Pricing question

[ancldaca]

I'm facing a (great!) situation but still have some concerns about all this. Allow me to set the stage first.

 

I live in Puerto Rico and on my July '07 AOS cruise I booked on-board for this year to take advantage of the OBC given. At first, this was for an inside cabin but I then both upgraded to a D1 balcony (because of the smoking restrictions) as well as changed the date to 10/5 from the 9/21 dsailing. So far, so good because the overall price was around 1,800 (solo cruiser, fuel & ports incl.) which I find quite reasonable. I also transfered my reservation from RCCL to my FLL travel agent.

 

Ok, so, over the weekend I began messing around in the RCCL web site to check for a price drops. Instead, what I found, were JS's available at 2,025 bottom line; again, for a solo, fuel & port charges included.

 

Today, I called up my TA and asked her to look into that because for just 200 more, getting a JS over a balcony is a no-brainer in my book.

 

She emails me back and tells me she doesn't see the price and which web-site I'm getting this from. When I confirm to her that it's RCCL's web-site and that I'm not military (I guess I just found out what those are for that week) she again tells me that she can't see that price.

 

So, just in case, I did a courtesy hold (nothing lost in that action) and emailed her my reservation number.

 

Now it gets more interesting. Turns out that this is some international scheme they have and PR is now considered "international". Whatever tickles their fancy and saves me money is fine with me.

 

BUT what angers me is that my FLL TA wasn't allowed (at least this afternoon) to either change my current reservation to the JS with new price or to even take over the courtesy hold reservation.

 

It sort of ticks me off because I make a conscious effort to support the brick & mortar TA of my choice and this TA has been truly outstanding and I also noticed that she was quite exasperated that she couldn't handle that reservation change for me like any other one.

 

So (Finally!!! Like my cruise reviews prove, I'm long winded) I'm a bit torn. I want to give my TA the business but I'd also enjoy that JS for just 200 more.

 

If I go and switch to the courtesy hold reservation, I guess I'd lose my OBC, right? Or does the collective wisdom of these boards feel that I may somehow keep my original OBC with the new JS? Alternatively, would arguing with RCCL personally somehow help getting my TA to get the booking?

 

I'd appreciate any thought out there. I'm sure someone must have had something like this happen to them before...

[DHADEN]

Tell RCI (direct) to change your booking, but keep your "Next Cruise" booking number the same. That's your connection to the OBC.

 

Too bad for the T.A., but if she is as good as you say, she won't be hurting too much by losing only one booking.

 

Hope This Helps.

[BILL-WI]

Have the TA transfer the reservation back to you. Make all the changes you want and then closer to the time of your cruise, transfer the reservation back to the TA!

 

BILL

[ancldaca]

Ok. So "transferring back to me" would mean back to RCCL, right?

[cb at sea]

Seems like you're doing all the work--why do you have a TA????

[ancldaca]

cb: it's a price a U.S. TA apparently is "unable to see" so she couldn't have pointed it out to me... Although I can certainly agree with you that I get activily involved in my vacation travel planning. Call it too much time on my hands!!! A great luxury in todays world. :)

[willysgrandma]

Are you by any chance getting a military rate?

[wieslaw]

I'm facing a (great!) situation but still have some concerns about all this. Allow me to set the stage first.

 

I live in Puerto Rico and on my July '07 AOS cruise I booked on-board for this year to take advantage of the OBC given. At first, this was for an inside cabin but I then both upgraded to a D1 balcony (because of the smoking restrictions) as well as changed the date to 10/5 from the 9/21 dsailing. So far, so good because the overall price was around 1,800 (solo cruiser, fuel & ports incl.) which I find quite reasonable. I also transfered my reservation from RCCL to my FLL travel agent.

 

Ok, so, over the weekend I began messing around in the RCCL web site to check for a price drops. Instead, what I found, were JS's available at 2,025 bottom line; again, for a solo, fuel & port charges included.

 

Today, I called up my TA and asked her to look into that because for just 200 more, getting a JS over a balcony is a no-brainer in my book.

 

She emails me back and tells me she doesn't see the price and which web-site I'm getting this from. When I confirm to her that it's RCCL's web-site and that I'm not military (I guess I just found out what those are for that week) she again tells me that she can't see that price.

 

So, just in case, I did a courtesy hold (nothing lost in that action) and emailed her my reservation number.

 

Now it gets more interesting. Turns out that this is some international scheme they have and PR is now considered "international". Whatever tickles their fancy and saves me money is fine with me.

 

BUT what angers me is that my FLL TA wasn't allowed (at least this afternoon) to either change my current reservation to the JS with new price or to even take over the courtesy hold reservation.

 

It sort of ticks me off because I make a conscious effort to support the brick & mortar TA of my choice and this TA has been truly outstanding and I also noticed that she was quite exasperated that she couldn't handle that reservation change for me like any other one.

 

So (Finally!!! Like my cruise reviews prove, I'm long winded) I'm a bit torn. I want to give my TA the business but I'd also enjoy that JS for just 200 more.

 

If I go and switch to the courtesy hold reservation, I guess I'd lose my OBC, right? Or does the collective wisdom of these boards feel that I may somehow keep my original OBC with the new JS? Alternatively, would arguing with RCCL personally somehow help getting my TA to get the booking?

 

I'd appreciate any thought out there. I'm sure someone must have had something like this happen to them before...

 

Hi,

 

perhaps I can add a little more to your 'reservations'.

 

Last weekend RCI has run their "special event" memorial day sale. It started on Friday and ended Sunday ( or Monday - not sure)...... this sale was for new bookings only ( not all categories) . One could not transfer any other already made booking to those specially priced bookings made during that Memorial Day sale.

Your TA would not see that Memorial Day sale today.

So perhaps whatever price you did see was part of the Memorial Day sale.

 

Wes

[ancldaca]

willysgrandma: that was my TA's first reaction actually. I'm not military and I'd suspect that only a web-site error would somehow link my C&A number with such rates.

 

Wes: Hmm. Now that sounds more like it. Come to think of it, I booked my July cruise last year at around the same time. But I can still see that rate right now (Tuesday 11:30pm local). The pic is really really small but you can sort of make out the 2025 bottom line price.

 

I guess I'll just book it. The difference is 300 (200 in fare and the possible forfeiting of the OBC) which is still a great deal I think.

[wieslaw]

willysgrandma: that was my TA's first reaction actually. I'm not military and I'd suspect that only a web-site error would somehow link my C&A number with such rates.

 

Wes: Hmm. Now that sounds more like it. Come to think of it, I booked my July cruise last year at around the same time. But I can still see that rate right now (Tuesday 11:30pm local). The pic is really really small but you can sort of make out the 2025 bottom line price.

 

I guess I'll just book it. The difference is 300 (200 in fare and the possible forfeiting of the OBC) which is still a great deal I think.

 

Hi,

if the price is still showing , so that was not part of the Memorial day sale.

Good luck with whatever you do.

 

I had a similar 'question' : I booked a cruise last Tuesday and found out on Friday that the same cruise in a better cat. was priced a lot less, I called RCI and was told the new price was for new booking only.

 

Wes