Huge price drop but used RCI credit card points!

[Dardreamer]

We booked an E-1 balcony 6 months ago when a balcony was $2100 each. We used all our points (250,000) - yes we saved forever to get them - and they told us that 250,000 points are equal to $3600. When you use points it is good for an outside cabin and you pay the difference for a balcony. In our case we paid $500 more plus the points for the balcony that came to $4200 (less $3600 and with taxes etc. came to $500 we must pay) which was fine. But now the same balcony dropped $500 each = $1000 and I feel we wasted many points. I would have just cashed 125,000. After holding on for hours today they gave us a $100 credit. Has anyone ever had this circumstance using points and then a price drop this large? I feel we should have at least received a $300 or $400 obc. They said all they could do was credit our card $100. I know I shouldn't complain as the entire cruise now only costs us $400 but it is the principal that we used 250,000 points (that we spent $250,000 to receive!!) which equal $3600 and now the cruise is $1000 less. Just want to see if anyone came across this circumstance and what they did for them. The girl I spoke with was not really sure at all of anything (kept putting me on hold) she was a very nice girl but very unsure. Thanks for your input.

[relaxandenjoy]

While I've never experienced this particular circumstance, if the girl you talked to sounded unsure, call back and talk to someone else. We've all discussed how the level of service and knowledge can differ from agent to agent. Give it a shot. Can't hurt.

[TBSCruiser]

Call the C & A dept, they are the most knowledgeable of the ins and outs.

[Nano]

I'm worried the same thing might happen to us. We're wanting to book a cruise and use our points, but I'm afraid the price will drop significantly after we've booked and we'll end up paying more than we should. I'll be interested to hear what RCI is willing to do to help you in this situation. Good luck!

[dvpaintboy]

1st go to your cruise and check cost of min. ov cabin for your cruise,this is what the voucher is worthTthen the cost of cabin you booked .They will credit the difference between the two.Same thing happened to ur for Liberty in Jan 2010.

[DEL67]

A few years ago I used 25,000 points towards a balcony. The price dropped, but RCCL would not give me the difference saying that the price was still more than I actually paid. Since then I have only used my credit as OBC.

[Irishnana]

Call the C & A dept, they are the most knowledgeable of the ins and outs.

 

AMEN!!! And they are even more personable too :)

[azdmelani]

We used a points certificate for our cruise. I called yesterday when I had noticed a price drop but they said unless we wanted to pay the difference then we cant upgrade, because the price of the oceanview gets recalculated too. If the difference between the oceanview and balcony is less than what you paid you should be able to get credit back.

[GLB]

2 weeks ago I booked a JS for $3700 and used 125,000 points to get $1900 off the price (that was the price of the minimum oceanview cabin) So my cost was $1800 I paid in full as my cruise is in 5 weeks. A week later they reduced the price for the JS by $400 I called the C & A dept. and they said no problem we will refund your card $400 which they did the very next day. :)

[cruislovin]

We booked an E-1 balcony 6 months ago when a balcony was $2100 each. We used all our points (250,000) - yes we saved forever to get them - and they told us that 250,000 points are equal to $3600. When you use points it is good for an outside cabin and you pay the difference for a balcony. In our case we paid $500 more plus the points for the balcony that came to $4200 (less $3600 and with taxes etc. came to $500 we must pay) which was fine. But now the same balcony dropped $500 each = $1000 and I feel we wasted many points. I would have just cashed 125,000. After holding on for hours today they gave us a $100 credit. Has anyone ever had this circumstance using points and then a price drop this large? I feel we should have at least received a $300 or $400 obc. They said all they could do was credit our card $100. I know I shouldn't complain as the entire cruise now only costs us $400 but it is the principal that we used 250,000 points (that we spent $250,000 to receive!!) which equal $3600 and now the cruise is $1000 less. Just want to see if anyone came across this circumstance and what they did for them. The girl I spoke with was not really sure at all of anything (kept putting me on hold) she was a very nice girl but very unsure. Thanks for your input.

 

I was told we could not get the price drop on our cruise since we used 125,000 points for the free cruise for guests 1 and 2. We always use just the 125,000 point rather than 250,000 and book a balcony (D1 this time) and pay the difference which is generally only a few hundred $ - that way we get 2 cruises instead of one!

 

What ship are you going on and when are you sailing?

[Dardreamer]

We sailing on the Explorer 7/23 - since we are from CT and 55 there was a tremendous price drop in many categories.

[cruislovin]

2 weeks ago I booked a JS for $3700 and used 125,000 points to get $1900 off the price (that was the price of the minimum oceanview cabin) So my cost was $1800 I paid in full as my cruise is in 5 weeks. A week later they reduced the price for the JS by $400 I called the C & A dept. and they said no problem we will refund your card $400 which they did the very next day. :)

 

Which department did you call at RCCL? I want to try again!

[MooNGaTe27]

We did the same thing.Booked a cruise about 7mos ago & used 133,000 pts plus 500 Cash for a balcony on deck 7 D2.I am trying to call TA to get a refund but I am not getting a return call.I had to use the TA that was on my SEAMILES card,not my normal TA.

Can I call RCCL & get the refund for the difference in cruise price because they have gon down a lot.

What can I do.... Help

[Dardreamer]

I called the general Royal Caribbean tel. number and the girl was so confused about using the Visa points that she transferred me to the Royal Caribbean card dept. - they are the ones that gave me the $100 credit and holding for about 20 minutes - but I have not seen it on our card yet. I asked her for a confirmation number and she said there wasn't one - it would just appear as a credit of our R.C. card - but this was 3 days ago and haven't seen anything yet.

[boingy300]

I used my 80,000 as on board credit ($800) and paid cash for the cruise. I was able to catch price drops and walked off the ship after 7 days with 4 people sailing owing $22. I brought copies of my earned/redeemed points and called 1 week before sailing to confirm our account was credited. We probably won't sail RCCL for a while, if ever, so I am no longer using the card. I just think using as OBC may be the way to avoid games.

Karen

[Benita]

Using the points as OBC takes away too much of the value, as you only get a 1% return. We booked a 4 nighter on the Enchantment and used 25000 points to get one of the cruises for free. Initially, the cabin cost $649 pp for the cheapest outside - we went one deck up and paid $659 for one and $159 for the other (maximum value of the points was $500, which is a 2% return). The price kept falling and when I noticed it at $339 for the same cabin, I called the Crown and Anchor people. To make a long story short, we wound up paying $339 for one and $10 for the other (the cheapest outside cabin was still $10 cheaper. The coupon gives you the lesser of $500 or the cost of the cheapest outside cabin). We still wound up far ahead - saving $329 instead of the $250 if we took an OBC.

For the poster, if you traded in 250000 points, you should get the lesser of $5000 or the price of the cheapest outside cabin on redemption and you pay the difference for a higher lever cabin. If the price of that higher level cabin drops the price of the cheapest outside cabin will probably drop as well, so you have to see the difference in price between the two. If it is more than you paid, you made out well. If it is less, you should get that amount credited back to you credit card. You should not get the difference back between the JS prices without taking into account the difference in price between the outside cabin as well. That is why, we spent $10 for the second person - we were only credited the amount of the cabin after the price drop.

It is only fair - if you want a credit for a price drop, the baseline price for the outside cabin should be readjusted as well.

[TBSCruiser]

We did the same thing.Booked a cruise about 7mos ago & used 133,000 pts plus 500 Cash for a balcony on deck 7 D2.I am trying to call TA to get a refund but I am not getting a return call.I had to use the TA that was on my SEAMILES card,not my normal TA.

Can I call RCCL & get the refund for the difference in cruise price because they have gon down a lot.

What can I do.... Help

 

 

If you booked with a TA, Rccl won't talk to you, call the main number for the TA and don't try to get your individual person that helped you but rather their general number.