Royal added extra to the bill !!!

[Vlad]

Guys, strange thing just happened. 

Sailing Icon in November, purchased through travel agency. 

Yesterday logged in to check my balance, noticed that price of all my excursions, that were fully paid for by credit card, were added to the balance due for my cruise, about $140.

I've emailed my TA with all the details of what happened. 

Did this happened to anyone? 

I'm guessing this has something to do with the change of Icon's system that happened earlier this year. When they refunded / rebilled for all extra cruise planner purchases. 

[HeWhoWaits]

Lots of us have seen unexpected balances due when cruise planner changes were made after final payment, but for a sailing 8 months out this seems to be a brand new example of Royal IT incompetence.

[Vlad]

3 minutes ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Lots of us have seen unexpected balances due when cruise planner changes were made after final payment, but for a sailing 8 months out this seems to be a brand new example of Royal IT incompetence.

Yes, after Icon's release, I was advised by TA, that Icon would be moving to some kind new reservation system. So I won't be alarmed. They basically automatically cancelled all excursions / purchases, refunded the money, then rebooked everything automatically. My credit card was later charged for the same amount as refunded, but that was done a few weeks later. 

I would say, around 3 weeks ago, credit card was charged, all without any problems. 

And yesterday I've noticed extra charge added to my cruise balance. Exactly for that amount. 

So definitely not the case of making any changes after final payment. 

But I'm guessing I'm the only one with exactly this problem. If it's another system glitch, it usually happens to thousands or more people. 

[Sharla]

10 minutes ago, Vlad said:

I was advised by TA, that Icon would be moving to some kind new reservation system.

This is not true. It's possible whatever TA you use has a new system, but Royal Caribbean does not. 

[Vlad]

4 minutes ago, Sharla said:

This is not true. It's possible whatever TA you use has a new system, but Royal Caribbean does not. 

No, sorry, this is definitely not TA !!! 

As I've explained in details, changes were automatically done, purchases cancelled and rebooked at the old prices. This is nothing to do with TA and such can only be done by Royal itself. 

And I have other cruises booked with TA, but this was only done for my Icon cruise. Not other ships. 

[Sharla]

1 minute ago, Vlad said:

No, sorry, this is definitely not TA !!! 

As I've explained in details, changes were automatically done, purchases cancelled and rebooked at the old prices. This is nothing to do with TA and such can only be done by Royal itself. 

And I have other cruises booked with TA, but this was only done for my Icon cruise. Not other ships. 

Absolutely nothing in my TA system has changed. It's possible your TA doesn't use the same system and they have a different booking engine. But Royal's official system has not changed. 

[Vlad]

2 minutes ago, Sharla said:

Absolutely nothing in my TA system has changed. It's possible your TA doesn't use the same system and they have a different booking engine. But Royal's official system has not changed. 

As I was explained by TA. It's not Royal system, but only part of it that has to do with Icon. 

I'm not sure if it's allowed to say on this forums, the company I'm using. 

But my travel agency is directly connected to Royal. I as a costomer, can by myself see any and all available cabins and can book everything directly by myself. 

Not those travel agents that deal only through email or calls. 

[TessFromFlorida]

This happened to me with a recent Allure sailing and I wasted hours dealing with it. Long story short, they (RCI) did not keep my excursions/add-on ons separate from my cruise fare. My cruise was paid in full but each time I would adjust the add ons the final price of my cruise was impacted. I think they are running things on Windows 3.1. 

[Vlad]

4 minutes ago, TessFromFlorida said:

This happened to me with a recent Allure sailing and I wasted hours dealing with it. Long story short, they (RCI) did not keep my excursions/add-on ons separate from my cruise fare. My cruise was paid in full but each time I would adjust the add ons the final price of my cruise was impacted. I think they are running things on Windows 3.1. 

But all your add-ons were paid anyway? But they still wanted you to pay again? 

Correct? 

How did you had it resolved? Some saying the system may cancel the cruise when it gets close to the sail date? 

[TessFromFlorida]

1 minute ago, Vlad said:

Correct

Correct. It was a hot mess. I was double charged, then over credited, then they were refunding to the wrong card somehow (I used 1 card for the cruise, 1 for excursions). I was very surprised that a company in 2023/4 could even run a system that makes such errors. I called resolutions and worked with a woman named Hazel. 

[Vlad]

4 minutes ago, TessFromFlorida said:

Correct. It was a hot mess. I was double charged, then over credited, then they were refunding to the wrong card somehow (I used 1 card for the cruise, 1 for excursions). I was very surprised that a company in 2023/4 could even run a system that makes such errors. I called resolutions and worked with a woman named Hazel. 

For me everything seemed simple enough. 

Was 1 refund, then 1 charge of same credit card. And about 2 weeks later they suddenly added same amount to the cruise balance that I owe to the travel agency. 

I guess I can't even get it resolved or call Royal. Have to wait till TA tries to to resolve it. But if it takes hours on the phone line. I'm not sure my TA would be doing that 

[CanHardlyWait]

2 minutes ago, Vlad said:

For me everything seemed simple enough. 

Was 1 refund, then 1 charge of same credit card. And about 2 weeks later they suddenly added same amount to the cruise balance that I owe to the travel agency. 

I guess I can't even get it resolved or call Royal. Have to wait till TA tries to to resolve it. But if it takes hours on the phone line. I'm not sure my TA would be doing that 

There are 2 wallets. One for your cruise fare and one for your planer purchases. When you buy something from the planner (excursion/drinks package/etc) and then cancel to say maybe rebook at better price. The system sometimes takes the money from your cruise fare wallet to refund your planner purchase instead of taking the money from your cruise planner wallet. This leaves your cruise fare with a mysterious balance due. Royal claims this "almost never happens", yet I read posting after posting about it. It took me 5 days of endless calls (and a lot of barking) to get mine resolved. Only supervisor's know what this is and how to fix it. Do not assume your agent will understand. Explain this possible scenario to the agent. Also explain only someone in management will understand and be able to adjust accounts. I know exactly what has happened to you. This is why I fear cancelling anything from the planner anymore. Make sure whoever calls explains the 2 wallet situation to the Royal employee. 

[Vlad]

3 minutes ago, CanHardlyWait said:

There are 2 wallets. One for your cruise fare and one for your planer purchases. When you buy something from the planner (excursion/drinks package/etc) and then cancel to say maybe rebook at better price. The system sometimes takes the money from your cruise fare wallet to refund your planner purchase instead of taking the money from your cruise planner wallet. This leaves your cruise fare with a mysterious balance due. Royal claims this "almost never happens", yet I read posting after posting about it. It took me 5 days of endless calls (and a lot of barking) to get mine resolved. Only supervisor's know what this is and how to fix it. Do not assume your agent will understand. Explain this possible scenario to the agent. Also explain only someone in management will understand and be able to adjust accounts. I know exactly what has happened to you. This is why I fear cancelling anything from the planner anymore. Make sure whoever calls explains the 2 wallet situation to the Royal employee. 

Thanks for the detailed response. 

I'm my case I didn't even cancel, Royal was doing something to the system like a month or so ago 

And on one cruise, icon reservation. They cancelled everything purchased from the planner, refunded back the money and automatically rebooked it all almost right after. 

So they did refund to my card and then in about 2 weeks charged the same card for everything as 1 charge. 

Now a couple of weeks from that, they took money from what I owed for the cruise, and added it to the balance, so balance increased for that same amount. 

I'm hoping TA would be able to resolve it, since it's booked through travel agency and cabin is probably part the group fare rate. Royal won't deal with me directly on this. This is a pretty big Travel agency. Not sure if I can say the name here on the forum. 

But all been good for like almost two months from when this automatic refund/rebook procedure started on their end. 

[AshleyDillo]

17 minutes ago, Vlad said:

I'm hoping TA would be able to resolve it, since it's booked through travel agency and cabin is probably part the group fare rate. Royal won't deal with me directly on this. This is a pretty big Travel agency. Not sure if I can say the name here on the forum. 

But all been good for like almost two months from when this automatic refund/rebook procedure started on their end. 

Unfortunately that's a drawback of a bigger agency..less personal service if you don't have a single point of contact to stay on top of this for you. 

It's super frustrating and folks in a similar situation have had their cruise canceled for non-payment because of it, so definitely stay on top of your TA to make sure it is actively being resolved especially as you get close to the final payment date. I read those having the issue would try to make the extra payment (effectively an overpayment) to ensure their cruise wasn't canceled but the payment system didn't recognize there was a balance so it wouldn't take a payment.  

[CanHardlyWait]

43 minutes ago, Vlad said:

Thanks for the detailed response. 

I'm my case I didn't even cancel, Royal was doing something to the system like a month or so ago 

And on one cruise, icon reservation. They cancelled everything purchased from the planner, refunded back the money and automatically rebooked it all almost right after. 

So they did refund to my card and then in about 2 weeks charged the same card for everything as 1 charge. 

Now a couple of weeks from that, they took money from what I owed for the cruise, and added it to the balance, so balance increased for that same amount. 

I'm hoping TA would be able to resolve it, since it's booked through travel agency and cabin is probably part the group fare rate. Royal won't deal with me directly on this. This is a pretty big Travel agency. Not sure if I can say the name here on the forum. 

But all been good for like almost two months from when this automatic refund/rebook procedure started on their end. 

Sounds like the two wallets still could be in play in your situation. This is why I will never use an agent (was one in the 90s). I couldn't sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to handle it for me. 

[Dad2Cue]

14 hours ago, Vlad said:

Yesterday logged in to check my balance, noticed that price of all my excursions, that were fully paid for by credit card, were added to the balance due for my cruise, about $140

Does your credit card actually show a charge for your cruise planner purchases?  I have made cruise planner purchases with my credit card.  The cruise planner would say I made the purchase except my credit card wasn't charged. The cruise planner planner purchases were charged to my credit card but they were only "temporary authorizations" and then the charges disappeared.I found the charges on my balance due for the cruise.  Several calls to Royal only to find out my cruise showed "paid in full" on their system so I didn't have a balance due for the cruise. 

It all worked out after a month or two without my intervention .  What you describe  sounds like a quirk in Royal's system that usually happens during the Black Friday sale.  I think the volume of sales on cruise planner sometimes exceeds the capability of Royal's system and these system quirks happen.  I don't try to understand it anymore.  Just make sure the balance due goes back to $0 eventually before the final payment date.

[Vlad]

1 minute ago, CanHardlyWait said:

Sounds like the two wallets still could be in play in your situation. This is why I will never use an agent (was one in the 90s). I couldn't sit on the sidelines and wait for someone else to handle it for me. 

I hear you, but without an agent, I mean group rate, prices were much much higher. Something I couldn't possibly pay for 

[Vlad]

25 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Unfortunately that's a drawback of a bigger agency..less personal service if you don't have a single point of contact to stay on top of this for you. 

It's super frustrating and folks in a similar situation have had their cruise canceled for non-payment because of it, so definitely stay on top of your TA to make sure it is actively being resolved especially as you get close to the final payment date. I read those having the issue would try to make the extra payment (effectively an overpayment) to ensure their cruise wasn't canceled but the payment system didn't recognize there was a balance so it wouldn't take a payment.  

Yes, but I do have a point of contact. 

By bigger company, I meant that they must know how to solve this problem. 

Probably seen plenty of different problems and errors in billing. 

[Vlad]

7 minutes ago, Dad2Cue said:

Does your credit card actually show a charge for your cruise planner purchases?  I have made cruise planner purchases with my credit card.  The cruise planner would say I made the purchase except my credit wasn't charge. The cruise planner planner purchases were charged to my credit card but they were only "temporary authorizations" and then the charges disappeared.I found the charges on my balance due for the cruise.  Several calls to Royal only to find out my cruise showed "paid in full" on their system so I didn't have a balance due for the cruise. 

It all worked out after a month or two without my intervention .  What you describe  sounds like a quirk in Royal's system that usually happens during the Black Friday sale.  I think the volume of sales on cruise planner exceeds the capability of Royal's system and these quirks happen.  I don't try to understand it anymore.  Just make sure the balance due goes back to $0 eventually before the final payment date.

Yes, what you're talking about happened to me as well after black Friday. That was completely different. And yes was resolved by itself. 

[AshleyDillo]

Just now, Vlad said:

Yes, but I do have a point of contact. 

By bigger company, I meant that they must know how to solve this problem. 

Probably seen plenty of different problems and errors in billing. 

True..they possibly have experience and know exactly what to ask for if any of their clients has had this issue in the past. Either way they should do everything in their power to get a resolution for you and if they drop the ball, they're responsible for re-instating the cruise if it comes to that.  Even if you controlled the reservation yourself, even getting past the call center gatekeepers to the right people to speak with about would take a lot.

[Vlad]

5 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

True..they possibly have experience and know exactly what to ask for if any of their clients has had this issue in the past. Either way they should do everything in their power to get a resolution for you and if they drop the ball, they're responsible for re-instating the cruise if it comes to that.  Even if you controlled the reservation yourself, even getting past the call center gatekeepers to the right people to speak with about would take a lot.

I can tell you the name of company, not a secret, just not sure if I can say it here, then it would be discussed, and sounds like advertisement 

Probably against the forum rules

[Vlad]

18 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

True..they possibly have experience and know exactly what to ask for if any of their clients has had this issue in the past. Either way they should do everything in their power to get a resolution for you and if they drop the ball, they're responsible for re-instating the cruise if it comes to that.  Even if you controlled the reservation yourself, even getting past the call center gatekeepers to the right people to speak with about would take a lot.

Hopefully they are more professional, I know they are using different resolution department. The one that deals with agent and group cruises. They don't go through the usual # that you or me would call into Royal Caribbean 

[AshleyDillo]

3 hours ago, Vlad said:

Probably against the forum rules

It isn't against the rules but I'm not sure how saying the name would make a difference until they resolve it for you (makes them look good) or fail to resolve it (makes them look bad).

[CyclingVa]

I had a situation last year where I booked thru a TA.  It was a last minute cruise 60ish days before.  We got the quote and paid in full at the time.  Received email confirmation and receipt.  The agent called me via phone 2 days later saying they charged the incorrect pricing and I owed an additional $50.   I said that must be incorrect because I was quoted and paid in full via my receipt.  She said there was a mistake in the pricing and it was still due.  I told her that was their $50 mistake and they should take the hit not me.  Nothing was ever said anymore about it.  We went on the cruise, got my onboard charges and that was automatically deducted from my Credit card  then the next day a $50 charge from RC was also deducted from my card.  Really pissed me off but i didnt  feel like fighting on the phone for hours over the 50 bucks