Forgot to pay cruise balance - help!

[BethinGr]

My friend, who is traveling on the same cruise with us (along with her husband and 3 kids) just got notification that her cruise was canceled because she forgot to pay her balance. 
What should she do? Is she screwed? Has to rebook if she can? Help with any advice that you can. Thank you!!

 

 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

Very unfortunate situation.  First thing I guess I would do is call to see what options are available regarding rebooking?  I do hope it works out but most likely will turn out to be a very costly mistake!

[CruiseRoyalDad]

Been there, it happened to me back in 2018. It's a recurring nightmare now. But I've never let it happen again. But when it did happen I called them up, room was still available and it was significantly more expensive. Which makes sense. I was passed to resolutions and they kindly gave me back the room for only a $500 upcharge. I do believe it had gone up by about $1500 which is expected when you are 90 days out. Hopefully, you will get a similar response. Don't be afraid to call back customer service if you get an answer that you don't like. Reponses often change from representative to representative. 

Good luck! 

[Ryan79]

She can rebook by simply going online and booking a new reservation. If she calls RC the same day as she got the notice and pays off her balance completely, they may just charge her the difference between the booking price and the current price. However they are under no obligation at all to make any accommodations in this instance. Yelling and screaming at customer service will not be her friend, so tell her to be VERY nice and apologetic to the rep.

[BethGR]

The net-net this afternoon....

She called and strangely (but fortunately), only 1 of the 2 rooms was canceled. BUT the second room (the kids room, an inside GTY) was no longer available so she had to upgrade, at $1,000 more, to ocean view. (Which is a lot on her family's budget.)

Plus the Voom+drink package and the Coco Cay waterpark reservations were cancelled. The waterpark was able to be re-booked (at a higher rater) but now she's not seeing the Voom + drink package combo, so buying those separately will be more as well. (Wondering why they stopped offering the combo package.)

And I can't imagine someone yelling & screaming at a service rep, since it was her fault (as she fully recognizes.) Indeed, tho, a costly mistake.

[69RoadRunner]

I should have used a travel agent. I booked 2 rooms myself online and later airfare and excursions.

I got the notification payment was due and paid. Then later woke up one morning with all these cancellation notices. They were for the other reservation for the other room.

I called RC as soon as customer service opened. It took 45 minutes but he got everything back that had been canceled. So do this ASAP.

[wordell1]

Its a mistake that is easy to make if you are a busy adult. Get a TA that has your CC on file and you will have much better peace of mind.

 

[Happy Cruisers]

I have to say, when not booking with a travel agent, there's surprisingly little communication from Royal when a final payment is due.  I've always been surprised to not get a shake-down email a few days ahead of time.  I've dropped the ball on that before, but thankfully realized it before my reservation was affected.  How unfortunate for your friend! 

[twangster]

35 minutes ago, Happy Cruisers said:

I have to say, when not booking with a travel agent, there's surprisingly little communication from Royal when a final payment is due.  I've always been surprised to not get a shake-down email a few days ahead of time.  I've dropped the ball on that before, but thankfully realized it before my reservation was affected.  How unfortunate for your friend! 

Why would they want to remind people?  As it is they get to keep the deposit and sell the cabin to someone else, probably at a higher price.

[smokeybandit]

Between cell phones and email accounts, there are plenty of ways to set reminders these days

[ultimate_ed]

11 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Between cell phones and email accounts, there are plenty of ways to set reminders these days

Right?  This is the thing I don't understand with folks, supposedly adults, "forgetting" stuff like this.  I've got two cruises booked and I have appointments in my Google Calendar for each of them a week ahead of the final payment date to pay the bill.  And both of those are booked with an agent that has my card on file to make the payment.  Heck, my driver's license expires in 2028 and I've got a reminder in my calendar 3 months ahead of that to tell me to renew it. 

We don't actually have to remember anything anymore.  But, we do have to take the initiative to use the organization tools we have available to us living in the future.

Definitely an expensive lesson for the OP's friend.

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

20 hours ago, BethinGr said:

My friend, who is traveling on the same cruise with us (along with her husband and 3 kids) just got notification that her cruise was canceled because she forgot to pay her balance. 
What should she do? Is she screwed? Has to rebook if she can? Help with any advice that you can. Thank you!!

 

 

What’s the outcome?  Did your friend solve the issue and at what cost?  

[anneglubis]

100% OP's friend's fault.  I'm not giving them a pass.  But it's not in RCs long term interest to allow this. There's a bunch of customer loyalty data explaining why.

They're better off financially making it easy on customers to remember. I'm disappointed and actually surprised in their process here.

[BethGR]

6 hours ago, ultimate_ed said:

Right?  This is the thing I don't understand with folks, supposedly adults, "forgetting" stuff like this.  I've got two cruises booked and I have appointments in my Google Calendar for each of them a week ahead of the final payment date to pay the bill.  And both of those are booked with an agent that has my card on file to make the payment.  Heck, my driver's license expires in 2028 and I've got a reminder in my calendar 3 months ahead of that to tell me to renew it. 

We don't actually have to remember anything anymore.  But, we do have to take the initiative to use the organization tools we have available to us living in the future.

Definitely an expensive lesson for the OP's friend.

WOW. NO THANKS on the complete lack of compassion here. "Forgetting" (in quotes?) What is that supposed to mean? 
My friend has 3 kids, one of which is graduating from high school in 2 weeks, so there are many activities with the soon to be grad. All 3 kids are in sports, and music/theater, so she has been to 9 arts performances and 5 games in the past week. Oh, and she WORKS. And is a youth group leader at her church. She also has health issues, including Type 1 diabetes. She is one of the most organized and giving people I know. A reminder arrived and she just missed it. She's amazing, but human. 
I asked for ADVICE, not judgement. Screw you.

[dcnole]

Not at all helpful for the OP's friend's situation, but this kind of unfortunate situation is another good reason to use a travel agent when booking a cruise.  It's free, and your TA will handle making sure payments are made on time.

Life is busy. Mistakes like this happen. It's cool when there are options that allow you to take some action-items off your to-do list free of charge.  

Glad to hear that there was at least a partial resolution that will allow OP's friend to enjoy their vacation.  

[teddy]

Geeze.  Cut some slack, cause crap happens. 

<insert something about casting a stone>

[WAYNO]

Yep, crap happens, and I'm sorry for this.

 

I pay most of my cruises up-front just to avoid this, but I didn't always do it this way.  And when I paid in quarterly (or whatever) installments, Royal hounded me with reminders when the payments were due.  Do they no longer do so?  I even continue to get reminders to pay my balance even when I owe nothing.

Anyway, let this be a lesson, for everybody.  We are part of a busy world with busy lives. 

[Skippy67]

Same thing happened to a friend of mine; she was able to rebook but the Chill Island beach bed she had was sold out by then. I always set multiple reminders, even for the check-in dates. Also, one can't forget final payment with casino comped sailings.

[Jill]

Glad there is a solution albeit a more expensive one. Tell her to keep checking the cruise planner. We’re currently on Wonder and the drink package went from $72.99 (where it’s been stuck for 9 months) to $67.99 last week, a few days before we sailed. 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

19 hours ago, WAYNO said:

Yep, crap happens, and I'm sorry for this.

 

I pay most of my cruises up-front just to avoid this, but I didn't always do it this way.  And when I paid in quarterly (or whatever) installments, Royal hounded me with reminders when the payments were due.  Do they no longer do so?  I even continue to get reminders to pay my balance even when I owe nothing.

Anyway, let this be a lesson, for everybody.  We are part of a busy world with busy lives. 

Yes they do send reminders by email.  I started getting the emails about one week before final payment was due on April 29 (so April 23 was my first email).  Then again on the 26th which is when I paid all of my family’s balances off.  One of the “non family” in my group needed to wait until the 28th to pay and her emails came every day until paid!   Final emails said thanks for paying!

[WAAAYTOOO]

Just a note about Royal emails.

Every single email I ever get from Royal Caribbean goes directly into my trash can.  I've tried, unsuccessfully, to get that fixed.  I know that I have to check my trash every day to dig out "good" emails, such as those that come from Royal.

So it's possible that the OP's friend did get emails but that they were never seen.  It truly sucks !