How do price drops work with RCCL.

[Ofinn]

I had a cruise out of Sydney, Australia on hold. I thought I had to the midnight ET to pay the deposit. I guess their 24 hour holds are exactly 24 hours. When I got home from work at 7pm it was auto-cancelled. Today they are running a new promo and the cruise is 300.00 dollars less. If I would have booked yesterday would they have honored the new price?
I know RCCL runs a lot of promos through out the year. Do you have to cancel and rebook if something better comes along. Since I'm used to sailing DCL I'm used to seeing price drops after the PIF date not before.
I also got a call from a PVP who said if I called him to make the deposit. He would throw in some extra amenities? Is it better to book with them. I was too busy at work to call. I've never got a call from DCL when I've put a hold on a cruise, but I have from Carnival and Royal.
Any advice on how to book a Royal cruise and get the best price would be appreciated.

 

[sam_gordon]

I had a cruise out of Sydney, Australia on hold. I thought I had to the midnight ET to pay the deposit. I guess their 24 hour holds are exactly 24 hours. When I got home from work at 7pm it was auto-cancelled. Today they are running a new promo and the cruise is 300.00 dollars less. If I would have booked yesterday would they have honored the new price?
I know RCCL runs a lot of promos through out the year. Do you have to cancel and rebook if something better comes along. Since I'm used to sailing DCL I'm used to seeing price drops after the PIF date not before.
I also got a call from a PVP who said if I called him to make the deposit. He would throw in some extra amenities? Is it better to book with them. I was too busy at work to call. I've never got a call from DCL when I've put a hold on a cruise, but I have from Carnival and Royal.
Any advice on how to book a Royal cruise and get the best price would be appreciated.

In general* if the price for your cabin class drops between the time you've paid the deposit and the PIF full date, you call whoever you booked with (TA or RCI) and they'll reprice your booking.

*Here are the caveats:
There are occasionally deals that are good "for new bookings only". That would mean you can't take advantage of them.
Depending on other items (free gratuities, OBC, specialty restaurants, etc), the "cheaper" cabin may not actually be cheaper in the long run.

 

[Ofinn]

In general* if the price for your cabin class drops between the time you've paid the deposit and the PIF full date, you call whoever you booked with (TA or RCI) and they'll reprice your booking.

*Here are the caveats:
There are occasionally deals that are good "for new bookings only". That would mean you can't take advantage of them.
Depending on other items (free gratuities, OBC, specialty restaurants, etc), the "cheaper" cabin may not actually be cheaper in the long run.

Couldn't you cancel and rebook then if it's for new bookings only. When do they have the best sales?

 

[sam_gordon]

Couldn't you cancel and rebook then if it's for new bookings only. When do they have the best sales?

I think they track via address, but I'm not sure. Sales vary through the year. One of the lowest prices is going to be when the sailings are originally released.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I had a cruise out of Sydney, Australia on hold. I thought I had to the midnight ET to pay the deposit. I guess their 24 hour holds are exactly 24 hours. When I got home from work at 7pm it was auto-cancelled. Today they are running a new promo and the cruise is 300.00 dollars less. If I would have booked yesterday would they have honored the new price?
I know RCCL runs a lot of promos through out the year. Do you have to cancel and rebook if something better comes along. Since I'm used to sailing DCL I'm used to seeing price drops after the PIF date not before.
I also got a call from a PVP who said if I called him to make the deposit. He would throw in some extra amenities? Is it better to book with them. I was too busy at work to call. I've never got a call from DCL when I've put a hold on a cruise, but I have from Carnival and Royal.
Any advice on how to book a Royal cruise and get the best price would be appreciated.

The answer depend to some degree on what the rules are in Australia. For U.S. bookings, you don't need to cancel and re-book. You can call and ask them to re-price the existing reservation. We always book direct with RCL (through the website), and over the years, we've successfully re-priced about half of our cruises. The one caveat is that while the cabin price may go down, if there were extra amenities like free gratuities on the reservation and they aren't part of the latest sale, they go poof when you re-price. If you've cruised with them before and have a Crown & Anchor Account, I'd suggest calling the C&A number (not the general reservations number) and try to negotiate the reduced price while keeping the existing perks. Sometimes that actually works

 

[Ofinn]

The answer depend to some degree on what the rules are in Australia. For U.S. bookings, you don't need to cancel and re-book. You can call and ask them to re-price the existing reservation. We always book direct with RCL (through the website), and over the years, we've successfully re-priced about half of our cruises. The one caveat is that while the cabin price may go down, if there were extra amenities like free gratuities on the reservation and they aren't part of the latest sale, they go poof when you re-price. If you've cruised with them before and have a Crown & Anchor Account, I'd suggest calling the C&A number (not the general reservations number) and try to negotiate the reduced price while keeping the existing perks. Sometimes that actually works

I'm not booking through an Australia site. I'm American. I will either book direct or through Costco.

 

[Ofinn]

I think they track via address, but I'm not sure. Sales vary through the year. One of the lowest prices is going to be when the sailings are originally released.

Ok thanks.

 

[eskimoinparadise]

I'm not booking through an Australia site. I'm American. I will either book direct or through Costco.

My bad. The Sydney departure through me off. If you are booking through a TA (like Costco) they usually give you the same perks that the cruise lines give people who book directly, and then add their own perks on top (usually a bit of OBC or a "free" specialty meal. If you haven't booked yet, I'd look at what the TA adds over what the perks are on the RCL site. Either way, if the price drops before final payment date, either one can get the cruise re-priced without cancelling and rebooking.

 

[Ofinn]

My bad. The Sydney departure through me off. If you are booking through a TA (like Costco) they usually give you the same perks that the cruise lines give people who book directly, and then add their own perks on top (usually a bit of OBC or a "free" specialty meal. If you haven't booked yet, I'd look at what the TA adds over what the perks are on the RCL site. Either way, if the price drops before final payment date, either one can get the cruise re-priced without cancelling and rebooking.

Yeah the Sydney departure kind of throws me off too.Lol Its a place Ive always wanted to visit. I bet the Aussies are going to be a lot of fun on a cruise. We plan on cruising outside the US for the next few years we're pretty much done with the caribbean. Thanks for the tips. I wish I would have had the chance to call yesterday, and get 50% reduced deposit. The deposits on Royal are huge especially for a cruise so far in the future.

 

[CesD]

they usually give you the same perks that the cruise lines give people who book directly, and then add their own perks on top (usually a bit of OBC or a "free" specialty meal

off topic but how do u book the free meals given by your TA? I am having trouble. RC says TA should do it and TA says i should do it myself. Then TA did it and said I lost my time dining (per RC) cuz of my free meal.

 

[Madiaka]

I was able to get a credit for a sale that was for new bookings only. They just re-priced it for me when I called. I asked for advice on cruise critic. They do it all of the time.

 

[Madteaparty001]

I booked through Costco, I've had them adjust my price three times since I booked. The only time I wasn't able to get the new price was when they were doing a sale for 'new bookings only'. They would have been able to rebook me at the lower rate, but I would have lost my Family Time Dinning and the waiting list was closed, my DH and I thought it was more important to eat at our DD's regular meal time (5:30 PM) than save an extra $100.

 

[moericus]

I've booked directly through RCCL every time but my first. Each time a few months after booking I noticed a sale (BOGO, 2nd passenger 50%, etc...) and asked them to re-run the numbers for me. The sales usually are better but they raised the rack rate for the room to compensate. And it's usually just enough that my original cost was cheaper. I think my problem is I've become too savvy on the cruises I originally pick out.

One time the numbers did work out though and I was given the cheaper rate with no hassle. The RCCL employee also strongly implied that it was much easier to have the price reduced since we booked directly through them. That was years ago though and I don't have much experience booking through an agent.

 

[sarah-jane]

We've had our cruise re-priced four times since booking. It's always been an easy phone call to RCCL. Overall our cruise cost has dropped $2000 since originally booking, but the onus is on us to keep checking back and running the numbers. We've been really impressed with customer service at Royal Carribean.

 

[Ofinn]

We've had our cruise re-priced four times since booking. It's always been an easy phone call to RCCL. Overall our cruise cost has dropped $2000 since originally booking, but the onus is on us to keep checking back and running the numbers. We've been really impressed with customer service at Royal Carribean.

Ok that's good to know. I'm looking at Spring or Fall 2018 now to go to Australia. I think I have some time to book. The deposit for the cruise would be 1800. I have other cruise to pay for before them so not real eager to book right now. I am looking at a New England cruise on Anthem next Fall though so glad to know about the price drops.