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How to you changing a booking?


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Newbie question time..

 

I booked 2 cruises last week and just took a look of the new WOW sale and found while I won't save anything on the actual cruise cost (they had a 30% off sale which of course is about the same as a 60% off the 2nd person) I will get $200 on-board credit (Which face it is free money). I've put both the new bookings on hold.

 

Being a newbie I now have a question....

 

How do I go about making the change in my booking?

 

Should I cancel the old one and then make the new ones (and if so how do I get the same cabin)? Do I ring RCL and have them do it on line and if so what is the process?

 

Also noticed something interesting in one of my bookings. It has a message in bright red that says Please note that only reservations made on RoyalCaribbean.com with your My Cruises account can be modified online. You can however complete your Online Check-In and make advanced reservations using our Pre-Cruise Calendar. 

 

Thing is both booking were made about 10 minutes apart (one doesn't say this) and the other doesn't have this message and seems to allow me to make payments etc etc (The one with the message doesn't seem to allow me to cancel the bookings or make payment.

 

On a side note.... has anyone had problems phoning RCL? I tried calling today from New Zealand which I believe goes through to their Australian office. I got basically an 'we are closed' message with a voice message saying they are open 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday AEST. Thing is I called them at 6:13pm NZST... which is 4:13pm AEST.

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First Emerson, did you book through a travel agent, if you did then you need to call them immediately and they will handle everything. If you booked through Royal you need to call them and have them do the math to see if you will save money and get OBC or just OBC. If you do they don't do a new reservation, they just amend the two that you have with the new price/OBC.

 

Candie

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Can tell you about the Australia  office but I believe it is run the same as the other offices. When you get the robo operator you need to clock and answer like you want to book a new cruise.  The sales and customer service people are 24 hours but for new sales only. If you answer you already have a booking or information about a booking the robo operator tells you call during normal hours.

 

But you can re book with them and get same cabin but you will lose the on board credit.

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First Emerson, did you book through a travel agent, if you did then you need to call them immediately and they will handle everything. If you booked through Royal you need to call them and have them do the math to see if you will save money and get OBC or just OBC. If you do they don't do a new reservation, they just amend the two that you have with the new price/OBC.

 

Can do I booked both cruises online (within about 10 minutes) though one seems to think I didn't.

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Can tell you about the Australia  office but I believe it is run the same as the other offices. When you get the robo operator you need to clock and answer like you want to book a new cruise.  The sales and customer service people are 24 hours but for new sales only. If you answer you already have a booking or information about a booking the robo operator tells you call during normal hours.

 

But you can re book with them and get same cabin but you will lose the on board credit.

 

Thanks, I'll give them another ring tomorrow and see if they answer. I just found it a little strange their message seemed to indicate I was ringing way within business hours and yet no one home. Interesting it didn't go to a robo answer phone just a voice message giving their business hours. Very strange.

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Since I believe it sounds as if you booked these cruises yourself, through RCI, then you will need to call them directly to have these changes made.

 

Do NOT cancel the cruises....let them handle this.  If you cancel then you relinquish all benefits associated with your original booking.  If you let THEM handle it, they can oftentimes move things sideways without cancelling anything....or move benefits from one booking to another.

 

I know a lot of people disagree with me on this, but I have found that the customer service agents really do try and help you, if they can.  Sure, there are bad ones that don't go out of their way to help but for the most part, they do.  They will USUALLY tell you which is the better deal - the one you already have or the one you are looking to change to.  I have had customer service agents get it wrong before...but that is infrequent, in my experience.  You can ALWAYS call back and get another agent and trust me, I have done that MANY times.  There are also often different rules for rebooking reservations in different parts of the world so just b/c I am able to rebook doesn't mean that you can do it exactly the same way in Aust/NZ.

 

Dan (DH) tells me that I trade cruises like they trade "futures" in the stock market.  Actually, he's right !  I book a bunch of them and then move the money around, consolidate, rebook, upgrade, reprice - even (God forbid) CANCEL a cruise every now and then.  It's part of the fun !

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Thanks all. I'll give them a call tomorrow afternoon and see if I can't get a hold of them. I've 'held' 2 booking using the new promotion which expire tomorrow night but of course I have my 2 confirmed bookings so hopefully they will just update those and I can let the held cruises slip. It's 'only $200 worth of ship board credits for each of the cruises but the way I think of it that will pay for my Internet or specialty dining on the trip etc so pointless not taking advantage of it. 

 

I like the idea of booking cruises like futures Waaaytoo... We always tend to have at least one holiday booked somewhere in the world to give us something to look forward to etc (Vanuatu in a couple of weeks which will be a nic winter break for example). I can see us using the 'book on board' offers to book a couple of more cruises presuming all goes well on Ovation (Which I am sure it will), 

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I promised I'd give an update after my call today. We'll I got through roughly about the same time as last night so not sure what went on there (staff mid winter Christmas party and the closed the phones early maybe?)

 

After going through the robo phone messages I managed to get to talk to a customer services representative.... and she was brilliant. Really friendly, helpful ad seemed to know her stuff really well. I'd say within about 10 minutes I had both cruises rebooked with the $200 onboard credit added, old deposit refunded and new deposit paid. It was a really really good experience and as I told her if my experience on board is as good as it was with her then I am sure we are really going to enjoy our cruise (It was so good I volunteered to take the phone survey afterwards and ave her a glowing review).

 

In the end it was exactly the same price due to already getting 30% off the cruise but the deposit was 1/2 and we got $200 onboard credit... all in all very happy.

 

So... all sorted and ready for our cruises (Or at least until the next sale). 

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