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Do NOT cancel your existing Dining Package order, RCL now charges 18% gratuities on new Dining Package orders


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I just got tricked by Royal Caribbean. 

They now charge 18% gratuity on new dining package orders, misleading buyers into thinking the price dropped and make them cancel existing Dining Package order, but when you try to reorder prices are now higher after 18% gratuity is added in. 

I was on the phone with a customer service agent for 2 hours but the conclusion was that there was nothing they could do for me, Buyer beware.

Yes, my loss would be $18 at the new higher price after gratuity, but still, this is a very dirty play on Royal Caribbean's part and left a bitter taste in my mouth.

So if you have existing a Dining Package order, keep them and be aware that Royal now charges 18% gratuity.

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  • Unsuspecting Cruiser changed the title to Do NOT cancel your existing Dining Package order, RCL now charges 18% gratuities on new Dining Package orders

I just got tricked by Royal Caribbean. 

They now charge 18% gratuity on new dining package orders, misleading buyers into thinking the price dropped and make them cancel existing Dining Package order, but when you try to reorder prices are now higher after 18% gratuity is added in. 

I was on the phone with a customer service agent for 2 hours but the conclusion was that there was nothing they could do for me, Buyer beware.

Yes, my loss would be $18 at the new higher price after gratuity, but still, this is a very dirty play on Royal Caribbean's part and left a bitter taste in my mouth.

So if you have existing a Dining Package order, keep them and be aware that Royal now charges 18% gratuity.

image.png.46245255c8fe7fe0424dd21a6e89389e.png

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So I was charged $196 for my unlimited on Symphony. Gratuity included 

My Harmony unlimited is $166. Add in gratuity and I’m paying the same as symphony 

So there’s really no difference. Symphony includes gratuity at $196. Harmony adds gratuity at checkout and it’s the same as symphony. The Harmony says taxes/gratuity added in cart. 
 

My symphony is the old cruise planner format and Harmony is the new format. 

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Thanks for the heads up! I was thinking about purchasing the UDP at $196PP, but add another $36 PP in gratuity and no thank you! That would be close to $470 for the 2 of us. Not worth it. I really hate this part of cruising where you are charged for every little thing possible! I'd almost rather pay a higher price for my cruise at the beginning if it included more. Don't like this new way of trying to generate money ?

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8 minutes ago, CJS2766 said:

Thanks for the heads up! I was thinking about purchasing the UDP at $196PP, but add another $36 PP in gratuity and no thank you! That would be close to $470 for the 2 of us. Not worth it. I really hate this part of cruising where you are charged for every little thing possible! I'd almost rather pay a higher price for my cruise at the beginning if it included more. Don't like this new way of trying to generate money ?

You have to check it all the way to check out. If it’s $196 in the old cruise planner it probably includes gratuity. The new cruise planner format is a lower price but gratuity is added at the end. 

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11 minutes ago, Unsuspecting Cruiser said:

Not for me.

Maybe not today, but if you are checking daily and get the best rate for your cruise, it will usually work out the same.  Do you know if your previous purchase was the best rate?  How about the current purchase?  It takes some effort to get the best deal.

Not sure why my previous post shows up twice.  Any moderator want to fix that?

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It's an unfortunate change and one that could have easily been handled well and seamlessly by Royal Caribbean if they had wanted to be nice about it, after all they devoted some amount of effort to the Cruise Planner redesign. Could it have been so hard to be more up-front about gratuity pricing, showing it both ways, with and without, up front, perhaps? Or being really clear about it, at least? Or even simply making it easier to just request a refund of difference in prices rather than forcing the cancel and re-buy process upon people, which honestly only leads to confusion, at best?

These are the kind of annoyances that simply should not exist and should be easily handled to the benefit of the customer if they do occur. People should contact Michael Bayley (mbayley@rccl.com) or via the Facebook page he maintains, so that they understand this is a customer satisfaction issue and they are failing right now.

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13 minutes ago, luvstodans said:

They charge a gratuity when you reserve and dine  on board, so this is not be a surprising next move. 

Until Yesterday, dining package price was "all inclusive", what you see is what you pay.

After yesterday, the price you see doesn't include "gratuity" and is extra, just like drink package.

Unsuspecting customers not aware of this change would cancel their old dining package, try to rebook at new "lower" price, then end up paying at least 10% more.

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1 hour ago, Wilson said:

Just checked two of my sailings. Price reduced for current sale and when I go to checkout it says gratuity included. 

seems some sailing use the old cruise planner format and other the newer format, the newer format the gratuity is added at checkout.

No sure how exactly to tell the difference except to make sure you read carefully.

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I posted a thread on this many months ago.  It's the format of the new "My Royal Cruises" web interface compared to the old Cruise Planner.

I happen to have two Harmony cruises booked, one before the new GUI is implemented and one after. 

With no sales going on...

Old Cruise Planner price for UDP today:

508926133_ScreenShot2021-08-15at8_45_33AM.thumb.jpg.110650436e0285173ce947ff3d53d81d.jpg

For my 2022 Harmony cruise:

1391057244_ScreenShot2021-08-15at8_49_46AM.jpg.3c370a12f1a3ce021f19155c932f1dc0.jpg

Price difference is $0.10.

 

763715074_ScreenShot2021-08-15at8_41_41AM.jpg.18af7b726ebeed8ac1ad3c0d7f3a3d96.jpg 

 

The problem is people don't pay attention and just click, click, click.  

It's not bait & switch, it's not a global conspiracy.  They are changing the display of pricing since it was never clear before if gratuity was included so people were confused and some thought they had to add more gratuity while in the restaurant.  Now it's very clear.

Will some people make a mistake when they bought it during a sale in the old interface?  Probably, that's why posts were created months ago to warn people to pay attention to the details.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/15/2021 at 8:47 AM, twangster said:

I posted a thread on this many months ago.  It's the format of the new "My Royal Cruises" web interface compared to the old Cruise Planner.

I happen to have two Harmony cruises booked, one before the new GUI is implemented and one after. 

With no sales going on...

Old Cruise Planner price for UDP today:

508926133_ScreenShot2021-08-15at8_45_33AM.thumb.jpg.110650436e0285173ce947ff3d53d81d.jpg

For my 2022 Harmony cruise:

1391057244_ScreenShot2021-08-15at8_49_46AM.jpg.3c370a12f1a3ce021f19155c932f1dc0.jpg

Price difference is $0.10.

 

763715074_ScreenShot2021-08-15at8_41_41AM.jpg.18af7b726ebeed8ac1ad3c0d7f3a3d96.jpg 

 

The problem is people don't pay attention and just click, click, click.  

It's not bait & switch, it's not a global conspiracy.  They are changing the display of pricing since it was never clear before if gratuity was included so people were confused and some thought they had to add more gratuity while in the restaurant.  Now it's very clear.

Will some people make a mistake when they bought it during a sale in the old interface?  Probably, that's why posts were created months ago to warn people to pay attention to the details.

 

I just noticed you said your 2022 Harmony cruise.  Are we truly on the same cruise???  Might I actually meet the legend that is Twangster?!?!?  🤗🤗

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  • 2 months later...

I was afraid to cancel my existing bookings on excursions for Black Friday prices due to the fear of Royal Caribbean suddenly slapping 18% gratuity on excisions, but I did it anyway. Fortunately excursions were tax or gratuity-free and the price billed is what they displayed.

So cancel and rebook excursions if you are seeing lower price, but absolutely keep your existing drink and dining packages during this Black Friday.

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Royal always “slaps” on gratuities.  It’s just a matter of when it appears old versus new cruise planner.  Yes, you need to read and watch carefully but that applies to most things in life.  I worked in a municipal tax office prior to retirement and easily 80% of taxpayers don’t READ the bill!!  Then they call us complaining about something in black and white right on the bill.  Oh I didn’t see that.

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15 hours ago, TB2021 said:

How about just picking up the phone and calling before doing anything if you are worried, concerned or afraid that things may not go exactly as you think they should. 

A small correction.

On CocoCay excursions, Royal's adding a 12% "sales tax" on top of the listed price. I would still come out ahead after 12% tax addition, so I rebooked.

On Nassau excursions, no tax addition. What you see is what you pay.

13 hours ago, Pooch said:

Royal always “slaps” on gratuities. 

Before the format change, all prices were inclusive of whatever the gratuities and taxes involved.

Not anymore after the formal change, so if you have an all inclusive price booking then Royal's suddenly displaying a lower, you have to calculate if you would still come out ahead after adding 18% gratuities.

The problem arises for people who had all inclusive price bookings, who were tricked by Royal's Bait and Switch tactic and were forced to cancel existing all-inclusive price bookings in order to rebook, only then find out that they would now pay higher prices, as it happened to me.

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And again, reading carefully before you did that would have avoided the issue.  I get it. I am obsessive about reading everything.  I drive my family crazy!  BUT I immediately noticed the difference in how the gratuities are handled when my cruise switched from the old to the new planner.  Caveat Emptor. You HAVE to pay attention.  I am sorry you had this problem and I hope your post leads people to pay more attention.

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