lambdabeta

12 hours ago, jrey51 said:

Hey all,

Bit of a frustrating situation with Royal Caribbean, hoping someone here can help and also looking to see if anyone else was affected. 

Details:
On November 1st, I booked a 7-night cruise for my wife and I. Nov. 21, 2020 Symphony of the Seas.
Total cost (with taxes + grats): $1254.08 CDN 
$530 deposit paid. 
Base fare was $299/person

Now, this seemed like a very good deal, and possibly a price mistake, but not completely unreasonable - there are some 6/7 night itineraries within the ballpark. So I booked, direct via RCL website. 
I didn't hear anything for about a week, until yesterday when I got an email with a new invoice. My new total cost: $3468 - almost triple what I booked! I got no explanation with it, just their generic "your invoice attached email".
I had to follow up with an agent I had been emailing + their call centre, where they explained there was a "glitch" when I first booked and the price was wrong, so they had repriced every booking on that sailing. Essentially, the website was wrong, so they re-booked me at the "proper" price without asking.

So I've been chatting primarily with their Twitter supper (also emailed the guest relations VP on the contact list from this site, but no reply) to try to get them to honour the original price. They said that they are "able to change the price at any time". However, I am not convinced this is true - isn't this a violation of my cruise contract?

Some details:

They cited section 16 of this: https://t.co/qEH6fiAgbn?amp=1 
We may revise the pricing for the products and services we offer. When you place your order, we may estimate the tax and include that estimate in the total for your convenience. The actual tax amount that will be applied to your order and charged to your payment method may differ from the estimate provided.

However, with the way this is worded, I don't think this applies to booked & confirmed cruises. This is no longer a product “offered”. This is a purchased product - the "offered" product and terms have been accepted and agreed upon. Our consumer agreement is now bound by the cruise ticket contract, found here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/cruise-ticket-contract.pdf 

In this, I don't see anything allowing for price increases outside of fuel/other surcharges. This seems to be confirmed here: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/price-change-information 

They can technically cancel a cruise for any reason, but that's not what they did - this increased the price, after I had locked into a consumer agreement/contract with them. This seems, at least to me, to be a breach of contract.

Any insight/feedback/help would be so appreciated. Really was looking forward to taking my wife on this, and I don't think we can afford the increase.

 

Attachments

I suggest you take it to social media.  I think you should complain on Twitter and Royal's Facebook page.  If it was a computer glitch than you are not the only one it affected.  If you can find others and you all complain on social media you may get them to honor it.  It worked for the Deluxe Drink package glitch in July.  People bought the drink package for $18 knowing it was a mistake and when Royal said they would have to cancel it and rebook people took to social media and complained. Royal caved and now people have the deal of a life time. 

BTW, according to the clause you quoted Royal was supposed to cancel your booking.   If they won't honor the original price then you should at the very least get your entire deposit back without penalty based on the clause they are using to change the price because you didn't approve the booking.  Good luck.  

On 10/24/2019 at 10:19 AM, FManke said:

I know there has been a lot of back and forth about if The Key was really worth it. @Matt did a great job, pointing out why it wasn't a good deal for everyone.

So with all that being said, here's my reasoning for buying it.

The current price for The Key for our cruise is $16.99 pp/pd. That's the lowest I've seen on any cruise since The Key program started. I'm sure the price has to do with the fact that it's about 340 days from sailing and it's for Rhapsody, a smaller ship with admitted limited Key benefits. The total for our cruise with tax comes to $237.93.

We would have purchased Voom Surf and Stream for one device anyways. The current price for one device is $15.99 pd for a total for our cruise of $111.93.

So, with all that being said, the net cost, The Key minus the Surf and Stream for one device comes to $125.93.

I felt the benefits of The Key, besides Voom Surf and Stream, were well worth what comes down to $9 pp/pd.

With all that being said, I will probably put a Royal Bid in when it comes time to move up from our current JS to GS or OS. If I win, I will just cancel The Key and just add Surf and Stream.

Does this seem to make good sense? It did to me.

It makes sense to me.  The math works.  It amazes me the number of people who have decided The Key is not worth the money.  I am of the feeling it is worth the money if you value your time and the other things it offers.   We think The Key is worth it and we bought it for $21.99.  I am hoping there is a further sale but if there is not I am fine with what I paid.  I wish the people who have never used The Key because they don't think it is worth it would stop judging those of us that do.  Everyone is different.  What I value is different from what someone else does.  I get it.  However, your opinion on the value is not relevant if you haven't experienced the benefit.

Cuban food is great.  I highly recommend it.

I pack the day before or the day of depending on what time we are leaving.  I do start thinking about what I am bringing several days ahead so I don't forget anything.  If I make a list I do it the day before also.

I also got it for $21.99 for my Oasis cruise May 31st.  Maybe we will see you there @JohnK6404.  I hope it comes down more before sail date but I am happy with this price.  

4 minutes ago, guittech said:

Quick question.  Leaving from Boston TODAY! (WOOHOO!)  And see thr ship time on the app is an hour ahead of us?!?  Do we arrive at our arrival on ship time or shore time? For first day departure.  Thanks Bloggers!

I have never seen a ship that didn't match the local time of the port it was in.  That being said, I would arrive before noon your time.  The earlier you can get to the port the faster you can start your cruise.  They usually start letting passengers on about 10:30-11 am.  Enjoy your cruise!

10 minutes ago, johnjr said:

where can you get free tea or lemonade on ship?

I've also seen it at Sorrento's pizza restaurant.