savings for moving inside or to a lesser category might offset the penalty.

 

Maybe call and talk to another rep. I have found that responses often vary widely.

[DonnaK]

OK - here's how it was resolved. My TA say that she was on the phone with RCI for 40 minutes to arrange this for us.

 

There were no insides or PRs near our original D1. As well, there were no D1s available that had a PR or inside near it.

 

We were able to exchange the quad D1 for a D3/inside combo across the hall from each other. There were no penalties at all. Although the price had nearly doubled for the first two passengers since we booked, we did not have to pay the difference to move to the D3 - they considered this a lateral move within the same category. As expected, we did have to pay the difference between the 3rd and 4th passenger rate we originally paid and the new fare for the inside cabin, which was $200 pp.

[cb at sea]

Good for you! 2 rooms is a much better way to spend your cruise! Have fun!