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Questions about Repricing a Cruise


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Been seeing some chatter about folks getting price adjustments on their cruises due to price drops on the rooms/categories they have.  I went ahead and went through putting together a new booking for my sailing to see if things had changed.  A few weeks ago, I had the price come in about $1000 higher than what I already had.

 

Now, the price is a few hundred less.  I'm not convinced it's enough to spend time waiting on a call.  But, I do have a couple of questions that I need to give consideration to.

 

1 - what happens to excursions/drinks/internet that I've already booked?  I bought the drink packages and internet packages previously.  The current "sale" on the drink package is a higher price than what I paid, so if I have to buy it again under the new pricing, it would kill off most of the price difference in the cruise.

2 - On Board credit complication.  My booking included $100 in OBC for one room and $50 for the second room.  The current pricing from RCCL isn't offering an OBC.  Which, in the past, I've understood that I'd lose the OBC under the new pricing and I'm considering that in comparing the difference.  The complication is that I've already "spent" the OBC as part of my payment for the drink packages.  So, would I just now have a balance to pay off due to having to give back the OBC, or, would as I wonder under Q1, would it just all get cancelled and I'd have to rebuy at the current price anyway?

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I book early because I know when I want to cruise and to lock in specific cabins. Then as the date gets closer, I’m usually successful in repricing…sometimes multiple times prior to final payment date.
I also book my Cruise Planner items early because I want to lock in those purchases as well. I then monitor not only the cruise price, but also the planner prices for the items I booked. I love that Royal allows me to reprice not only my cruise fare, but also the Cruise Planner purchases. Also, if the price of the planner item doesn’t drop…and I decide I don’t really want to spend that much…I love that Royal allows me to cancel the purchase and receive a timely refund to my credit card.
I’ve learned it’s less complicated to pay for my planner purchases rather than using OBC. In the event that I do have OBC when I cruise, I’ll apply it to my daily service charge. 

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I too lost OBC when repricing once and had used it to buy CP items.

I received an email telling me I owed money on the items in question and that I had X number of days (can't remember how many as it was a while ago) to pay the balance if I wanted to keep the items and that if I didn't pay by then they would be cancelled.

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9 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I too lost OBC when repricing once and had used it to buy CP items.

I received an email telling me I owed money on the items in question and that I had X number of days (can't remember how many as it was a while ago) to pay the balance if I wanted to keep the items and that if I didn't pay by then they would be cancelled.

Frankly, I'm surprised that they didn't just cancel the CP purchases outright !  That seems to be the default process for any kind of discrepancy.  Glad you were able to keep the purchases at your original (lower, I'm certain) price.

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13 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Frankly, I'm surprised that they didn't just cancel the CP purchases outright !  That seems to be the default process for any kind of discrepancy.  Glad you were able to keep the purchases at your original (lower, I'm certain) price.

We're probably going back about 5 or 6 years now, so I guess the process could have changed in the meantime. Or maybe it was because I had made part payment with a credit card as well. But, yes, you're right, the original price was lower so I'm glad I got to keep it.

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22 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

We're probably going back about 5 or 6 years now, so I guess the process could have changed in the meantime. Or maybe it was because I had made part payment with a credit card as well. But, yes, you're right, the original price was lower so I'm glad I got to keep it.

Still the same process as of a couple months ago.  I repriced, and still got OBC because it was included in the new offer, but because it had to take off the original OBC and replace it with new OBC, it triggered an email saying I had a few days to pay or they would cancel.  I called, asked them to just apply the new OBC, and everything was all set.

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9 minutes ago, LovetoCruise87 said:

I've already used the OBC, so I'm thinking I would have to pay that it if I repriced.

You would but say, by way of an example, your OBC is $200 and you'll save $400 by repricing. That means in the grand scheme of things you'd still be saving $200 if you reprice. By not repricing, you'd be giving up the chance to save that money.

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11 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

You would but say, by way of an example, your OBC is $200 and you'll save $400 by repricing. That means in the grand scheme of things you'd still be saving $200 if you reprice. By not repricing, you'd be giving up the chance to save that money.

Very good point. Time to dig a bit deeper and see what the actual savings would be. Thank you

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So, I make it a habit to not spend the OBC until I get on the cruise because I feel like I would rather avoid any snafus. I just did a reprice on 2 cruises, I had $50 OBC from the C&A promotion for one and NextCruise OBC for the other. The Nav sailing without NextCruise OBC went down close to $300 and so with the loss of OBC, I am up $250. The other was a savings of almost $200.

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I purchased a cruise June 8th (2022) - for Aug 21 (2022) sailing. I see its now a few hundred bucks cheaper.

I purchased off the site. However, the best price guarantee is different than what i see posted on here in replies. It states

Spot a better price on your booked cruise?

Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price within 48 hours from the time you booked— just give us a call or use our online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment.

For more information on the Cruise with Confidence Best Price Guarantee for sailings booked on or before March 31, 2022, that depart on or before September 30, 2022, click here.

I guess im screwed in negotiating for some OBC because i paid, and i didn't spot any price within 48 hours of time i booked? 

Im sure people tried getting OBC in the past - but im wondering if anyone has done this in the past few weeks or so. 

thanks

Screen Shot 2022-06-26 at 3.30.59 AM.png

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5 hours ago, AverickAnthony said:

I purchased a cruise June 8th (2022) - for Aug 21 (2022) sailing. I see its now a few hundred bucks cheaper.

I purchased off the site. However, the best price guarantee is different than what i see posted on here in replies. It states

Spot a better price on your booked cruise?

Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price within 48 hours from the time you booked— just give us a call or use our online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment.

For more information on the Cruise with Confidence Best Price Guarantee for sailings booked on or before March 31, 2022, that depart on or before September 30, 2022, click here.

I guess im screwed in negotiating for some OBC because i paid, and i didn't spot any price within 48 hours of time i booked? 

Im sure people tried getting OBC in the past - but im wondering if anyone has done this in the past few weeks or so. 

thanks

Screen Shot 2022-06-26 at 3.30.59 AM.png

Call and ask.  It never hurts to ask and the call is free. 

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15 hours ago, AverickAnthony said:

I purchased a cruise June 8th (2022) - for Aug 21 (2022) sailing. I see its now a few hundred bucks cheaper.

I purchased off the site. However, the best price guarantee is different than what i see posted on here in replies. It states

Spot a better price on your booked cruise?

Our Best Price Guarantee lets you take advantage of a better price within 48 hours from the time you booked— just give us a call or use our online form. You’ll receive the difference as a non-refundable onboard credit inside final payment or rate adjustment outside final payment.

For more information on the Cruise with Confidence Best Price Guarantee for sailings booked on or before March 31, 2022, that depart on or before September 30, 2022, click here.

I guess im screwed in negotiating for some OBC because i paid, and i didn't spot any price within 48 hours of time i booked? 

Im sure people tried getting OBC in the past - but im wondering if anyone has done this in the past few weeks or so. 

thanks

Screen Shot 2022-06-26 at 3.30.59 AM.png

I have a cruise booked for September which we booked in May. I saw the price had gone down about 3 weeks ago. I called Royal and told them I saw the price had gone down and had asked about a “reprice” They asked for my reservation number and looked up our room. They confirmed the price had gone down $200 and gave us a refund. (They told me since I had already paid in full it would be a refund in difference. Which for me was best anyway vs on board credit) I had originally made the mistake asking for “best price guarantee” and was told I don’t qualify before realizing I should say “reprice” Good luck!  

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Your prepaid packages should stay in place, unless you use your OBC to purchase. 

I repriced my October cruise twice.  the first time i lost my whole OBC which i had used to buy 2 excursions. like the other poster said, they asked for money to keep my excursion but i called them up and they said, "no don't worry your excursion is still there".  of course, few days later, i rec'd a cancellation of one excursion and refund for the rest of the money paid via CC. It sux because that excursion was now sold out.  It will be interesting to see if the excursion company still has me as a reservation in October. 

The second time I called and repriced even lower, I got half of my OBC back because a supervisor signed off on it. They told me that you should not lose your OBC, but i can't remember the term she used. It had disappeared from my cruise planner for a couple of days, but I emailed them and it came back. 

I think it's a crap shoot.  

What I learned. Don't use OBC's to purchase excursions or packages.  Always go for the reprice. 

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I rebook a lot.  I work on a computer all day so it is easy to check every day.  I have never lost the things I have already booked for my cruise.  The OBC all depends on the type of OBC.  If it is part of the booking deal you will lose it but often I am saving 2 or 3 hundred and losing $50.  A couple of times I lost the OBC by mistake.  They dropped by mistake and I just called back and they fixed it.  I really do not see a downside of rebooking as long as it saves money.

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  • 3 months later...
12 hours ago, Snowchaser said:

Curious, what is the difference between 48hr guarantee vs doing the normal re-book like I've done many times in the past?  I mean what is the purpose of this "guarantee" if you can still do a re-book?

I don't know what you mean by rebook, as that will incur fees. You probably mean a reprice, which prices the room to the current sale. The 48hr guarantee not only reprices the room but gives you OBC from the difference.

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On 10/4/2022 at 9:50 AM, Ampurp85 said:

I don't know what you mean by rebook, as that will incur fees. You probably mean a reprice, which prices the room to the current sale. The 48hr guarantee not only reprices the room but gives you OBC from the difference.

Sorry, when you call they often say that they will rebook at the new price.  So there is no change other than the 48hr guarantee gets you a OBC, just wanted to make sure repricing wasn't going away.

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TA sent me a message as I was due to make the final payment on our January cruise. So, I hopped onto the site and checked jic the price dropped. I like to see it for myself. What I found was that a OV balcony was only $300 less than my JS price. I happily sent her a message back and said...use my card on file. lol

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  • 1 month later...
5 hours ago, rachaelknitsandquilts said:

Matt talks a lot about if you are from certain countries you can reprice your cruise… what are these countries?  We are in New Zealand and will be booking a Caribbean cruise from Florida and will be booking online ourselves.  Will we be able to reprice if the price drops?

I don't have a list. USA and Canada for sure.

thought Australia allowed it too, but I could be wrong. 

I know for a fact UK residents cannot.

One option you have is to book your cruise with an American travel agent, like MEI Travel. You'll have to pay in US Dollars, but you can get around the issue.

Maybe @EmersonNZ can shed some light here

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20 hours ago, Matt said:

I don't have a list. USA and Canada for sure.

thought Australia allowed it too, but I could be wrong. 

One option you have is to book your cruise with an American travel agent, like MEI Travel. You'll have to pay in US Dollars, but you can get around the issue.

Maybe @EmersonNZ can shed some light here

@rachaelknitsandquilts If you book through the Royal website you can reprice if you wish. It'll invovle giving them a ring but the are happy to work with you (Certianly my experaince 2019.... about a life time ago now). We did Harmony in 2020... (yep, 2 weeks before the lockdown) and Royal was happy to reprice for us earlier in the 2019.)

The other option might be as @Matt suggests is use a US travel agent. The advantage is you have someone in the US dealing with things for you... and it is Free. If you haven't done a lot of traveling and/or cruising in the US I would certainly recommend this. I've personally used MEI Travel for cruise bookings and Disney World bookings in the past and they have been fantastic (If you are doing Disney World I highly recommend using a travel agent. Planning the D Day invasion was a little easier than planning a Disney trip these days).

If you have any questions feel free to reach out
 

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On 11/20/2022 at 9:13 AM, rachaelknitsandquilts said:

 but now that you don’t have to book fast passes months out it doesn’t seem too scary!

There are a few things to navigate.

The newpark reservation system is a bit of a pain. Basically you need to book the park you want to go to each day (You can parkhop after noon to any other park).
Also dinning you need to book well in advance for most resturants. If you are staying on site I believe it is now 60 days out (USed to be 180). I'd keep an eye out to make sure this doesn't change.
The enw Genie+ is a big step back from FastPass (i.e you have to pay) but at least you don't have to book months out.

Good thing about the trael agent for WDW is they will continue to look for a better price even after you are booked so if a special comes out they will rapply it for you (At least MEI does).

@rachaelknitsandquilts If you have any dishey world questions from an NZ perspective feel free to let me know

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