When is a Discount Not a Discount?

[Rayza]

I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with RCL pushing shore excursions at discount prices but when you book you don't get the discount.

Last Friday I received an email with 2" high letters promoting "up to 30% off" for 5 days" on  the beverage package and selected shore excursions.  When you click on the "Buy Now" button you get all of the shore excursions listed and their applicable discount.  Most  (about 90%) had 10% off and the others had 20% off.  None of the excursions that I could see had the 30% off so I presume the headline related to the beverage package discount.

I selected 2 of the listed excursions and then went to the checkout to pay but neither price indicated the advertised discount had been applied.  I also contacted my daughter, who has a separate booking on the same cruise, but she did not get the email offering the discount.  However she went through the same booking process and was charged the same price.

I rang RCL call centre and was told by the first consultant that there was nothing in my cart and this was because I did not complete the booking.  He insisted that when I completed the booking the discounted price would be charged.  I was a bit surprised at that as it is unusual to be presented with an amount for payment and then have a lower amount charged to your credit card.  Additionally after I hung up I went back into cruise planner and the excursions were still in my cart and still showing the original price.

I rang RCL again and got a different consultant who then told me that the price being shown was the discounted price and that I needed only to make the booking within the 5 pay period to get the excursions at that price.  This again was strange as I had another booking coincidentally doing a similar cruise where the particular shore excursion was not on the discount list and the price offered on that cruise was exactly the same as the supposed discount price.  I explained this to the consultant who put me on hold for several minutes and then when she came back she told the excursion was indeed on the "official discount list" that she had.  She could not explain why it was not on the list sent out to [assengers.  Our final discussion was the consultant telling me that I had to complete my booking by 2pm today to take advantage of the discount prices.  Now I find, well after the deadline, all of the excursions are still at the original price.

I believe that RCL are running a classic "bait and hook" scam where they use bright colours,  large fonts, and  short time frames to galvanise passengers into thinking they are getting a good deal.  But in the end the prices just don't change.  At the end of the day, the discount is a pittance in the total amount we are spending on the cruise, but it peeves me to see large companies act with what looks like unethical behaviour.

 

 

 

 

[rjac]

Try this. If the excursion you want is still in your cart, note the price and then complete the booking, ie, charge it to your credit card. After you do that, if the price does not reflect any discount at all you can always cancel the excursion on line or call RCL back and have them cancel it. 

[Skid]

Rayza, they do things like this all the time. When I booked my cruise last June for May 18, the internet package I wanted was listed at the regular price. Since then it's been going back and forth on the cruise planner with sale banners. Problem is that it's not a sale. They put a big banner saying 20% off on board prices (which may be true) but they try to make it appear like it's a sale price when, in fact, it's been the same price since day one whether or not they force a 20% off banner in front of your eyes.

[Rayza]

Well surprise surprise.  Today my cart has a red alert indicating the price of each of the shore excursions has been updated/  And yes the price has been increased from $112 to $126.  Even though I had booked the excursions at the discount price. Grrrrr.... Another half hour on the phone tomorrow!