Don't let RCI cheat you of your fuel supplement refund as OBC!!

[39august]

Thanks for posting this explanation. But I have to point out that upon selecting a specific booking, you DO pay the FULL deposit amount required for that cruise. So that booking IS "fully deposited" at that date. I do not see how RCI is justified in charging any fuel surcharge to any booking "fully deposited " prior to Nov. 16 2007 just because you choose to move your "fully deposited" booking to another date. And anyway, the general public does not have access to the legal filing with the Florida AG. We have only RCI's press release which uses only the term "any booking" repeatedly. I say any cruise with the required deposit made prior to Nov. 16 should NOT be charged the fuel surchate.

[FLASHINGLIGHTS83]

ok, just did some research. i got our credit for our feb/08 sovereign sailing. dont remember when we booked it, but obviously before nov 07. waiting to see if we do in fact get our credit for our upcoming mariner cruise. going to call my TA today and make sure we arent getting charged for this fuel charge. we booked this cruise apr/07.

 

when was the original fuel charge announced?? i cant find any press date for the original release....nevermind...i found the original release. didnt realize it was all the way back in nov 2007.

 

greg

[suziehmkr]

Thanks for posting this explanation. But I have to point out that upon selecting a specific booking, you DO pay the FULL deposit amount required for that cruise. So that booking IS "fully deposited" at that date. I do not see how RCI is justified in charging any fuel surcharge to any booking "fully deposited " prior to Nov. 16 2007 just because you choose to move your "fully deposited" booking to another date. And anyway, the general public does not have access to the legal filing with the Florida AG. We have only RCI's press release which uses only the term "any booking" repeatedly. I say any cruise with the required deposit made prior to Nov. 16 should NOT be charged the fuel surchate.

Actually, moving a booking a new ship & date does qualify for the increased fuel surcharge, just as it would qualify for any price increases in fare.

 

Here is an example - Say I had cabin 9256 booked on Serenade for 12/12/09 and then chose to move to the same cabin for the following week. Of course, no price guarantee would be in effect since the booking is changing and all prevailing rates would apply. I would not expect to keep the same rate that I had on the 12/12 date just because I was fully deposited. Same applies for fuel surcharge. I fully expected this when I moved my bookings. While I would have preferred to have kept the "no charge" - it makes perfect sense to me. The price guarantee only applies to that particular sailing. Any changes to the booking (date and/or ship) would create new pricing.

 

And the wording that I am referring to is in the contract that was in effect at the time of booking (for those booked prior to 11/16/07). It can be found by doing a search on CC because the wording was posted several times in the fuel surcharge threads. The contract verbage was changed on Nov 16 2007.

[porsche9five1]

After reading the many posts on this topic, I decided to review my own booking. Based on the date that I booked, key word is booked and the settlement with the Fla AG, I decided to calll RCCL to receive my refund. Customer Service denied the request stating that my "booking" was not a valid reservation until I locked in a cruise date. The FL AG release, section 4 states a booking made with a deposit for any RRCL cruise prior to Nov 15th shall not be imposed a surcharge. RCCL failed to read this the same way. I spoke with numerous custoer solution reps and even was passed, as they say, to their corporate office. All denied the refund. As a course of action, due in principle regarding the agreement, I filed a formal complaint with the FL AG's office today.

It isinteresting to reread how so many of you who booked a Next Cruise and then made finial reservations after the fact received your refunds. Kudos to you all.

In fact, there would be no need for section 4 in the agreement to be stated. Reason, if you had made your reservation prior to the Nov date, there was no surcharge imposed, hence no need to provide refunds.

RCCL lack of understanding over $70 will now cost them 10's of thousands in legal fees when they have to revisit this with the AG's office.

I am one of thousands of loyal cruisers who are eligible for the refund. How many of them are not receiving what is deserved in this settlement.

I would be interested to here how some of you were able to receive your refunds and do you have any formal documentation that you would care to share?

[Micki Dee]

I booked 2 NC in early November, but didn't convert them to bookings until March and April of this year. I paid a fuel surcharge on both. However, my final payment is due on my 1st cruise Aug 31st, and 2 weeks ago, my fuel surcharge was taken off my balance. I didn't call or anything, RCCL just removed it.

 

I'm wondering if I should call RCCL about my 2nd cruise, or wait and see if they remove the charge on that one also. Final payment isn't due on it until March of '09. My DH says leave well enough alone. Maybe it was a mistake, and they might add the charge back on!

[Kesaelcele's gramma]

After reading the many posts on this topic, I decided to review my own booking. Based on the date that I booked, key word is booked and the settlement with the Fla AG, I decided to calll RCCL to receive my refund. Customer Service denied the request stating that my "booking" was not a valid reservation until I locked in a cruise date. The FL AG release, section 4 states a booking made with a deposit for any RRCL cruise prior to Nov 15th shall not be imposed a surcharge. RCCL failed to read this the same way. I spoke with numerous custoer solution reps and even was passed, as they say, to their corporate office. All denied the refund. As a course of action, due in principle regarding the agreement, I filed a formal complaint with the FL AG's office today.

It isinteresting to reread how so many of you who booked a Next Cruise and then made finial reservations after the fact received your refunds. Kudos to you all.

In fact, there would be no need for section 4 in the agreement to be stated. Reason, if you had made your reservation prior to the Nov date, there was no surcharge imposed, hence no need to provide refunds.

RCCL lack of understanding over $70 will now cost them 10's of thousands in legal fees when they have to revisit this with the AG's office.

I am one of thousands of loyal cruisers who are eligible for the refund. How many of them are not receiving what is deserved in this settlement.

I would be interested to here how some of you were able to receive your refunds and do you have any formal documentation that you would care to share?

 

We booked two "Next Cruise" options on our Transatlantic cruise last November, and were AT SEA when the fuel surcharge announcements were made (and didn't hear about it til after we got home). I would have just booked our cruises onboard, but the LA was swamped the whole cruise, and I was handed the NC form, and asked to just do that instead of trying to make an appointment to book the cruises. We didn't actually attach the NC deposit to a cruise until late December, but I was told AT THE TIME I did that we would be eligible to have the fuel supplement removed before final payment because our listed booking date was November 11, 2007- the date I booked the next cruise option. Every time I called C&A I asked about it and was assured that the charge would be removed before final payment was due. Last month I paid off both cruises (early) and the fuel supplement was removed at that time. I DID remind them, but the C&A rep said "no problem!"

 

The rep told me that they were removing the charge from the "closest" cruises first, and working forward from there ( May cruises taken care of before October ones!)

 

If you didn't get yours handled correctly, just call and ask about it! Your booking contains your booking date, and that proves your case- even the online booking will have your booking date, if you want to check!

[Tralynn222]

After reading the many posts on this topic, I decided to review my own booking. Based on the date that I booked, key word is booked and the settlement with the Fla AG, I decided to calll RCCL to receive my refund. Customer Service denied the request stating that my "booking" was not a valid reservation until I locked in a cruise date. The FL AG release, section 4 states a booking made with a deposit for any RRCL cruise prior to Nov 15th shall not be imposed a surcharge. RCCL failed to read this the same way. I spoke with numerous custoer solution reps and even was passed, as they say, to their corporate office. All denied the refund. As a course of action, due in principle regarding the agreement, I filed a formal complaint with the FL AG's office today.

It isinteresting to reread how so many of you who booked a Next Cruise and then made finial reservations after the fact received your refunds. Kudos to you all.

In fact, there would be no need for section 4 in the agreement to be stated. Reason, if you had made your reservation prior to the Nov date, there was no surcharge imposed, hence no need to provide refunds.

RCCL lack of understanding over $70 will now cost them 10's of thousands in legal fees when they have to revisit this with the AG's office.

I am one of thousands of loyal cruisers who are eligible for the refund. How many of them are not receiving what is deserved in this settlement.

I would be interested to here how some of you were able to receive your refunds and do you have any formal documentation that you would care to share?

 

Months ago I called C&A to confirm that my fuel supplement would be refunded to me in the form of an OBC. The rep at that time assured me that it would be, but recommended I call back closer to my sail date. One other time I had to call for something else and asked about it and was assured again that I would be refunded in the form of an OBC.

 

With my cruise coming up I called C&A this week and inquired about it again. This time I was told by the C&A rep that the fuel supplement was a valid charge and that there would be no OBC. She asked me if I would like to take it up with corporate, which I of course said yes. I spoke to a woman in corporate who only dealt with after cruise problems and then transferred me to a very rude agent. She told me that it was a valid charge and that no refund was due me. I told her that this was unacceptable, that I was a member of CC and that I knew of many people that had recv'd the refund. I then told her I wanted to speak to someone higher up.

 

She of course put me on hold. I waited (no lie) about 15 minutes on hold "hell" (thought about hanging up but wasn't going to start all over again) when finally a gentleman answered. He was extremely cordial. Knew exactly what I was calling about and offered to refund me the charge either in the form of an OBC or he could credit my CC. Since I had already paid this, I asked for the OBC which he did and sent me an email confirmation. Thank you Royal Caribbean for doing the right thing.

 

My advice is...if it's owed to you, don't give up.

[dizliz]

Thanks for posting this explanation. But I have to point out that upon selecting a specific booking, you DO pay the FULL deposit amount required for that cruise. So that booking IS "fully deposited" at that date. I do not see how RCI is justified in charging any fuel surcharge to any booking "fully deposited " prior to Nov. 16 2007 just because you choose to move your "fully deposited" booking to another date. And anyway, the general public does not have access to the legal filing with the Florida AG. We have only RCI's press release which uses only the term "any booking" repeatedly. I say any cruise with the required deposit made prior to Nov. 16 should NOT be charged the fuel surchate.

 

I agree. We booked a cruise on Oct. 25, 2007 and paid the $500 deposit and received a booking number....a fully deposited booking. Recently I had to cancel that cruise and our TA moved that booking number to another cruise date and ship. On the Royal site it states that I booked that "new" cruise on Oct. 25, 2007....not on the date that our TA moved it.

 

I agree with the later poster who says that I should expect a fare increase, etc.on the new ship and date, but, regardless of that, I purchased that booking number in Oct. 07 and gave Royal Caribbean $500 to purchase it, therefore, I feel that since I booked and paid for a booking number before the November 16, 2007 date, it should be exempt of the fuel surcharge.

 

Now, I just have to convince my TA and Royal of that fact!:D

 

I sure understand the cost of fueling a cruise ship and have no problem with paying the surcharge on any bookings I have made after that November 16th date, but, I sure would expect Royal to honor what they say they are going do for passengers who booked before then.

[Cruise-Nut]

It is so nice to have so many attorneys on this board that interpret this so many different ways. RCCL is doing the right thing and they are trying to make it fair for everyone and try to offset the fuel costs at the same time. If you can't afford the $35 or $70 that they are charging you, than you probably can't afford to be cruising.

 

Is it fair that I go fill up my vehicle with gas and then I see them go out 5 minutes later and change the price of gas. It is the way things happen and I would never think of going back into the station because they just lowered the gas price and demand that they give me money back.

 

Life is too short to worry about a small fee that we are to pay to be able to enjoy our vacation. Relax and get ready to have a great cruise.

[CHAMPDDS]

FYI, I received this today...it was worth a try::cool:

 

 

 

 

Subject: Fuel Supplement

 

Dear Mr. Cxxxxxxx:

 

Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

 

Please note, the "NextCruise" confirmation does not list a ship, sailing date, category, price, stateroom number, dining preference, fuel supplement or taxes/fees. This is a generic booking that will remain "open" until you decide on your preferences. Once you select a ship, sailing date, and category, you will be subject to paying the applicable fare(s), remaining deposit, fuel supplement, and all taxes/fees.

 

Mr. Cxxxxxxx, thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lisa Webster

Customer Service Representative

 

[THREAD ID:1-61OF68]

[maggiecharlie]

I agree. We booked a cruise on Oct. 25, 2007 and paid the $500 deposit and received a booking number....a fully deposited booking. Recently I had to cancel that cruise and our TA moved that booking number to another cruise date and ship. On the Royal site it states that I booked that "new" cruise on Oct. 25, 2007....not on the date that our TA moved it.

 

I agree with the later poster who says that I should expect a fare increase, etc.on the new ship and date, but, regardless of that, I purchased that booking number in Oct. 07 and gave Royal Caribbean $500 to purchase it, therefore, I feel that since I booked and paid for a booking number before the November 16, 2007 date, it should be exempt of the fuel surcharge.

 

Now, I just have to convince my TA and Royal of that fact!:D

 

I sure understand the cost of fueling a cruise ship and have no problem with paying the surcharge on any bookings I have made after that November 16th date, but, I sure would expect Royal to honor what they say they are going do for passengers who booked before then.

 

 

We were booked on the VOS for March 08 and had to change ships and sail dates my booking number stayed the same and my account show my original date of purchase but I was told it was considered a new booking and I would not receive my fuel credit. Which we never did.