RC failed to accept our original booking and won’t honor the price $4k difference!

[Brian K]

I’m going to paste the letter that our TA prepared as this explains it all. 
 

we’ve called RC half a dozen times and each time they blame someone else. They’ve blamed the TA, they claimed our email must have blocked their cancellation notice, they’ve said our Cc company blocked the charge (cc said no attempt ever made) but the TA had a confirmed booking, today they said had we called within 24 hours of booking the new they’d have price matched. We can’t get anywhere. 
RC won’t offer us anything. 

Bookings 454xxxx & 488xxxx Icon of the Seas
May 4, 2024 Sailing
To Whom It May Concern:
On April 22, 2023, I created a booking, #454xxxx, for the Kachel family (Brian, Shelby, and Londyn) for the May 4, 2024 sailing of Icon of the Seas in a Junior Suite (JS) stateroom 9144 at a total cost of $7,940.85. The deposit of $750 was due on April 27, 2023 and was submitted in the evening on April 26, 2023. The system said payment was submitted and I didn’t think anything more about it. I book trips with numerous suppliers and have always received an email from if a booking was going to be canceled for non-payment of a deposit. I never received any communication from RCCL regarding this booking so I never thought anything more about it.
Several weeks ago, when logging in to create an invoice for final payment and determine when clients could book “extras” I was greeted with an alert saying the booking number didn’t exist. I had the booking in front of me and called RCCL to find out what was going on. After being told by multiple people that I must have the wrong booking number and telling them it was in front of me, someone finally found it in the system and told me it had been canceled because the deposit wasn’t received. Upon telling them it was submitted on April 26th they stated it didn’t go through and the booking was canceled.
I asked when the cancellation email was sent and was told RCCL doesn’t send cancellation emails if a deposit isn’t received. I asked how someone is supposed to know it was canceled or a payment didn’t go through and they told me the agent or client should just know the deposit wasn’t completed so there is no need to notify them. Yet, I submit a deposit, get confirmation it is submitted, it doesn’t go through, and I am supposed to know it didn’t go through. I actually had one representative tell me that I should have known whether or not it was charged to my client’s credit card, as if I was supposed to check their credit card statements. When I reached out to other agents, I was informed that multiple agents have had this same issue with their RCCL bookings.
Once learning their reservation had been canceled, the clients rebooked the exact same room category, booking #488xxxx, at a cost of $11,977.37, over $4,000 more than their original booking that was canceled without notification. Had anyone been appropriately informed of the cancellation, the entire situation would have been rectified on April 27th or 28th when notice of impending cancellation was received. Now, this policy of not notifying anyone of a canceled booking has resulted in additional costs for my clients and countless others.
I have spent endless hours trying to get this resolved and to have RCCL match the original price since their policy of not notifying anyone of cancellations resulted in this situation. I spent over 7 hours on hold only to not have my call picked up because the call center closed. I had multiple chats, one of whom was getting final approval to match the original price as a one time courtesy, and while waiting the chat abruptly ended.

I attempted getting this resolved through Twitter as well. When I finally got in touch with someone by phone they told me that if we had contacted RCCL within 24 hours of creating the NEW booking they would have matched the price, but now that it was after that they wouldn’t match it. Yet, I started trying to get a resolution prior to that date and got nowhere. Additionally, I was told that on January 13, 2024, my clients were notified via email that the original booking had been canceled, but wouldn’t provide me evidence of that and the Kachels didn’t receive any emails. Plus, why would they be emailed on January 13, 2024 about a booking that was supposedly canceled on April 27, 2023?
At this point, after not being informed of a cancellation, being provided inaccurate and untrue information, I again am requesting that their current active booking, 488xxxx, be adjusted in price to match the original booking price of $7,940.85. I hope this will be rectified by their final payment due date of February 5, 2024. Please contact me at your earliest convenience via email or at 401-862-8699.

[smokeybandit]

Sounds like your TA messed up and is trying to CYA

[WAAAYTOOO]

Agreed.  No TA worth their commission would submit a final payment less than 24 hours of the absolute, drop dead final payment date.

[CanHardlyWait]

This I why I book and handle everything myself. I was an agent on and off for 10 years and any idiot can get the gig.

[loki007]

Sorry you are going thru this but it sounds like TA forgot to pay the deposit to me. They should have paid it at the time of booking not wait until the last day. I would re-book on another ship (with a different TA or yourself thru RC) that is less expensive like Wonder. You will still have a great time. 

[Sharla]

1 hour ago, Brian K said:

RCCL doesn’t send cancellation emails if a deposit isn’t received.

This is true. 

So if the reservation was made 9 months ago, that means the TA never went into the system to check pricing or deal with your reservation in any way. And you never put it into your Crown & Anchor account, nor did you check your credit card statement.

I have no idea what happened here and I will not put the blame on any one person, but I don't see Royal Caribbean doing a price match in this case. This could have been resolved 8 months ago with just a couple of checks. 

[Brian K]

Sounds like we’re out of luck unless the TA pays for the mistake. 

[Brian K]

That’s why we hire a TA

[GregD]

15 minutes ago, Sharla said:

This is true. 

So if the reservation was made 9 months ago, that means the TA never went into the system to check pricing or deal with your reservation in any way. And you never put it into your Crown & Anchor account, nor did you check your credit card statement.

I have no idea what happened here and I will not put the blame on any one person, but I don't see Royal Caribbean doing a price match in this case. This could have been resolved 8 months ago with just a couple of checks. 

Funny, I googled the phone number, its to a travel agency in RI, that shows someones house, and 3 1 star reviews, all for trips never booked.....

[Sharla]

5 minutes ago, GregD said:

Funny, I googled the phone number, its to a travel agency in RI, that shows someones house, and 3 1 star reviews, all for trips never booked.....

Yep. 

[CanHardlyWait]

8 minutes ago, GregD said:

Funny, I googled the phone number, its to a travel agency in RI, that shows someones house, and 3 1 star reviews, all for trips never booked.....

Again, anyone can become a "Travel Agent". Do your due diligence on one, if using one. And stay involved and on top of dates, credit card charges, etc. Even a real agent can accidentally mess up. Be involved. A good agent will have no problem with that.

[Ampurp85]

Travel agents are human. Mistakes happen and there is still some onus on the traveler.

My agent misspelled my mother's name despite it being sent through an email. I check my bookings often, even when using a TA.

[Jacki_MEI]

I'm sorry, but your TA completely dropped the ball on this one. After I apply a deposit, I check the booking to confirm the deposit was applied correctly. I check the payment history, I send myself a confirmation showing the deposit was applied and the remaining balance. I guarantee if the TA had a confirmation from Royal showing the deposit applied, Royal would honor the original price. Mistakes can happen, but this should have been discovered within days at the most - not months later. Also, the TA says they had a chat that was in the process of honoring the original price? We have the ability to download chat transcripts - why didn't they do that? People like this unfortunately give professional TAs a bad name.

[TXcruzer]

You never noticed the $750 deposit never showed on your CC statement??

[AOlivr]

I think this may be your TA's fault.  A similar situation happened to me (but not as dire).  I booked a cruise for this May to Norway through my travel agent, it was booked in September of 2023.  I paid the $500 deposit and my credit card was charged.  We had an upper deck balcony booked (my husband and I like to be on a higher deck).  A few months after booking, I found out from my TA that the room we originally booked was no longer ours, but that she was able to get us in a balcony on deck 6.  Apparently what happened is that my TA made the booking and my deposit was charged, but I guess there is an extra step she has to do on her end where the deposit is applied to my reservation.  So I guess (if I understand it correctly) I paid the deposit but somehow it wasn't applied to my reservation.  Luckily my TA caught her mistake and we were able to get another room instead, and she was very honest about it.  I wonder if this happened to you?  

[JFCruise]

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

Travel agents are human. Mistakes happen and there is still some onus on the traveler.

My agent misspelled my mother's name despite it being sent through an email. I check my bookings often, even when using a TA.

I have an aunt that used to own a travel agency, so a few years back she booked a hotel reservation for me. She misspelled my last name. We share said last name.

[Babsy47]

This is an odd one and perhaps a good lesson for new cruisers.  I make my booking, pay my deposit, and then immediately go online to make sure the booking is appearing in my upcoming cruises on the website.  Sometimes it takes a few minutes to appear, but it never takes more than 30 minutes.  This enables me to confirm that all is good.   I would assume that TAs do the same.  I have had it happen that I booked and a payment did not go through.  Within 24 hours, I figured out that the booking did not go though because I could not see the booking on my upcoming cruises.  RC does mess up (and has for me several times).  It takes some diligence to make sure that there are not problems.  I would assume that a TA would engage in that diligence, but this one appears not to have done so.    I feel your pain and frustration; anyone would be upset at the situation.

[BXcruiser]

I noticed in the TA's letter that she initially states that once she made the deposit "I never received any communication from RCCL regarding this booking so I never thought anything more about it", but later on states "Yet, I submit a deposit, get confirmation it is submitted"....so did she really receive a confirmation or not??

I also think she didn't pay the deposit.

[PeloAl]

Hold on. If a deposit was made back in May did you ever even go on the cruise planner or website to log into your account after that?! And you never checked your credit card statement?
Something is very fishy here on all ends. This whole scenario sounds a bit preposterous 

[JFCruise]

19 minutes ago, PeloAl said:

If a deposit was made back in May did you ever even go on the cruise planner or website to log into your account after that?!

Honestly, I think that people that log into the Cruise Planner are a minority. I think most people don't even know it exists and just buy their add-ons onboard. That minority is the type to log into cruise message boards, but I think most vacationers/cruisers just book their cruise and just...do nothing.

[Brian K]

Miracles sometimes happen! Our TA just at called and got it price matched. 
 

see ya in May!

[Geezer Of The Seas]

Even with a DIY reservation cancellation booked through Royal's website and canceled by phone, I was given a cancellation "code" by the CSR representative, but was told there would be no e-mail confirmation of the canceled reservation. 

Still a headscratcher to me. I booked and canceled 2 reservations with NCL before final payment was due. Received e-mails in both instances, one reservation  was NRD the other was refundable.  The mysterious ways of Royal Carribean........